preparing the house

So, we have been working our tails off trying to get our house ready to sell. The main work happened a week ago, when we boxed up about 10 boxes of "clutter" and cleaned our hearts out the whole weekend to be ready to show our house to neighbors that were interested.
Since then, we have walked through about 6 houses, dreamed of moving, narrowed down neighborhoods, AND learned that the neighbors we were so hopeful about buying our house decided to go with a different one. :0( Oh well.... Of course, now we are trying to decide if we move forward and put our house officially on the market, or just give up until next Spring. We haven't decided what to do yet....but in the meantime, we took down the wallpaper in our master bedroom this weekend. Today I go shopping for paint. Hopefully by the end of the coming weekend our Master will look fresh and updated.
Jake and Nate's room will be tackled next, I guess. So many projects we could do.....we just have to figure out what is the ones that would be important for us to sell. We may have to do work in our kitchen---the color is not overly nuetral, and the counters would be nicer if we changed them for granite, or corian.....but I am wondering how much of a difference that would make to buyers in our house's price range. Of course it would look nicer.....but would it bump up the price? Or would we get the same amount anyway? We will need to speak with a realtor, I guess, to know what their opinion is.

Summer boredom is already settling in for the boys. I developed a list of extra chores the boys could do to help me out and earn a little (let me stress a little) extra money. These chores are beyond what their normal weekly jobs are, but would help us out, keep them busy, and be a way to earn money to go see a movie with a friend, etc. For example, Jacob took on a huge basket of unmatched socks to match up.....when he is done, and the socks are put in the appropriate family member's room, he'll get an extra $1 added to his allowance this week. (I hate this chore....and it is worth the $1 to get it done!) Not to mention, instead of handing out money for social invites left and right....the boys will have to earn their way! :0)