We’re Moving!

We’re moving right now means more than you would imagine. It means we get to be someplace permanent, and it means that God is good. After we sold our house last July, we didn’t find a house to buy within the time frame of us having to be out of our house. So, we rented, where we are today. It’s a modest, nice home. It came partially furnished, which is a good thing if you don’t already have a houseful of furniture. But we did. And its 1400+ SF is nice if you haven’t come from 3200 SF and then 2200 SF and haven’t yet rid yourself of all the things that fit into those square feet of house. As much as I’ve tried to purge, it’s difficult when you don’t know what kind of space you’ll have in your final landing place. Hence, we had household inventory all over the place, including a storage unit. In my frustration of paying for the storage unit and hoping to rid myself of that expense, I have gotten rid of things I now wish I had. I will be happy to be certain of what things to hold on to, and what things to be rid of.

That doesn’t look like junk, does it? I am not a hoarder.

Finding a house in this market last summer wasn’t easy, and it was no more easy this summer. Knowing the task of buying a home and moving, I knew I wanted to make this transition before fall, when I hope to head into full time employment. My enthusiasm and diligent realtor who fed me the real estate market faithfully, wasn’t producing the right house in the right place at the right price.

So, like a couple of friends before me, I set out and placed fliers in our neighborhood newspaper boxes, announcing my desire to buy a home by September 1st.

House Wanted flier. I probably didn’t need to mark out the personal information. On a good day of posting, it may have created an avalanche of inquiries I’d have to turn away!

A couple of weeks went by without any response. And then one night, within fifteen minutes, I received three calls. The next morning, I received another call. And just last week I received an email. The day after I got the first three calls, I looked at three houses. All were contenders, which was amazing considering how many houses I’d looked at that weren’t quite fitting the bill. I made an offer on one of them. And that is the house we’re buying, and that is the house that will hold our lovely things. We’ll get to sleep in our own beds (well, kind of, but I won’t go into that), use measuring spoons (I know they’re someplace in the attic, and I have refused to buy them, knowing I own them!), and when a holiday approaches, I won’t have to run to the storage unit and hunt for decorations.

Last summer I was a little discouraged (to say the least) that we would be living in a temporary placement during Bridgette’s senior year. Yet there were many good things about the little rental we’ve been in. The proximity of it to the high school is a gift in itself. Our new house isn’t much further.

I love the back yard.

Backyard in bloom.

I thought I would die without a garbage disposal, but I figured out life without one. It has a great fence for our dogs. There’s no AC, but we’re surviving the heat and the compassion from the landlord during this summer’s heat wave softens the hardship. The back yard has an awesome basketball hoop and court. We lived with carpet in the kitchen for most of our stay, which disgusted me to think of the things growing in it. The flowers that bloomed in the early summer were spectacular. I didn’t like having to hand water the lawn, but I figured out a system that expedited the process. I love the two back patios, one being off of my bedroom. There are many things about this house that were an adjustment. But for every thing to which we had to adjust, there was something else special we loved; namely in the yard portion of the house, if you didn’t get that already.

August 22nd is the big move weekend. I’ll miss the back yard, but we’ve got a new one, and there are plenty of things on the inside of the house that I’ll get to enjoy; AC being one of them.