I can’t believe I have not posted since July 11. So much has happened in these four months. I am not sure where to start. Let’s see….
At the beginning of July we noticed that a neighbor a few streets up from us were moving. We only noticed because this guy had a lot of “toys” that my son and husband coveted. Their favorite was his rock crawler. On July 21, on our way to church we noticed a for sale sign in the yard. That afternoon went to look at a house that we thought we might be able to flip. It was past flip-ability. We mentioned to our realtor that we had another house we were curious about. She said she had some time if we wanted to look at it.
Up to this point we had been day dreaming of another house but were not really looking. We knew we wanted to stay in the school zone we were in but it is such a small zone that houses do not come up very often.
We walked in and I am not sure either of us talked. We went from room to room upstairs then made our way downstairs. I was sold almost instantly. I think it took looking at the two garages that Stephen was hooked.
We had not even gotten preapproval for a loan. I mean we were not ready to buy a house. We both loved the space it provided and the location. It is right across from a firehouse! That Monday we got our pre-approval and placed our offer! I spent the next two weeks with my stomach in a knot as we filled out and provided all the paperwork we needed to finish applying for the loan.
What were we doing? The kids were still in Grand Haven for the summer and we were trying to buy a house. Then there was the “if we do buy” what do we do with the current house? Do we sell or rent? We owned it outright so we felt we had a few more options however with our schedules we were concerned with the time and commitment a rental would take.
We decided not to tell the kids in case it fell through or if it took longer than planned. Our Closing date was set for August 30 but it had to be pushed back to September 21. I packed a lot before the kids came home and finished in time to move in right after we signed on the 21st.
Up to this point the kids still did not have a clue. We kept it hush hush. Many people knew and were praying for us but they all respected that we were trying to surprise the kids. Before the kids had left for the summer we had told them we planned to do some work on the tiny house and so we needed to pack up some stuff so it was out of the way. This was not a lie at the time but once we decided to move we kept up the farce as a way to keep our plans secret.
I am not a good secret keeper. It was suggested by my mother in law to buy me a muzzle because it is known how bad I am. ☺ Well…. I will tell you I made it! That last ride from school to the new house I did not say a word. I drove and Stephen videotaped the kids. The video and their reaction were priceless. Hailey asked “Can we keep it?” and Shawn kept thanking us and after Stephen stopped filming he started crying.
We have spent the last month unpacking and getting things figured out. For the last three years we have lived tiny. 600 sq. feet and the new house gives us 910 sq. feet on the main level. The basement offers a family room and another space that could become a fourth bedroom. In addition a laundry room with lots of storage space. The basement can’t officially be counted in the sq. footage because there are no egress windows. We plan to install one in a year or two.
There is an abundance of space that I am trying to use thoughtfully. We have been in the space a month and I am feeling like it is coming together. Stephen hung my paintings and ordered me curtains and pillows for the living room. I finally ordered chairs for the living room and those arrived. Just a few more areas that need to be addressed but I am not feeling overwhelmed like I did on September 24th.
My goal to get back to blogging has been Thursday November 1st since this all began. My mind was so overwhelmed with everything I could not focus to write. Now that boxes are gone and the check list of “to dos” is shrinking, I feel like I can focus again on writing without being distracted. So on November 1st I began to write again.
Excited and motivated to be back at it, I am working to adjust some of my blog goals so that the remainder of 2018 I can be feel productive and build up to a fabulous start to 2019!