Life Lately

Thank you all for the input on yesterday’s post that Jordan wrote.  There wasn’t a clear winner, so if you want to chime in with an opinion, we welcome you.  I love reading updates that people put on their blogs called Life Lately.  Our lives are kind of upside down right now, and so, I thought it was only right to fill all of you in on what’s going on here behind the blog scenes.  That way, if we go MIA for any amount of time, you will have an idea of why.

First off, as you know we have a contract on our house, but you probably don’t know that we are set to close on March 15.  The plan was that once we close, the new owners would let us rent the property back from them while our new house gets its total remodel.  Well, the new owners sold their house before it even went on the market in a similar situation to ours.  Their neighbors told some friends, and those people bought it.  And the people buying their house sold their place in just two days.  (Are you still with me here on this?)  Needless to say, it created a domino effect, and we all have to move.  So, we won’t get to stay here and rent.  That also means two moves.

We spent last week looking for a place to rent.  (I hope to be in our new place by June 15.) We specifically want a furnished apartment with a washer/dryer.  We just didn’t want to move our furniture twice.  It would be much simpler to put it in storage.  As far as the washer/dryer go, I don’t plan to spend any more time ever in a laundromat.  Been there/done that.  We kept hitting dead ends on the apartment hunt, but then I put a notice on our Next Door app, and several people responded.  Luckily, one of those responses was from a couple who bought a huge, beautiful house that was built in 1900.  It’s located in a historic culdesac, and they live on the first floor and use the second floor as an Air B n B.  They just recently moved there, and they did a total remodel with a new kitchen, beautiful floors, fresh paint, etc.  Plus, it is furnished with beautiful antiques.  We passed their inspection, and we will be renting the unit.  It has two bedrooms, an office, a dining room, living room, kitchen, two baths, and…….a washer and dryer.  I’ll give you a tour of it tomorrow.  We couldn’t be happier with our temporary home.  The only down side is there is no place to store our bicycles except in the office which means we will have to carry them down and then back up the steep steps every time we go biking.  But, we will deal with that.

As far as the remodeling goes, we are knocking out an exterior wall to add an addition, and that means the historic commission has to approve it.  Remember, it’s in an historic district.  To see the new place’s before photos go here, here, here, and here.Our architect has been submitting plans to them and communicating with them all along.  The commission has its monthly meeting this afternoon.  Our architect will be there to represent us and answer any questions.  Once approval is given (they also have to approve the new windows we are installing), then a building permit can be issued.  Our builder is ready to start as soon as that happens.

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Yesterday I had a second meeting with the kitchen designer, (you can read a kitchen post here) and she is also ordering the bathroom cabinets.  Things are looking good there, and I am so excited about the selections we are making.

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The floor tile (above) for three of the bathrooms and the laundry room has been ordered.  It’s on back order so there might be a wait on that.  Can I just say that I LOVE it!  (The shower walls will get a 12 x 24 version of this.)

And remember the fixer-upper?  They have installed the drywall, and I think the electrician and plumber are finishing up their work.  I just haven’t had time to go over there and take photos for y’all.

Now, there’s more to add to this craziness.  You know we go someplace in the world every February to do a volunteer vacation.  Well, next week we leave for Nicaragua for a week of work, and then Mr. Right and I are going on to Panama for a few days of R and R.  This was all set in motion way before this move came into play, and we are really looking forward to it.  It’s just that we have to move seven days after we get home.

That means that every spare minute of my day is spent filling boxes.  I have way tooooooooooooo much stuff, and even though I have recently gotten rid of what seems like a lot, there’s still so much stuff to box (mostly extra sets of dishes that my mother gave me.)  I got rid of tons of things before we moved in here seven years ago.  I do know, though, that I don’t have nearly as much stuff as most people.  I love an empty drawer.

 

Well, that’s life lately.  If you are still reading this, thank you so much for letting us share our crazy goings-on with you.

 

Take care.