People, it’s time to face the inevitable: I have got to start thinking about moving, because (supposedly) we close on the house 3 weeks from today. I’ve started to make a pile of packing materials in a corner of the apartment, none of which have anything packed in them because I just cannot make myself do it quite yet.
The reasons are twofold: I still don’t think I have quite come to terms with the fact that we actually bought a house that we are actually going to move into and I will be leaveing the neighborhood where I’ve spent the last 6 years. Am I excited about this? Completely, utterly, totally. Have I quite grasped it? No. And I have a feeling that for the first four weeks or so I will feel like I am playing house- at someone else’s house.
The other reason? I am in a bit of denial over the physical task of moving, yet again. In the 5-plus years Casey and I have been together, there have been 11 moves between the two of us. I inwardly cringe to think how much stuff we actually have to move now with our accumulated junk (although the good news of moving 20 miles away is you really don’t have to do that much packing, you just throw clothes in the back seat of the Bug).
But the solace in this move is for the first time in my adult life, I am moving into a place with no expiration date. In college (and after), you know you are living there for a year and then up and leaving. It’s quite liberating to realize I have no clue when we are moving again, but odds are I have more than a year (oh please, oh please) to call this place home.
12.18.2009
12.09.2009
Frozen assets
Hey gals!
Remember that conversation we had like a year ago about how they don't heat the bathroom at work, which was causing major health concerns? And how, I would wait so long to avoid sitting on the freezing toilet that I'd practically be doing a grown-up version of the kiddie "potty dance" at my desk?
Well, guess what? Now that it's decided not to get above freezing any day this week and was 22 degrees when I got to work this morning, guess how cold that glacial-like porcelain seat in the unheated bathroom is? AS COLD AS WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER. Glad we had this chat. Again.
Remember that conversation we had like a year ago about how they don't heat the bathroom at work, which was causing major health concerns? And how, I would wait so long to avoid sitting on the freezing toilet that I'd practically be doing a grown-up version of the kiddie "potty dance" at my desk?
Well, guess what? Now that it's decided not to get above freezing any day this week and was 22 degrees when I got to work this morning, guess how cold that glacial-like porcelain seat in the unheated bathroom is? AS COLD AS WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER. Glad we had this chat. Again.
12.03.2009
a few steps closer...
Okay, pending yet a few more things, we've bought the house! It's so incredibly exciting and scary and whole heap of other things, but more than anything, it's a huge new step. More to come...
11.24.2009
How I know what polybutylene means
Thank goodness my husband loves me so much, because I have been a drama queen this week. No, not in a girly way complaining about how he is ditching me for two weeks for Kenya (which he is, but since he has to do emergency comms training in the middle of Africa, I’m not going to bewail too much), but about PIPES. Yeh, polybutylene piping, which is all over our prospective new house and I have worked myself into a tizzy over it.
Apparently, polybutylene was the “pipe of the future… future…. future” when they installed it in the house, but in the last 20 years they have discovered that it has a delightful habit of spontaneously combusting. And the plumbing in the house runs through the attic, which given said spontaneous behavior could mean a big mess in a big hurry. So naturally I want it replaced before it spontaneously combusts over my brand new dining hutch, and so far its not looking favorable. I’m usually pretty level-headed, but this has honest to the plumbing gods gotten me so stressed out that I am just plain pathetic, and I need it to be over- fixed or not- so that I can stop having heart palpitations every 10 minutes. Bottom line is today (while at work no less) we have to decide whether or not to spend the cash to fix or walk away from the whole thing. New arch enemy in life: polybutylene. Good news is John & Kate are now off the hook.
Apparently, polybutylene was the “pipe of the future… future…. future” when they installed it in the house, but in the last 20 years they have discovered that it has a delightful habit of spontaneously combusting. And the plumbing in the house runs through the attic, which given said spontaneous behavior could mean a big mess in a big hurry. So naturally I want it replaced before it spontaneously combusts over my brand new dining hutch, and so far its not looking favorable. I’m usually pretty level-headed, but this has honest to the plumbing gods gotten me so stressed out that I am just plain pathetic, and I need it to be over- fixed or not- so that I can stop having heart palpitations every 10 minutes. Bottom line is today (while at work no less) we have to decide whether or not to spend the cash to fix or walk away from the whole thing. New arch enemy in life: polybutylene. Good news is John & Kate are now off the hook.
11.13.2009
Headed for the burbs?
God is a comedian. A week ago, I was ready to throw in the proverbial real estate towel and hibernate for the winter in my cozy apartment. There were no houses out there. I checked Redfin incessantly and annoyingly often. Before our tour last weekend, I turned to Casey and said, “This could be a real stinker. I’m scratching the bottom of the barrel with these listings.”
A week later, pending paperwork and inspection, we’ve almost bought a house. And one I didn’t even see in all my real estate stalking and one that was just so inexplicably cute and homey that, even though it’s not the type of house I thought I wanted, it’s not in the area we started looking, I turned to Casey and said, “Done.” See? God definitely likes to throw curve balls.
That’s not to say I don’t have some trepidation about moving out of the area I’ve lived in (and loved) for the past 6 years, it will be weird. (Expect a few last minute posts on that as I bewail the loss of Caffe Ladro 2 minutes away and downtown a whopping 10. But we have a YARD people, and 2 FULL baths that I might actually feel are clean enough to soak in, so…) Getting to work will be tougher and when something breaks I can’t call the landlord and my gosh, we will have practically no fun money for a while. But more than that, I’m excited to start this phase of our lives, to have space to make our own and to continue to try and figure out what God has in store for us (Who I’m not convinced is finished with his punch line yet.) For now, just perhaps it’s a cute green house in Kent.
A week later, pending paperwork and inspection, we’ve almost bought a house. And one I didn’t even see in all my real estate stalking and one that was just so inexplicably cute and homey that, even though it’s not the type of house I thought I wanted, it’s not in the area we started looking, I turned to Casey and said, “Done.” See? God definitely likes to throw curve balls.
That’s not to say I don’t have some trepidation about moving out of the area I’ve lived in (and loved) for the past 6 years, it will be weird. (Expect a few last minute posts on that as I bewail the loss of Caffe Ladro 2 minutes away and downtown a whopping 10. But we have a YARD people, and 2 FULL baths that I might actually feel are clean enough to soak in, so…) Getting to work will be tougher and when something breaks I can’t call the landlord and my gosh, we will have practically no fun money for a while. But more than that, I’m excited to start this phase of our lives, to have space to make our own and to continue to try and figure out what God has in store for us (Who I’m not convinced is finished with his punch line yet.) For now, just perhaps it’s a cute green house in Kent.
10.20.2009
The Hunt
How do you know what house is the right house? Some people have told me they have walked into one and have just known, other say that no matter where you end up, you make it home. I'm beginning to be a big believer in the latter. I'm not sure there are many situations life where you just know, maybe you have a good feeling, you feel led by God, whatever, but I don't think I have ever been 100 percent sure about anything, not even my lunch burrito (pork or chicken?). At some point, you make a choice and you live with it, some times it turns out to be a terrific choice, a fine one, or a horrible one, but that is just part of living.
All this to say- I'm very torn with house hunting. There are two houses that have some wonderful features, a few things that bug us and are in completely different parts of town- Rainier Beach and then in Kent. Those of you who know Seattle, know the word Rainier is usually not a good connotation and while the house is in a really cute area, the areas that surround it are not the best. And the other is near a lake (big plus) and walking trails but is farther south and this Seattle-ite is having a slight panic attack at living outside my beloved city (in the suburbs! Will people still come see us?)
So I go back and through between the two, each new piece of info (New roof! Bad schools! Park! Drug deals in park?) swaying me a different direction. The thought still lingers that there may be something else out there, but that will always be true and I do think that wherever we are it will be home, it would just be so nice to love my home.
All this to say- I'm very torn with house hunting. There are two houses that have some wonderful features, a few things that bug us and are in completely different parts of town- Rainier Beach and then in Kent. Those of you who know Seattle, know the word Rainier is usually not a good connotation and while the house is in a really cute area, the areas that surround it are not the best. And the other is near a lake (big plus) and walking trails but is farther south and this Seattle-ite is having a slight panic attack at living outside my beloved city (in the suburbs! Will people still come see us?)
So I go back and through between the two, each new piece of info (New roof! Bad schools! Park! Drug deals in park?) swaying me a different direction. The thought still lingers that there may be something else out there, but that will always be true and I do think that wherever we are it will be home, it would just be so nice to love my home.
9.22.2009
Murky Waters
I need a guidebook. I do apologize for being so lax in my blogging (Honestly, it’s a blog called The Newlywed Game and I can’t even blog about my 1st anniversary??? One sentence version: this has been the most incredible year of my life. Done) but the real estate search has taken over all my spare time, some work time and sleeping time. I now stalk Redfin for a living.
It’s not as though we are in a big hurry to move or close on a house, I just have this need not to miss THE house because I didn’t look hard enough. Case in point: I recently hunted out a house on a Thursday when it came on the market, by the time we saw it on Saturday, it was gone. And it was the first place that felt like it could have been home and it was slightly heartbreaking. I’m learning that even after all the work to find THE house (yes it does have to be in caps, thank you very much), the journey is just beginning: offers, money, inspectors and it’s all very overwhelming and surreal. And guess what? Talking about money is fun. Oh wait, no it’s not. It’s really, really not.
And thinking about spending THAT much money, you had better hope you like the darn house. And then we’re back where we started, trying to find THE house. Back to my stalker tendencies, I do promise to be more cheery next time (when we GET THE house!)
It’s not as though we are in a big hurry to move or close on a house, I just have this need not to miss THE house because I didn’t look hard enough. Case in point: I recently hunted out a house on a Thursday when it came on the market, by the time we saw it on Saturday, it was gone. And it was the first place that felt like it could have been home and it was slightly heartbreaking. I’m learning that even after all the work to find THE house (yes it does have to be in caps, thank you very much), the journey is just beginning: offers, money, inspectors and it’s all very overwhelming and surreal. And guess what? Talking about money is fun. Oh wait, no it’s not. It’s really, really not.
And thinking about spending THAT much money, you had better hope you like the darn house. And then we’re back where we started, trying to find THE house. Back to my stalker tendencies, I do promise to be more cheery next time (when we GET THE house!)
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