Monday, April 9, 2012

Time Flies....

When you move!

Yes, it's been a couple of months since I've been here (hang head, look at the ground sheepishly, and kick the ground with one foot) but I think I have a pretty good reason.... WE MOVED!

As you may remember, the Mr. and I have been trying to sell our home for MONTHS.  (if you are interested, you can go here and read the details in this post).  Surprisingly, shortly after writing the aforementioned post, we received an offer on our house.  Please note, the offer was not wonderful, but it was an OFFER and it allowed us to pretty much walk away from our beautiful house (seriously, our house was beautiful- especially now that I've seen what other houses look like!), so we decided that the moment had come and we took it!  Then... it dawned on us that we now had to find someplace to live- and fast.  We had 6 weeks to locate, inspect, purchase and move into a new home (as the Mr. was very clear that the moving thing was going to happen EXACTLY one time, no more, no less). 

We lucked out (or so we thought at the time) in locating a house in EXACTLY the neighborhood that we wanted, in EXACTLY the price range that we wanted, with EXACTLY the square footage that we wanted.  It EXACTLY did not have the pool that we desired, but we figured that we could put a pool in later if we so desired.  We made an offer.  And they accepted.  On Valentine's Day.  (How romantic!) 

What we didn't factor in this equation was the fact that we were buying a house from.... how can I say this... folks who maybe weren't the most stable folks to walk the face of the planet.  Which then resulted in me not being one of the most stable folks to walk the planet.

Anyway.... after many tears, stressed phone calls to the realtor (who was just awesome by the way), a  threatened phone call to the Maricopa County sheriff's office... the house was ours!  Yep.  The house was ours.  With it's lovely aroma (still not sure what the smell was all about, but I am making progress in eliminating it), it's broken garbage disposal, broken dishwasher, termites, disgusting carpet... and yeah, probably some more stuff that I still don't know about.  It was ours.

Despite all of it's issues, the house is 3 minutes from the kids' school.  4 minutes from my work.  In a lovely neighborhood, on a great street with nice neighbors.  It has a beautiful backyard with grass that the Girly Girl just loves (as does her guinea pig).  And the bones of the house are good.  So we are taking it one day at a time, one issue at a time.  Before you know it, it will be ours.  It will look (and smell) as beautiful as our last house.  I just need to hang on and be patient. 

And as my many friends have reminded me... it isn't the walls and the carpet and the 'stuff' that makes a home, it is the family that makes the home.  And we are definitely going to make a home here. 
We started that this weekend by celebrating our first holiday here.  Easter was amazing.  Different.  No photos of Girly Girl and Little Man in front of the lemon tree or by the fountain, not as many hiding spots for the Easter eggs, but still lots of love and fun and joy.  And that is what it is all about.

(And, one final note... ALWAYS buy the home warranty.  Ours has already paid for itself!) 

I promise to be around a bit more now that we are moved in (not settled by any means, but at least we are moved in!)

Happy Monday.
C