We have so much going on in our life right now and have for the past 3 weeks but I didn’t want to share it with everybody until we knew it was going to be a “Done Deal.” We are MOVING!! Seems so strange to even type it. About a month ago the boys started getting really mobile and one evening after I had chased them all over the house trying to keep them out of everything and I thought to myself we need more room…..I sat down at the computer after I put the boys to bed and started looking at houses, I didn’t even mention it to Greg because I just was “looking”. I found this one house that I liked so I loaded up the boys the next day and we went for a drive. It was awesome so that night I told Greg that I had kind of been “looking” at houses. Greg’s response was “Are we looking or are we moving?” I said “just looking right now”. He came home that weekend and I took him by that house and he liked it so we scheduled an appointment. We went and looked at it twice that weekend but it had some issues that we had to check into and after making a few phone calls it was apparent that that was not the house for us. For some reason the movie “The Money Pit” kept coming to mind and that is never a good sign. So I continued to “look”
So what about our land we were going to build on???? We will still build at some point but I don’t want to live in the middle of nowhere with just the boys and me. I want Greg there. We will wait until he is able to be home more and enjoy it with us. I don’t want to have coffee on the side porch or watch the storms come in by myself. I want to do it together like we planned when we bought it.
So 3 weeks ago I was looking on the internet at homes and I came across another one. I looked at pictures and read about it and looked at the pictures again and just loved it. I could see us living there. That next morning we got up and took the boys for a walk to look at it, it is in our same neighborhood. We both liked it so I called the realtor to see if we could look at it that day because Greg would be leaving the next day for the week. The lady selling it had company in so we were not able to see it until Wednesday which meant I would have to look at it by myself and then if I liked it then Greg would have to look at it later. I called Lesa to see if she would want to look and hold a boy. So that Wednesday Lesa and I went to look. I no more than stepped in the door and just fell in love with it. I asked the realtor why they were selling and she said the lady was looking to downsize. I said “like downsize to a 1650 square ft. home” she said “maybe” I do not know who built our home but I am almost positive that we had the same builder. I just knew by looking at her house that she would love ours. When I left there I called Greg and said “We are moving!” he said “you liked it?” I said “it is perfect!” Only kidding of course, Greg had not even seen it. I set up an appointment for the realtor to view our house the next day to see if it was something her client would want. I came home and cleaned like a mad woman. My dad came over and did little odds and end things that we had not had time to get to in the little amount of time that Greg is home. Thanks Dad!! That afternoon she looked at it and she scheduled an appointment for the next day to show her client. While she was looking at our house I scheduled to go back to look at hers with Greg but Greg ended up not getting to come home until Saturday so Aunt Tara came to look and hold a boy with me. I loved it even more the 2nd time. I could just see the potential. I was so anxious for Greg to see it, of course I had already redecorated and placed our furniture in it and was so excited for him to see my plans. When Tara and I got back to our house we put pen and paper to everything that needed to be done, which is everything….. So much to think about. This house was built in 1983 and it is all original. Original carpet, tile, wallpaper, light fixtures etc. so it needs a lot of updating. Talk about a heart attack when you write it all down and start calculating everything but, if you know me well you know that that is what I love to do, decorate and bargain shop. They had an Open House scheduled for Sunday so Greg and I just planned for him to see it then. I was so nervous that somebody else was going to buy it before Greg could even see it. I called Greg that night after we looked at it again and I said I just know this is it, what if somebody makes an offer before you get home? He said “if you like it that much and you think it’s perfect make an offer” Really? I couldn’t do that though, I wanted Greg to see it first to make sure he liked it too but that was awfully nice. That Sunday Greg and I went to look, there were so many people there which made me really antsy. What if someone else saw all of its potential??? When we left there the realtor told us that her client liked our house too and we told her we would be in touch. (I already knew that she must have been thinking about it because I was walking thru the kitchen on Saturday and I saw her driving by really slow and looking, I got really excited) Greg and I talked about everything that night. I did some major research, number crunching and calculating of the cost of updating this house for a couple of days. On Thursday I called and made on offer for her house and then quoted her the price on our house to trade. On Friday she scheduled to come look at our house again and bring some people with her. Saturday she looked at our house again. Sunday she countered and Sunday evening we closed the deal. 2 weeks to the day that we had just walked by and “looked” at the house.
Now the crazy part……..We are not going to close on our houses until Dec. 30th that way we can all enjoy the holidays and slowly start packing everything up. On that day we will move out of our house and she will move in and she will move out of her house and we will move all of our stuff to storage and the garage of that house. We will have all of the contractors come in and they will scrape the ceilings, retexture them, pull the paneling off of the walls, retexture the entire house, pull the carpet out and have hardwoods put in, bust out all of the tile and have new put in, tear out the bathtub and shower in the master bath and have it completely redone, replace windows, paint the entire house inside and out, put in new lights, sinks, faucets, appliances and granite and I am sure a million other things before it is all said and done all in about a 2 week time period (fingers crossed). Obviously we can not have the boys living in all of that construction because one thing for sure I can count on is them eating who knows what so me and the boys are going to live with Aunt Tara for that time period. Tara leaves for work at 6:45 and doesn’t get home until around 6 so it is the best place for me and the boys to be able to keep some kind of schedule while all of this is going on. We can’t forget about our other babies “the dogs” so Greg will be living with them through the demolition at that house if he is home and not working. We know they’re dogs but they are not use to sleeping outside and especially in the middle of winter so Greg will stay there so that they can come in to sleep. The boys will be 1 so we would be trying to break them from a bottle, their pacifiers and switch them from formula to milk but honestly I think we will just wait for all of that until we are all moved and settled in. Our biggest concern is them so we want to make this as easy as we can on them. Once the major stuff is done the boys and I will move in. Greg and I are both pretty handy but the major stuff we will have done and then we can do a little at a time as we have time to do it. The last thing I want is to feel like we are neglecting the boys. I do not want to wake up one day and have this awesome redone house and wonder how our boys got so big all of the sudden so we will take the little things slow.
I am sad about selling our house. This is the only place I have ever lived since I moved to Amarillo 9 years ago. I put a lot of work into this house and after Greg and I got married we put even more into it but we have just outgrown it.
When looking for a house there were three things that were important to me.
- 1) I wanted a play room for the boys, a room that was only theirs that everything in it was safe and they could play with whatever they wanted to
- 2) I wanted a room for Greg to have all of his hunting stuff in. I wanted him to be able to have his elk and deer hanging in the house and not in the garage and
- 3) more space
We were able to find the perfect house. The boys will have the coolest playroom, Greg will have an awesome “Man Cave” which he says that no girls are allowed…..we will see about that….. and we will have 2,000 more square feet than we do now so we should have plenty of room.
Since we signed the contract I have been so busy. This was a whirlwind of a week. Greg was in Tahoka for the week. Monday we signed contracts before he left. Tuesday the boys and I went to the granite and flooring store to pick everything out and set up measuring appointments. That night after I put the boys to bed I got everything cleaned and ready for the inspector to inspect our house at 8:30. I carried all of the boys and dogs stuff out to the garage that morning so that he would not have to work around that. I got the boys up at 8 and got them dressed and fed and we were out the door at 8:25. We went to the new house where we met the granite measurer, the Scottco guy, the radon guy, the window guy, the flooring guy, the termite guy and our contractor. In 2 and a half hours we had it all done. Now we are just waiting for the bids. The boys were so good. They just played and of course needed to meet and talk to all of the new people. I loaded them up after we met everyone and came home to lock the dogs up so that the inspector could get in the back yard. I fed the boys, changed their diapers and had them down for a nap by 12:30. They were pooped. The inspector left our house and went straight to the new house to inspect it that afternoon. When the boys woke up from their nap I fed them and we loaded up to go back to the new house to meet the inspector and talk about everything he had found. We got home at 6:30 and we were all 3 exhausted. What a day…….I fed the boys, changed them and they were out in 2 seconds that night.
Thursday the boys and I never left the house except to take 2 walks. It had been a crazy few days and I know they were tired of going. I had the termite inspection and Scottco guy at our house that afternoon but that was it.
Friday we woke up to snow. Brrrrrrrr. The boys and I stayed in all day. While the boys napped I started looking at house ideas online and in magazines. This kind of stuff makes me so happy!! I just love decorating! That afternoon Tara came over and we cooked all of our meals for the next week. It was another nice relaxing day.
Last night Greg finally got to come home. We were able to sit down and talk about the inspections and make our list of things that we wanted done. This afternoon we met with our realtor and signed all of the final paperwork.
I have 6 weeks to organize and pack everything. I am so glad that I will have some time to do that. Everybody that knows me well knows that I have to have everything planned so that it will all go a certain way. (I can’t help it that is just the way I am…..) We will have movers come in and move us so that that is one less thing we will have to worry about.
So there you have it. We have officially lost our minds. You know everybody wondered how long it would take with twins so now I can say 10 and a half months.. He! He!!
