Serenity

We are scheduled to close on our home in June, so this weekend, we began the process of packing up our things in our rental. Since we are breaking our lease, it's really important for us to have the landlord find a replacement renter as soon as possible. That means that the house needs to be show ready if there is someone that wants to view it.

Since we moved into this home, we have not felt settled. It started with the fact that the house wasn't clean when we arrived to Atlanta. We appreciate the landlord's attempt at making the house presentable, but having not seen the property in person, it was hard to tell just how badly the last tenants had cared for it, until I found myself steaming the floor around the kitchen cabinets until 3am. It was disgusting.

The prior tenants were four single men who were not in the least bit domestic. The house was grimy, the paint was chipping, and the house just smelled. Knowing that the furniture was arriving the next day, I really really wanted to get the house clean. I cried for three days. And then I cried for three more months. Because no matter what I did, the house still just feels gross. It's in serious need of a remodel at this point. Fresh floors, fresh paint, fresh everything.

Originally, we intended to live here for a few years to get to know the area and to keep our child in the school district we chose. Within a month, we knew we had made a grave mistake with the school and needed to change. It felt like every choice we made from the house to school felt wrong. The only two things that felt right were our choice to move Atlanta and my husband's job.

All of this to say, we have been organizing and packing to have the rental ready, but we have also been doing it to ensure our move to the new house is a smooth transition. We really want a smooth transition. We are trying to pack as much as possible, while still being able to have enough out to live for the next 6 weeks. We did this for our two home sales in the past, but we realized when we were making those moves that we still could have packed so much more and avoided less chaos by doing so.

This weekend, we tackled the dining room, the den, the master bedroom, and our son's room. I can't even begin to express how much better I feel already. My son's room alone felt like the Bermuda triangle! When his room was finished, I laid on his bed and just reveled in its cleanliness and organization.

This morning when waking up, getting the whole family out the door just felt easier! And I tell myself this every time we stage a home. We need to live like this on a daily basis. People say that it's not possible, but honestly, we did it for six months when we sold our first home, and it was easy. It made life easy. It made me a calmer, less stressful person, which in turn made my family less stressed.

So...my husband informed me this weekend that he's willing to make organization our top investment when we first move in, and I could marry him all over just for that small statement alone.

Finding Home

When we left Denver, almost three years ago, we moved into a home we felt rushed to buy in Baltimore. It was the best option for us at the time, but it never was a home I was excited about. Forgive me for how ungrateful that sounds. I know that owning a home at all is a huge blessing, and for that, I was very grateful.

Not only was Baltimore completely different than Denver (in every way), the life changes and experiences that happened there were tumultuous at best. While we living our lives in that home for two years, we had my mother move in with us (a blessing), my brother and wife move in (challenging), and my father become very ill and pass away. Needless to say, if I had to use two or three words to describe my time in Baltimore, it would be sacrifice, family, and loss.

By the time my dad died, my husband and I were finished with living in Baltimore. We just wanted out, no matter where we ended up. So we began to look for a job for my husband outside of MD, and prayed that something would come up.

After several months, my husband interviewed for another university in GA, which would provide an opportunity for him to continue to work for his boss at the university in MD. And we were so grateful when he won the position. So grateful.

In October, we packed our things and moved to the south with some reservations about being away from four seasons and being further away from family on both sides, but we knew this was the right thing for us.

When we arrived, we were hopeful because we had found a school that we thought would be a great fit for our child. As a public school, it claimed to offer the same curriculum that other private schools offered and that was made available to us at his charter school in Baltimore. We were thrilled that we could be somewhere that we could get that kind of education for free.

But after a month or two, we realized that we had a made a big mistake. The curriculum only scarcely resembled the one he had in Baltimore, our child was unhappy, and we were stuck in a lease that couldn't afford us the opportunity to change his situation.

Over the course of a few weeks, we decided to search for a house, break our lease, and apply for a school that would be a good fit for our child. It's been a nail biting process deciding where to live, waiting for a response for our application, and trying to make sure that we make wise decisions both financially and for our family as a whole. It has also had its challenges with 3 offers, 2 rejections, another offer between an inspection on the original house we wanted with a firm answer that the first house really wasn't the right house no matter how hard we tried to fit a square peg into a round hole.

We are thrilled to say that we have found a house! Much farther than I expected to live, yet close enough that it isn't too far from where we want to be, and the house is one about which we are excited, because it not only gives us the room we need for my mother to live with us as she gets older and room for guests to visit, but would provide a large back yard for our family to enjoy, and gives us the opportunity to be wise financially (this house is even less expensive than the one we owned in Baltimore and the taxes are much lower too).

Yesterday was our inspection, which went so unbelievably well, I'm still pinching myself to see if I'm in a dream. We close in June, and we wish we could just be there now. That feeling is a feeling we haven't felt since buying our first house in Denver, which is confirmation for us that we are making the right and best decision for us right now.

I am so thankful that after so many years of being stretched and pulled and worn thin, we are seeing a bright and sunny path to follow. And while we understand that life isn't always meant to be easy, we are so grateful for the rest we feel like we can enjoy for now. I am so grateful that we are finally feeling at home.

Finally!

For the last 3+ years, I have been trying to remember my password for this site! And the email I had set up for it was lost because I have a horrible memory and I stopped using the hosting service that maintained my original site, and while I still owned the domain, my husband and I were always busy or not together whenever I would remember that I needed to set up my email for the original domain with our current hosting service, and because of some hackers, we had to change the hosting service login. AND, whenever I tried to get Google to get me through the password problem, I would run into roadblocks because I coudn't remember the exact date, time, what I was wearing, and where I was sitting information to retrieve my account. *big breath*

Did you get all of that?! Phew!

My dear husband set up my email account yesterday, and I was finally able to retrieve and reset my password, and I couldn't be happier!

Thankfully, there just wasn't much creative to post about for those few years due to some moves and family changes and such. But! I am so excited because I can finally start blogging again about all of those wonderful, creative things, and the best part is we are moving into a new house in a new city and there will be tons to do!

For now, I'll tell you, we are in the Atlanta area. We have been here for six months. And we have been busily searching for a home, which we found and went under contract. We close in June, barring no crazy things found in the inspection this coming Tuesday, and my husband and I already wish we were there! We just want to feel settled.

So hang in there with us. I can post a picture of our new beauty when we close.