DON'T MOVE
Updated: Jul 26, 2022
Never, never sell your house!
Dennis and I made the decision to move where my daughter will be teaching. In order to move we have to sell our house. It's been a while since we have had this arduous experience.
May 3rd
Decision made. The selling process begins. I am not a young woman and have had many life experiences, this particular experience may kill me, staging the house, cleaning the house like we don't actually live here, picking every weed in the lawn, cleaning the garage, washing every window and fixing every nail hole. As I was finishing up I looked around and asked myself how in the heck could I have lived here past nine years? We should just burn it down. Ok maybe it's not
that bad, but oh the work! And now there is nowhere to drop the junk off. All of the secondhand stores are closed as well. Maybe if I gift wrapped it and set it on the driveway someone would pick it up?
I had been working on organizing my sewing room, or “Craft Room” as our agent called it, for days (I hate it when people call quilting a craft). She told me that even though it was filled she thought she could sell the house. Are you kidding me? I had been purging fabric and any other item I could think of for weeks and she tells me people will just have to accept all of the "mess". It’s not mess lady. It is my creative space!
When she asked me to take the quilt down that was hanging in the dining room I was crushed. Really? You want this masterpiece down? I thought it would sell the house. I was pleased to find I couldn't take it down as we had hung it with some pretty hefty nails and it looked bad underneath. So there. Victory!
May 20th
I have a pretty large bladder so I can usually wait most people out. This week, not the case. As we all know, currently there are no restaurants, coffee shops, bars or bathrooms open anywhere. That means Dennis and I spend hours in the car driving around aimlessly as strangers go through my house and belongings. I had never experienced a porta-poddy until now, but nature called and there was nowhere else to go. I won’t go into detail, it was a learning experience, but I found it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be. Suffice it to say I had plenty of wet wipes with me.
After our tenth showing in 3 days Dennis and I had to beg our son and his family to just let us come and sit in their back yard. I can't stand being in the car anymore. Hours upon hours of hanging out and driving around. I was at least able to wave to my grandchildren through the window.
May 24
We get an offer.
We accepted an offer and thought we were done. Fifteen people showed up for the inspection. Do you think they found something they didn't like, of course they did! Fifteen people can get pretty nitpicky.
May 26 We accept a second offer - new people
Ok so we found a buyer. Yes, we had to give in and give them lots of money but I got the house I wanted.
I am beginning to hate the word " Contingent". It means whether I am selling or buying another house I am the person who must worry. Of course, this time an inspector finds issues with the sewer connection in our house. After throwing more money at it we have a deal. In the meantime two more offers come in for the house we are trying to purchase. I get to hold my breath for three more days till we have a bonafide offer This is some sort of crazy hell that someone figured they would put me through. In the end all is settled and the house we are purchasing is now considered good. We will finalize July 10th. I just aged another 10 years.
June 6
I am now in the process of packing. I am one of those that needs to act quickly. So, I have been mostly packed for the last three weeks. That means every time I need something it is in some labeled box. I realize that I am fairly good at labeling but should have listed every item in each box because it is always the last box I look in that I find what I need. I have now invested in two years of packing tape. Honest, one can open the same box a lot of times.
Happiness: the secondhand store has opened again! No gift wrapping for me!
I have met a lot of interesting people as I sell most everything I own on Facebook. I am now pretty good at dealing with 20 people at a time to sell 10 items. My phone is dinging off the hook with “Is this still available?” I have strangers dropping by at all times of the day and some of the night wondering through my house saying “ Would you sell that too? No, I am not selling you original paintings that I have collected for the past 20 years for $20.” I don’t like dickering and I’m not that good of negotiator. So, ask me once to lower the price but after that I find I have very close ties to my possessions. Really, all that negotiating just makes me want to charge more. Honest, I could write a book. Maybe a class? No, just get rid of the stuff and forget the teaching part.
June 18
With most of my possessions sold I am now in the waiting stage. I have twenty-two days before I move. I can’t do any longarm quilting as I had to take down the machine for the move. I quilted about half of my Kaffe Fasset quilt and realized I had stretched the borders and it was uneven. I was in a hurry when I pieced that quilt and as I was quilting it it was pretty obvious that I had screwed it up. There are twenty-one borders in the quilt. I love dense quilting so I planned on each border to be a different pattern heavily quilted. I am now ripping out and re-piecing the entire kingsize quilt. I started in the center and I have removed all of the stitching, ripped out fourteen of the twenty-one borders and re-pieced the quilt. It looks so much better but my hands are killing me. I will be happier with the results and be able to show it to people. Just seven more borders to remove and I can begin again. My lesson for you -
PATIENCE!
AND
THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO TAKE A SHORT CUT.
My grand children are all coming to help move us! I am so looking forward to being with all of them. It feels like it has been forever since I have seen them. Yes, we will all wear our masks and try to keep our distance but even to be around them is a blessing.
I will post again once we are in the new house and I have a sewing room.
One thing I know for sure:
Come hell or high water. I AM NOT MOVING AGAIN!
Please stay safe and stay sewing!
I give you my Irish goodbye.
Rita
You may not know this, but my husband is a writer. He special talent is short stories. We just found out his next book, American Lullaby and Other Stories, will come out next April. We are both pleased. I thought I would share one of his most recent stories. I hope you enjoy Penny Loafers by my husband, Dennis Nau.
Penny Loafers
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RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Honey Mustard Dressing
I like making my own dressings. They always taste so good. This is one of my favorites.
1 ½ c. mayonnaise ¼ c. honey
½ c. Dijon mustard ½ c. orange juie
Combine mayonnaise, mustard, honey and orange juice. Mix together with beaters until smooth.
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. -Mother Teresa