I haven’t written; I’ve hardly visited anyone; I’ve got
writing group stuff I need to read. I
feel the kind of guilt you feel like when you sign up for one of those pen pal
programs in elementary school and your pen pal from a distant land writes immediately, and
you write them back and you promise to send a picture, and you actually really
like your pen pal but still… you never write them again (even though they
faithfully wrote a few letters before giving up). It’s that guilt that kind of lingers in the
back of your head while you’re eating ice cream. You’re enjoying yourself too much to get up
but vaguely you wonder, did I feed the cat like mom told me to? Kid-guilty, man.
Except… except… we’ve been REALLY busy!
time Keen and I are buying a house, this will be the first time that we’re
SELLING one. This last week has been
spent packing up as much non-essential household goods as possible to make the
house show-worthy. And… we’ve got a lot
of crap. I think more than the usual
amount of stuff that people collect. (But, you know, not at Clean Sweep
levels or anything.) Lots of books, CDs,
breakables, electronic toys and appliances, not to mention Chance’s things. We’ve been in a small house with very few
closets for a few years and we are overflowing.
Anyway. We’re aiming
for next weekend for our first open house. It’s such a fine line between living in a house and staging it to show…
the vintage teacups stay out, the Futurama
DVDs get packed away. Tomorrow the
cleaners come. After that touch-up paint
begins.
I’m pooped. I’m not even sure what the date is. I don’t even think I’m within a three-day
window guess of the date. Right at this
moment I could use both a cup of tea and Bender’s witticisms, thanks.
This week should be better. I hope. (I promise not to be so consumed
I give you a play-by-play of our moving.)
Read you soon. – wg
How much time do you get to sign and buy a house in the States? In France it is three months minimum what with all the paperwork and nonsense that have to go through notaries and all that.
I remember when we were buying and selling our house at the same time. Hooboy… what an insane moment.
Oh I hated all the ‘hiding’ stuff when we were selling! Especially when I really needed some of it and couldn’t remember where I’d hidden it out. Out of sight, out of mind. LOL
I don’t envy you any of this! Are you going to have to rent storage in order to get the extra stuff out of the house during “show” times? I hope not!
We were lucky in that we sold our house “as-is” so we didn’t have to make it look pretty. The first person who walked through our door bought it at full price. I really don’t know how we got so lucky. I still shake my head in disbelief whenever I think about it.
Our escrow agreement was to close in a month, however we also gave the seller a short rent-back option if he needs more time. So we should be looking at moving in around mid-April or a little after. In general, buying a house here takes about a month with 1-2 weeks for paper work, but it depends on the buyer/seller and how the financing goes. The other buyer for this house (who backed out) had specified a 2-3 week escrow which is incredibly fast! Other times, I’ve seen houses take a couple of months to work out all the details.
Things have been extra crazy because it’s tax season here in the States and Keen is a CPA. We’ve all been a little cranky and stressed!
We won’t have to rent storage but I don’t think anyone will be able to walk in the garage after this. It’s already 3/4s full of boxes.
Packing is a major headache. But just think of the unpacking and settling into your new home! Makes it all worthwhile.
Don’t feel bad about the lack of blogging. I’m going through the same thing. There’s barely any time to write for myself anymore besides read/comment on anyone else’s
I know the feeling of being a bad blogger. Don’t worry about it. There is this weird thing called life that sometimes gets in the way.
All I can say is good luck, and “stay on target” in that weird way the pilot at the end of Star Wars did. It’ll be over soon (like…I don’t know…three months) and we’ll be waiting when you come back.
Hey, life happens. Good luck!!
I totally understand the guilt – hits us all – belated congrats on the house!