Bye Bye Money

After we cleaned house, it was time to phone the realtor. He was honest with us and told us the things we needed to fix up around the home in order to have it sell easier. Luckily these were things I had already anticipated. They were things we were already planning on doing, if we had decided to stay in this house. Unhappily, it's all something that has to be fixed at once. Kent said it best, "Now we've learned. Now we know that repairs are not so hard to make so we should just go ahead and schedule them". I've said to a few people now that I could afford to take a very cozy vacation on the money we're putting into repairs on the house. The response is always "Well, at least you'll be getting it back." I'm trying to stay positive and believe this, but it's still pretty hard to see your savings go down on something that you can't really personally enjoy. Kent is 100% right, now we have learned. I would much rather spend money on repairs when I can enjoy the outcome to the fullest. But, that's the great thing about doing things in life, especially uncomfortable/new things. We learned so much buying this house. We've learned a lot living in it, and now that we're selling it, we're continuing to learn. That's it for now. Next post will feature more positive news.

"This House Is Clean"

Right now, our house is feeling well and truly exorcised.

Yesterday was my first experience in hiring a professional cleaning crew.  A team of about five ladies showed up and tackled the worst of the worst and in about an hour's time. That kind of speed is incredible, and my hat is off to them.

This week it's the "finishing touches"- little details that were not as important a goal than making sure the house was gutted, arranged and cleaned. Now I get to focus on the details of deep organization, gardening and showing off the house to the best of its ability.

Enjoy progress pics and a slide show here below. As a small warning, I've learned how to use the panorama feature on my phone.

Letting Go

Today marks the end to a difficult week. Both Kent and I had to say goodbye to some truly wonderful co-workers. No cliche says it better than to mark this as "an end of an era".  

The next week is something that I've both been anxious to start and dreading for it to begin. This next week, I dedicate myself to cleaning my house and  getting it ready for the market. Unfortunately both Kent and I have learned that instead of working from home this next week, he's heading out of state to spend a week at his employer's California office. This means I will not have a week with my best helper to get the house ready. 

I will have to do it solo, but it is not something I mind so much. I know that I will hit my moment of 'zen' and be one with the windex. 

And the house needs  to be cleaned this week before anything else can proceed. To sell, you need to clean and repair your home, and then "stage" it. A big part of it is "staging" the house to show off its most attractive qualities. 

Thankfully some friends and family, are helping me empty my house: 

And, what won't empty my house, We'll have to donate:

I'm sure this post seems like it is about loss. Jobs, Possessions, Home. Right now I'm not feeling any loss. Letting things go feels like letting things heal, especially when trying to recover from such an abrupt change to our lives.

As I look around at everything that has to be done, I'm feeling a sense of both anxiety and relief.  Anxiety for the future. There is so much to be done and not too much time to do it in. Relief, because having a tidy, clean house is always something I will enjoy no matter where we end up.

First Expedition Out

     This weekend has been a very busy one for us. Friday after work, Kent and I packed an overnight bag and headed South to Austin. The drive was a remarkable learning experience about the state of Highway 35 this side of 635. Recent weather has caused the road to severely deteriorate.
     As we played Frogger with every other car on the road, we educated ourselves on how potholes form. Living this far South, it's not something I had ever bothered to think about before Snowpocalypse  2015. Other than learning about potholes, we received a sound education as to the lemming-like state of mind of the other drivers on I35. I've never experienced so many people driving like they've just completed their last will and testament,  but I guess when your time is up you pack up your 4x4 and hit I35S.
     Luckily for us, we made it to our destination with no damage to our persons or Kent's car. After passing out and waking up again, we hit the town with a mission. Or at least, I did, and Kent valiantly put up with my turning my nose up at the hotel's continental breakfast. Instead, we went to The Round Rock Cafe and both ordered a breakfast sandwich on a fresh sourdough bun. Breakfast was really delicious, and anyone who knows us knows that we're big breakfast fans and like finding neat places to eat. If you're ever in Round Rock in the morning, try it out.

....

     In between bites, Kent and I planned our apartment hunting strategy. I have to say a big kudos to people who have been through selling one house and buying a new house at the same time. We decided we couldn't do it. It might have been manageable if we also weren't handling a job change over as well, if we were more familiar with the area, etc. etc.
     As it is, we decided that the best thing to do was locate temporary housing while we sold our home in DFW and learned more about the Austin area. I can't recall a more vigorous hunt for a place to live, but we were able to narrow our sites down to 4 locations that were suitable on a short term basis.
     Two Locations were within walking distance to Kent's new proposed job site. The other two were only 7 short minutes away from the proposed job site and within walking distance to a branch of the Austin Public Library.

     Our strategy was one of both "work" and "play", which I think won the day in the end. This move will bring us the furthest from our safety net that we've both ever been. It's a little intimidating and a little thrilling at the same time. After we were totally fed up with touring empty living spaces, we decided to find things that excited us about our impending move.  We hope you enjoy the following slideshow of our visit down. Thanks for reading!