My day started off with taking my 16 year old to school. Believe it or not, she has no desire to learn to drive. She feels like it is too much responsibility for her right now. It's kinda the opposite of most boys and girls her age but we are alright with it, as long as she is driving before college. I'm not getting up and driving her to her college classes. I'm going to retire my chauffeur's license at that time! Yes!!! Her last day of school this year is May 21st and we are looking forward to our summer break.
Saturday, my daughter had her sweet 16 party for family and her special friends. We had so much fun. It was deliciously catered and we had a chocolate fountain (graciously lent to us by dear friends), and lots and lots of candy. So her party was really sweet! We can't keep the candy around though, as it doesn't go well with our Weight Watchers plan! I'm going to send that to work with hubby to share with his co-workers. Her ice cream cake (what remains of it) is hidden away in the freezer in the garage. I'm sure it will make a reappearance further down the road, maybe when my nephews are visiting. Yes, that's a great idea!
Now for some exciting news...we have bought a new home! We don't have the closing date and are still finalizing things but we are so excited to find the home in the size we want, style we want, and area we want. For the last 3 years or so, my dear hubby has been commuting an hour to work and an hour home. That's on top of a 12 hour shift! That makes for a very long and tiring day for him. So we knew a move closer to work had to happen. For some of this time, he has stayed at his aunt's lakehouse with our four cats which put him only 30 minutes from work. The location of our new house will shave 40-50 minutes off his driving everyday. We couldn't be happier.
Our home went up for sale at the end of August, just when the peak selling time was dying down and we had showings throughout the winter and a couple of low ball offers. We didn't bite. We lowered the price twice and had several open houses. We got good feedback from viewers too. But, when the six month contract expired, we began thinking about how we can get the home we want before this one sells and we did some investigating into equity and bridge loans. Because, during that six month period our home was for sale, we saw three homes we would have liked to own sell to someone else. So, we got a bridge loan and began the search so we can move and get hubby closer to work, get our cats back living with us, and then relist our home while the market is hot. Several homes in my subdivision sold very quickly this spring and we are praying ours will do the same. I also think our home will show better when it is empty and we don't have to keep it looking good for potential viewers every day. You never know when an agent may call and want to see your house. It's hard work to keep it picked up and all the beds made and the bathrooms and kitchen immaculate. It's also been hard to be away from my pets. And it's hard on the hubby who works day and night shifts.
I very excited about the new house and I will post pictures as soon as I can. It will be a work in progress for a while as we have to move everything from our existing home and empty three, yes, I said three, storage units. Two of those units are small ones. We donated and gave away a lot of stuff and we still needed all that storage to make our house look presentable. Whew, we have a lot of stuff. Too much stuff. I am sure as we empty the storage units we will downsize even more. My nephews will come in handy to help us unload the storage unit and do some painting as well. They're handy like that.
So, stay tuned for more news of our move and sale of our home. Exciting things are happening around here. My summer will be very busy unboxing and decorating my new home. I'll bring you along too.
Thank you for stopping by Chaos Cottage. Come back again.
Pam
