Posts (page 2)
They are many for whom patience is a virtue - I am not one of them.
I am always in a rush. Once I make up my mind about something, I move at light speed to make it happen. All the projects around this home were like that - with the exception of the back landscaping which took 9 months due to the rains coming before I could complete it last season.
So deciding I want to move to Ohio has put me in overdrive to sell my CA home.
It started in June when I was in Ohio and said - NOW, I want to sell my home NOW. Followed by a month of prep. We had to get rid of ALL our clutter - in every closet, every room, attic, garage, yard - all of it had to go, be sorted, packed or given way. They process was painful in that it took so darn long. Then we worked on the house. We replaced all the outlets and switches, we rewired where needed, we replaces all the faucets, ditto the disposal and the dishwasher AND all the door handles. We replaced carpet in the bedrooms and halls. We tore up all the carpet ourselves in the living room, office and front hall and had it all refinished (beautiful). Ben replaced molding along the floors and put up folding closet doors on 3 closets. He put up new lighting. We had the entire house, inside and out painted. We had the entire house, inside and out professionally cleaned. We put 1/3 of our "stuff" into storage. We clean every day and do yard work every day to keep this home ready to show at a moment's notice. Well, an hour's notice as we have to get out with the dogs.
June, July, August, Sept.... with my patience being almost nonexistent has become a pattern not unlike the movie "Groundhog day" where every morning we wake to what feels like the same day we had before. Only difference - we had to drop the price of the house. We dropped it, got a ton of interest, but no offers.
Our home is loved by all who see it. Seriously, we've heard over and over "I LOVE THIS HOUSE!" then the but's start in. But I'm not ready to buy right now. But I'm wanting to make sure this is a good deal. (It was worth $1100,000 last summer. It is a GREAT deal at $965K.) But I'm not sure if we can qualify. But I'm convinced the sounds of the city are a bother. But I'm just afraid... of something they have in their mind I can't know.
What I know is that I when I bought this house, it was the only house in the neighborhood I could afford that had 4 bedrooms. It was a horrible color. It was dark. The windows were single pane and it was freezing in the winter. The backyard had a fence down the center of it making it 2 back yards and what yard there was back there was either dirt and weeds or ivy. The fences on ALL sides were rotten and falling down. The patio doors in the master bedroom as well as the one in the hall would not close tightly and wind blew in. Those doors also would not LOCK. This home was not secure. The interior colors were PINK AND GREY. The floors were wood, but white washed and in horrible shape. The chimney had been damaged and needed to be rebuilt. The water heater needed to be replaced. The front yard was barely better than the back and was completely overgrown in spots to the point you could not get to the back of the house along the side of the house. It was - a - mess.
We spent what money we had, as we had it to fix this home. Since then we've replaced everything that needed it - upgraded the kitchen , added skylights (10) etc etc etc. It is what it is NOW because of all we've done to it. We have put hundreds of thousands of dollars into this home.
So I find myself wondering why if it's LOVED because of all we've done to it that no one has stepped up to the plate and put their money down. Are they ALL waiting for someone else to do it first? Many buyers have been back multiple times! Many have pulled all the disclosures! One couple sent their uncle to come look at the ceiling structure for a possible remodel UP. The uncle said they "were putting an offer on the house." Really? where is it?
I want to sell this house.
If there was ANYTHING I could do make this happen NOW I would.
Being unable to do anything is driving Deb nuts.
And as my ex loves to say "that's not a drive, that's a short putt!"
The light is growing brighter outside the bedroom windows and the skylight is glowing. The bedroom is whisper quiet. the new glass doors keep the outside sounds outside. I slip out of bed and smile as my feet touch the soft new carpet. I I pad down the hall - under 2 more glowing skylights that light the house without electricity. I step from the soft carpet to gleaming hardwood and turn the corner under yet another skylight and into the living room.
Morning, and the feeling of life in this room is magical. 2 more skylights direct the light onto the red woven carpet. The angle of the sun is such that it's light comes into the room filtered through the trees and plants in the courtyard. The large front windows channel this light across the room and it dances a bit as a breeze moves through the branches.
On opening the heavy front door, the sound of the fountain and chirping birds flows over me and gives me a feeling of peace. Home - this is home - and soon it will be another family's home. Soon someone will stand the the door like I did and feel the morning sun on their face and sigh.
Morning in this home is awesome.
Two weeks after the tooth extraction I was still in pain. It was radiating from my jaw into my ear and under my chin and into my eye.
I asked on Twitter, which means I asked on Facebook, which reminded me that many of my friends are on Vox.
Are we crazy? Am I crazy?
We will be moving 2500 miles.
It takes five days to drive there from here.
Taking the bikes and the cars and taking off.
Living out of a 12' trailer with the two (HUGE) dogs and 4 cats who don't love each other.
Hoping that all our stuff gets there and that "there" is someplace we will be happy in.
Ben has not seen our Ohio home. Again, am I crazy?
He will love it, just maybe not the basement - or maybe JUST the basement.
Where the hell IS Canton, Ohio? Heck, where is OHIO?
:::raises hand::: "I know! "I know!"
I'll miss citrus and wild mint. mmm Mojitos.
I'll miss sunsets on the Pacific and Santa Cruz boardwalk. NYM LOVES TINK 1999
I'll miss that I FINALLY know my way driving all around San Francisco just now that I'm leaving.
I will NOT miss that I never figured my way around San Jose or Oakland.
I will miss having the right to treat my illnesses (what ever they may be) with medicinal marijuana providing I have a pot club card and about $55 for a 1/4 oz of lemon kush. Civilized. Legalized. Not legal in Ohio. Not an option.
I'll be trading Art and Wine Fairs for 4H and street music from artists formally known as someone famous prior to singing at the tractor pull. I can't WAIT to go to a tractor pull. WAIT, don't the beach boys still play in Santa Cruz?
I am actually looking FORWARD to basketball season.
I keep imagining me walking through my new home remembering how it felt to walk from the office to the bedroom of our California home and realizing its the SAME number of steps and turns and goes from glossy hardwood to soft beige carpet where my mexican pine bed set is set up just like here.
If I close my eyes in my bed in Ohio I will SWEAR I could be back home in CA because it will feel the same and smell the same and at night Ben will crawl into bed with me after a night time shower and we will snuggle dogs and each other while watching the same TV shows we watch here. We will drift off to the same whir of an electric fan.
I'll miss girl's nights with my "seasons" and I will MISS those seasons as much as I've missed the seasons of my childhood. I crave fall. I crave the crisp crackle of a thin layer of ice on a puddle after the first freeze. But I won't stop craving the sharing of a great bottle of wine and intense conversation multiple levels (and mediums) at once just because I also adore sitting on the front porch with the family as we tease each other while rain pours from a rolling dark blue sky. I miss the smell of OZONE. I will always come back because I love all of it - and all of you.
I will miss my kids.
I will MISS MY KIDS.
But I will love being on my own, with Ben, and creating something new.
I will LOVE having my kids come and share their time will all of us in Ohio
Ohio LOVES my kids.
Wierd. Now I'm thinking about wanting to drive a tractor, all bumpy and slow - but bright green. A brand new John Deer, with me just bouncing along on the yellow seat. I had a toy john deer tractor I ADORED until it was sent to the "this is a boy's toy" pile. It had a yellow seat. I can smell the damn hay! Its a bit wet and the stalks have been flattened by all the travel over it. I can still smell the rain storm on the hay. A path of hay. Through hay? I am rambling here. But I want to be there. Now.
Why? Because, I'm Dorothy. I know I use Tink as a handle but really it was the Wizard of Oz that got me. I finally know what she felt like waking up in that room with all her family around her. I miss Kansas! Well, I know I would not want to move back to Kansas - but there are things that I miss from there.
There are things that's I've missed from every place I've left.
Why would California be any different?
If I never leave, I'll never get to miss you.
But, hey, what you do think?
Ben outdid himself tonight !
There are no open houses this weekend (thank goodness because we needed a break). Agents come through on Tuesday, again, because the price has been lowered. Yup, no choice. Home not getting nibbles at original price, drop the price...
There is going to be a NIGHT showing featuring OUR home and all the others for sale in our neighborhood. I am actually hoping no offers come in until after this showing. The agent put so much into this. I want to be a part of it! Ben took a bunch of night shots of our house. And they'll be using some to advertise the event.
took a drive up to davis - saw Aaron's new apartment and how everything fits PERFECTLY into his room. Picked up Cas and the 3 of us went to a great noodle place. Lots of left overs for Aaron's fridge. Picked up Adam too and we all went to Chez Target for a few things. Aaron forgot to bring sheets to college and had no pans to cook in. Cas needed a belt. Happy to help them out.
Took them to their homes and drove back.
Quite a lovely drive actually! Both ways!
With temps in the 100's we've been hanging out in the trailer as the house is being shown.
We found we can park in the shade near the park downtown, run the generator and be cool and comfortable.
CIty library is a close walk and I read most of "Hater" yesterday. Seems it's going to be a movie soon. It will be a good one - very disturbing and very thought provoking.
One wisdom tooth removed and it HURTS! How did ben handle 4 at once?!
