There is a reason why I haven’t been posting… It started out that I was too busy to post, but then as time went on, it became harder and harder to come up with something that incorporated everything that I had been doing since I last wrote, and the importance of the next post grew with every passing day until I was too daunted to tackle writing it.
Since August we have: Completely finished the renovations to the house. It was a heavy final push. We forwent ALL social activities, ALL contact to the outside world, and ALL expenses not directly related to completing the house. It was a difficult time. I felt isolated, pressured to finish, on time, on budget. Angelo and I started fighting. For reals. I was concerned for our relationship. It was very, very trying.
But we finished it, and then it was the whirlwind of putting it up for sale. We weren’t too sure if it would turn out all right, as we weren’t going with a traditional agent. We went with Best Value, a Brokerage that charges a flat fee. You do your own showings, but the fee includes a listing in MLS. I still remember the day it went up online. Angelo had taken some amazing photos of the house, and enhanced the colours here and there. It really looked like it was out of a magazine. We started getting phone calls immediately. Lots of visits (four or five a day). Finally an offer came in. Argy-Bargy, and we settled on a price. We were happy. It was two days after the house went up for sale.
But then another couple came by to see the place, and they WANTED it. Bad. They offered us more than our asking price. Yowza! What had we done?? We told them we were locked into an agreement. But if anything happened, we’d let them know.
Something happened. The inspection happened. First deal went dead, and the second was on the table. Lots more argy-bargy, another bad inspection, and some stressful moments on our part, and (we know for a fact) sleepless nights on the buyers’ part, until finally we settled on something we all could live with. Six days from the day it went up for sale.
Then Angelo and I had to find a place to live. I made a few calls, he made a few inquiries. We looked at a place (that I found in the classifieds of the local rag) and we liked it. We liked it a lot. “Wait, we can’t take the first apartment we look at, can we?” No, surely we had to look around. I saw two more places that night, and Angelo and I saw another one the next day. None compared. We quickly called our future landlady, and snagged it.
The move was frustrating. I hate moving. But everything fit into place in the new apartment, and we felt at home right away.
Oh yeah, and in the middle of all that, I changed careers (again). I started a new job, and it’s going really well.
Things. Are. Getting. Better.
It’s a little strange, because things have been strained, stressed, taxed, and harangued for so long that I sort of forgot what weightlessness feels like. It feels good.