It's my second time to serve on a Grand Jury, and I can promise, nearly 100%, that it will be my last time to serve. Three months, two days per week of hearing every kind of felony crime committed in our huge county is enough to last me a life-time. Only, I've been crazy enough to do this twice.
Needless to say, my jury service has interrupted the attempted sale of our home. I'm gone a couple of days per week to the courthouse and the dogs are left on duty at the house. No real estate person is going to be able to gain access into our home with these dogs standing guard. Then, I'm so worn out lately.
Having to dash around to get this house ready for a showing has confirmed that we really need to unload ourselves of this monstrosity. I have four bedrooms to tidy up, two living rooms, three dining areas, three bathrooms, a study and walk-in laundry room. It's TOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want ONE living room, ONE dining area, THREE bedrooms, and just enough space to keep us comfortable, but not so much as to make maintaining it all a disaster. Less is best.
I'm very irritated with the people who scheduled a showing this afternoon, they didn't show up during the scheduled time and were not courteous enough to call with a cancellation notice. I scorn you mean people!
Regardless, today I put on some classical music and began cleaning everything around me. I was a mad-woman I tell you...every nook and cranny got my fingers into its business. I want it to stay ready --- in a state of perfection, ready for the next showing, but that seems impossibly since we must actually do some LIVING in this house. It's our only house. So, things have a tendency to get messy every now and then.
Truthfully, I'm nervous about leaving this house and all of the conveniences, but I'm aching to get moved to the country. In the city, we have city water, city sewer services, trash pickup, street cleaning, and gas connections to the house for the furnace and stove. In the country, I guess we'll be figuring all of that out in a different way.
However, once we get moved to the country, I'm positively convinced that we will be delighted by having the biggest vegetable gardens we've ever been able to grow. Deputy Dave and I have been growing our own tomatoes and bell peppers and more for most of our marriage. It's not for hobby or recreation....we simply thrived on not having to buy those items at a grocery store. Frankly, there were times when we couldn't afford to buy those tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, and onions, so it was great to be growing our own. Each item that we can successfully grow, we free ourselves from a bit of corporate America. Feels good. The chickens have helped us to take it a step further, no more store bought eggs in over one year! Our future is assured to include fresh eggs daily and perhaps fresh organic chicken, later on, at the farm.
We keep at it. It's important to us. It's not for recreation. It's food for our kitchen. Food that we grow on a serious level. We're not at self-sustaining level, but we are at supplemental level and that's good enough for me, at this time. Once we get moved to our land, we'll start the fully self-sustained mode. For now, we take care of our gardens, which requires a lot of work and balance, so the gardening doesn't become a hardship. It's give and take.
Anyway, I guess we'll see if tomorrows buyer appointment shows up. I hope so. Maybe we're getting closer to getting a contract on our house. Sure would like to move soon. I guess the weather will be good for construction. We might very well find ourselves living in that tent as they build the barn...I just don't know. I might feel adventurous, like Katherine Hepburn, if we were brave enough to do such a thing. Who says we must live in luxury as we are building the barn? Heck, we like our new tent. If Deputy Dave could rig up some electricity and a air-conditioning window unit, we just might be a step above homeless for a bit. We'll camp out and love every minute of it.
Who knows what we'll do. I want to do it cheaply! Doesn't everybody look for reasons to save money? At least the adventure will be exciting.
So, let's hope tomorrows buyer is ready to be that perfect, qualified buyer who is easy to negotiate with so we can all walk away happy.
Until then, I keep trying to keep the house looking good. Mopping with Pine Sol to give the house a clean, fresh scent and trying to keep all surfaces dust free. I feel like passing a rule in the house..."Don't Touch Anything." Well, that might amount to, "Go Live Elsewhere."
I guess I will start tomorrow morning anew, with my three dogs and six chickens, doing our best to make this house a diamond in the rough. I'll remind the buyers that this house has seen many wonderful times, lots of laughs, gatherings and contained the delicious scents of the best Southern home-cooking for miles around. I'll tell them that there's a vegetable garden in the backyard with many weeks of producing food for their own family still in the ground.
Yes, I will start anew with my attitude tomorrow and hope the buyer comes a-calling. Country...we are doing all we can to stand in your midst and be overjoyed by your beauty. Your untamed beauty is appreciated, but we are eager to get out there and to garden on a scale we've never before been able to enjoy. We're eager to have trees for neighbors.
Waiting. Hoping. Cleaning. Packing.
3 comments:
I hope you're not doing too much and wearing yourself out, Lana. Don't get sick!
I know how you feel, I want this change thing to be over, too.
How about a couple of fans for your tent? They might be more doable than A/C.
Have a good evening, Lana! *hugs* ♥
Take care of you !
Make a list in order of what you need to do once you sell for building on your property.
Are you selling the house with the furniture in it? Sounds like you won't be needing most of it. Especially since you will be building some of your own and having built ins also.
Building permit, are you doing your own contracting?
Someone to dig footers ,plumb, pour concrete then build the wood frame.roof,electric, woodstove, bathroom fixtures, septic system if you don't have city sewer. Septic permit. Insurance. I know there is more....that will keep you busy a long time.
By the way....your house sounds giant...I am glad you will be downsizing for your sake. Makes me tired just thinking of all that cleaning.
Linda - I'm with you on the "ready for it to be over" kind of feeling! I guess this is part of the process, going thru the actual transition is difficult. I guess everyone would be doing it, if it were so easy. We've trucked along and kept up the goal to get to the country. I hope it will happen for us very soon! I am keeping up with you and your transition...I have a feeling you will have so many topics to write about once you move that you won't be able to cover them all!
Anonymous - Is this Beth?? :-) You have many VERY GOOD points! I do have my notes and research and lists organized in files. It's been a long road for us. We've owned this property for over a decade, so we've been planning for a long time to get moved. However, the serious, get-down-to-business planning began this past year because we realized we're ready to make the actual move to the country. Our kids are grown and out of the house, so the timing is perfect. I'd like to be re-settled BEFORE the grandkids start coming! We are selling some of the furniture. We are having a contractor do part of the construction, such as the foundation and frame of the cabin, we also have an electrician and plumber selected, and the fixtures won't be selected until we get closer to building. Once the structure site is being readied, I'll be out on the hunt for the perfect fixtures. And this house we own is too big and having a two-story is too hard for me to keep up with. I'll be eager to have everything on one level again. Thanks for helping to stay organized. We still have to find a roofer --- we'll be doing a metal roof.
Lana
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