House Hunting

Actually, I suppose I'm past the 'hunting' stage now - I hope.  After looking at houses since the first weekend in March, I have a contract on a house.  I'm currently going through all the inspection, appraisal, survey, etc, etc, processes involved in buying a house so of course nothing is final until all the paperwork is signed at closing.  Still, I'm somewhat hopeful that things will work out.

So what's it like?  Cool.  It's bigger than my current house and sits at a great location.  It's 10 miles closer to work than I am now and less than 5 miles from a light rail station.  It's 1 story, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, with lots of nice features.  Floors are wood with carpet in the bedrooms and in one of the living areas.  The outside is nicely landscaped, so we'll have to see how well I do at keeping that up.  The lot is smaller than my current one, but not a lot smaller.

I'm seriously excited about it, but then I look around me and the thought of packing and moving all my stuff is kind of depressing.  Poor cat kids are going to be seriously traumatized.  My old lady kids don't like changes in their lives.  And I have a list longer than my arm of new furniture I want to get.  Of course, I don't want to take some of my cat-clawed, late-graduate-student furniture to a new house.  I need at least one new sofa set (2 living areas), at least one more recliner, a new bed, a new computer desk and chair, new bookshelves, an flat screen HD TV, a small dining table and chairs - to name some of the things I want.  It's a good thing I worked my credit card balances down so low to qualify for good financing.  Shopping!!  Just the thought lifts my spirits.

So I'm good as long as I pretend I don't have to pack this place up.   I haven't decided what to do with this place actually.  I don't know whether to sell it or rent it out.  If I rent it out I'll hire a management company to do that.  Either way I need to have some work done on the place once it's empty.  Painting at the very least.  And the shrubbery in front is badly overgrown, thanks to recent rain. 

I also have somehow accumulated plants that will need to be moved.  5 pots of aloe vera, 5 pots of small cacti and 7 pots of peach seedlings.  That's actually kind of amazing for someone who doesn't grow things, as a rule.  I did lose one of the little cacti I transplanted, but one out of 13 isn't too bad.  The others seem to be doing well so far.  

Now you know what I'll be doing with any and all my free time between now and closing in mid-June.  Packing!  I have plenty of lead time to pack, although I'll be out of town next Thursday through Sunday for a meeting.  I should probably not procrastinate too long on it, though.   It will be better to do it over time than rush it at the last minute. 

So I'll let you know how things go.  That's all for today.