I've tried to start a new posting for ages, but haven't had the ability to finish. Something always seems to crop up, and I don't get back to it, so this blog has been languishing. Now, I'm determined, this attempt will get published...no kidding....see, you're reading it, so I have been successful! Huzzah!
Where to begin? Well, 1st of all, we've moved again. Yup, after nearly 4 years in Virginia with 2 years of those spent battling and recovering from my cancer, we decided we needed to be nearer our family and there was no better time than the present. We put our home (that we had worked so hard on) up for sale the 1st part of July. Surprise! It sold within 2 weeks! The next 6 weeks we were either packing stuff or driving to Charlotte (North Carolina) to look for a new home. It was a whirlwind shopping ORDEAL because the housing market was so hot in Charlotte, that as soon as a new house was listed, we had to jump into the car and make the 5-hour drive to see it, and we'd just hope it was still for sale by the time we got there. Long story, short...we finally found a place and moved in September 30th...ish.
In the meantime....while we were frantically house-shopping, our daughter Julie had her second child, Ronan, on July 5th. Julie and Ben live in Charlotte, and we would stay at their place while we were looking. God bless them for putting up with us. We were there when Ronan was born, and I got to be there during the delivery...oh what a blessing. Needless to say, we were (and still are) thrilled to the moon and back. He's so sweet.
Now we were supposed to be out of our house September 8th, but we couldn't close on the new house for up to 5 weeks later, and we weren't sure the deal would go through...right up to the day we closed. We pretty much had decided that we'd have to put everything in storage and live in the camper at a local KOA for a month or two or three until we could move. Then a good friend offered us the use of her beach house in Beaufort, NC. Wow! Who could resist such a wonderful offer, so we packed up the kitten, and moved to Beaufort temporarily. Luckily, we were able to close on the new place in 3 weeks and gain immediate possession. Whew! But for those 3 weeks, it was wonderful to just relax on the front porch and tour the area, and try not to worry. So peaceful.
Now, we had seen our new house a total of 2 times before move-in-day. Two. Yeah. Ideally, one needs to look at a place at least 2 times before offering to purchase, but we had to move on the offer quickly, and so it's no surprise that there have been many surprises once we moved in....mostly head-scratchers. We are often heard saying, "Hmmm. Why did they do THAT?!?" Luckily, we found out quickly that the builder lives right across the street from us, and we hadn't complained to the neighbors yet. Whew! Another lucky stroke is that we found a great "handyman" team. These guys are remarkably multi-talented and have helped us out immensely.
So the next few postings, I'll post before and after shots and talk more about our journey in making this house our home. So, until next time............
~~ Karen ~~
Where to begin? Well, 1st of all, we've moved again. Yup, after nearly 4 years in Virginia with 2 years of those spent battling and recovering from my cancer, we decided we needed to be nearer our family and there was no better time than the present. We put our home (that we had worked so hard on) up for sale the 1st part of July. Surprise! It sold within 2 weeks! The next 6 weeks we were either packing stuff or driving to Charlotte (North Carolina) to look for a new home. It was a whirlwind shopping ORDEAL because the housing market was so hot in Charlotte, that as soon as a new house was listed, we had to jump into the car and make the 5-hour drive to see it, and we'd just hope it was still for sale by the time we got there. Long story, short...we finally found a place and moved in September 30th...ish.
In the meantime....while we were frantically house-shopping, our daughter Julie had her second child, Ronan, on July 5th. Julie and Ben live in Charlotte, and we would stay at their place while we were looking. God bless them for putting up with us. We were there when Ronan was born, and I got to be there during the delivery...oh what a blessing. Needless to say, we were (and still are) thrilled to the moon and back. He's so sweet.
Now we were supposed to be out of our house September 8th, but we couldn't close on the new house for up to 5 weeks later, and we weren't sure the deal would go through...right up to the day we closed. We pretty much had decided that we'd have to put everything in storage and live in the camper at a local KOA for a month or two or three until we could move. Then a good friend offered us the use of her beach house in Beaufort, NC. Wow! Who could resist such a wonderful offer, so we packed up the kitten, and moved to Beaufort temporarily. Luckily, we were able to close on the new place in 3 weeks and gain immediate possession. Whew! But for those 3 weeks, it was wonderful to just relax on the front porch and tour the area, and try not to worry. So peaceful.
Now, we had seen our new house a total of 2 times before move-in-day. Two. Yeah. Ideally, one needs to look at a place at least 2 times before offering to purchase, but we had to move on the offer quickly, and so it's no surprise that there have been many surprises once we moved in....mostly head-scratchers. We are often heard saying, "Hmmm. Why did they do THAT?!?" Luckily, we found out quickly that the builder lives right across the street from us, and we hadn't complained to the neighbors yet. Whew! Another lucky stroke is that we found a great "handyman" team. These guys are remarkably multi-talented and have helped us out immensely.
So the next few postings, I'll post before and after shots and talk more about our journey in making this house our home. So, until next time............
~~ Karen ~~
