Pretty Pretty Bang Bang

A jewelry designer recently contacted me and wanted to do a profile of my work for her blog. Today my profile was posted. Enjoy!

[For The Love of Jewels](http://fortheloveofjewels.blogspot.com/)

I admit that I hate to leave my comfort zone. No matter how often I dream about things being different, when it comes right down to it, I like to leave things the way they are. For instance, this whole house thing. Yes, I want a new house. Yes, I know we need/want more room. Yes, it’s a cool house that needs our TLC to get it back into shape. But…I love my current house. When it comes right down to the wire I get a bit emotional when I think about leaving this wonderful home Steve and I have worked on, lived in and loved for the past 10 years.

Moving is a hassle. It’s messy, exhausting and expensive. Whenever I start thinking about all the things I want/need to do to the new house I just want to sit down and not move. I know I’ll love the new house once we’re moved in and settled, but I’m just tired to living in a mess with half of my stuff in storage. Then, the thought of doing all that painting just makes me tired. Someday, perhaps, I’ll be independently wealthy and can hire people to do all this work. In the meantime, guess I’d better just suck it up and do it myself.

What a week! I’ve had a crash course in home inspections and improvements.We received the kidnapper’s buyer’s list of demands and have agreed to meet them. In the meantime, we’ve submitted our list to the seller and are waiting to hear from him. Our past dealings with him tell me that he probably won’t budge, but at least, by law, he has to treat the house for termites (there were none but the house hasn’t been treated).

Our buyers want to close a week earlier than planned. Sure, we don’t have to do it, but it might not be a bad idea. Of course, this puts us working overtime to get everything packed and moved. I think if we move up the closing date we’ll take 24 hours after closing before handing them the keys. I’d love to get a head start on the other house, but am anxious about getting all this crap packed and out of here. Steve’s calm about it and seems to think it’s very doable. I have to trust him on this one otherwise I’ll go crazy.

The left side of my brain woke up recently and started asking questions about whether or not this is a good move. My gut told me, from the beginning, that the house we’re buying is worth the work. I still believe it but I have to say I’m growing a bit weary. We’ve put so much work into our current house recently and still have work to go. Plus, I cannot and will not live with the downstairs paint colors in the new house. The living room is painted institutional green and must be repainted immediately. The upstairs can wait. Mom and Cindy have volunteered to help paint which is a real lifesaver for me. The thought of packing and unpacking my studio is exhausting and I still am not sure how my gas/oxygen tanks will be hosed into the new space. Perhaps handyman Burl can help out with that. Again, I’m learning to let people help me when I need it. This is still new for me.

Bottom line is that I really love my current house but I know I’ll really love the new one once I have all the work done. It’s doing all the work that’s so tiring! Anyone willing to help will receive our undying gratitude, food and alcohol or beverage of choice. Plus, personal shopper services will always be available!

Today I spent 3.5 hours at the new house while it was being inspected. I passed the time by measuring windows for curtains, measuring the bedroom wall where I want to place the bed and following the inspector around to find out what he was uncovering. Nothing was too major – lots of cosmetic things we already knew about – but we’re waiting to see if the house has ever been treated for termites. No sign of them, but the house is supposed to have been treated so we’ll probably ask that the owner take care of that before we move. Otherwise, there was some electrical things of concern and some floor damage from a leak, but nothing we can’t handle. The house is 35 years old so we certainly don’t expect it to be perfect. My only concerns were any structural damage, roof damage, major electrical/H-VAC problems, etc. So far nothing is too awful. We’re still waiting to hear when the buyers of our house have scheduled their inspection. I hope it’s soon because I want to get it all done and keep moving.

Speaking of moving, this is going to be quite a juggling act. We have to turn over the keys to our house at closing and be completely moved. Today I rented another storage unit so we can fill it with everything except the furniture the movers will be responsible for. Then, on the day of closing, we’ll have the movers show up in the morning, load the furniture, and take it over to the new house right after we close. We’re planning to spend a couple of nights at Duane and Prudy’s and take the cats over to Duane’s studio the morning of the move. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. Oh, and did I mention our closing date is October 24 and we’ve planned a week-long trip for mid-October thus shortening the time we have to pack? Thank goodness we did a lot of pre-packing to get the house ready to sell. I have no idea what my mental state would be if I was starting this project from scratch!

Tonight we were treated to a wonderful meal compliments of Greg and Steve. Greg made a delicious risotto with fresh shrimp, herbs, parmesan and mushrooms which was accompanied by a green salad with tomatoes, peaches and goat cheese. Yum! Dessert was a pound cake topped with broiled, fresh pineapple, honey, cloves and a little brown sugar. It was an invention of Steve’s which we all declared a winner. Both guys were perfect hosts and the meal was the ideal ending to a hectic weekend. They also offered to help us with some of our moving (mainly being on hand to help coordinate the movers on the big day). We said we don’t have any cash but are happy to pay in food and alcohol!

Thanks again, Greg and Steve, for a wonderful evening. We can’t wait to have you over to the new house.

Mom always told me that good things come to those who wait and I guess it’s true. Don’t let her know I actually listened to her! After three attempts we’re finally under contract with our dream home! Closing date on both houses is October 24 so we have some work to do.  I’m nervous, excited and scared about everything but I know this was meant to be. I had a gut feeling from the very beginning that this house was meant to be ours and I wasn’t about to give up hope unless it sold to someone else.

I went back to a post from March regarding what I wanted in my dream house and compared that list to this house. Things have changed, since the original list was for a Ranch-style home and this one is 1970s modern, but some of the most important items fit:

• Built-in furniture. My favorite built-in is the bench/ledge that runs the length of two walls. I also adore the wet bar with built-in storage and a mini-fridge.

• Sunken living room. Ok, it’s not officially sunken, but you do take stairs down to it. Very cool.

• Double doors. Love, love, love the double front doors!

• Gas stove. This was very important to us. Sure we could have installed one ourselves, but this is a countertop version and we have a separate wall oven (which I also love). Plus, it’s a Jen-Air.

• Picture windows. The house is full of windows and, because they are so high, we don’t need curtains on many of them. I hate curtains everywhere.

• Original light fixtures, knobs and hardware. My favorite original item is the upscale (for 1973) security system still in the house. No, it doesn’t work but I’m willing to bet Steve will be working on it. Apparently it’s a brand that impressed Steve enough to comment that whoever built the house must have had some money to afford it. The hinges on many of the doors are square. Very unusual and cool.

• Basement for my studio. I’ll have the entire basement to myself and it’s a walkout basement with a nice patio. I’m planning to hang our porch swing out there for my own little area.

Here’s a sneak peek of the house. I have more pictures, but you’ll have to wait to see them! Future plans include painting the doors a deep red, removing the crappy brass on them and repainting the house to its original dark grey.

Our house has been on the market with a realtor for nine days. We got an offer. We countered. They accepted. Eeek! We’re under contract again. I think, in the last couple of months of stress, that I’ve officially lost 10 years off my life span and doubled the amount of grey hair on my head.

Tonight we start the negotiations again for the other house. It’s been empty and on the market for almost six months with no offers except ours. Will the third time be the charm? Stay tuned…

It’s a great day here because Steve’s at work! Hooray! I came home from my workout to an empty house – ahhh. Plus, the weather is wonderfully cool and it feels like fall is in the air.  I just have a feeling that today is going to be a wonderful day.

Ok, so I now feel a bit better than I did when I posted this morning. Steve’s using the shop vac (successfully) in the basement and it’s looking better. We got a call from our realtor who told us the couple who looked at our house yesterday really liked it. He also told us that there has been no activity or interest in the other house (the one we want). No matter how you look at it, life lessons suck but I think Steve and I really needed this wake-up call. Tomorrow he goes to work! He’s excited because he has a job and I’m excited because I can work alone all day tomorrow!

It’s feeling like fall again and that always puts me in a better mood. I’ll be enjoying open windows and my cowboy boots today.

It’s been an emotional roller coaster her over the last month or so and I really thought the ride was over. I really did. But I woke up this morning feeling glum and my attitude was exacerbated by the discovery of water in our basement. I didn’t think it would rain that much last night, but it did and water came in on two sides. Sure, it’s not as bad as it has been in the past and we have cleaned up a lot of the crap on the floor, but it’s just another problem I don’t need. Steve’s downstairs working on it and I’m upstairs making coffee and trying to keep my attitude positive.

When will this all end and we can return to normal life????!!!!