Guess what?
We’re moving.
Every time I say those words, my palms get sweaty and my belly gets rumbly and I fart a couple of times. But yeah, within the next two weeks we’re going to list and start looking for a house.
We knew when we moved here that this house wasn’t The One. When I think of our ideal home, I think of character: wood detailing, a wraparound veranda, a big staircase and neat little nooks and crannies. I think of a country kitchen and a backyard that’s bigger than a postage stamp. I think of room to grow, of having trees for neighbours as opposed to humans. I think of a place that we can put our distinct mark on, a place that really feels like home.
And this isn’t that house. This house is very…not me. There’s a second kitchen in the basement for all the canning I don’t do and jarring of pasta sauce that I don’t make and cooking for the big dinner parties that we don’t throw and there are a few flowery borders and many gold accents. The bedrooms are six stairs away from the main floor, making it hard not to wake up a sleeping child if we’re doing…well, anything.
Aside from this not being our dream home, the main reason we want to move is privacy, as in we need to get some, stat. Our kitchen window looks out to our neighbour’s patio, right through their patio doors and into their dining room. We exchange awkward glances from time to time and try not to make eye contact for too long. We’ve seen each other in all of our bedheaded morning glory more often than is necessary and in the warmer weather I have to watch how loud I yell at the kids because they can hear me through the open windows and sometimes when I pause from yelling to catch my breath I can hear their patio door slowly being pulled shut.
Really, it’s no way for a mother to have to live.
If I look out my patio doors, I’m staring through our other neighbour’s kitchen window. He’s a nice, quiet guy who keeps his yappy little dog on a short leash, but I’ve seen his armpits a few too many times and I’m pretty sure he caught a glimpse of my throbbing, engorged boob once when I was nursing Oliver and was running up the stairs to shove it in his mouth.
The people that live behind us can see what we’re watching on television from their kitchen window. We know this because not only can we see them, they’ve told us. More than once. Knowing this makes me feel quite pervy when we’ve got it tuned to SexTv.
We want to be moved before Julia starts Junior Kindergarten, which is this September (hold on a minute while I stop sobbing), so we’re gonna get a move on, pun intended. Wish us luck, okay? I’ve only ever done this once before and while it wasn’t too horrific, the whole keeping the place sparkly clean for showings and open houses bit flat-out sucked. With the majority of my family being bona fide slobs, keeping this place somewhat clean is difficult. Keeping it sparkly BUY THIS HOUSE clean is gonna be borderline impossible.
60 Comments, Comment or Ping
I know from experience that keeping a house clean and ’show quality’ with children SUCKS ASS. So for that ALONE I hope it sells super fast. For YOUR peace of mind and sanity, lol.
But other than that. I’m sooooo flippin’ excited for you!!!!! I can’t wait to see what you find that fits you guys perfect. I love looking at houses and then going to visit, *that one* and immediately being filled with that sense of THIS IS THE ONE!
And yeah dude. SPACE. PRIVACY. You need some. *snort* I”m alllllll about that shit. Be-lieve-you-me.
(and OMFG…..am I first?!?!?!? FIRST?!?!?! WOO HOO!!!!! ;)
January 11th, 2007
Good luck!!
Are y’all getting healthier? Because I’m thinking it would be hard to sell a plague house. ;)
January 11th, 2007
Privacy is muy importante. I mean engorged boob exhibitionism is fun and all, but you gotta set limits. Are curtains outlawed in your neighborhood? Good luck searching and selling.
January 11th, 2007
We desperately want to move and I have the same fears you do about keeping the house clean for people to look at. I hope you find your dream home! That would rock!
January 11th, 2007
Hehehe
Good luck to you and enjoy the fun and games.
We were lucky and sold ours in two weeks from it being listed by the estate agents, now its just the hoops and dances you have to perform to get the new place.
Paul
January 11th, 2007
Good luck! We might start house shopping in a few months and I am beyond nervous. Luckily we don’t have to sell, since we live in an apartment, because then I’d be a complete nervous wreck.
January 11th, 2007
Good luck, girl! I hope you find your dream house in the first property you look at. :)
Allison
January 11th, 2007
Good luck. I hope you find that dream house you’re wanting — it feels incredible to find a place that you just LOVE. (We’ve been fortunate to find that every time we’ve moved — nothing 100% perfect, but we’ve really enjoyed each place we’ve lived.)
and hey, if you’re interested in coming to the states, I’ll help you find a house in the DC area. I’d love to have you as my neighbor, and I wouldn’t give a damn if you watch SexTV with your boobs out 24/7. ;-)
January 11th, 2007
You’ve just listed the biggest reason we moved from the burbs. Privacy. I was tired of our neighbours telling us what we had for dinner based on the smell of our farts.
Keeping the house clean wasn’t TOO bad, mostly because all of our clutter had been out for months by the time we listed. That said, it was nice to have a clean house all the time!
January 11th, 2007
It is my personal belief that an immaculate home is intimidating. I’d focus on good smells and general tidiness as opposed to surgical spotlessness. That way, people won’t say, “There sure are a lot of teddy bears in this house.” Instead, they’ll say, “Mmmm….do I smell cookies baking in the oven?” Bonus: there will be cookies baking in the oven, which everyone knows go great with bourbon.
It’ll be an adventure, but a well-worth-it one. Best of luck!
January 11th, 2007
I can understand what you’re saying about the privacy thing. One of the worst for us is sitting in our living room watching TV and seeing our much older neighbors slinking out their patio door and lounging in their hot tub. Or maybe it was the time that my wife had hurt her hip and needed crutches. A few days later I saw said neighbor outside and he asked if everything was ok with my wife since he’d seen her on her crutches hobbling around our living room. Come on bud, at least pretend you’re not looking in our windows!
Anyway, good luck with the move. I hope you’re able to find a house that works for you.
January 11th, 2007
Keeping ANYTHING clean that has young children within it is damn near impossible. But I’ll bet that part of the charm of your house will be that a happy family lives there.
I’m selling my house, too. I’m right there with ya!!! :-)
January 11th, 2007
wow! that’s both exciting and incredibly scary at the same time!
good luck finding THE house!
January 11th, 2007
Hee! Plague House. Love it.
I don’t even have kids yet, but when we list our house, keeping it even remotely sparkly clean will be the most challenging part. Once there’s a newborn in the mix, it’ll be even harder. But with two toddlers and a husband? I don’t envy you that one.
Good luck! I know you’ll find a great house in which your neighbors can’t see your TV (that is seriously creepy).
January 11th, 2007
Good luck. I”m not sure my house is THE ONE, but it’s in a great school district, I have great neighbors and if I ever have to move again I’m selling the current house with all the crap in it BECAUSE I HATE MOVING. Maybe because I have too much stuff.
Last move almost ended in divorce (hubs didn’t think we needed movers–and was on crutches after the first load was delivered to the new house).
Hope you find your Tara!
January 11th, 2007
Privacy is a MUST! That is one of the reasons we loved the house we just bought, because not only is it on 2.5 acres, it’s on 2.5 WOODED acres, so you can’t see anybody. And they can’t see you. You can’t even see the house from the road. I can’t wait to actually move in…
Don’t worry too much about keeping the house sparkly. Just keep it as clean as you can, and that will just have to do.
January 11th, 2007
Oh I’m jealous! I so want to move I actually look forward to having strangers traipse through the house. I’m in total denial that it will be horrendous …
good luck! Have you found the perfect house yet?
January 11th, 2007
May I recommend someplace in Oregon?
I mean, how cool would it be to have MAMATULIP as my neighbor?
:)
Best of luck with finding a great home… one that suits your needs AND affords you enough privacy to watch SexTV.
January 11th, 2007
GOOD LUCK!!!
I am stuck in my house for many years. It may not really be me either, but I don’t have the energy or patience to try and sell and move but atleast I live in the country, so privacy isn’t my issue. If I had your privacy issues, I am betting I would move quickly!!
I hope you find your dream home!!
January 11th, 2007
Eww I hated that when my family moved and I am not looking forward to it when my fiance and I move and there is only me and him. All I know is the best thing my mom did was clear out the closets, and cabinets and shove everything into storage it made a difference when showing the house didn’t look so…. overflowing? there were 4 kids at home and one on the way so this was no simple task. You have all the good wishes and happy thoughts from me to you
~~Britt
January 11th, 2007
I actually sort of love moving. I love the excitement of new beginnings, the cleaning out of old things, and just looking forward to what is to come. Good luck! And have fun!
January 11th, 2007
Now’s your chance! Move close to ME.
COME ON!! It’ll be FUN!!!
January 11th, 2007
sadly. one nice thing about living with the in-laws. they love to clean.
hehe.
and that’s about all they’ve got going for them.
January 11th, 2007
The hubs and I have thought of moving.
But in the end, I like my house, but I LOVE my 20 acres. I love being able to bellow at my kids and not worry if the authorities are gonna be notified.
Cuz you need privacy when you beat them…
heehee.
Good luck. I hope you find your dream house.
January 11th, 2007
I agree with Arabella. When I’ve looked at houses, sure I’ve been turned off by UTTER FILTH, but lived-in is definitely not a dealbreaker. Good luck!!
January 11th, 2007
How exciting! I’ve never sold a house before so it would be all new to me. Hope you find exactly what you’re looking for, or at least something close. And something private!
January 11th, 2007
Good luck! Hope you manage to sell it quickly and find somewhere perfect to move to. HUG!
January 11th, 2007
good luck! i’m trying to buy a house so i know some of what youll be going through! why does it have to be so difficult and cost so much?
January 11th, 2007
Good luck in finding the perfect home for you and your family! :)
January 11th, 2007
I think I’ve sucked up all the bad house selling-buying karma there is in the universe. Therefore… You should be all clear. Good luck!! I’m dying to see pictures of this soon-to-be-old house with it’s basement kitchen and postage stamp sized yard. :)
January 11th, 2007
I wish we were moving to a bigger house. We’ve outgrown ours but we are used to not having privacy. I worry that the neighbors think I’m deranged.
Good luck finding your dream house. I hope your house sells super quick so you don’t have to maintain the state of unlived in for very long.
January 11th, 2007
Good luck! That is so exciting, though! Even though I know it is stressful too.
January 11th, 2007
Eek! Being a complete slob I am not looking forward to the day we have to sell our place. Hope you find exactly what you’re looking for, it sounds very much like what I want our next house to be!
(and dude you can buy stick-on stuff for glass that makes it hard to see in – not the cheap looking kind, but more of a rain pattern (i think that’s what they call it) at home depot if you want a bit more privacy. They have stained glass designs too.)
January 11th, 2007
ooh i heard about this… i was suprised but now that i read your post it all makes sense! your house is adorable but i can see you guys really enjoying a lot more space! good luck, lady =)
January 11th, 2007
Very exciting! And terrifying at the same time. Good luck!
January 11th, 2007
Sending you good luck vibes!
What about putting the kids and Dave in a storage locker for a couple months until you sell? You can pop by with food (if you like) and maybe Daddy can come home on the weekends.
P.S. I was thinking about Dave’s Beethoven tattoo the other day, don’t really know why. Thought that would make you smile though. Hahaha. Made me smile!
January 11th, 2007
Good luck!
January 11th, 2007
Oh, good luck! We’re possibly in the same boat because after we discovered mold above our son’s room, we decided we’re going to be moving out ourselves. Maybe to a rental for awhile, but then hopefully we’ll be looking for the final house we’ll ever buy. I hope you have a pleasant moving experience. I’ll be taking notes.
January 11th, 2007
When we moved from our last house we packed up about half of our stuff and moved it into storage. It made everything easier to keep clean and made the rooms seem bigger because there was less stuff in it. If I had been really smart, I would have just held a garage sale right there in the storage unit and got rid of all the excess stuff.
Good luck! Everything associated with moving sucks, if you ask me, but it is a very good thing not having to look into your neighbor’s windows.
January 11th, 2007
Ugh. That is a lot of work, but the dream house your describe sounds well worth it.
January 11th, 2007
We have lots and lots of houses like that in Toronto. Or, just outside of Toronto! Near Toronto! Nudge nudge wink wink!
January 11th, 2007
This is totally exciting!
Its totally hard to keep it clean and show worthy…we did it three years ago and it sucked! But it was also worth every agonizing moment. Best thing we did was rent a storage locker and store every piece of crap we owned (practically everything we still own).
Now i don’t know where you are looking, but I promise i won’t stalk you if you become my neighbour….
January 11th, 2007
Moving does suck. Where are you looking?
January 11th, 2007
Oooooh, you know that I’m sympathetic. Good luck with that.
(You DO know about burrying St. Joseph in the yard, don’t you? I am TOTALLY going to do that. Because I’ll do just about anything to sell our house, possibly including showing prospective buyers my boobs. Maybe.)
January 12th, 2007
um…wow. i think it sounds incredibly exciting. and yes, suckassishness in the meantime, but wow…a whole new spot.
January 12th, 2007
Britt’s mom is a genius. Put every bit of extraneous stuff in storage and then use the closets to quickly and neatly store the essentials.
Keep a pack of cleaning wet wipes on your bathroom sink and kitchen counter for quick touch ups. A little dust or untidiness is not a big deal but the bathrooms and kitchen need to look like no one lives there.
January 12th, 2007
Ug. Just moved and it took me two months to get over my emotional freak out and settle back down.
I’m sure you will handle it much more gracefully than I did.
January 12th, 2007
Good luck selling and buying, Katherine. As much as I love this house, I’m a bit jealous. Would love just *that* much more space.
January 12th, 2007
Good luck…
I must say,that we found our dream home geez, 14 years ago and it is well worth the agravation of the selling of the old….
When we walked up the stairs to our homewe knew it was our home… and there is no place like home!
January 12th, 2007
WOOT!
Let me know if you need any help, etc.
I work for a real estate agent.
I don’t know if we have any KW offices in Canada, but I’ll check.
She may be able to refer you to someone!
The process isn’t too scary hon.
Good luck!
Oh, and plant a St. Joseph face up right next to your homes foundation.
I guaruntee the home will sell :]
xo ♥
January 12th, 2007
I’ll never win Mother of the Year with my housekeeping skills. So I’m sending you all of my lucky ~*~*~Buy My House~*~*~ dust from when we sold ours. Hope it sells immediately and that you find the home of your dreams. Although I’d love to see you on TV, I don’t want to see you starring in an episode of “Buy Me”. LOL! Good luck.
January 12th, 2007
Who-boy, as someone who is currently on the hunt for the perfect house, I feel your pain. At least we already sold our old one so we don’t have the double whammy.
Here’s hoping the real estate market in Canada is better than what we have in the US at the moment!
Good luck!
January 12th, 2007
Wow! That’s no privacy at all! brutal! We have to move, too…. ASAP. Our house is too small, and we just sued our neighbour for being a complete arsehole. (We won, of course!) Anyhoo, have to get into a bigger house and away from the big ugly mess they’ve erected beside us. You’ve inspired me to get a move on! good luck with yours!!!
January 14th, 2007
Wow. That is big big big news. I hoping it all goes well (we’ve moved 4 times since my son was born … the whole house showing thing sucks!)
January 15th, 2007
Seriously, you must have a very dusty, foggy and skewed memory of your first move cause dude, I was around quite a bit for that one and I remember the insanity that ensued before you were ready to put that one on the market. Although this one needs no renos, no new bathroom and kitchen as they are fine as is, I can understand your disdain at the thought of trying to keep it clean while tearing after Julia and Captain Destructor!
I hear you on the “Not You” factor, I agree that this house is your “will do for now” and that the next one should be “The One.”
You could always do what we did–you know tear and old-but-lovely house apart and rebuild it, oh wait, I forgot you don’t even like to paint…
Truly and honestly? I am looking forward to hanging out in a cool, old, potentially creaky house. I’m also looking forward to you coming to see my new/old house sometime soon.
January 15th, 2007
Good luck! I hope you find a great house. I lvoe old houses, too. Where will you be looking?
And we’re planning to sell our old house this spring too, which will mean trying to convince TENANTS to keep the place tidy. As if.
January 16th, 2007
We moved last year and it is a boatload of work, but so worth it to get your dream home. And that house you describe does sound like a dream home. I hope you find it – I know you will! It’s out there for you guys. Good luck!
January 16th, 2007
Hey, that is wicked awesome! Good Luck!
January 21st, 2007
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