Thursday, September 26, 2019

Currently: September

September has been a bit of a whirlwind with all the excitement over finding a house! Here's what's happening in my world!

Reading: The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves. It's about a couple who dated in college, broke up for some reason unknown to the reader, and then run into each other 10 years later. The girl in the relationship is on the autism spectrum which makes the book a bit unique/interesting as you get a sense for what life is like for someone who has a hard time reading social cues, etc. I can tell this is going to be a fast read for me!

Loving: the fall weather that arrived on Sunday. September has been a warm, humid month. We ran our a/c more in September than we did in August. I love sunny weather but could do without the humidity! But the humidity finally broke and now it's just gorgeous outside! Here's hoping it stays that way for a LONG time!

Feeling: kind of overwhelmed by everything we have to do in the next 6 weeks. We'll list our house after we close on the new house so we can move some of the furniture over to the new house. That way our house will look more spacious and show better. Our realtor sent us a list of things to do before listing/what furniture to move and it's kind of overwhelming. But I know it will pay off when we list. Luckily my parents are going to come down the weekend before we list our house so they can help with Paul while Phil and I move things to the new house (I'm sure my dad will help with some of the schlepping but he's 71 and has a wonky ankle so we'd prefer to not have him do too much!). Fingers crossed it sells fast! We'll list it on a Thursday and go to the lake Thur-Sun so we don't have to deal with showings with a (destructive mess-making) toddler. We're planning to move that following week so hopefully the house sells that weekend as it will show better with furniture. After looking at houses for 2 years, we think our house will sell pretty fast as it's turnkey and has perks like a big kitchen, central air, a nice garage, newer windows, etc.

Anticipating: settling into our new home! I haven't been motivated to do anything around our house in terms of gardening or decor for the last 2 years since we knew we'd be moving eventually. I can't wait to move into the new place and make it our own!

Grateful: that we have a warm weather getaway to look forward to in February! The weather is nice now, but I know what's coming next... So we decided to book a trip to the Tampa area of Florida in late February for 4 nights. My parents are joining us again. I mean, check out that view from the condo where we'll be staying!



Working: on decluttering! We're slowly working on each space in our house. I'm starting to collect boxes from work/co-workers/friends so we can start to box up the non-essentials. I'm also using this as a time to get rid of stuff we don't need. I have 2 bags of books to sell at half priced books and Phil dropped off 3 small bags at goodwill last weekend.

Listening: to podcasts, as usual! I haven't discovered any new ones lately so I'm listening to my usual combo of podcasts about books and parenting!

Watching: the Ken Burns documentary on Vietnam on Netflix. The episodes are very long so it can take us several nights to get through one - plus I can only handle so much in an evening as it's a very heavy documentary obviously. I know hindsight is 20/20 but I keep remarking to Phil that it was just such an awful idea for us to go to war with the North Vietnamese. I know our nation was trying to fight communism but gosh we gained nothing from that war and lost so many lives. Plus it bothers me that the political leaders lied so much to the American people about what was going on! Gah, it just makes me so mad even though I wasn't alive back then!

Wishing: that buying a new house was less stressful for Phil. The last couple of weeks have been rough for him as he just does not like change. I mean, it is stressful to buy a house and move but my excitement for our new place far outweighs the dread of packing/schlepping our things to the new house... but Phil mostly just feels stressed and is worrying about the new garage as it's pretty small so we likely won't have room for things like our lawn mower, snow blower, stroller, etc. I'm sure we'll come up with a solution (probably a shed of some sort) once we are moved in and see what fits.

Bonus Paul pics!


Checking out Minnehaha Falls - He loves 'agua' so was pretty amazed by the waterfall

A typical pants-free weekend morning. He really looks like a toddler in this photo!

Looking through his tractor book!

A boy and his books. Most of the books on these shelves are kid books. He loves pulling them down and looking through them!

What are you currently loving, anticipating, and grateful for?

9 comments:

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

I am so sad that we will not be joining my parents in Florida this year. They are renting a place near Venice for 2 months and I was going to try to visit them, even if it was just me and the baby or me and the two kids. However, they realized the place they rented does not allow kids and since I couldn't 100 percent commit I told them not to worry about it, but next year they will find a different place. My mom retires right before Christmas so I'm anticipating lots of time spent with her!

Jeanie said...

Wow -- Such a LOT on your plate but all good. Reading this reminds me I should get back on the clutter patrol, not that a move is imminent but still, I won't be in my house forever! I'm so glad you've found a wonderful spot and hope your home sells soon. It's good that you could wait to list till you are largely moved.

I am loving being at the lake (though not much liking the weather!); anticipating a pretty low-level week with a couple of friend get togethers but no big travel or deadlines and grateful for having the flexibility to be at the lake any time I want (till we close!) -- unlike when I was working.

Gracie said...

Buying a house IS stressful! A lot going on for you both, but what a relief that you found a house to move to. It's crazy to be in a market where you can plan to get out of town for the weekend and just assume your house will sell - NOLA uptown was like that a few years ago (and still is to a certain extent), but in some areas just an hour away houses sit on the market forever! Good luck selling your home - I am sure you'll get an offer right away.

Marlys said...

Little bookworm, Paul! I love that he "loves" books so much.
October will fly by for you, and I pray the house sells quickly so you can move without the stress of having to show the house that weekend! I have no doubts that it will sell quickly.
So take a deep breath and tackle each project as best you can, and soon you'll be in your new house!

Stephany said...

LISA YOU WILL BE IN TAMPA IN FEBRUARY? TELL ME MORE!!!

We read The Girl He Used to Know for book club this month and it was well-liked by everyone! Such a great story. I really, really liked Annika.

It will be a whirlwind for you guys over these next two months as you prepare to sell your home and move into your new home. I hope Phil can find a way to work through his stress! But hopefully your positive energy rubs off on him.

I'm currently loving the cooler temps we've been experiencing in FL (nice enough to sit outside with a book in the middle of the day!), anticipating my trip to Boston next month, and grateful for my sweet kitties. :)

katielookingforward said...

Good work on decluttering while you pack! And I bet some decluttering will happen as you unpack †oo (at least that's what happened †o me). I need a good organization weekend, but it'll probably have to happen in November. I want †o really dig through the closets and make the right homes for things.

Amber said...

Love that you have a warm weather vacation to look forward to! I would like to go on one in February or March as well but I think we might end up booking ours a little more last minute. It will be wonderful to get away in the worst part of winter!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

That is a lot to have to think about all at once, but it will feel so good once you are in there, and settled before Thanksgiving/Christmas.

That book sounds like a great read!

It is definitely feeling like Fall here, and we're supposed to get quite a bit of snow this weekend :-(

Stevie said...

I'm so excited for you all to move into your new home! I feel you on the husband anxiety, though. My husband had a really difficult time when we bought our house. The buying process and moving/adjusting to a new home and being homeowners was really difficult for him. He is such a creature of habit and routine, so big changes really throw him for a loop. I hope you get settled and adjusted into your new home quickly, and sending good vibes your way that your current house sells quickly!

I'm finally reading Pachinko and I'm loving it so far. I'm not even 20% in but the storytelling is beautiful.