We’re moving again. We made a deal verbally yesterday afternoon and get our keys in a week.
This makes twice in a year. I don’t know why it bothers me at all. I mean, besides the expense and the soul-sucking terribleness of being uprooted (seriously; not having a kitchen of my own and a sewing space gets old for me – quick) I suppose in the deep recesses of my mind I worry the Hogaclan will end up that family that “moves all the time”. Which, according to people I’ve known who grew up that way, seems to be sometimes a happily-lived and sometimes a hated experience. Gee, like just about every other lifestyle people cite from their upbringing.
Our kids helped select our new home; they voiced opinions on everything I drove by and walked through everything we walked through and peeked through windows of some laughably slum-tastic dwellings (actually, it’s not really that funny). The house-owner S. seems like he knows what he’s doing but our lifestyles are near unrelateable to one another; he owns many properties, runs a construction business, self-described himself as “top-ten wealth of Grays Harbor”, and when I told him about our laying hens he was shocked into an uncharacteristic silence with a dear-in-headlights slow blink (why would you have chickens? “For eggs,” my husband speaks up helpfully). S. approved us on the spot in part because he could tell we weren’t strung out on crack or anything (it’s true! We’re not! P.S. for poor-whites in Grays Harbor the drug of choice is meth, just FYI) – forgoing, I shite thee not, the $80 credit check and reference checks and $200 non-refundable deposit per animal (yes, these are all real expenses of the property management groups who aren’t slum-lords – and I’m not even getting into the expenses of utility set-up and moving trucks should you elect to use one).* As long as nothing goes wrong (insert drum-roll or sound of shattering glass) we’ll be moving our asses to 1st street shortly.
Probably the only thing that really has me temporarily unsorted is that with moving again our Christmas gift scene is derailed. It’s hard enough for me to get organized enough to buy or make gifts for all my loved ones. Every year I leave a person or two out and I feel like an ass. Looks like that’ll be a new Christmas tradition.
* And by the way; one thing I discovered this time around is how very many, many slumlords we have in Aberdeen and Hoquiam. It seems like a lucrative business – maybe we should go into it eventually. If, you know, I can get around the whole morally bankrupt and depressing aspects of it.
Yeeeha! I get so excited about moving. I hope you can catch it from here in SD!
I hate the limbo feeling when your heart has already moved into the next place (or atleast your brain), but you’re still stuck in the less desirable situation. That’s been my life for the past two months. exhausting.
Jasie, I’ve moved enough that my heart is more full of dread because I *fully remember* how much work it is. And Ralph does most of the heavy lifting. I just handle the stress and misery. Well to be fair, and cooking and kidcare and cleaning etc.
K8, thanks… I do get excited too, it’s true! I’ll be happy when we’re all set up.
I too internalize all the stress of moving… so I have learned to become unbearably materialistic and instead focus on the new place and what I can do with it. It’s working, so far… BUT… I now have to deal with being unbearably materialistic. I don’t do anything half-assed, atleast.
I am on tenterhooks re: you guys and your bank situation. Banks are denying loans left and right. I hope your finances continue to go smoothly for you and you’re in your house soon. Hang in there!
Our new place is small, old but refurbished in perfect shape, and very bland, especially compared to our last two domiciles! Too bad the Hogaboom furniture is shabby as hell and won’t be adding cuteness to the whole affair.
Times like this I’m reminded that basically my last several years I’ve just been, you know, feeding and raising kids and have very little in the way of valuable possessions.
good luck with the move.
I love and hate moving. It’s exciting to live somewhere new, for a while at least, and it gets me out of my many ruts, but it’s work. Luckily Will is the best house-setter-upper I have met and we are livable within a few hours.
Renting is a crazy world, you never know what you are getting. I always hope for a secret closet, or something written on a wall somewhere, trapdoors or a secret place to sit and look out the window.
I moved a lot as a kid (my mom had us in eight houses over the years, and then went on to live in at least five more, now she’s stuck trying to pay off a house that is worth HALF of what she and her husband bought it for, so they can’t sell/move), and I didn’t like it as a kid because I was in school and moving always required school changes, even though we always lived in the same city. On the other hand, I can leave somewhere and adjust to new things fairly easily with few regrets. Your little people aren’t in school, so that’s a start, and it may be fun for them to explore, if you are moving far enough away from somewhere you’ve been. Plus they’re awesome, so that helps.
My kids are awesome and we haven’t moved out of HQX – or even out of walking distance from each house. It’s cool because my kids actually DO walk, all over town, which is nice. And of course since they aren’t in school nothing much disrupts their activity schedule.
Ralph is good at moving and I am good at setting things up. I’m no Will, by any means. I agree: it’s fun, but it’s work!
Thank you for your comments.
Our loan has been approved, it’s just being processed. The big hooplah right now is that the bank had to do their own inspection of the property with an appraiser, even though we already had an inspection done through a local home inspection company. I didn’t know there’d have to be another one through the bank… I don’t know if that’s normal or if it’s just because we’re getting a USDA loan. Anyway, the appraiser found stuff he’s insisting either or the sellers fix before our loan can be finalized. And it’s bullshit little things that the previous inspector made a note of, but didn’t classify as urgent. Things like a loose board in the very corner of the deck. Stuff we were planning to fix once we were in, but now it has to be fixed in the next 3 weeks or we have to ask the sellers for an extension on the closing date, which after the 1st of the year, they have every right to say no to.
Blah.
Anyway, the appraiser found stuff he’s insisting either *WE* (typos galore) or the sellers fix before our loan can be finalized.