Next Phase
Most of my spare closets are empty, my pantry has half of what it did before. I have gone through so much of this house. I believe I intend to keep everything that's left. Whew. It's feeling good. While I have no control over the weather in Alabama (which dictates our building schedule), I DO have control over this house and how much I pack. It's how my crazy brain works, but no longer brings me anxiety. :-)
Well, we all know me. I'm sure I'll find more. :-D In fact, I still want to work on Michael's office a little more....
I have a moving "list." Are you surprised? It's in excel and has several spreadsheets, broken down by room, with a master list of things to do. Getting rid of stuff in specific rooms/closets/etc. is about done, so now my list consists of using up food in the pantry and freezer. I also can pack Kara's spare stuffed animals that were not approved to donate, but were approved to remove from her room. I can also pack Kara's pottery. I have A LOT of it. I also need to sign her up for pottery classes - I bought 10 classes and we have only used 2! I don't want to waste all that money.
Also, I will be collecting boxes and duct tape. And getting my sister over here to get her stuff out of my attic.
Now the fun begins. I feel like the donating stage of the house here in Maryland and the planning stage in Alabama has lasted forever. It's been about 6 months, in reality. Now it's time for the next step. In Maryland that consists of packing here and there (I still have to stage the house, so I can't go crazy). We won't put the house on the market until Michael has a start date with his job in Alabama. Which we've gone over here on the blog - it could be next month, it could be next year. In Alabama, the next phase is BUILDING!!
I am so excited to be at this point. Here is all we have accomplished in the last 6 months:
OCTOBER
* find realtor
* email realtor about what kind of properties we are interested in to look at when we visit
* fly to Alabama tohouse land hunt
* put contract on the land
NOVEMBER
* wait while sellers work with lawyers to get land ready to sell (there was dividing and adding and a whole lot of stuff you can read about in earlier posts)
* negotiate with sellers on a price for the land
* work with bank to finance the land and set up monthly payments (which are higher than our mortgage here in Maryland) *sigh*
DECEMBER
* sign the papers to buy the land
* visit the property with Kara and Michael over Christmas
JANUARY
* find team of people to be our builders
* find architect
* work with architect to do plans for the house
* work with bank to set up money for the builders
FEBRUARY
* keep working with architect
* fly by myself to meet our team in person
* pick out where house will go on our property
* meet with utilities guy - water, gas, electricity, etc.
* visit other houses the team has built to get ideas on what I want for our house
* finalize house plans
* our new town gets record breaking snow and everything gets pushed back at least a month
* then several ice storms - more delays
* work on electrical plans
MARCH
* pay utilities guys to come install all utilities - 600 yards from nearest utilities
* finalize electrical plans
* finalize site plans
* work on budget
APRIL
* sign our Alabama land over to our trust
* set up builders risk insurance, which will turn into home owners insurance
* finalize budget
* utilities are done
* gravel driveway has been laid
* clear trees
Wow! When I break it all down like that, I feel like we've accomplished so much!! Let me just take a minute and say how nicely Michael's and my personalities work together. He is a man who doesn't care much about the details, and would not have wanted to do any of that work at all. He wants to pick out land, look for 1 hour at house plans, then sign on the dotted line when the house is done. If he didn't marry a woman who loved details, doesn't mind traveling alone to Alabama when he can't come, who isn't into details, who doesn't want to be in charge of the whole budget, this would be difficult! But, I am loving all that I am learning with this whole process. It's fascinating to me! It's a lot of work and I'm pulling back from other commitments to have time to do all of this, but since we're moving anyway, it's appropriate to do that. Michael's official response to any question I have is "whatever you think." You got it!
Okay. So. This weekend is when we finally get to go to Alabama to break ground on the house! We are leaving Thursday to drive part of the way, then we'll stay in a Best Western in Knoxville with a pool for Kara to swim in. (We get Best Western gift cards with our discover points, so we get free hotel stays. Nice.) Then Friday we will be on our property doing the business meeting thing - approving things, signing things, etc. And Monday (weather permitting), they will break ground!!! Over the weekend, my dear friends who live about 3 hours south of our new house are driving up to hang out with us. They will play in our woods, slop around in the mud, and we'll all have fun. They have a camper and are staying in the state park, so maybe we need to see if we can do a camp fire one night. :-)
Needless to say, I've had a list of what to pack for this trip ready for about a month and a half. :-)
I'm so excited! I will have approximately one million pictures of this trip to share with you.
Well, we all know me. I'm sure I'll find more. :-D In fact, I still want to work on Michael's office a little more....
I have a moving "list." Are you surprised? It's in excel and has several spreadsheets, broken down by room, with a master list of things to do. Getting rid of stuff in specific rooms/closets/etc. is about done, so now my list consists of using up food in the pantry and freezer. I also can pack Kara's spare stuffed animals that were not approved to donate, but were approved to remove from her room. I can also pack Kara's pottery. I have A LOT of it. I also need to sign her up for pottery classes - I bought 10 classes and we have only used 2! I don't want to waste all that money.
Also, I will be collecting boxes and duct tape. And getting my sister over here to get her stuff out of my attic.
Now the fun begins. I feel like the donating stage of the house here in Maryland and the planning stage in Alabama has lasted forever. It's been about 6 months, in reality. Now it's time for the next step. In Maryland that consists of packing here and there (I still have to stage the house, so I can't go crazy). We won't put the house on the market until Michael has a start date with his job in Alabama. Which we've gone over here on the blog - it could be next month, it could be next year. In Alabama, the next phase is BUILDING!!
I am so excited to be at this point. Here is all we have accomplished in the last 6 months:
OCTOBER
* find realtor
* email realtor about what kind of properties we are interested in to look at when we visit
* fly to Alabama to
* put contract on the land
NOVEMBER
* wait while sellers work with lawyers to get land ready to sell (there was dividing and adding and a whole lot of stuff you can read about in earlier posts)
* negotiate with sellers on a price for the land
* work with bank to finance the land and set up monthly payments (which are higher than our mortgage here in Maryland) *sigh*
DECEMBER
* sign the papers to buy the land
* visit the property with Kara and Michael over Christmas
JANUARY
* find team of people to be our builders
* find architect
* work with architect to do plans for the house
* work with bank to set up money for the builders
FEBRUARY
* keep working with architect
* fly by myself to meet our team in person
* pick out where house will go on our property
* meet with utilities guy - water, gas, electricity, etc.
* visit other houses the team has built to get ideas on what I want for our house
* finalize house plans
* our new town gets record breaking snow and everything gets pushed back at least a month
* then several ice storms - more delays
* work on electrical plans
MARCH
* pay utilities guys to come install all utilities - 600 yards from nearest utilities
* finalize electrical plans
* finalize site plans
* work on budget
APRIL
* sign our Alabama land over to our trust
* set up builders risk insurance, which will turn into home owners insurance
* finalize budget
* utilities are done
* gravel driveway has been laid
* clear trees
Wow! When I break it all down like that, I feel like we've accomplished so much!! Let me just take a minute and say how nicely Michael's and my personalities work together. He is a man who doesn't care much about the details, and would not have wanted to do any of that work at all. He wants to pick out land, look for 1 hour at house plans, then sign on the dotted line when the house is done. If he didn't marry a woman who loved details, doesn't mind traveling alone to Alabama when he can't come, who isn't into details, who doesn't want to be in charge of the whole budget, this would be difficult! But, I am loving all that I am learning with this whole process. It's fascinating to me! It's a lot of work and I'm pulling back from other commitments to have time to do all of this, but since we're moving anyway, it's appropriate to do that. Michael's official response to any question I have is "whatever you think." You got it!
Okay. So. This weekend is when we finally get to go to Alabama to break ground on the house! We are leaving Thursday to drive part of the way, then we'll stay in a Best Western in Knoxville with a pool for Kara to swim in. (We get Best Western gift cards with our discover points, so we get free hotel stays. Nice.) Then Friday we will be on our property doing the business meeting thing - approving things, signing things, etc. And Monday (weather permitting), they will break ground!!! Over the weekend, my dear friends who live about 3 hours south of our new house are driving up to hang out with us. They will play in our woods, slop around in the mud, and we'll all have fun. They have a camper and are staying in the state park, so maybe we need to see if we can do a camp fire one night. :-)
Needless to say, I've had a list of what to pack for this trip ready for about a month and a half. :-)
I'm so excited! I will have approximately one million pictures of this trip to share with you.
Comments
That is so interesting, Mom! I always say, as long as a marriage has one of each, you're good to go. Two of one or two of the other makes it difficult, to say the least!