I last posted on May 5. So many things have been happening. There have been a few times I’ve wanted to write, but I’ve been too overwhelmed with the things. So here’s an update with some thoughts thrown in. I’ve got some post ideas in my brain too, so hopefully this will be the start that let’s the flow of ideas through.
The things:
- I started a new job on March 29. A not-teaching job. I’ll post more about the switch later, but I’ll leave it at: I love this new position. It is challenging and the culture of the company is one that embraces employees as full humans. I’m coming up on my three months, and I still feel that way.
- I bought myself a house on my birthday (late April). No, really. I put the offer for the house in on my birthday. It was accepted a couple of days later, under the asking price. (Holy hallelujah! Especially in this market.)
- After putting the offer in on the house, things were a whirlwind of paperwork. Saving bank documents. Proving that I was a reliable lender. I had to get my divorce decree from Duval County to support my name change. (Even thought it’s on my Social Security card, driver’s license, and passport!! Grrr.) A friend and my mom helped me out with the down payment costs by gifting me some money, which has its own hoops to go through.
- I closed on the house on May 21. Less than one month after making the offer!! Whew!! No wonder that month of paperwork felt so hurried! A friend came to celebrate the closing with me and brought bubbly to share with my realtor, also my friend, and me. We followed up with some celebratory margaritas. It was a nice celebration to buying *my own home.* (Ack!!!)
- The seller left staged furniture in the house, so I had to get rid of the things I didn’t want. Facebook Marketplace was a friend … and not. Most things went quickly and easily. Folks stood me up at least five times for a set of lounge chairs and an ottoman, but finally a man came and got those too. I kept a queen-sized mattress, which has gone in a room that will partially serve as a guest room.
- The big move was set on May 29. During that week, I was taking care of things at the house while also packing up at the apartment. In hindsight, I should have just concentrated on the latter. But who wants to play with their old toys when you have a new one? A good posse of friends came and helped me move my furniture and a majority of the boxes over to the house. I’m very grateful for their help. Folks stuck around for camaraderie, pizza, and beers after moving stuff in. I’m grateful to folks for coming on a busy day to help give my new home a homey feel.
- I still had to pack up the kitchen and some other things at the apartment the next day. And clean. That took nearly the whole day. And my vacuum finally fully disintegrated through that process. It had broken a few months before, and I’d patched it up. No more patching for that thing. It was one of the last things I hauled to the dumpster on the way out I left the apartment as close to the condition I moved into as I could, knowing the landlord was still going to snag at least a portion of the deposit. ($250 to be exact-Honestly, I expected worse.)
- Since the move-in, I’ve been busy unpacking. And fixing up. The house is definitely a fixer-upper. So I’ve been fixing along with unpacking. Which, in current/hindsight, maybe I should just get unpacked… I’m still waiting for my storage shed to arrive. I got the best deal I could find on the internet, and it’s taking forever to get here. But they didn’t have the one I wanted at a local hardware store, so I wait. I’ll be glad to get the bikes and some other odds and ends into that shed so I can free up the space to more fully unpack.
- One of my sort-of-fixer projects was buying and building a Murphy bed. I wanted to have a guest bed, but not have it occupy all of the space all of the time. The one linked was a more cost-effective one. And I had to build it myself, which was not easy. I’m glad the whole thing is real wood. It’s definitely sturdy. But that also means screwing in screws through real wood. Many I did by hand, because my power drill’s battery sucks and could only help with a few at a time. And it doesn’t have that much torque, so I had to fully tighten the screws by hand. I may be in the market for a new drill… Anyway, it’s up now. It took what felt like a long time to build and paint, though the painting went faster. I like it now that it’s up, though it’s heavy to pull down. (The ad did say it takes two people, but I’m stubborn. And strong enough. It’ll be my weightlifting regime, I guess.)
- Along the way I helped plan the logistics for a retreat for my work. It was a team effort, but things were extra busy that week. With only being in the house for a couple of weeks, things felt overwhelming. But the retreat went well, and my boss thought I did a good job. So it’s all good.
- One thing with the fixer-upper situation is that some projects go faster than others. I want to put in a medicine cabinet in the bathroom so I can store things. The other mirror is just flat and doesn’t open. I removed the old mirror to put up the cabinet. What do I find? Another mirror… For whatever reason, someone had covered up the old mirror with a new one. It took quite a lot of energy to pull mirror #1 off the wall. Still haven’t worked up the energy to pull down mirror #2
That pretty much catches folks up to now. Here are some pictures!!
