An Empty House

We have moved out. Completely. Our house is empty, and it echoes and it's weird.  We were last at the house a few days ago saying our good byes and talking about all the memories we shared there.

It doesn't smell like our house anymore, it smells like an old house.

As absolutely happy that the hubs and I are to be moving closer to our family, there are SO many things that I'm going to miss. Our neighbors first and foremost. They have been the best neighbors we could ask for. When we've had bon fires they haven't complained or called the police. A lot of the time they came over. When we've been up late sawing, drilling, nailing, they never complained, and we are grateful. I'm going to miss the alley way conversations, the chatting through the fence gossip. It makes me nervous, because we have been spoiled having such awesome neighbors, that not knowing who will be by us at our next house scares me.

We have pretty much painted and touched every square inch of our house. All of those memories, late nights working on projects, painting, caulking, tearing stuff up are all things that the hubs and I did together and I'll miss those times. We learned a lot in this house. It taught us patience, since no project ever went smoothly. This house taught us that under every rough exterior there can be an absolute beautiful inside. We learned a lot about the history of our house and love that we were able to make our mark on it, able to add our own story to the house.

We kicked cancers ass in this house. While cancer was a very scary experience for myself and my family, every step of the healing process was done through that house: Getting the news of my diagnosis, calling my surgeon, making tons of appointments, coming home after my surgeries, feeling like a junky as the hubs was helping me with the fertility drugs, healing, chemotherapy. This house, that we turned into our home, gave me warmth to heal after chemo, shelter to heal after surgeries and to just cry my eyes out when I was sad and I am forever grateful for our house.

While the hubs and I say bon-voyage to our house and close on it today, we pass the torch to the next owner to make many years of memories in the home. We are excited to move on to our next home, our hopefully forever home!

Moving Made Easy...

We could have moved how we did when we moved into our house. One small U-Haul, a trailer and our SUV... That way would have taken us 75 years to get it done, plus we don't have any place to store our stuff since we can't move into our new house till we close on May 12th. The reason we moved out all of our stuff the last weekend in April was because it was the only weekend the hubs and I had off together before we closed.

We tossed around different ideas of how were were going to move our vast amounts of stuff that we've accumulated over the past 4-ish years. A bigger U-Haul. More trailers. Rummage sale. Leaving it all there. Renting a storage unit. Breaking everything into millions of pieces with a baseball bat. Burning down the house. ALL of those crossed our minds. Then we had the eureka moment when we decided to bite the bullet and rent a POD...well actually two PODS.

All I'm saying is that getting one was the BEST decision I've ever made when it comes to moving and I will NEVER use anything else! They deliver the POD. You can leave it however long you need and then you can schedule to have it picked up. You don't even have to be there when they are delivered or picked up, which is AMAZING for this busy lady! You can either tackle all of it online, or you can call them up and they will help with the arrangements. I'd say call, because at least for me, the website was a little confusing for this first-timer. Initially I thought that one POD would be more than enough for our house. Holy crap was I wrong and I'm happy that the hubs and I listened to my mom and got a second one because by the time we were all done packing, BOTH were completely packed like a can of sardines and we had our SUV, my car, a trailer, the back of a truck and a U-Haul cargo van FILLED! So, we probably could have used three, but at 9:30 PM the night we were moving everything was a little late to get one there and we were getting impatient and cold! For being the end of April, it definitely felt like February and it's getting ridiculous.



















One of our friends said our house is a combo of American Pickers and Hoarders, minus the dirty diapers and hundreds of Gatorade bottles everywhere...we actually had more space to walk. Needless to say, I'm having a stinkin' rummage sale this summer because it is a little ridiculous how one married couple, with no kids can have SO much stuff. But to my defense, it's all old, antique, family heirlooms or things with sentimental value attached to them...

So... maybe I have a problem. It could be worse!!

Well after a full day of packing, another full day of cleaning, packing and throwing stuff out our house was most definitely looking a lot more empty. And PODS came to pick up the PODS on Monday, which was GREAT!

Two things I highly advise, that I didn't think of till the day they were delivered:

1. Check with your city, village or town on whether you need a permit. I did, and although it was free, I still had to file it with our city hall.

2. You will probably need a flashing barricade. I had one for each end of our PODS (2 in total) which I got from this company. If you are in the Milwaukee area, they are located right in Oak Creek. Their prices are SUPER reasonable. I rented two flashing barricades, for four days and it was $15.00. Not too bad since I thought it was going to be a lot more!

Now we wait to have them delivered after our closing and start the unpacking process..... Wish us luck!!




***We were not paid by PODS to write this post. I just found how easy and convenient it was and wanted to share that awesomeness with my readers***

3rd Times a Charm: Operation Basement Organization

I think everyone has "that room" that is the catch all. Most of the projects that we have done, the furniture, supplies and tools have ended up making their home in our downstairs bedroom. Once it came to actually taking on the room that was the catch-all, our basement turned into THE catch-all of all catch-all rooms.

We have tried in the past to clean it up and make it functional with no avail. Two times. Two fails. Each time we feel SO accomplished, then something happens. And by something happening I mean another project. With the downstairs bedroom, we took out the hardwood flooring and installed particle board. It turned out great, but the process to get from point A to point B left us with a TON of saw dust in the basement.

I am also a hoarder of furniture. Especially old furniture, or any furniture that I can get for free or for a reasonable price that has potential. With that said, our basement has been the resting ground for all of my "treasures".

Here is a preview of what is looked like the day before our house showing.

What a hot mess. That's all I'm saying.

Since the rest of our house looked pretty nice before the showing, we didn't want our basement to feel left out of things...AND we wanted to increase the odds that the potential buyer would like our house just a little more to put in an offer if the basement didn't look like a tornado went through. After a few hours, a lot of sweeping and cleaning we ended up with a much emptier, more organized and functional basement, and just in the nick of time!

Just in the nick of time because the guy who looked at the house the next day put in an offer. And we countered.....and he ACCEPTED! Since then, we've been running around, packing, loading up all of our stuff into two PODS and trying not to get TOO stressed out!

Here are a few comparisons since I LOVE the "before" and "after":

Before:

After:



Before:



After:




Before:




After:

It just shows that with a few hours, a lot of hard work and the panic of a house showing the next morning you can get ANYTHING done! But seriously, holy crap do we have a lot of stuff!

House on the Market, Furnace Issues and Our Inspection!!

We honestly don't have a real need to move, it was just another one of our sporadic, crazy things we wanted to try. Both the hubs and I didn't think that our house would sell so quickly... Once we finished the downstairs bedroom, we thought, "hey let's see if it will sell!" We thought, if it did, great, and if it didn't... great too, but we really didn't think it would go! Two days on the market and we had an offer.

To say you love your house is an understatement for us. The blood, sweat, tears and long hours that we have put into this house, to make it our home, really show through all the details in the work we have done. The hubs and I were talking today that we don't really know anyone who loves their house like we do. This house has given us a roof over our head, has hosted many parties and holidays, has had many, many good times and allowed us to overcome the bad times. This house has allowed the hubs and I to share four and a half amazing years together! This house gave me comfort after my bilateral mastectomy, my many chemo treatments and my many sad times through my breast cancer journey. We will miss our home and hope that it gives the next owner(s) many happy years as well...

I think the main reason why we want to move is to be closer to our family, but most importantly, since all of my cancer crap has been going on, and since I've been done with chemo, I like to keep my mind as busy as possible so I don't have to think of all the "what if's" that come through my mind... I figure if the hubs and I can have another "project" to keep us busy over the next couple of years, it will make the time go by and then we can finally start our family in whatever house we land with.

We went out this weekend with our Realtor, who lined up four showings. It absolutely amazes me the condition of the homes on the market and what the sellers think they can get for them. A lot of the houses that we have looked at are in poor condition, or need a ton of work, but the price being asked is almost ridiculously high, except for one house that we put an offer in on. YES! We put an offer in and they accepted. The only catch is that the house already has one offer in on it, so we are secondary. The contingency on the first offer is that they sell their house, so with that said, if it doesn't sell within the next two days it is looking like the hubs and I won't be homeless in less then a month!

After the showings and sending in our offer for the home that we LOVE, we went home to tie up any loose ends before Sunday's inspection. While doing so, our furnace decided to take a crap on us. Yes. we have lived in the house for over four years and it's ran true and true, but the day before the inspection the blower motor decides to go kerplunk on us. We have a Lenox variable speed furnace and while they are energy efficient, the parts can be on the expensive side...Needless to say after finding out the cost to have it replaced is about $1,000.00 give or take a little bit, I had a mental breakdown. That is a lot of money to fork out, but obviously it needs to be done because although it is mid April in Wisconsin, apparently mother nature thinks is late February early March, because it has been cooler than normal and it would be nice to have some heat in our house. So, in my panic I called around. A few companies that I called didn't get back to me but I eventually called West Allis Heating and AC and it was 6:50PM and to my surprise a HUMAN answered the phone. Not an automated answering service saying they were closed but to call the "emergency line" and leave a message and someone will get back to you, and they never call once you leave the message, a real person, AN ACTUAL REAL PERSON.  On a Saturday.  Again at 6:50PM!!!!  I told her my predicament and she took down my information and within 10 minutes I was on the phone with a technician. I got the appointment for this morning and he insured me that they will be able to get my furnace up and running in no time!! I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief, although it's expensive, I know it will get done and be done right!

And right now as I type WE HAVE HEAT!!!!!**  Woo-hoo!!  I definitely did a little "we have heat finally dance"!!!!!!  It was a beautiful sound to hear that forced air working!!!!

We also had the inspection on our house yesterday!! I was SO nervous...all the work that we have done is solid, but with owning an old home you learn quick to expect the unexpected and to not be surprised! There were a few very minor things that came up (a GFI outlet needs to be switched out, a furnace tune-up and a hose coming out of the furnace needs to be put on) and it will all be taken care of this week! What is it about an inspection that scares you? Because they scare me...

So now we have an appraisal later this week. Today's the 14th and we officially have less than a month to pack...Holy crap!

Downstairs Bedroom: The Finale!!

So, after many long nights, lots of paint, wainscoting, diy flooring, installing windows, caulking and tossing ideas back and forth, our bedroom is done:

June is really digging the fact that we finished "her" bedroom.....anytime I can't find her, she is usually snuggled up in a ball on the bed!

We painted the doors the same color as the wainscoting and spray painted the middle sections the same color that we painted the vents in the room (Rust-Oleum-Catipillar-farm equipment).  We love how they turned out and we think they add just a little bit of funk to the room!

Since I'm a total fan of before and afters, here is what we started with:



And this is the beautiful room we have now:

It's bigger, it's brighter and now our house is on the market!  Yup, we are looking to move, although we LOVE this house and have had SO many memories here, we want someone else to be able to enjoy this house the way we have!
Like we don't have enough going on right now, I think we've lost our minds....

Downstairs Bedroom: The Finale!!

So, after many long nights, lots of paint, wainscoting, diy flooring, installing windows, caulking and tossing ideas back and forth, our bedroom is done:

June is really digging the fact that we finished "her" bedroom.....anytime I can't find her, she is usually snuggled up in a ball on the bed!

We painted the doors the same color as the wainscoting and spray painted the middle sections the same color that we painted the vents in the room (Rust-Oleum-Catipillar-farm equipment).  We love how they turned out and we think they add just a little bit of funk to the room!

Since I'm a total fan of before and afters, here is what we started with:



And this is the beautiful room we have now:

It's bigger, it's brighter and now our house is on the market!  Yup, we are looking to move, although we LOVE this house and have had SO many memories here, we want someone else to be able to enjoy this house the way we have!
Like we don't have enough going on right now, I think we've lost our minds....