Trying to Stay Afloat

Seems I just can't keep up with blogging these days. It was such a high priority for me to journal our lives here for so long that I didn't let things like busy days and fatigue hold me back from getting the latest post up. The last few months however have been quite the flood of activity and we find ourselves just trying to ride the wave as best we can and focus on what absolutely has to be done that day. Blogging, well, is one of those things that really never "needs" to be done and, therefore, it hasn't.

You might find yourself wondering what has been making us all kinds of busy. Well, on my last post I briefly mentioned that we found a new place for us in New Hampshire. This means we'll be selling our current one. For anyone that's ever sold a property, you know what a pain it is to get the place ready to sell. Yep, a big pain. All those little minor things that need to be attended to on your place now all need to be attended to right now. Add to it that the place is a 2 hour drive from where we actually live and all that stuff must be done on the weekends while juggling 2 young kids and their naps and general craziness in a too small for us space. Nutty.

Also add that the place needs to be listed as fully furnished. So there's been a big switcheroo of furniture. The must keep pieces have been divided up between bring back to our house and a storage unit up north. Those pieces then had to be replaced at the condo so we've been doing a good bit of bargain hunting on craiglist for replacements. The place was officially listed a couple of weeks ago. Cross your fingers for us that it goes quickly or we're going to have to deal with renting it out...not such a desirable situation for us.

Now, for the new place. Did we find a beautiful ready to move in place that would make the transition easy on us? Of course not! When we were looking we fell madly in love with the view of one of the condos but didn't love some of the finishings. Well, wouldn't you know it, the condo complex had new units being added. Even though I really didn't want to buy this year (after having a chaotic last year plus with new house, new baby, cat death, etc), Mike and I both agreed we couldn't let that view pass us by. When we talked about finding a new place, a good view was at the top of the list and this one was just better than either of us could have imagined in our wildest dreams. We'll have a panoramic view of the mountain range - the center being the gorgeous Welch\Dickey peaks we hike almost every year.

The View From Our Bedroom Window
Serisously, the pictures don't even start to give it justice. It's breathtaking!

The condo being a new build, we had meetings with the builder to make sure we wanted to do this, chats with the neighbors on their experiences building, the usual real estate negotiations, research on costs of some items....and that was all before the purchase and sell was signed. Then it was on to choosing finishings. As the condo is in progress we're still doing that. Most of the big decisions have been made but today, for example, Mike went out to choose some granite slabs for our kitchen and we have to sit down and finalize paint colors tonight. Always a deadline to meet on that front.

Cade checking out the job site. This photo is from our first visit after they started building.
The foundation had been poured before we even made an offer.

We've also had to shop for all our furniture. I know it seems too early to stress over that but trust me, it had to be done proactively. Some of our build decisions were based on furniture measurements. Also, given that there aren't exactly a lot of places that deliver up in the boonies, we had to scout out all stores that were our options and go with just one to keep delivery costs down and attempt to streamline that process. Some of our furniture had 12 week lead times and the build time of the condo is only 14 weeks...not a lot of spare time. Things are trucking along on the build and we are scheduled to close mid July. We are VERY excited!

Our last visit there was very rainy and the boys had a great time
splashing in the puddles in the basement. This was just over two
weeks ago and (to give you an idea of progress), the duplex is
now weather tight and drywall is going up.

Selling and buying have been the main courses on our plates but there have been plenty on the side. That was just a lot of words to read (and type) so I'll let your eyes take a break and fill ya in on more later. Now, I need to go check out some paint wheels....