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Coffee Talk 07.15.18

Greetings from my new home! I am SO excited to be moved in. After several weeks of living between two houses and three months of selling and packing chaos, it feels surreal to finally be living here.

I continue to get questions as to how this all came about, so for those who are just catching up…

We knew our old house wasn’t our forever home, and we had casually looked at real estate listings online, but last summer we pretty much decided to stay put until all the kids were done with high school. We figured if we waited a few more years, we might want to move out of the school district and closer to Paul’s work and the city.

But then this house popped upon Zillow.

Paul got an email alert about it and forwarded it to me, and the rest, as they say, is history! That’s the short version of the story, but as y’all know, I’m not fond of short versions, so here’s the rest.

We decided to go to the Open House, but we had no intention of actually purchasing a new property. We were just curious and figured it would be fun to see it, but it turned out to be almost too good to be true. Basically, it checked all our boxes and some we didn’t even know we had.

And conveniently, it’s only 2 miles away from our old house, which makes it easy for us to stay in touch with our good friends in the old ‘hood. I can even jog over there if I want to.

But it was a long process of hemming and hawing to get to this point.

The day we went with our realtor to see this house for the second time, I left thinking for sure we were going to be making an offer, but Paul was having doubts. We went to lunch to discuss, and after he laid out his reasons for why we shouldn’t move forward on the house, I remember saying, “I don’t know… I can really see our family there, but if you think it’s not right, then okay.”

I was resigned to walking away if that’s what he felt we should do, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

He couldn’t stop thinking about it either, so when it didn’t sell right away, we started discussing it again. It was a roller coaster of emotions, and there were many times that I thought it really wasn’t going to happen, but after several weeks of hemming and hawing, making two different offers, and some lengthy negotiations, it all worked out.

Those words I said to Paul that day at lunch… I can really see our family here… really sum it up for me. This house felt right from the moment I walked through the front door for the first time. Every time I had to tell myself it wasn’t going to happen, I felt like I was mourning a loss. Which is ridiculous, I know. It’s just a house. But that’s how much it felt like home even when it had other people’s stuff in it.

Fast forward to today, and I’m looking at OUR stuff in it. It makes me giddy-happy.

The movers were fabulous, despite my concerns after a friend had a bad experience, but Friday still was a long day. Moving was definitely easier when we were younger. We had a lot more energy and stamina, for one thing. We also had a lot less stuff. No matter how much I purge, I swear, the stuff seems to multiply like rabbits. I’ve come to the conclusion that I live with 3 hoarders. I’m working on them, though…

The new owners of our old house have their final walk-through this afternoon, so we cleaned out the last of our stuff last night and won’t be going back. Settlement is tomorrow.

I thought I’d feel sad, but I’m really not. I’m so thrilled to be here. Any sadness I have is over leaving my friends, not the house, and they’re still close by.

In non-house news, my son is back home and done with camp. He’s home for good now… well, at least until he heads off to college next month.

He saw our new house for the first time yesterday — his choice. He actually got here while we were all out, and I think it was good that he got to explore it first on his own. He seems to like it. At least he’s not super cranky about it, as I feared he would be.

Today he has his first of two WCU marching band mini camps, so he was up late last night practicing and making an audition video. He’s a drummer, for anyone not in the know. The marching band was pretty much his life during high school, and he’s looking forward to continuing with that in college. I’m happy that it gives him a place to meet people and make friends and a constructive way to be involved in his college community.

My youngest daughter is hoping to continue in his footsteps, and she’s signed up to play mallets in the middle school marching band this year. I love being a “band mom” so I’m looking forward to more football games and exhibitions — both at the middle school and college level.

My older daughter is still doing the cyber school here at home. She’ll be in 10th grade this year and hopes to get her driving permit in December. Seriously, WHERE does the time go???

So yeah, I’d say it’s safe to say we’re all settling in nicely. I’m exhausted, but it’s a good tired, and I’m excited to see my new house come together more and more every day.

We still have a lot of unpacking yet to do, but our furniture is in place, and I keep telling myself I have the rest of my life to set up house, as we’ve pretty much agreed that our next move is to a retirement home, ha!

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend and that it’s been more relaxing than mine… that shouldn’t be hard to accomplish. Have a blessed Sunday!

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32 Responses

  1. Thanks for a fun “Coffee Talk”. I really enjoyed reading about your new place and life as it moves forward. Your optimistic outlook is refreshing. Good luck in the new “home”.

  2. I enjoy reading about you in new home. I am happy for you and your family. We have a showing on Wednesday. David wil retire on Aug 30. If the house doesn’t sell by then, we’ll just spend more time at the lake

  3. Congratulations on finally being in! We just built a new house and had to live with family while it was built. I feel your pain on the moving and unpacking -never again! I am the same age and it is exhausting. So much easier when you are younger. 

  4. Yay to moving into your new home and to all the new memories you will make there!
    We had new flooring put in our whole house at once and after three days of contractors going in and out, movers and dust, my body feels much like yours did yesterday. We still have a few things to do today to get the house back to normal but we are loving our new wood floors. The only bad thing is…with new floors, comes new rugs and now I want some new decor. Yikes, it never ends. Enjoy your day. 

  5. Sorry I forgot to ask how I get the link for your black coffee tshirt? I’m a bit challenged when it comes to Instagram. Lol 

  6. I was wondering if David had gotten home from being a camp counselor yet.  I bet he will look forward to the weekends he can come home from college, even more now.  I do hope you can make yourself sit and relax this afternoon, but with us having similar personalities, I’m not betting on it.  Have a blessed rest of the weekend!

    1. Haha, you have me pegged. I did end up going back to the old neighborhood and hanging with my neighbors, and that was nice and relaxing. That is one reason I like entertaining – it is the only way to get me to sit down and relax.

  7. Take advantage of that pool while you can! You can unpack this winter lol!

    Glad you are all settling in to the new home 🙂

  8. Congratulations on your new home! We did something similar last year – our oldest was in college and our middle was graduating so we thought, why not put the house on the market? It was a quick and easy transition, moving across town. Our new home is just perfect for our family and I know the Lord saved it for us. My youngest has made lots of new friends and is really glad we moved, even though it was hard for him to leave his neighborhood friends and switch schools (they will all be reunited in high school). Fast forward to this year and we’re really happy with the move, our new home and neighborhood. I don’t even miss our old home, even though I LOVED it and we lived there 12 years. It’s our last home, too! We discovered moving is way too hard for people our age – LOL!

  9. Congrats on being in your new home!!! Sounds like your son will be warming up to it in no time. Can’t wait to see your final pictures. We are going to be re painting this fall and I’m considering the new color greige, I believe it is….. for something different, in our bonus room. Not too sure on the main color through out. I’m traditional but am liking the rustic look mixed in…. Love your new purse by the way in your Instagram photo, looks like it will transition nicely to fall.

    Enjoy your Sunday
    Karen

  10. I really enjoy your Coffee Talks and today especially so. I’m so glad that all went well with your move. I think it was wonderful the way that it worked out that David’s first look at the house was on his own. I hope that you enjoy a restful Sunday.

  11. Feeling your pain and joy! We just moved into our new house last week and there’s still some minor construction left but gosh, this feels like home. Congratulations on your move! Wishing you all the best with the unpacking 🙂

  12. Hi there!  I love following your blog and your Instagram posts. Thanks so much for all of the Nordstrom half yearly sale posts. I bought several items that you posted. So glad you did this because I would have been completely overwhelmed at Nordstrom and would have missed most of the things that you posted. I can’t wait for my packages to arrive!  I also love following your adventures in your new home. Could you tell me what color you used in your dining room?  I have been wanting to paint my dining room a navy also but there are so many shades of navy!  Love the way your dining room turned out. Keep posting your progress in your new home on your Instagram stories. I love them!! Thanks!!

  13. Congrats on the new home. How exciting! i didn’t know your daughter was doing online high school. My daughter graduated from an online school and is now doing college online. Not the route we had planned but it’s what works best for her. 🙂

  14. Thank you for sharing your new house journey! Congrats to you and your family, and I hope you will share more pictures soon! I’m getting ready to send my oldest son off to college next month too, so I’ve found your posts very helpful. And it helps to know I’m not alone in that emotional journey. 🙂

  15. You are funny.  I laughed at your comment about the next move will be to a retirement home.  🙂  You sound happy and I’m glad God opened the doors for this to be your new home and it worked out so nice.  Its been the best time of year for you to move….weather, kids out of school etc.  God is Good. 🙂  

  16. Welcome home, JoLynne!!!  I’m so excited for your family’s journey in your new home.

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