Hello, Sunnyside

Today we went and looked at the perfect house. It checked off every single thing on our list and more. We had always hoped for a home in a decent location with at least half of the following things: three-car garage, swimming pool, guest house or at least a good guest room...and an added bonus would be non-HOA with an RV gate for our camper. Well, this house had all of these things, plus an extensive putting green and solar panels (16 kilowatt!!). Those last two things are essentially a dream come true for Dylan. Dylan, the voice of reason and master of patience has never been too worked up over any of the houses that we've seen. I, on the other hand, would be happy to move into a one-bedroom apartment and have deemed every house to be "perfect." Well, Dylan lit up when he discovered this house. Like, he was ready to put in an offer with no hope to be had for our house selling any time soon. Every time I've been ready to make an offer on a house, he's shot me do...

For the first time in five or so months, we took a walk outside with the kids. It is unseasonably cool, and the temps will creep up again before we're totally done with the summer heat, but fall is definitely here. It is such a relief. As the summer crawls to an end, so does my mood slowly improve. To be able to get outside with the kids a little bit every day just makes things so much better. And what good timing. In my head, I always kind of thought we'd be wrapping up this house adventure right about now, and here we are at the same place we began. It's a reason to be depressed, but it's also a new season, we are feeling refreshed, and we are evaluating new strategies. At this point, we've made peace with the fact that we'll end up getting less for our house than we had originally hoped. We are considering whether taking it off the market and then re-listing it in a few months will help anything. It would give us a break, which we need, and also we wouldn...

When we first listed our house for sale, of course we wondered What if someone buys this thing up right away for top dollar? Wouldn't that be great? We don't usually get lucky like that, and we knew it was a long shot. Especially living way out here, where everything takes months to sell. We weren't disappointed at all when it didn't turn out that way. Fast forward over four months and my feelings about this whole thing have gone in every possible direction and to every extreme and back. Lately, I've found myself in a comfortable zone of giving up control over the situation and just letting it be for now. We are well into September, the temperature is starting to dip (just a little), and we are quickly approaching my favorite time of year. There's no point in wasting time being grumpy about something that's largely out of my hands. And with this new perspective, I've been able to feel some deep gratitude for all the good things that have happened to ...

We've had lots and lots (and lots) of time to think about where we want to move and what type of house we want. Our only real requirement is that it has a 3-car garage. Other than that, we would probably go to any location that is reasonable. And I very much prefer to NOT live in a tract home. We really want to buy an older home that we can renovate to make our own, but we can't afford to be picky, so when the timing is right, we will take whatever works. At this point, I'll move into a one-bedroom apartment if that's what it takes to get out of this house. With renovations on the mind, my favorite past-time has become checking out design blogs, watching HGTV and gathering design ideas on Houzz. It is so much fun. Like, I really, really love it, and I so hope we get the chance to renovate something. I don't know if luck will fall in our favor with that, but I can dream in the meantime. Joanna Gaines' style is my favorite (though I'm not quite as obsesse...

This house thing...the selling, searching, renovation ideas...the whole kit and caboodle...it's exhausting. It's a season of life, and I know that we'll eventually unload this house and find something we really like. I also know that some good will come from the process. Since giving birth to my first son a little over four years ago, I feel like I lost the part of me that invested time and heart into anything other than parenting and keeping this household humming along. I have been so overcome by anxiety and a need to keep things orderly, that I haven't left myself time to sit and explore things and interests that are just for me. It hasn't been good for me, nor for my kids. I think I'll look back on these years of parenting and regret that I didn't just relax sometimes. In fact, I know that I will feel sad about how hard I made things for myself and how I should have just stopped and cuddled my kids more. Even knowing this, though, somehow I cannot stop. ...

Waiting for this whole house thing to unfold has been the single biggest test of patience of my entire existence. Being patient for something with a clear end in sight is one thing. But waiting around for results with no idea of a timeline for how things will unfold is a whole different beast. When we listed our house, we knew that our neighborhood was not a hot market and that it would take lots and lots of time to find a buyer. So, lots and lots of time has passed, and I've been very patient. But my patience is rapidly being worn thin. In the meantime, we've looked at probably ten houses, devoted countless hours to searching our MLS portal and Zillow, and have had too many emotions wrapped up in this process to even count. Right now, we have our eye on a secret little gem. It's not so secret...it's just that it's kind of a weird house, so it's been on the market for over a month. It has a basement with the staircase right in the middle of the entryway. Which...

After catching a glimpse of a book cover on a good friend's blog, I found myself in a whole new world of uplifting stories and advice from one Jen Hatmaker. She just makes so much sense to me in every way. I read her newest book, and the woman speaks my language. She is so real, and it is so good for all woman (and man-)kind. She even named her oldest son Gavin. Coincidence? I think not. We are clearly soul sisters. Jen, with just a few more years of parenting and being a human with real, human experiences than I have, can tell you like it is in the most gentle, and usually funny way. She has five children, the youngest of whom just started middle school. She proclaims that she enjoys parenting older children about 100% more than she enjoyed the younger years. I don't know what it's like to have school-age children, but I can already tell you that I am completely of that sentiment. I know I've made it abundantly clear that parenting small kids drives me mad on my bes...