Saturday, February 23, 2013

PROGRESS...?

Well sort of... You cannot imagine how many trips to the dump my husband has made in the past two weeks.  We've turned up nothing of value, except a box of Legos and a few Hot Wheels.  Much of what has gone is mounds of paper work -- me from my writing and the operation of the school and Barry from his years of travel and church work.  I must have gone through at least two thousand photos.  Kept the ones of family and friends and a few other significant ones which amounts to a couple of hundred total.  It doesn't help to have photographers in the family.

We have filled a few boxes with items from drawers and closets and still have a few more boxes to fill with books -- my Flamborough collection and Barry's theological ones.  We have gathered a bunch of stuff for a garage sale -- have to re-coup a little on the financial side.  Whatever else is left will go to the church's big Garage Sale in May and to the Salvation Army, and some has been given away.

This house is our resource for retirement funds.  Most pastors don't get pensions.  We are fortunate to have this large house and have kept it in good condition. We have already had the outside painted and once we are out, will paint the inside. We close escrow next week.

Then comes the process of selling. We are praying for a fair price.  Not thinking of renting at the moment even though we have two property managers in the family.  But we will face all this after we are settled in the new home.  Looks like we will be moving in before Easter.  Find it hard to believe!  January 24 was the first time we seriously thought of moving.  So it will be about 8 weeks total.  Amazing.

We are continuing to pray for smooth negotiations and operations and then hopefully a normal life once again. If you are someone who prays, please join us in prayer.

No photos today.  Thinking about too many other things.

More news to come.

Monday, February 11, 2013

E IS FOR.......

E IS FOR ESCROW EXCITEMENT !!!

Yes, the cat is out of the bag!  We are moving!

We've been talking about downsizing for quite a while, but haven't ever done anything about it.  We  live in a four bedroom house with a lot more yard than we need.  Our boys moved out more than 20 years ago and we should have done it years ago.  So for the past 40 years we have lived very happily in this house, accumulating more and more stuff.  Imagine, 40 years of STUFF!   But less than a month ago we suddenly decided to take a look around and figure how, when, where, what...etc.  Really, just out of the blue.

So in less than three weeks we have taken the plunge -- actually more of a high dive into a whirlpool.  We found what we wanted and expect to go into escrow at the weekend.

Of course it wasn't that simple.  Obviously we had a financial limit, but we also had a size limit (2 bedrooms)and a location limit, ( not too far away from the church).  Barry was concerned about security for me, since he is often away, but I didn't want to be crowded in with other homes.

We went looking in a senior living park that is only a mile away from where we live now.  At first I wasn't too excited as it seemed the homes (modular) were all on top of one another and most of them had next to no back yard, literally.  But then I saw a house that I said to Barry would be a great location. It backs on to the creek and has some trees around so I could still watch my birds, and had a deck at the back.  So we started making inquiries.

At first we got, "No, it's not for sale"; then we heard it was sold; then, "it won't be on the market for a couple of months.."  It wasn't even listed.  In the mean time we must have looked at ten or fifteen houses, but either we didn't like the floor plan, or it was too big or there was no yard space at the back,  I still liked this first house by the creek but I hadn't even seen inside, though it looked well cared for on the outside. We hadn't even see the floor plan, never mind looked at what condition the home was in.
From this...


...to this...



Finally it all came together.  The owners had just finished upgrading the home and were ready to sell. We had the inspection and it came through with flying colors.  It has two bedrooms, two baths, an office and a sun room -- as well as the covered deck at the back.  This is a park that quite a number of our church members live in, so we know its reputation.   In this park the home owners own not only the home but also the land it is on. It has excellent security and many other attributes I won't go into here.  Suffice it to say, we put in an offer and it was immediately accepted. It was as if the Lord was just holding it ready for us.


We did our homework too, thoroughly looking into all the pro's and cons checking out possible problem areas.  The inside of the home is in pristine condition even though it is an older home, and the floor plan is ideal.  The people who own it have done a great job keeping it immaculate.


We are continuing to pray that the Lord will smooth the way ahead of us  When everything is in place we will give Him the praise.  God is good all the time!  All the time God is good!

Now comes the REALLY hard part.  Clearing out and sorting through forty years of STUFF.
We still have toys the boys had when they were in grade school.  So one day at a time we are clearing closets and drawers and will be for quite a long time.

For those readers who are not familiar with our Southern California climate, our average year round temperature is 72 degrees and rainfall is 10 inches. Very rarely do we get frost and we have no rain from April to November, so modular homes are quite popular  and very adequate. 

So why all the secrecy? Mainly because my husband was pastor of a large church in town before he retired and is known by so many people. We know many real estate agents, personally, and just wanted to be free to make the right decision without any outside or well meant pressures. 

You can see why my blogging is going to be spasmodic for a while.  The home is move-in ready and we could move in by Easter, so we have to get busy clearing out our home here. But I will be back and will still visit and comment as often as I can.

This is my entry for ABC Wednesday,  letter E.  To see more intriguing entries, please click 

Saturday, February 9, 2013

BIG NEWS COMING!

I haven't been posting blogs for several weeks and soon I will tell you why.

On Tuesday I will post my entry for ABC Wednesday,-- letter E, and this will be my big news.  So if you are curious about what is happening in my life, come back and visit Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday and I will tell the big secret.

See you then!