Packing Is Painful

We're in the middle of packing.  We did get the house that we applied for and have started moving some things already.  The movers arrive on Monday.  The packers arrive tomorrow.  I'm having second thoughts on hiring people to help us pack, but time is going by so fast and we still have to work our day jobs.

Ruckus and Smokey are both stressed, even though Ruckus looks relatively relaxed here:

Once we get this house cleaned out, the realtor's concierge service will paint it and install new carpet.  And, then we can get it on the market.  The target listing date is May 20th.,

A Busy Two Weeks

 The past two weeks have been really busy.  We signed with a realtor, and then realized that we--and the dogs--will be better off if we move before our current house is listed.  Geff was able to get us a 10'x30' storage unit:

It is bare now, but likely not for long

We have also applied to rent a house near where we are building. We first looked at apartments, but fortunately realized that a house is more our lifestyle.

And, we will be close enough to watch as this empty lot turns into our new home.

The lot looks so large now!

We'll also be close enough to spend more time with Marge.

The Houses Are Gone!

 Last Monday, we received an email from the builder with a photo showing that the buildings were down.  I didn't have a chance until yesterday to visit the site.  It is exciting to see the progress, even as we ran into our next hurdle.  For now, here are the photos of the site as it looked yesterday.

A large hole in the front of the property--likely where the sewer/water pipes are capped

There used to be a house blocking this view.

They made fast work of the buildings

The foundation of the big house was really thick

Just to give you a better idea of the size of the concrete chunks

I thought the hole from the big house would be larger...

Next steps:

1. Finish the clean up.
2. Start the permitting process.
3. Sell our current house.
4. Move.

We were hoping to be able to wait until after the new house was built before selling our current home, but between the rising costs, the rising interest rates, and getting real about the space we will need, we are going to have to sell before we can finalize our building loan.

With this in mind, we have started packing up the things that we have accumulated since we moved into this house in 2006.  And, I may try to finish part of a quilt top.

The current quilt with packed boxes in the background