Well, not really indecision, but multiple changes of mind. A very politically incorrect and impolite version is “up and down like a (working girl whose profession rhymes with floor)’s drawers”. A couple of years ago we decided that by the time Jim is 70 we should be living somewhere that is less maintenance, less expansive, less expensive, less everything so we've been casually looking around getting a feel for various strata developments. A strata, in case it’s an unfamiliar term, is anything referring to joint property developments: townhouses, apartments, or detached houses. Specifically we think a townhouse is probably our destiny but we are very picky. Before Christmas we looked at two in our neighbourhood, rejected them both, and then a week ago had another look. After a couple of days of mulling things over trying to visualize ourselves in either space we got around to telling our agent we were ready to make an offer on one of them. Of course, we were ten minutes too late after the property had been sitting idle for three months. So, on the rebound we made an offer on the other property which had some better attributes and some not so better ones.
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| The townhouse that wasn't quite right |
Our offer was accepted and we started the process of final approvals. Except on Wednesday afternoon when Jim came in from the garden he had such a look on his face that I started to cry and proceeded to cry for two days, which isn't such a good way to react to a house you expect to live in. Finally I figured out that I was grieving on his behalf (never mind he wasn't grieving) but in the meantime we had some cooling down time and lots of discussion which clarified our goals and plans. So we've reneged on the deal and I feel sorry for the sellers but that’s not a good enough reason to go forward. We haven’t reneged on the concept and we will move by the time Jim is 70, still a few years away, or the perfect place may slap us in the face next week. We love this house and property but it’s only a house and property. We aren't clinging to it we just haven’t found the right replacement.
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| this had a LOVELY pink countertop! |
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| the stripped down office |
In the intervening ten days we have updated and painted two bathrooms and a bedroom, replaced our precious Mexican sink with a standard white one, packed away lots of extraneous ‘stuff’, filled and painted holes in the walls, and so on and so on. We’ve done about a month’s worth of getting-ready work which is fantastic and even with taking down masses of memorabilia the house is far from bare!
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| the powder room used to have the Mexican sink and was covered in Brazilian artwork |
On February 1
st we are going on a road trip for about a month, Napa, Las Vegas, Scottsdale, and Sedona; we think
Pat and Ed are coming out sometime in March;
Sally and Alan will be here in May; and we have a house-exchange commitment in June. Could the timing of moving have been more complicated? Of course it could have been...
And that's what we've been up to!
