Moving...

At the end of March, I was looking how the housing market was better and interest rates were low. I had wanted out of my house ever since my ex said he wanted the divorce, but had to wait for the divorce to finalize as I had bought it before the marriage and therefore it was separate property. So I decided it was time to take the plunge and get away from the house of bad memories into a new place that would be better for Emma. My house was a nice place, but not very conducive to Emma learning to walk in her gait trainer as it was mostly carpet and there weren't many places that were open for very far without walls or furniture to work around. So I told a few people that I was entertaining the idea, and one of them found a new development only a few miles from where we lived. I went to look and decided to commit to the change. Once I saw the floor plan and found out I could have flooring in the majority of the house that would help Emma use her gait trainer, I knew I had to see if I could make it work. So I spoke to my realtor and put my house on the market. I'm lucky I had her because I had to move fast as there was only one house left in the development that had the floor plan I liked and it was due to be completed in about two months. So over a weekend, I moved about 40% of everything we had in the house into storage with the help of some of my friends. Then, after some spring cleaning, it was time to open the doors for potential buyers to come and take a gander. Once it was listed, I happily signed the contract on my new house! Only thing that stood between Emma and her new house was the sale of our current house.

That Friday, April 5th, it opened for showings at 4:00 PM and, in the first three hours, had over ten showings and one offer for just over asking price. The next morning, I went to Cars & Coffee at Classic BMW while over ten more showings took place. Within forty-five minutes of the showings starting, there was another offer. This one was cash and for even more! My realtor met me at the car show and I signed the paperwork. I was both shocked and relieved that it had sold so quickly. Next thing to do was inspection. Luckily, nothing really big came up so there were just some easy fixes to take care of. I can't thank my realtor enough for everything she did - she is AMAZING!!!

The old house with me signing the closing documents.

At that point, I had just over a month before we had to be out of our current home. There was a ten day period after we had to move out before our new house was scheduled to be completed. The plan was to move in with my parents until the house was ready. It would be a challenge with Emma and the two dogs, but I knew it would be worth it for our new home.

Then came the weekend that changed my plans. Emma would be with my ex and I was going to pack up as much of the house and put it in the POD I had rented, but then Emma had her seizure. My weekend of packing and moving turned into a weekend at the hospital that wore me out emotionally and physically. Since I made very little progress on the move, I decided I would hire movers to pack and move our stuff into the POD so that I didn't stress myself out while Emma and I adjusted to her new diagnosis of epilepsy. We were down to two weeks left before the move and there was still so much to do. I focused on taking care of her and myself and told myself that it will all get done that last weekend after I close when I'm moving out.

And it did all work out that weekend. Not everything fit in the POD, so I had to have some help from a friend to move the rest to the storage unit where the rest of the stuff was. The last load was put in the storage unit at 5:45 PM and I was back ready for Emma to come home at 6:00 PM. I was exhausted and dreading doing it again the following weekend, but then the fun began. While I had been approved for the loan, there was some miscommunication between the builder and lender which caused delays with the appraiser. The delay moved the closing date of the new house from May 24th to June 4th. So instead of having a three day holiday weekend where I already had someone lined up to help me with Emma while I got everything moved, I now had to take off work and do it in a day. To top it all off, I was sick and on heavy medication that knocked me out that entire week of closing/moving.

The good news is we're in "Emma's House" now and loving it! Even after living there two full weeks, it still feels a little strange. But I'm so grateful that it all worked out and that we are out of the house of bad memories and can start fresh with a clean slate. I'm already planning how I'm going to decorate the house for Halloween, Christmas, and her birthday next February... But I still have some unpacking to do first. One step at a time...