Yesterday we drove all over tarnation, through the countryside, down little sidestreets, and much of the time we didn't even know where we were. Places we'd never even seen, and that's after 13 years of living here. It felt a bit like being inside the pages of Dr. Seuss's book, "Oh the Places You'll Go", except it's usually given to high school seniors, not semi-senior citizens...
The countryside was gorgeous and we met these guys:
And no, they will not be our neighbors. I don't know that I want to be neighbors with someone who hangs small animal skulls on his fence, but it was fun to stop, roll down the window and have a chat with them. I liked the one with the red beak. Don suggested I get out and challenge them to footrace, but with these knees I just didn't think that was a great idea.
After chatting on the phone with one potential landlord, explaining our situation, she said, "Keeping it frank, I think this place I'm renting will be about two steps down for you, from the home you just sold. Actually, I think it'll be slummin'."
I told her, "as long as it's #1 safe, #2 clean, #3 close to my husband's work, and #4 you'll let me keep our pets, then we're quite fine slummin."
I'm somewhat enjoying this journey into determining exactly what the basics are. Imagining caring for postage stamp yards, bungalow sized houses that take an hour to clean top to bottom, or side to side, nothing that needs painting or repaired - honestly it all sounds very freeing. More time for what's really important during our last bit of time here. That's people, not stuff or places.
Even considering what we really need to hold on to, what to sell, what to give away or toss, and what to keep with us so this little 'bungalow' will feel enough like home to feed our souls, but not close us in - is proving to be a great exercise.
Hopefully the landlords won't live next door. Otherwise, they might hear us dancing around the peanut-sized living room, pretending we're Baloo and Mogli, reveling in how freeing it is to have only the Bare Necessities of Life - each other and a few feathers for our nest.
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When we were building our current home, we lived in a teeny tiny four room rental for almost a year. My son was ten and daughter was seven and had never shared a room. I have to say, there was a certain liberation in having just 'the bare necessities' and I could clean the entire place in no time. I completely understand your state of mind!
Hmmmm....I'm pretty confused!! If you're not moving to Texas until a full year from now, why did you sell your house right now?? Why wouldn't you wait until next spring to sell?
Did you actually sign a contract on the new rental? Looking forward to pics of your cozy new nest!
So you settled on a place?
I just prayed for you this morning, more praise for selling quickly, and that you'd find the perfect place to rent. You know the picture I have in my mind is a place where you get to sew, knit, and quilt to you heart's content because ... well ... there's just nothin' else needs doin'. Ya know?
When we first moved to FL we rented for 2 years. I loved it! My husband would come home from a stressful retail job and just relax. Truly we did not have a thing to do to keep it up. Vacuum once a week, and mow the lawn once in awhile. It was great.
We lived in a 25' travel trailer for 8 months while saving up the down payment for this house which we bought 16 years ago. I'm not sayin' I'd want to do that again, but there was a certain thrill about being able to accomplish my daily chores in under 15 minutes!
I LOL at the visual of you and Don dancing as Baloo and Mogli. Plus, I'll have that Bare Necessities song stuck in my head all day now, thank you very much! ;-Þ
I absolutely agree Bev. When we thought we had our house sold, I had packed everything except what we would need for the apartment we would be renting. It was wonderful to have just the "bare necessities" to take care of.
Oh how freeing, indeed. And I'm with Becky...all craft tools and supplies are "necessity", and should feather your nest as such.
Just sayin. :)
I just wanted to pop in and say that I just started reading your blog and I love it! I'm a southern girl, too, by the way! :)
Kate, we currently own two houses, 1200 miles apart. So first, we're paying double taxes, insurance, upkeep, etc which of course is expensive. Second, PA weather is so iffy, you can't count on decent weather til at least April around here and we plan to be long gone by April of 2010, so we needed to sell it now while there was a good chance it would go. The housing market here has not been affected by the economy, but we had no assurance that would be the case next year, and we wanted to spend our last year here, with our daughter's family, rather than working on the upkeep of a 4000 sq foot house. I'm hoping for something rather small that won't keep my husband mowing and raking every spare minute, which will allow us some time for bicycle rides, local trips, etc. Hope that explains it.
Add three more regular visitors to what will be showing up at your new rental. As an added bonus, the smallest of those will probably be more than happy to actually sing and dance "The Bare Necessities" with you! :)
My hubby said one time, that when we pay the mortgage off on this 1200 square foot bungalow that we are in, we should move to a bigger two storey in a fancier section. I said no way. I'll just have to clean a bigger house at a point in time when the kids are growing up and going to be leaving home. And plus, once we're free of a mortgage why, oh why would I want to jump into another one. I'm quite happy with my little 1200 thank you very much.
You guys will have a wonderful year enjoying time with Landon and family and friends rather than slaving away tied to a big house. That's pretty smart thinking.
No matter where you end up it's going to seem like heaven to you. You've worked so hard and so constantly for the past two years getting your house ready to sell, I can't wait for you to just sit in your tiny little rental place with your feet (and your knees) up, relaxing. The first time something breaks or leaks and you call the landlord to come fix it - well, I'll bet I hear you giggling all the way out here in Colorado.
xoxo
If you want to get rid of/sell some stuff there are some things travis and I are on the look out for for our home? So if you have some things for sale we might have a need for them.
Reba (-:
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