Monday, June 21, 2010

Transition and muscle aches.

It's been Festival of Home Improvement here.

Saturday, My Guy and I each ended up organizing our respective basements. It wasn't planned - it just happened that the moons of Jupiter aligned and it was Clean Up Your Damned Basement Day.

Sunday, we landscaped like we have never landscaped before. I showed up at his house with a car full of mulch and potting soil and hostas and plants galore. We ripped out a cruddy old planter, and then I went to town weeding and mulching and planting and hosing everything down. Basically, I was a landscaping diva while My Guy cursed home ownership while cleaning his gutters.

Did I mention it was 96 degrees and humid?

We were dying by the end of the day. Dying. So My Guy made us the dinner of champions: Kraft mac and cheese and purple Kool-Aid.

Seriously. It was beyond awesome.

But why the flurry of activity?

We've decided to put not one but both of our houses on the market right after Independence Day. Because we are insane. And the housing market scares us in a it-might-take-72-years-to-sell-these-houses sort of way.

When I got home last night after the landscaping death march, I found myself almost disappointed. Why do we own two houses? We have two, TWO houses to stage! Oh, for the love of Pete! Whoever Pete is!

But tonight, as I'm finally sanding and prepping the woodwork in my kitchen ... my kitchen that I remodeled three years ago and just lived with the chipped woodwork? Well, my heart is a bit heavier.

First of all, whoever painted the trim with the cheapo paint? You suck. I can't sand without the paint peeling off in cheapo strips. Buy the expensive paint - it is so worth the extra $10. So. Worth. It.

But also? My heart is a little funky because I'm so excited to be with My Guy. It's just that simple - I want to be with him. I want to live with him, even though he doesn't know the proper way to fold sheets or towels. I love him even though he dowsed my bag of gardening gear not once but twice yesterday with both water from the hose and the crap that comes out of gutters and smells like turtles.

But my house? I love this house. It's going to be hard to let go of this house. It's the only place I've ever lived where I had the ability to make it any way I wanted. I painted my closet pink, for Pete's sake (again - who the eff is Pete?). And buying a house was a huge accomplishment.

When I decided to leave Ex-Ex and his wicked ways, I had exactly $25.35 in my bank account. This is not an exaggeration. I was building my freelancing business and I was brokity broke, broke, broke. I moved into a slightly shady apartment that approved me because they checked my checking balance on exactly the right day, after the deposit but before the bills cleared.

Less than two years later, I bought a house. Because I could afford it. Because I was wildly successful in my freelancing career. And so, I left The Apartment of Shame behind for a house that I remodeled and tweaked and smudged with sage. My intent for this house was peace and prosperity.

And so it has been.

And so it shall be in the fab, new, yet-to-be-determined house that I will share with My Guy. And our (gulp) four dogs. Although Lil' Frankfurter is really more the size of a ferret.

12 comments:

sherilee said...

I am filled with excitement for you! What a wonderful place you are in, and will be, with your guy... congrats congrats congrats.

SCREAMING FOR CHOCOLATE said...

Congrats. Big changes ahead for you. I know it is exciting and scary at the same time.

Iron Needles said...

I think that is exactly as it should be.

If I am too anxious to leave one place for another, I might be looking at the new place (or person or job or fill in the blank) to fill up the empty places that it is up to me to work on.

(I hope you find somewhere to live close to a good ice cream shop, though...)

Caron said...

I have a similar past. The house is an accomplishment. The next one will be, too, but for a different reason. You're on a great roll!

mel said...

and smells like turtles. Not expecting that. And that is why I heart you.

Very excited for you and your upcoming changes!!

Trixie Bang Bang said...

Well, this is a far, far cry from when I first met your blog - hooray for you!! But sheesh, that's a lot of dogs (says the lady -lady being used in the loosest sense of the word here-with five cats).

Unknown said...

I think you will love your new home even more. Congrats and good luck with the home sales.

Anonymous said...

I luff the image of you working side by side towards common goals. And that you forgive him for bad folding habits (so long as it's laundry and not poker). It's a thrill to read happy stories like that!
Amen to good paint.
And while it's bittersweet to leave your starter home, the future--I am BLINDED by the potential of happy ever after!
So is Pete. He just told me.

you gotta wonder said...

My world has been flattened and squeezed through the cosmic wringer of life's varied challenges. I can't remember the last time I've stopped by! Shameful because it always brightens my day to enjoy a glimpse of your world, no matter if your world is filled with turtle-smelling gutter crud. I'm excited by the glimpse I just got and I'm looking forward to stopping back by when I have more time to rewind and get caught up on *all* that's been happening with you. Whew! You have been busy!

slow panic said...

it's all wonderful and scary. and the mac and cheese and purple kool-aid is DIVINE. also i love that you called it purple kool-aid instead of grape kool-aid. are you related to my kids?

congrats on all the changes

slow panic said...

it's all wonderful and scary. and the mac and cheese and purple kool-aid is DIVINE. also i love that you called it purple kool-aid instead of grape kool-aid. are you related to my kids?

congrats on all the changes

jean said...

You are going to work very hard but the rewards are SO WORTH IT. You're starting a new chapter in your life and it's going to rock.