2013_05_29 Wednesday

We have housing news. We had our broker open house on Thursday afternoon. Then, a couple came by on Friday night. They asked us what it would take to take the house off the market. By Saturday, they had submitted a bid +$50k over our ask. We still had our scheduled open house on Sunday just in case this bid fell apart for some reason. We went into attorney review on Monday and review concluded today (while Elise and I were at the Nature Center studying caterpillers and butterflies/moths), so we have officially accepted their bid. That means no more showings; the best part was that we were gone from Thur-Tues, so we weren't even inconvenienced by any showings! We do have to stay staged through next Thursday, when we have the inspection (they waived appraisal and non-structural inspection issues), so we anticipate that to go fairly quickly.

We head down to ATL for our first on-the-ground house hunting expedition. As it turns out, there's a new student playdate is the night we arrive at the school Jonathan is 99.9% likely to attend. I'm working with folks down there to let him participate despite not having an actual address yet.

2013_05_08 Wednesday

For my birthday, I took the family to a burger joint, the Cloverleaf Tavern. It has a huge beer selection, so I thought that would be fun. Little did I know that Wednesdays are kiddy day, so they had a balloon artist there who kept the kids busy for awhile. Jonathan got a huge palm tree with a snake winding up the trunk; Elise got a My Little Pony. They were about the size of the kids! On the walk back to the car, she fell on her pony, and all but the head popped. But, she said it saved her from falling. ;o) It is a bit creepy to have a horse head (even just a balloon) in her room, though!

2013_05_12 Sunday

What a lovely Mother's Day I had!! I was served breakfast in bed: a snack pack from Jonathan with a cute poem, a drawing of me in bed, and a breakfast bar and a tea bag. I also got a homemade jewelry box with glitter and a photo of Elise and a homemade necklace from Elise. And, I had red scrambled eggs, and a salad of: dog cheese, carrots, cukes, strawberries, grapes, and blueberries. Then, I went on a short scavenger hunt (3 clues) that brought me to the basement where a lovely purple orchid was waiting for me. Afterward, I got kicked out of the house until 3pm, so I got a mani/pedi and read my book (Lean In) at the coffee shop for a bit. When I came home, we mozied to the frozen yogurt place, took some family photos at the chess table, played at the duck pond, and had a nice (albeit slightly early) dinner in town with wine and dessert! Dave put the kids to bed, and we watched a movie. What a great day to be a mom!!

2013_05_07 Tuesday

It is with mixed feelings that I tell you that it IS really happening: we are moving to Atlanta. Dave has been flying down there every other week for nearly 3 years, and everyone (he, we, and the company) is just done with that. It was a very difficult decision to make, especially going so far from Oma and Opa. We do have an annual travel budget from the company (!!), so that makes the distance more tolerable. School down there starts on August 7, so we have to move very quickly. My head is spinning with all that needs to get done. Our house will likely be on the market in the next 2 weeks. We've already met with stagers and are putting their plans into action quickly (Our heinously ugly louvered windows are all gone!). I meet with a mover/storage on Wednesday. We will finish off the school year here (one of Jonathan's main concerns was if he'd finish Kindergarten (at all) and whether his bunk bed would come with us), but how much longer after that depends on the housing market. I haven't spoken with my office yet, but there is no reason it should be a concern since I work remotely as it is. Then again, it is the government!

The really good news with this, though, is that once the company he currently works for is sold (4-5 yrs), we are heading back to the DC area!!

2013_05_02 Thursday

Big news: we are moving to Atlanta. It's a very hard decision to come to, especially since I've just started to feel roots here, but having Dave be away 1/2 time and the potential for his company to grow just make it worthwhile. The hardest part (beyond being in HOTlanta in August) is being very far from family, especially Oma and Opa, who have been there for us every single time we've needed them, let alone whenever we have free time. The company has made allocations for travel for the family, so that also does help swallow this pill. That said, we have to move this process along very quickly, as school starts there on August 7.

(update)
Within about a week, we flipped the house into Staging Mode. The movers came on May 10 and took away 90% of our belongings. Since then, we've had painters neutralize the whole house (master, dining, and living rooms), and contractors have updated our facade from the 1970s by replacing the louvered windows with a nice railing. It's amazing how much it opens up the house. We've also planted some small shrubbery for curb appeal. The stagers come with their furniture on ~May 18, and we officially go on the market on ~May 20.