One week in...

So... what an interesting ride this has been getting to this point in our downsizing adventure. Some of it, we expected. We expected it to be difficult at times as we were letting go of things we'd held onto for so long... photos, keepsakes, family heirlooms and encyclopedias.

Yep, sweet hubby had a full set of Encyclopedia Brittanica his mom had bought for him and his sister back when they were kids (he's 50 now so that's been awhile!). They meant a lot to him because he knew it was a sacrifice his mom made for them to spend money she really didn't have in the hopes their educational future would be brighter. Considering his sister has a PhD and he has 5 degrees himself, I think it worked! :)

But we managed to let go of many of the things we'd held onto. We realized not having the things won't mean not having the memories that went with them. And now that it's all behind us, we both feel very unencumbered... lighter... freer. It's nice.

We didn't expect to sell ALL our furniture from our Edmond home in one weekend and we didn't expect to live in an empty house (except for a bed and the Christmas tree!) until we could move into the condo. But we managed.

And now we've been in the condo for one week. Last night actually marked the beginning of our second week here. And we're almost settled in to the point we can stop working and just live here. That feels really good.

Sweet hubby is so handy. I'm really not sure there is any kind of handyman task that he doesn't know how to do. I know he loves doing that kind of thing because it's so different from the job he gets paid to do. He really is brilliant and he can figure out how to do anything. It's fun to watch him work things out.

He has done quite a bit around the condo that just had to be done. Some of it, no one else would ever notice but HE would. Things like changing the screws on light switch plates because the paint had worn off them. Things like putting plates on the boxes where the speaker wires come out of the wall (and were hidden behind a cabinet). Things like adding a washer to the door latch plate
so the closet door stays closed. He changed the dryer door so that it opens on the same side as the washer. He's been a busy guy. :)

We spent a lot of time yesterday hanging things on the walls. Wow, what a difference that makes. I think we're seriously almost done with things inside the condo. Sweet hubby needs to go through things to get his garage in order and we need to sort through our closet and get that more organized. We thought we had weaned down our clothes enough but we need to trim a bit more.

So here's a look at how things have changed. Our living room in our Edmond home...



and our condo...


Our master bedroom in the house...



And in the condo...


And perhaps one of the biggest changes... here's what we used to see looking out into our backyard at the Edmond house...



and here is what we see now...



We're really happy with how things are looking inside the condo (and we know the view will just get prettier once spring arrives!) Maybe now, we can get out and start exploring our new downtown surroundings, which we haven't had a chance to do just yet. We have, however, already signed up for a bowling league that starts then end of January at Red Pin. Yep, we're ready to be downtowners. I even got new bowling shoes. :)


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Location:Block 42

In The Blink of an Eye

Way too typical for winter (or near winter in this case!) in Oklahoma, we had an ice/snow storm last week that was pretty bad.  A combination of ice and freezing rain started Wednesday night into Thursday and then the snow came.  I didn't measure at home but I think we got at least 6 inches of the fluffy white stuff.  It was really pretty, as long as I didn't have to go out in it, and I didn't have to go anywhere Friday because I was off work.  We kept hearing on the news (which I'm pretty sure ran all day long, as it tends to do in weather situations here in our great state) that roads were treacherous and everyone should plan on staying home for the next few days.  Sounded good to me!






After talking Friday night and Saturday morning about our move and how quickly we were going to need to be completely out of the house pretty much as soon as Christmas was over, sweet hubby got the idea that we should put ALL of our furniture (we were seriously selling pretty much everything in the entire house!) on Craigslist first thing Saturday morning (and when I say first thing I mean like 6:30 a.m. - yes, we are those dreaded morning people!).



I tried to tell him that I didn't think the timing was good... the roads were bad... no one in their right mind would get out on streets like that to go buy furniture, right?  Uh, no.  Apparently not.  I think we must have had close to a dozen individual posts on Craigslist and almost immediately, the calls and texts started coming in.  I was shocked. But honestly, we had some really great stuff we were selling...


















It wasn't too much longer before the people who called and texted started showing up... and buying stuff... and leaving with it.  Piece by piece all day Saturday and Sunday, our furniture departed until we were left with nothing but the barstools and Queen size bed (which the home buyers want), the rug on the living room floor and the Christmas tree.  Well, technically we had a few more pieces but it was only because the people buying them hadn't picked them up yet.  The house was pretty empty!  Wow... I did NOT expect that to happen so quickly.  Someone at work told me it was probably smart to sell before Christmas while people still had money.  Maybe they have a point.  :)





So now, in what seems like the blink of an eye, we're living in an empty house and won't move into the condo downtown until this coming weekend.  It's going to be interesting, that's for sure.  For one thing, we're sleeping in the guest room (formerly the heathen son's room) where the Queen size bed is because our King size bed in the master bedroom sold.  That's different.

There's not only nothing left on the walls anywhere in the house but sweet hubby has already managed to fill/repair all the nail holes and touched up the paint! The walls look like there's never been anything on them!

We sat on the living room rug the other night to watch TV and I realized I had the perfect spot to wrap Christmas presents, so that's what I did.  Now we have presents under the tree in the empty living room!  :) It's pretty funny, really.

And speaking of Christmas, what were we going to do about Christmas now?  We really didn't want to take the tree down (seriously, I never ever put up the tree until December 15th but this year I put it up early and we have to move!  What the what?) only to put it up again at the condo.. what a pain.  But have no fear, sweet hubby came up with a brilliant plan... we'll have a camp out Christmas at the house!

We're going to get air mattresses for the kids (heathen daughter, sweet son-in-law, precious grandbaby and heathen son) to sleep on (hubby and I still get the Queen bed, of course!).  We'll have pillows to rest on and we'll order in pizza.  Then we'll rent some movies and have popcorn and hot chocolate... maybe even a fire in the fireplace (for the last time). It should definitely be a memorable Christmas. :) When I told heathen daughter the plan she said "Why did we never do this when I lived at home?" LOL. Uh, maybe because we always had furniture?

Once the presents are opened Christmas morning and everything is cleaned up, we'll head downtown to the condo for Christmas dinner. I think it's going to be a great Christmas. Hope yours is, too! :)

The Craze Begins!

Whew, the last couple of weeks have flown by! Hubby and I have both been crazy busy at work so we haven't done much to get ready for the move. Of course the new condo is furnished so that simplifies things a bit... or does it?

Well, sure, it simplifies things as far as the actual move goes. We don't really have to move all that much stuff. Clothes, personal belongings and kitchen stuff is about it really. We do, however, have a house full of furniture that we knew we'd have to deal with eventually. The plan was to leave the house "staged" with all the furniture until it sells. Great idea, huh? We thought so.

Our lease on the new condo starts on December 14... less than ten days from now. We had decided to stay in the house through Christmas though because heathen son, heathen daughter (it's an affectionate term), wonderful son-in-law and most beautiful grandbaby are all coming to spend the night Christmas Eve. We even bought a new "skinny" Christmas tree that will fit a lot better in the new condo. We're all set.









Sticking around the house for awhile after our lease started would be fine. Heathen son will be home from college on break and we're busy at work anyway. Not a big deal... or so we thought.

We've had a lot of showings on the house and everyone seemed to love it (seriously.. what's not to love?) but the offers weren't just pouring in. We did get an offer last week while we were away at the beach for Thanksgiving but it was a contingency offer. We decided not to accept that. We didn't want to risk it not going through knowing other realtors would be hesitant to show the house with a contingency contract in place.

The couple who made that offer came back to see the house for a second time yesterday but another couple came for the first time - and they made an offer right away with a very quick closing date (only a month away!). Woo-hoo! While I feel a little bad for the couple who made the contingency offer for missing out on the house, I couldn't be happier that we got an offer we could accept and we won't be faced with having double house payments. What a relief!

Now for the fun part. (Yeah, that's it... the FUN part!) Since our closing date is just days after Christmas, we'll have to get moving fast as soon as Christmas is over. Looks like heathen son will get to live in the condo downtown with us until school starts again in mid-January. He's going to love that, I'm sure. And, in the meantime, you can visit Craigslist.org to see all the really great furniture we've posted for sale! Whew... fun, fun, fun. :)

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