Ramblings....: Moving Again...

So this comes as a bitter sweet change I suppose. We have to move. We found out we had to move in summer of this year. This was not in our plan.

Pat and I took our relationship to the next level and moved into this rental together in February 2020 to begin our lives as a family with his kiddo. March 2020 COVID hit. May 2020 we almost split up. We got help, got through 2020 the best we could along with everyone else. By the end of the year our relationship had strengthened. 2021 rolls around and the hits keep coming, but we stayed good. We start really digging the place more and more. Making it our home even though it's a rental. Early summer our landlord says he'll sell the place to us. We're thrilled! We've fallen in love with this place. The huge kitchen, the location so close to trails, the ridiculous amounts of space. We start making plans of painting rooms and re-doing the little backyard. We're so excited!

2 days before escrow closes on Father's Day (Yup...ruined our Father's Day...) Pat gets a text from the landlord saying he doesn't want to sell anymore. Let's just say this turned into a friggin tailspin of angry phone calls, loan officers threatening to sue, all kinds of awful drama - everyone of course on our side - but sadly in the end we have no choice. Landlord says he wants to move back in after he marries his fiance in December. I'm not going to hold back any filter here - but personally I think mommy and daddy bought him this place (which they did) for him and his lady for after they got married. I'll bet MONEY they didn't even know he offered to sell it and when they found out probably had a cow. So F him. He screwed us. We now have to move by February (the end of our lease).

The emotions blow over a bit. Pat pops the question later that summer (Squeeaa!). We're still continuing our lives together but now having to find a place to live in a nasty market where houses are outrageously priced and rent is even higher. Time ticks. We hit Fall. Panic starts to set in a bit at the extremely scary low inventory that's available. Since rent is so high we look at possible purchases too. Nothing is panning out. We enlist the help of my friend Sarah whose a lovely realtor and she shows us a couple places. We make and offer on a place and they come back wanting 10% over asking. We look at another place but to make a competitive offer it has to be 50K over asking. This is ridiculous. As much as I reallllllllly don't want to pay the astronomical amounts of rents right now we have to bite the bullet. BUT - we find a place. It has a pool! Pat says we can swing it. Sarah got us in the 1st day it was listed and we applied that night. A few days of anxiously waiting and we got it! But oh by the way you move in 11/27 - literally less than two weeks. HOLY SHIT.

We jump into action. We can break our lease (Yeah you better let us you asshole), we start making all the arrangements, hire movers, etc etc.

So we have to say goodbye to the 1st place we lived in together as a couple. The place we hunkered down in during COVID. The place we have made some wonderful memories together in a huge spacious place. I snap photos to remember.

Our sitting nook and my workspace

Where we spend most of our time

Our little backyard

Really going to miss this view and all my birds - especially the quails!

I think I'll miss that giant kitchen most of all

Our huge master

So much space

The tub I used to swim in

Damn gonna miss that walk in as well...

When will I ever had an actual laundry room again...

Down the hall to Pat's office and the kids room

I'll truly miss all the space, the huge kitchen, the quiet moments in the backyard drinking coffee or wine listening to all the birds, feeding the birds/squirrels and quails, being able to walk across the street to hike beautiful trails, the giant tub, the giant walk in closet, but most of all the great times we had here. So farewell Loftwood Lane and hello Hart Street!

The move was brutal. We had a tight window to pack up and get out and boy did it take a toll on us. We packed all Thanksgiving week and Thanksgiving (paused to actually have Thanksgiving Dinner with his family and swing by mine to say hi). Pat & I started moving crap in Friday and Saturday. Mom came over and in her magical way helped me unpack my kitchen. We're moving into a much smaller house with less space so it's a bit of a puzzle trying to figure out where everything is going to live. I could not have done it without her help.

Taking a well deserved break

Sunday the movers came. That was a trip!

I've never had movers and they were the greatest. Super sweet guys and moved everything so quick and easy. It's these guys if you ever need movers!

Libby came to help and went with me back to the old place to get anything left and pack up our fridge. We all busted our asses all day on Sunday.

We're tuckered out

He's especially tuckered

Our 1st official night in the new place and totally out of the old place was Sunday night.

1st night in the pad!

I then took Monday and Tuesday off work to finish and unpack the rest of the house and clean up the old place. My OCD got the best of me and I went crazy. I somehow managed to basically finish. My anxiety was through the roof that whole week trying to get settled and get back into some sort of routine. There were some stressful nights for sure. The following weekend Pat & I finished up - hanging pictures on the walls, taking a final load over to Goodwill and putting on the finishing touches.

We're in. We're unpacked. We're getting settled.

There's a few things that are going to take some getting used to. The tiny bathroom and shower, the electric stove (I don't think I'm ever going to like that damn thing) but otherwise it's pretty damn cool. It's a house. A house with a pool. Very old skool Orange home which so reminds me of houses we grew up in.

This last weekend I finally felt a bit normal again. Finding new routines. Really starting to dig the place. I so look forward to warmer weather when we can really take advantage of our awesome backyard! Our neighbors across the way seem very cool - brought us a cooler of wine/beer and soda our 1st night!

Check out the new digs!