For Sale: Our House

June 22, 2011 | My Jottings

I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions lately. Like, “Should we really put our house up for sale?” and “Is there anyone out there who needs a six-bedroom house these days?” and “How in the world am I going to get 4500 square feet ready for a showing at the drop of a hat?” and “Where did I drop my hat?”

Other questions I’ve been asking are: “If we do sell our house, where will we move?” and “Why can’t I find any smaller houses that meet our criteria?” and “Who ate the miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups I hid in the door of the freezer behind the coffee beans?”

Lots and lots of questions are being asked. Sometimes I even ask myself questions out loud.

Questions like, “Should we leave American Siberia Minnesota altogether and move to a more temperate city like Asheville, North Carolina? Or Flagstaff, Arizona?” and “Should we have an open house when our home goes up for sale?” and “Where did I put that important contract that needs signing and returning in three days?”

Sometimes in the morning I ask myself questions like this: “Is it morning already?” and “Why do I feel like I’ve been beaten with a baseball bat during the night?”

So, yes, our house will go up for sale on July 11th, and this is your last chance to buy it before we sign a contract and realtors start showing people through.  🙂

Do you or anyone you know need a large home in a quiet neighborhood, not far from the shores of Lake Superior? We have a unique and spacious home: six bedrooms, four baths, a formal living room, a den, laundry room on the main floor, huge eat-in kitchen (29 x 13), two fireplaces (one in the master bedroom), a dressing room off the master BR, a third floor guest suite, a bright office, basement, attached, heated double garage, a storage shed in the backyard, front porch with a swing, and a back deck overlooking a huge yard and private woods with a small creek. The house has almost new everything — new furnace, new carpet, new flooring, new air conditioning, new plaster and paint, and it’s amazingly economical to heat and cool for such a good-sized house. Click here and here and here and here to see a few photos.

Michael and I have found two houses we really like. They are ranch-style homes (a style I grew up in and never thought I’d live in again) with nice yards in quiet neighborhoods. One of the houses we keep driving by has a triple garage, which scores multiple man-points with the man who has a snowmobile, a four-wheeler, a riding lawn-mower, a fishing boat, and enough ladders and tools to subsidize a medium-sized construction company. This particular house has a lovely wooded back yard. The siding is a respectable shade of taupe. I look forward to seeing the inside to see if it’s something that would suit our needs. The only problem about this house is…it’s not for sale.

The other house we really like isn’t far from the first one, but it only has a double garage, which could be a drawback in Michael’s estimation, but I think I might be able to convince him to sell off some of his stuff someday. Not the boat or the four-wheeler or the snowmobile but maybe the riding lawn mower and some of the housebuilding paraphernalia. This other ranch-style house is set on a corner lot and is very private because the yard is full of tall trees. The siding is a lovely shade of green and the location is perfect. I very much anticipate seeing the inside of this house too. But we stumbled upon yet another snag: this house isn’t for sale either.

But why should that stop us? I have decided to write a short letter to the residents of each house and tell them how much we’ve admired their homes, and if they’ve ever thought about selling, perhaps now is the right time. Who knows? It can’t hurt to try.

In the meantime, it has been raining steady and hard for what seems like weeks now. Birdinal Creek in our back yard is up three feet. The wind has been ferocious and there are branches down in our yard, beach closings in our city (because even Lake Superior has swimming beaches), and power outages here and there. A fence post in our front yard has blown down too. I have grudgingly turned on the furnace for a little while each morning these past few days, but having to heat your house in June just seems wrong!

I don’t mind a gray, rainy day. Rainy days and Mondays don’t always get me down. Other things get me down, like Parkinson’s Disease in the man I love, and too much weight on aging knees, and a complete loss of culinary inspiration while still having to feed the multitudes. And the thought of moving is a bit of a downer. And the thought of not moving is a bit of a downer. So would you like to come over and have coffee and a chat since I’m such bright and cheery company?  🙂

Today will be a day filled with Foster paperwork (and I publicly thank the Lord for nudging me toward the lost contract — I’m always so grateful that while He’s making sure the billions of galaxies are spinning correctly in space, He doesn’t mind if His inept daughter asks Him to locate some papers in the office), errands, laundry folding, and perhaps a game or two of Words With Friends. Yes, I have a new iPad 2 and I enjoy playing the Scrabble-like game with a few folks I know. I have yet to win one game, but I play for the thrill of it, not to win. I would rather make the word gestate for 9 points than the word ax on a triple word spot for 33. But maybe that’s just because I keep losing. 🙂 Yesterday as I played with my friend Kay, I thought I saw a theme unfolding. What would you think of if these words were slowly being played out on your Scrabble board?

Boaters
Catty
Antsy
Ewe
Pig
Pug
Guinea
Meek
Tern
Son
Scatty
View
Spied
Diva

Kay thought of Noah and the ark!

Once upon a time, things on the earth were not going well. People were not living the way God had showed them to live, and there was so much violence and debauchery God decided to start over with one godly family. Noah was a meek man, and God spoke to him and told him that he and his family would soon be boaters. Noah did not have one son, but three. Soon they worked to load the huge ark with every kind of animal. Up the plank walked a ewe, a pig, a guinea hen, a catty feline and a tern. They were also allowed to bring their mates, because for many, many days and nights, there would be nothing much to do and they would all get antsy. With all those animals, it didn’t take long for the inside of the ark to become very scatty. Noah and his wife and their sons and families went up on the deck after the rain stopped to see if any land was visible yet. What a view they spied! Nothing but water everywhere, covering even the highest mountain peaks. It was at this time during the cruise that the pug started behaving badly and getting her flat nose out of joint. She developed a reputation on the ark as a doggy diva. After many months the water finally receded and everyone was able to get off the ark. How happy everyone was, until the violence and debauchery began again.

The End (thank God.)

I’m hoping that if our house sells, and if we find just the right smaller place for our needs, somehow beyond all hope and imagination, the back yard of our new home will look something like this:

If it doesn’t, I will manage.

That’s it for now. A friend just arrived to borrow some ladders from Michael’s extensive collection. If I’m lucky maybe he’ll take them home and forget to return them.

I’m hoping you all have a blessed week!