Home Update

realtor llamaMany of you have asked for an update on house selling and moving. Here's what's up: We are having house showings every other day. I am sweeping and mowing and cleaning messes the second after they are made. All this displaced grasping for control over an uncontrollable situation has yet to result in an offer.

Perhaps our house is too odd for someone else to love. Maybe when so many people say they want vegetable gardens and the urban homesteading ideal, they don't actually want the resulting look. I feel like maybe we're weirder than we thought. The fact that I giggle at the idea of a Realtor Llama confirms that I'm weird, right?

Meanwhile, we found a house we want to love just a few miles from our current house. It has room to grow, cook, host, and teach. There are outbuildings to house creatures including a cat for Lil. We're dreaming a little, but we can't make a successful offer until we sell our current house.

I'm detached from our house now but not allowing myself to emotionally invest in the new house. I feel home-less.

The Value Of Home

Feeling as though I don't have one makes me value the idea of home more than ever.

A home is a place where we can create, where we relax, where we grow our own food. Home has edible projects hanging in the basement and fermenting on counters.

A house on the market means our creative toys and tools are packed away and we don't want to make messes anyways. The four pounds of pancetta hanging must be carefully tucked away every time we have a showing.

Our poor hounds can't find a place to rest and just when I think I can put my feet up, I get a showing request that requires a cleaning routine. Meals have become much less exciting and are often cooked and eaten at other people's houses.

In other words, for a true home maker like myself, house-selling is wearing thin.

Silver Linings

Given that we have a very nice house now and are looking to own an even better one puts us ahead of most of the world population. I don't take that for granted for a second. We are privileged folks.

So I try to recognize that some of our house-selling routines have come with unexpected benefits. We combined all the dirty laundry locations to a single basket which is now washed, dried, and folded as soon as it is full. Our new system saves so many piles of clothing laying around. Similarly, we do dishes as soon as we finish a meal. The kitchen has never been cleaner and it is truly lovely to wake up to an empty sink.

I am an impatient person who is uncomfortable with uncertainty, so it is no surprise that I am ready for all of this to be over. I just need someone to buy my house. Know anyone?

 

Want to Buy the Homestead? And Other Updates

sunset over urban houseHomestead for Sale

We are finally putting our Clintonville house on the market very soon. In the meantime, life is a blur of paint and trim and organization.

The new buyers of the hound homestead will move into a home complete with:

  • two rainbarrels
  • seven fruit trees
  • dozen perennial edibles
  • seven raised beds with organic soil
  • compost bin
  • wood stove and what's left of the ash wood pile
  • kitchen designed for serious cooking and canning
  • new insulated windows and doors
  • two car garage with built in workbench

If you are in the market for a house and want to choose finishes like paint and a little bit of flooring, let's talk ASAP.

In Other News

In addition to my role as chief house stager, I am working with three social media clients: City Folk's Farm Shop, OCS Logistics, and C-PAP Central Online. It is exciting to guide small businesses in the world wide web.

I also accepted a role with Swainway Urban Farm to assist at farmer's markets. Our first date is the Clintonville Sprout Swap on April 28! I am a huge fan of Joseph's growing philosophy and can't wait to help him share organic seedlings, produce, and mushrooms with the Clintonville and New Albany market shoppers.

As if life couldn't be more busy, we decided on our last trip (this past weekend to Indianapolis) to start a family travel blog. Lil will take videos, Alex contribute quick posts on the road, and I'll manage the whole thing. Check out Curious Wanderlust for our very first updates.

Thanks for hanging in with the website updates during the hosting transition. I'm in the process of transferring to a new-new host with the old-new theme and everything will look normal again soon.