Our First Home

I do have a life outside the Challenge, but balance is hard to find for me right now!  Paying such close attention to what I eat and also adding quality exercise to my days takes a lot of effort and time, so I'm working to make sure I don't neglect everything else in my life on this quest to become healthier.  As I become more familiar with what's good for me, it shouldn't take up so much time, so I'm just plugging along until I reach that point.  It's hard to make time for my husband, and it's really hard to keep up with this house when I have a lot going on--fortunately, the kids all seem to finally be feeling much better and life is getting a little more back to normal around here.

just for laughs today!

 
Aside from the Challenge the last two weeks, I've been crazy busy dealing with some interesting developments with the house we own in Ohio--we still own our very first home purchased together in 2005.  Dan went to law school in Ohio, and being a military family, we felt like buying a home there was the right move for us--there was no military housing since we weren't near any military installations, and we were guaranteed to be in one place for three years (a long time for us!).  We bought our first home, an adorable 3-bedroom house full of character that was built in 1920, and had our first baby while we lived there--it was a wonderful existence for those three years.  It was hard to leave when Dan graduated in 2008, and even harder to sell the house--I was very emotional about the idea of letting go of the house we had loved so much and in which we started our family.  Despite late nights up painting the bathroom and touching up trim, we endured months of showings that never resulted in an offer, and ended up having to put the house up for rent.  We've been fortunate to have good renters in the house since then (in that they have taken good care of the house and haven't trashed it!), but the period between renters has been rough--before our current renters moved in, the house sat empty for 5 months.  Even with renters in the house, we don't entirely cover our mortgage, so we lose money every month--and we pay a property management company since we don't live in Ohio to manage the day-to-day issues at the house.  It's not a money pit, per se, but it is a big part of our financial considerations every month.

Our current renters just let us know that they will be moving out of our house in early March--we had really been hoping that they would buy the house from us, since they had expressed interest and really treated the house as their own, but it wasn't meant to be.  The bright spot is that a friend of theirs may be interested in buying the house--he's a single guy and a first-time homebuyer, and we are thrilled at the prospect of being able to sell without having to put the house on the market (and all the expenses that come with hiring a realtor, sprucing the place up, and repairs needed after years of rental tenants).  I've spent the last 2 weeks on countless phone calls to our bank, realtors in Ohio, and real estate attorneys, as well as emailing our hopeful buyer and Googling "how to sell a house by owner" so that we can figure out the best way to move forward should this potential sale come to fruition--it's been a full-time job some days, on top of everything else I have going on!  As it stands right now, we are just waiting--the buyer is still looking at other properties and hasn't made up his mind, so we wait until he does.  While I'm hoping that we are able to sell the house (we'll still take a loss on the sale after considering all the closing costs, but at least it won't be a monthly budget consideration and we won't have the unexpected expenses that come with home ownership...especially with an older home), I'm a little sad that we may be closing that chapter of our lives.  I love that old house and all our cherished memories it holds, and I love the excuse to go back to Ohio--we have such great friends there, and checking on the house is a convenient rationale for our repeated trips back there!

our very first home, where Abby was born

As part of a military family my whole life, I'm used to saying goodbyes--a lot.  I've never really gotten attached to homes that I moved in and out of as a kid--some I liked more than others, but I guess as a child, I wasn't as invested in the houses themselves and was more up for the adventure of a new place.  As an adult who specifically picked that little house to call our own, it's a lot harder for me to separate my emotions.  I think I will handle it better than I would have in 2008, now that I have years of distance between when we last lived there and have a harder time conjuring up the spaces as they looked when we were there, but it will still be sad to let it go.  There is something special about the house, and there always will be in my heart.  We will get through this next goodbye if that's where life takes us this time, and we will build new memories where we are now, and wherever we head next--as good military families always do.  :)