Despite the season, I’m in a “spring cleaning” sort of mood, though my idea of spring cleaning is probably not typical. When I “spring clean,” I don’t wax floors and scrub baseboards; I purge. I throw things out or away. I simplify. Or, at least, I try to simplify. For instance, now that I’m working again, I’ve noticed that I have been neglecting some things. Like blogging, for example. One problem was that I was spread too thin … with this main blog, ZuZu’s Petals, and Legally Bound. So, I simplified. I combined my efforts and downsized to just this main blog. Now all my blogging efforts can be focused where I’d like them to be, here.
Now, even though I am a self-proclaimed-absolute-opposite-of-a-packrat, life accumulates. I have a history of throwing things away rather than storing them only to find weeks, months, or even years later that those very things would have been handy to have. I’ve tossed out coat hangers and coffee makers, party favors and pizza pans, towels and telephones. I know Bryan has said more than once as we hunted for something misplaced, “It’s no use; you probably threw it away.” Bryan brought home some boxes from work yesterday in preparation for our upcoming move (more on this in a moment). When he brought them in, there was a sense of self-pride that he’d thought of it all on his own. I inadvertently put a damper on that pride, though, I think, when I said “Well, I kept all the ones we used when we moved in.” But the truth is, we’ll need more … because it seems inevitable that we’ll have more stuff to pack than we had to unpack. I don’t think I could easily identify the extra “stuff” or where/when it joined us … it’s just life.
And we’ll be packing “life” over the next couple of weeks. While the prospect of packing is never pleasant, this time it seems long overdue. After nearly two months of riding a roller coaster of emotions that seemed the path to the Benton House (see previous posts here and here) … the ride came to an end last weekend. We had so much invested, some financially but mostly just emotionally, that accepting the fact that it wasn’t going to work out was difficult. Nevertheless, we did accept it and seemed to be going back to the drawing board … while the July 31 lease expiration on our current rental and the question of where the kids would be attending school in the Fall loomed overhead. But God is good … even when we forget it sometimes! We were able to extend our lease for an additional month. We were presented with another opportunity and now have a contract to close on August 18 (the day before school starts!) and we’ll move in the following weekend.
The house is in Austin, a small town near Cabot. The house sits on 12 acres, some leveled and cleared, and some wooded. And there’s a beautiful stocked pond!
With our contract, I can go ahead and get the kids registered for school; we’ll be in the Cabot School District, which is said to be one of the best. While there’s a part of me that won’t be truly relieved until keys are in hand, Bryan and I agree that we feel this is going to work out. Praise God!
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wonderful! what a gorgeous home and view! i do the same exact thing when i clean – i throw stuff out – my husband says " why did we get this in the first place?" i am sure my friends and family are very grateful though!
This is such a beautiful house, and let me say sis, I am proud of you, and very, very happy for you guys.
Very nice house, reminds me of Anita's from the outside.