Something strange happened this week. I was out on the deck talking with a friend when I accidentally said those 4 dirty words:
"I'm ready for Fall."
After the busy-ness of the past couple of weeks, I'm ready for a slow-down, but I know it's still a couple months away. There are apples to be sauced, beans to be shelled, jalapenos to be jellied and tomatoes to be turned into salsa, dried, canned and juiced. There are potatoes that will need dug in a couple more weeks, plus squash to cure and store. More carrots to pull. And before winter, turnips, beets and more onions to harvest. My spirit may be longing for fall, but my body has more work to do.
Okay, so the big news.
We talked to a realtor last week about putting our house on the market.
Gasp. I know. I can hear it.
The good news is that our house appreciated by $8000. In this economy. Can you believe it? The bad news is there are a lot of really crappy houses on the market right now. I don't mean crappy as in modest, but crappy as in termite damage, holes in the foundation, water laying in the basement and bad, bad locations.
After looking at open houses and some soul searching, I'm not sure I want to move. We have a humble little home with all-updated utilities. A newer roof. A good location. Excellent neighbors who all happen to be related in some way or another. There are a few things this house is lacking, but after some thought, I think I would rather do more in this house than start over in another. We can build a barn. We can add a room. We can install a woodstove.
We can't replace the cousins who live so near to us, who call us when there's a tornado warning or who offer the bounty from neighboring fields. We can't take the quiet little cemetery down the road where we go with the kids to collect pine cones and acorns in fall, pineapple weed in summer.
I think we accidentally set down roots here.
Go figure.
On the homestead front, we began digging some of our potatoes this weekend. More out of curiosity than necessity. It makes me crazy not knowing what's going on under the dirt! Out of one little patch of maybe 6 square feet, we dug up 14 pounds of taters. Which is nearly as much as we dug up from an entire row 2 years ago. There's an 80 ft row of taters behind The Gauntlet waiting to be dug and I'm so excited to get started...in a few more weeks. For today, I'll stick with tomatoes.
Now for some mandatory cuteness: Isaac lost his front tooth this morning and we celebrated with a watermelon on the deck. When a shower popped up, the kids just moved the celebration under the patio furniture.
4 comments:
That's wonderful that your property has appreciated in this sad economy. I don't know what prompted your decision to consider selling, but I think you're wise to have reconsidered. There are expenses to moving ...closing costs to sell this house, more closing costs to buy another, moving expenses even if you do it yourself ...you never recover those costs. If you add them all up, the money would probably go a long way to adding that room or building a barn. Maybe not all the way, but a long way. Besides, good neighbors are hard to find. Sounds like you put your roots down in a good place.
: )
Sounds like a wise decision to me to stay where you're at for now. We do have to be thankful for what we have right now sometimes.
I accidently said those "four little words" the other day, too. And I love summer. Can't believe those words slipped out of my mouth! Sounds like your garden is going great this year - 'specially with Farmer D's gift of peppers and tomatos! Lucky you!
Let me share my housing story with you:
Two years ago, before I really got nervous about the economy, Hubby and I lived in a very small house. I didn't love the neighborhood, didn't love the neighbors, didn't have space to garden, and didn't like the house. HOWEVER, our mortgage was TINY.
We decided to build a new house on my father's farm. We stayed within a budget, but we did try to build the house we wanted (as we plan to die here). Now I have room to garden, lots of open space, a house big enough for my family and perfect for entertaining, and my neighbors are far enough away that they don't bother me. Unfortunately, my mortgage is WAY bigger than I would like.
If I had to do it over again, I MIGHT have stayed in the little house. By now, we would have had it close to being paid off. Financial security might have been worth sacrificing everything else.
I'm sure if you and your hubby pray about it, you'll find the right answer for you. Maybe it would be a good idea to move, if you can find a better space. But it's always a good idea to give it lots and lots of thought.
love the celebration pics in the rain!!!!
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