Getting things ready

Yup, back blogging again.  I determined this morning that I need to be able to have a safe place to release some of my stress, and to me, this is a safe place.  Be warned that today I am feeling a bit of the "Negative Nancy", so if you want to quit reading now, I don't blame you.

Today is the beginning of the two month drive to get this house emptied and ready to stage for sale.  This day didn't just sneak up on me, I've known it was coming for a long time.  The problem is that I spent a large part of January and February feeling sorry for myself and not getting anything done.  This weekend I realized that it is just two months until May 1, so I'd better get my fanny in gear.  I am blessed in the fact that I found two handymen to get the bigger stuff done, but other than that I am on my own.  Nobody is going to get it done if Nancy doesn't get it started.  There's a lot of work to be done, and a lot of sadness as I get ready to move from the place that has been home for our family for the last twenty-five years.

I've decided that over the next two months, I am going to look back  on our family history in this house and write it down, in case kids or grandkids want to know, and then it will be saved here.  Today I will start with how we found the house.

We left south Minneapolis on April 1, 1986 and moved to Coon Rapids where we rented a small two bedroom bungalow.  It was good space for a family of four, and Jen and Liz would come every other weekend.  We were told the the house was going to be sold, and would we be interested in buying it.  We were seriously considering it when we found out that Jen and Liz would be coming to live with us on a regular basis and we needed more room.  So the house hunt started.  We knew that the market would be limited as we would need special consideration for financing, aka our credit sucked.  One day I found an "owner will finance" home in the Anoka County Union.  We went and looked, and it was in the process of being built.  The owner was a very fatherly sort who was willing to carry a contract for deed with little down.  We had Gar's aunt Diane look it over.  She thought it looked good, and we decided to buy the house.  I will always be convinced that God was the true realtor in this whole deal.  We were a block from Cross of Hope Lutheran Church.  What I did not realize when we moved to this house was that we would gain a family at Cross of Hope and that my faith life, and my sobriety would grow so much from all that I learned there.  Gar, our daughters and I created many wonderful memories in this house, memories that I will treasure all of my life.  But now it's time to move on in many ways.  First and foremost, it will be a relief to get rid of the mortgage.  Secondly, I would not be a good steward if I were to stay in this house that is designed for a family, with just me and my dogs.  I trust that God will find the right family for this house, and I pray that they may have as many wonderful years as we have had.