And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~ Kahlil Gibran



Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Letting Go

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought...it figures


~~Alanis Morisette, Ironic


I think I may have mentioned that I found The House. The house that immediately upon entering I fell deeply in love with. The house where I felt like I had come home. The house that I just knew was for me.

I also mentioned that there were some problems with it. Loving a good challenge, I set my mind to solving them so that Mr. Barefoot would have no reason to blow my dream ship out of the water.

Falling down garage.....easy. Get a Home Rehab loan (which you can roll right into your mortgage), tear down the old and build a new. Even if we didn't want to do that we would be able to afford it (low mortgage payments rock) by spring.

New roof needed....no problem; see above.

Room for Mr. Barefoot's drums, etc....Make it a two story garage and he can have his stuff up on the second floor.

Guest quarters needed for when FIL & SMIL come from CA....the second story of the garage could also make a fabulous "in-law suite".

Storage? I got that covered in spades...I have whole notebooks devoted to magazine clippings regarding DIY projects, and I love to do it.

Third bedroom.....ummmm. Basement? Nah, the ceilings are too low, and there is a scary "Amityville House" thing going on with the foundation. Solid, but spooky looking. Rearrange some walls? Not gonna happen without completely restructuring the roof and destroying much of the home's charm. Addition? Same problem. Convert the upstairs bath back into a bedroom and only have the downstairs bath? Possible, but the downstairs bath is so small I can sit on the toilet and soak my feet in the tub at the same time (not kidding), and there isn't really room to make it bigger. Besides, with three females in the house (not that I spend much time in the bathroom, but Big Sprout IS getting up towards the teen years), Mr. Barefoot isn't really excited about the idea of only one bathroom. Have the Sprouts share a room? Well, the rooms are pretty small to start with, and Big Sprout is 9. Would she really want to share with her baby sister who isn't even 2 yet? I really don't think so. Ummmm....Ummmm....Ummmm.....

I don't think it is going to work.

Needless to say, I am brokenhearted. This house is so perfect in every way. Perfect price, perfect style, perfect potential. It just has this itty bitty problem.

My family won't fit.

So I am forced to take desperate measures...Anyone wanna buy a Sprout? I will let you have one cheap, but there is a "no return" policy, just like the one I got suckered into when I took them home. They are both healthy and strong, so I am sure you can get many years of good use out of them. Take your pick of which one you would like, as I am finding it difficult to decide which to get rid of.

Just kidding.





Kinda.

5 comments:

jenny said...

Oh man! I know how much that has gotta suck! You'll find another one... really! As nice as this one sounds, it would be better to find one that the whole family can be comfortable in. But I'll weep with you as you mourn the loss of the almost perfect house.
Come over and I'll make some cheesecake for you!

Kati said...

Gods, girl!!!! I know how much it can hurt to walk into a house and fall in love to such degree that you can see how you'd decorate it and how your furniture would fit, only to realize tht it isn't going to work out. I'm terribly, terribly sorry that it doesn't look like this was the one after all. I know how much you were hoping to get to be close to your parents, there, and combine your gardening efforts in a larger mutual space. Stay strong, sweety. I don't want to say "something better will come along" because I know how terribly much this can seem like "but this WAS my something better!" and it sucks to get that "something better will come along" when you're feeling like that.

Whatever happens, though, I hope you find great contentment and happiness with the decision made.

RuthieJ said...

Boo-Hoo Barefoot :-(

When I was a little kid, we were a family of 6 in a house with 3 bedrooms and only 1 bathroom. It sucked having to share a room with my sister and waiting for my dad to get done in the bathroom every morning.
I know you're sad now because you had your heart set on this house, but I hope it will be easier to find another house to accomodate your family than trying to decide which Sprout to sell ;-)

Wendy said...

When we bought our house we never thought we'd be housing seven people in here. It's only a three-bedroom 1500 sq ft house. It was the perfect size when we bought it, though, with room to grow without any remodeling involved. It's better to get what you need now without having to consider fixing it up. Home renovations are difficult and can suck up so much time and energy ... and that's BEFORE you even start the work.

{{Hugs}} to you, though. I know how disappointing it is. Been there :).

Rev. Peter Doodes said...

Go for it Barefoot, it sounds like a 'home' rather than just a 'house'.