Big Plans

It’s done. I’ve given the required 60 days notice on my apartment. It’s costing us a pretty penny to break our lease and make this move, but it’s a good opportunity.

In just about every way, the house fits the mental picture I’ve carried around for decades of the type of place I would jump on if I ever got the chance. I wish it were in the Heights, Village, or Montrose, where I've lived for twenty years and where all my favorite stores and restaurants are. But it’ll be a very short car trip, and I don’t do much shopping, anyway. Being able to walk to work will be wonderful. And I’ll have all the benefits of a large university just a block away—library, book store, museum, theater, concert halls, and state of the art rec center. The campus has recently gotten some pretty decent restaurants, too.

So now comes the stressful part—the weeks of hell as I get ready to move. A lot of it will cost money. Nearly all of it will be a pain in the ass. But I’m going to take it one day at a time and stay focused on the end result. The stressful time won’t last forever. The dust will eventually settle and I’ll be happily set up in my very own house.

Oh, did I say “my very own?” Yes, the owners have offered to sell it to us, owner-financed! So not only are we moving, but we’ve got to do all those house-buying things, like get an inspector, negotiate terms, talk to a lender, get insurance, etc. If the purchase deal falls through for any reason, we can still rent, though. And we have a deal with the owner that they won’t sell for at least two years, unless it’s to us. It was a deal I insisted on, since no way was I going to incur all the expense and hassle of lease-breaking, only to pack up and move again in a year.

But I’m pretty sure we’ll end up buying the house. I wish this deal had come our way when we were better positioned for it. But opportunities come when they do, and this is the house I’ve held out for. I was committed to renting for the rest of my life, rather than buy simply because people told me I should or I must. And just like I met my husband when I quit caring whether I met the right man or not, the right house dropped into my lap once I gave up wondering if I would ever find it.

There’s a lesson in there, somewhere.

This has been a stressful week for me in other ways. My boss was out of town all week at a conference, leaving me to spearhead the merit plan. We were given a very narrow time window to run all our numbers, so it’s just been me and the VP, meeting, calling and sending documents back and forth. I’ve been calling meetings and fielding anxious phone calls from lots of very important people, bringing work home and working late every night. But my boss is back now and the VP is making his final decisions this weekend. Data entry will be next week, and then we’re done.

As much as I’ve been frustrated by all the late hours (plays havoc with house-buying and exercise!), I’ve enjoyed the challenge. At lunch today, Dan commented that I seemed to be enjoying it, and I had to smile. Before my job duties changed last winter, I had gone six years without any major change in the nature of my work. I had learned everything I needed to know years ago. I could do things fast and sometimes slip away early with no one the wiser, but I was also bored. Since the business services centralization, I’ve been learning new things nearly every day, and I enjoy the challenge, even though at times like this I hate all the stress.

Well, that’s it for today, and it’s quite enough!

Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run
Thursday: 20 minute treadmill run/15 minute elliptical
Friday: rest day
Today: 15 mile run