Welcome to my "Everyday Life"

About 6 months ago we had to make some hard decisions about where we were living. My knees had become less than likeable because of years of wear and tear. The house we were living in was full of stairs. There was a set at the front to the basement, a set at the back to the family room, and another half set to the upper level to bedrooms and bath. I loved the unique style and characther when we purchased it. And we put a lot of work into it, fixing up tons of damage from being a rental home for many years. Like most of lifes projects we got it just the way we wanted it only to find that living there was causing tons of damage to my knees. It was like living on a constant stairstepper.

The logical solution to this problem was to list the house and look for something smaller and all on one level. That part was easy. It was the begining of summer of 2012 and Within days the pictures were taken and the realtor had listed the house and we were in moving mode. Now here comes our dilema... We live in the wonderful Haliburton Highlands of Onatario. We started looking at houses and realized, most of the homes in our area were two story homes. Our only option for a small compact home, all on one level, and in our price range was the mobile home park and that never had anything listed for sale. And we really weren't that interested.Everything we looked at was either too big, needed too much work, was out of the area  or was way over our budget. We really wanted to downsizebut couldn't find anything. At this point we were still thinking our house would sell fast, but no one was even looking at it. I guess I didn't realize what they meant when they told us the market was reall slow.  I didn't think they meant it was standing still.

Front yard of our house for sale.

 

 

Fast forward the story to July. Our house was still sitting on the market, nothing much was happening and we had quit looking. Kind of. I was looking online. Everyday I checked the real estate map of our area to see if anything new was posted. Then I found something. A small home, just listed, in our price range. Well of course we needed to go see it so I called to set up a visit as soon as posible. And I fell in love with this house. It was in the mobile home park I wasn't interested in. I didn't want to live in a trailer. But it was exactly what I was looking for. It was nestled in the trees at the very back of the park at the bottom of a huge hill. No neighbors on one side , and a privacy fence between us and the house on the other side. The neighborhood is very family friendly. Good for someone who has kids "visiting" every day. It was so cute on the inside. Had a couple of additions added to the original trailer so it didn't feel like a trailer. More like a cute little cottage in the woods. It fit me very well. It wasnt perfect, but oh I could see the potential to be exactly what I wanted it to be. So we put an offer in. Of course it was conditional, because we had to sell our house first. And then we started to wait... And then we got the answer.. they turned us down. They needed to sell quickly for health reasons... And I really loved this place.
 
Moving ahead we decided to put another offer in on the place I loved. No conditions this time. The price was so right we just didn't want to lose it. It was accepted this time, and we were going to own two houses come mid September if the first house didn't sell soon. I was still confident it would. It was priced right, was a comfortabe family place and had all the features that made it convenient... who wouldnt want to live there. Besides, we would be using all our reserves to keep two houses going if it didn't. It needed to sell.

There isn't much left to say. We had numerous yard sales throughout the summer. I packed a lot and waited. Before we knew it, it was the middle of September, the purchase closed with no hitches and move we did.

Anyone who has moved knows this, I never want to do that again. I am done. I will live out my years here with my wonderful husband, and be blissfully happy.

And we are landlords now as well. The other house has not sold. No one is looking at any realestate right now. But the family we rented to seems to be enjoying it there. I am sure they are hoping it doesnt sell. I'll keep you posted.

What I am excited about it the new start we are makeing. Living here is much like I thought it would be. My daycare business is slow right now. I do have a few children, and they are delightful to spend my days with. Funny how they keep you feeling young. Things are so convenient here that I have more time now. Time to think about the quality of life insteady of just the fast pace of it. I've been pondering the years gone by, when things were simpler, and slower. I am thinking about gardens, and home decorating. Making things myself instead of buying them. Of reusing the old and making it new again. Of sharing these things with my grandchildren the way my granparents shared their lives with myself as a child. Maybe a little of it will stay with them and one day they will share it with their grandchildren, who knows.

So these are the things that my blog will be about. About all the simple things I (and maybe you?) do day to day. I would love if you followed along on my daily wanderings.   I can't promise it will be over exciting, after all "It's an Everyday Life"