Home: A Sacred Space

So...we bought a house.

And I'm in love.

SP and I had a relatively modest budget by California standards (not so modest many other places in the country, in fact I’m pretty sure we could buy some kind of mansion in say…Nebraska?).  And while the mortgage company told us we could afford about 2x as much, we went with our budget and not theirs and that was probably the best house buying decision we could have made.  Take heed of those before you, sink not all ye monies into thy house my friends.

The process was a whirlwind.  We started asking around to some friends for real estate and broker recommendations around last November.  We finally found some people we liked late in Nov/early December.  We met with them once and then the holidays took over. We started getting financing and such in order in January.  And then we went looking for houses.  We went out only 2 weekends (and saw like 12 houses...) and put an offer on a great fixer upper in a good neighborhood.  That turned around and was sold to a cash buyer (can we just talk about how I can't even fathom having that much cash...) 

And then a new house popped up on our online portal (house buying has gotten way high tech these days guys) and we liked it a lot.  So much that we didn’t want to wait until the next weekend to see it (since houses seemed to be flying off our online portal like hotcakes)  So we set up a time to see it one evening after work.  We were worried because it was winterish time and it was getting dark by the time we got there but guys it was the perfect little house of my dreams.  Not a mansion.  Not a sh*t hole (and trust…we looked at some of those)  It had cute little arches and a big big kitchen.  It wasn’t a 100 years old but it also wasn’t brand new (I apparently have a prejudice against new homes?)  And most importantly it had potential and some places for us to put our stamp(s) on it.  We loved it.  But we were trying not to love it just in case the gods of home buying didn’t love us.

The next day we put in an offer.  Higher than the list price (yikes I may add) That was a Thursday.  Friday night we found out we had gotten the house.  A couple of weeks and about 43 trillion pieces of paper later and we were home owners.  Many a curse word was spoken in shock.  Especially when we were frantically moving in a week before my parents came.  Or the weekend before when we painted for 72 hours straight (no lie I don’t think I’ve been that sore in a long long long long time!) 

And now it’s a few months later and I can honestly say that it is feeling like home.  We’re putting our things in here. We’re putting our selves in here.  And I am slowly whispering my dreams to these walls.  I’m letting myself imagine the “could be” in this house.  I’m imagining the spirit working through me in this house, working to let me build my dreams, my family, those visions from long ago. 

It’s a sacred space, this home we’re making.  And I’m so blessed that I’ve been invited into these hallowed halls. 

Treading water - in white water rapids

You guys.

It's been one hell of a ride lately around here my friends.

Let me just start out by saying - no babies.  No babies no babies no babies.  Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can move onto this little piece of news...

We bought a house!

I'm not going to lie to you, purchasing a house prior to the age of 30 is making me feel pretty damn powerful these days.  A good thing too because let me tell you what, to buy a house (in California none the less) is no small feat.  

It takes several things:

1) Wine (if you're me, like 9 bottles or so...)

2) Patience (oh yes, clearly my forte)

3) Ability to not become emotionally attached (again with my forte)

4) A patient and loving spouse (thankfully I won the lottery on this one!)

5) All your money, and then some you don't have as well (oh sweet lord help me)

6) Kleenex (get the costco pack, you're going to need it)

7) A zenlike demeanor (BWAHAHAHA)

Luckily we worked with amazing people (if you live in norcal and need a recommendation let me know!)  Otherwise the process would have been terrifying beyond belief.  Instead it was only marginally terrifying (since handing over so much money in one big cashiers check is pretttyyy terrifying in any situation)  

Buying a house is also a good way to test your marriage.  You survive buying a house and you're probably doing pretty well.  Because let me tell you what, "we're buying and moving into a new house sarah" - she's a BIOTCH for lack of a better word.  She's snappy, cranky, sleep deprived and her control freaky-ness is off the charts (like in the stratosphere!)  But seriously people, it shouldn't be that bad should it?  Shouldn't buying a house be shiny and happy and full of gauzy smiley pictures.  Yeah.  My experience was not that way.  Most of the time I was freaking out - in a good way generally- but freaking out none-the-less.  It was happy, but it was no sparkles and rainbows - it was work!

We were "moved in" less than a week and we had our first house guests this past weekend. Luckily it was just my family because it looked like a natural disaster went off in the garage (and the master bedroom...the kitchen's wasn't great either)  But alas, everybody had a place to sleep and there is more than one bathroom - so it was pretty much shangr la!

To add insult to injury I spent the 5 days prior to the big move on Jury Duty!  w00t!  And while the process was fascinating, the timing literally couldn't have been worse - work is super busy, life is super busy. I suppose there really is no GOOD time for jury duty but still, come on universe, throw a sister a bone.

I have to say though, waking up in the morning thinking - this is our house - is a pretty amazing feeling.  Even if there is still much work to be done, and an old crappy apartment to clean etc etc

And maybe one of these days we'll get to turn one of these rooms into a nursery...but that's another story, for a less sleep deprived day.

Hope you all are well, I miss you blog people!

Besos,

Sarah 

P to the S: we have no internet yet in the new place (yes I know, blasphemy!) so no pictures for a little while...