Well now, that was unexpected....

Do you remember I told you about my tendency to put the cart before the horse?  And then proceeded to show you all just how insane I could be?

Well, apparently, all my insane tendencies were correct.  We received an offer on the house...from the folks that first (and, in fact, the ONLY people), came to view the house.  I had a feeling about this sweet, little family.  I knew they were interested.

Holy cow, were they interested...as they have been to view the house no less than three times in one week, yeah, I'd say they were interested.

Needless to say, this offer brought forth a mixture of emotions.  Elation (YAY! They love my house as much as I do!  In fact, the wife even informed me that this was the ONLY house she'd seen where she wouldn't have to repaint because she liked my colors so much) mixed with sadness and horror (how DARE they try to take MY house away?).

But in the end?  Well, the truth is, as much as I love this house - this house isn't exactly full of happy memories, is it?

Not long after moving in Hubby lost his job; for what turned out to be an extended amount of time.  Which means that the majority of our time spent in this house has been fraught with fear and uncertainty.  I can look around and pinpoint the areas where I have cried copious amounts of tears.  Yes, I can also look around and remember some happy moments - but to be fair the sad have far outweighed the happy.

So here's the deal...I'm ready to let this house go.  I'm ready to pass this house on to the nice, young family and hope that this house holds a beautiful future for them.  I'm ready to shake the dust of the past few years from my heels and face the future.

But despite the fact that the house is as good as sold - which I won't count on until we actually sign the closing documents - apparently, we won't be in any rush to leave it.

The nice, young family wants to close as soon as possible BUT for various reasons known only to them, they won't be able to move in immediately.  So they have asked us if we would entertain the idea of renting the house until December at a rate equal to our current mortgage.  We have agreed.

This does two things for us - it gives us a little bit of breathing room about finding somewhere else to live and it gives us the luxury of an organized attempt at packing.  In the past, when we've sold a home the new owners usually want to occupy the house as soon as possible, which results in slap-dash packing.  And we all know what happens when you pack like that - things get lost and unpacking can be a nightmare.

So, here we go...off to start a new chapter.