Living in a typical American town, I imagine I have typical
items in my home. I have a couch, a few
chairs, and a table where my family gathers for meals, kitchen appliances and
electronics. For today’s Monday Listicles, which has the theme of 10 Things in My Home, I wonder what I can share that
will be of interest? I do have dogs,
but that’s not unusual. There are tidy
spots and spaces that are disasters.
Typical, typical, typical.
My younger daughter started 7th grade last month
and my older daughter is a freshman.
Lately, my significant other and I have been discussing whether or not we
will stay here six years from now when the girls are finished with high school. It’s a fun discussion, full of hopes, dreams,
and sometimes good ol’ boring reality. The reality being we would have to fix up our current house in order to sell it, in order to move.
Here’s a list of 5 places we’ve thought of moving after the
girls graduate from high school:
The Short North – We live in a little municipality that is
surrounded by the city. It’s beautiful with
historic homes and very mature trees, but the taxes are high, and we never
really feel like we fit in. We feel at
ease when we are downtown among the galleries, the fun eateries and venues for
live music—the trendy neighborhood Columbus, Ohio calls the Short North.
 |
| The Short North |
Louisville, KY – My significant other grew up in Southern
Indiana, across the river from Louisville.
He spent much of his early 20’s living and working there, and we spent
many weekends there when we were courting.
He’s feeling called to go there.
I wouldn’t mind at all. I grew up
along the same river, just a few hundred miles north. I get it.
The river means home.
Savannah, Georgia – One evening we went so far as to explore
homes for sale in Savannah--online, not actually in Georgia. The homes are too
expensive for us to afford. But we found out that we could afford a small (better described as tiny), rental on Tybee Island, on the water. The sun and the south. This is high on my fantasy list, for
sure.
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Tennessee – Not sure why
Tennessee. Maybe it’s because I saw a
documentary on HBO called One Nation Under Dog that featured a woman who has this amazing space in Tennessee where
she makes art and rescues dogs. Seems like a dream world to me.
Chicago, Illinois – I lived in Chicago during my early
twenties. I usually say I grew up there because I literally grew up while living there.
I had to do grown up things in order to pay rent and survive. It was difficult, but I loved it. And Chicago has it all--friendly people,
arts, commerce, bodies of water, history, and . . . wait. I forgot about the winters. This one will probably be the first to be
removed from the list when it’s time to decide.
Here’s 5 things I will have to do to my house before moving:
Clean this light fixture – When I happen to look up from the
table where I write and where we have meals, I am quite mortified. I’ve been meaning to clean this thing
forever. Today may be the day.
The plumbing – I don’t know exactly what is wrong with
it. It wasn’t right when I bought the
house six years ago, but I didn’t know that until I moved in. I bought the house while living in California
and thought too much of my realtor. She
really got me good with the inspections that passed but shouldn’t have.
The electrical stuff – Again with the lousy realtor. How this home passed inspection is beyond
me. If you run the hair dryer, half the
house loses power. If you run the
microwave and the vacuum at the same time, the entire house loses power.
Refinish the floors –I love me some wood floors. Ours are icky, and need refinished. Anyone want to do me a favor?
Something with the chimney — It was disclosed that there was an issue with the chimney. I haven’t gotten it looked at to figure it
out and have it repaired. A cozy fire
may be appealing to future owners.
There's more.
Actually, the list of things that need to be done to this house before I could sell it is enormous and overwhelming. I’m going back to my first list, the list of places I’d like to move to after the girls graduate. For me, it's more fun to fantasize about a freshly painted rental in an ideal location than to contemplate fixing things in this old house.
There's more.
Actually, the list of things that need to be done to this house before I could sell it is enormous and overwhelming. I’m going back to my first list, the list of places I’d like to move to after the girls graduate. For me, it's more fun to fantasize about a freshly painted rental in an ideal location than to contemplate fixing things in this old house.
After this one is sold, I will never own a house again . . .
ever.
“Hello, Mr. Landlord, the toilet is clogged. Would you mind?”
photo credit: emdot via photopin cc
