new house

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Our Final 90 Days Living in Tennessee

We are now at the point where this is pretty much our family’s final 90 days remaining of our time here in Tennessee, before we make the move to Alabama.

This week served as a milestone, as the deconstruction process began for some of the renovations that we are hiring contractors for.

Throughout this nesting process, my wife is basically Joanna Gaines… while I am basically Paul Rudd.

By the time we move in around Memorial Day, we will hopefully have brand-new bathrooms, kitchen cabinets, and floors throughout the entire house.

I was dreading having to drive a huge U-Haul for 3 hours across Monteagle for the official moving day.

Fortunately, it shouldn’t be that bad now, as we are microdosing the move each time we visit Fort Payne and when my parents come to Tennessee to visit us.

Last weekend, we fully loaded my dad’s huge F-150 for my parents’ trip back to Alabama. Every little bit helps.

I’m sure there will be a U-Haul involved for the final move, but I am confident the truck we rent will not have to be one of the bigger ones they rent.

Another milestone this week was that this made the first “double payment”: One for the house we bought in Alabama and the other for our house in Tennessee, which will be going on the market next month!

 

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Dear Jack: You Had No Complaints about the House We Bought!

13 years, 2 months.
Dear Jack,
Over the course of the past five months, our family has driven to Alabama several times to view houses for sale. Through the process, you openly announced your issues with each one we saw.
Fate would have it that the house we ended up buying last Friday was the one house that you and your sister didn’t get a chance to see.
So a few minutes after walking into our family’s new home, as the ink was still drying on the paperwork from us closing on the house, I asked you:
“Jack, what is your favorite part of our new house?”
Your response: “All of it!”
This marked the first time we visited a house that you didn’t even have one complaint about.
What a relief!
Our new house in Alabama is only 50 square feet bigger than our house now in Tennessee. However, our Tennessee house has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a bonus room; whereas our Alabama house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and no bonus room.
That means that literally every room in our new house in Alabama, including your bedroom, is bigger than our current house; even all the closets!
And your “second bedroom”, the garage, where you are often slipping away to work on your projects, has much more space for you in your Enneagram 5 Batcave/Fortress of Solitude.
So yeah, you’re going to like our new house.
Love,
Daddy
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Dear Jack: You Had No Complaints about Our New House…

13 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

Over the course of the past five months, our family has driven to Alabama several times to view houses for sale. Through the process, you openly announced your issues with each one we saw.

Fate would have it that the house we ended up buying last Friday was the one house that you and your sister didn’t get a chance to see.

So a few minutes after walking into our family’s new home, as the ink was still drying on the paperwork from us closing on the house, I asked you:

“Jack, what is your favorite part of our new house?”

Your response: “All of it!”

This marked the first time we visited a house that you didn’t even have one complaint about.

What a relief!

Our new house in Alabama is only 50 square feet bigger than our house now in Tennessee. However, our Tennessee house has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a bonus room; whereas our Alabama house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and no bonus room.

That means that literally every room in our new house in Alabama, including your bedroom, is bigger than our current house; even all the closets!

And your “second bedroom”, the garage, where you are often slipping away to work on your projects, has much more space for you in your Batcave/Fortress of Solitude.

So yeah, you’re going to like our new house.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Our New Fireplace Warms You Up… Even When It’s Not On?

6 years, 6 months.

Dear Holly,

This past weekend, our new electric fireplace arrived in the mail. To my surprise, it really added a whole lot to the ambience of our living room.

It simply plugs into the electrical outlet- and has an option to use the heater option, the fireplace display, or both at the same time.

Shortly after we got it set up, we had just the fireplace display on.

You ran up to it, bending towards it so you could heat up your buns.

Within seconds, you announced, “Ah, that heat feels good!”

I decided not to reveal to you that there was actually no heat coming from it. You were already convinced!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Friday and Saturday Movie Night!

4 years, 9 months.

Dear Holly,

One of the many new additions to our home, in the midst of our home recent makeover, has been the new folding cushion beds.

While you do enjoy setting them up downstairs in the living room to “make a house”, their main purpose is to be used as beds/couches for our bonus room upstairs.

We now have a new tradition everyday Friday and Saturday night of letting you and your brother pick out a movie and fall asleep up there afterwards.

It’s more fun to sleep there because it’s somewhere other than your own bedroom.

And Mommy and I like it because it makes the bedtime routine much easier for us! The two of you basically just put yourselves to bed on those nights.

Love,

Daddy