It's hard to put into words how busy the past few months have been and how fast they've flown by! Next week we are scheduled to move for David's final rotation in his program. Fortunately, he'll be working just about 20 minutes away from his current office, so it's not a big move. David and I did decide to change houses, though, because we haven't been all that happy with our current rental home. We rented it sight unseen in a last-minute housing scramble from Colorado, and when we arrived we realized that the home and the property managers had lots of quirks that we would rather avoid for the next 6 months. Part of me thinks we're a little picky -- the house is perfectly livable and we would be fine here. But, on the other hand, David works very hard and his company is paying our rental expenses, so if we're not really satisfied or if we feel like we would feel more "at home" somewhere else, then we really shouldn't have to settle for a place we don't like.
So, we took the plunge about 3 weeks ago and gave out notice to vacate our current home. We didn't have a new home lined up yet, but we were hopeful that we would be able to find something quickly. Well, it's been a lot harder than we thought. We did find a home that we loved, but they backpedaled a little bit because we need a short-term lease. After David's rotation ends in October, we might be headed to CA, CO, or who knows where. We were disappointed, because the new home is gorgeous, and just feels so much more comfortable than this one. Then, this morning they told us the short-term lease would be fine, so we're back on track (we hope!). We move on April 8th, so we really don't have much time left in case things go wrong again. We hope to have the lease finalized today or tomorrow, which will be a huge relief!
In the meantime, our current house has been put back on the rental market. They put the "For Rent" sign in our yard, and the lockbox on our door, and today the listing was posted online. Already we've had 4 calls from realtors who want to show the home! The first ones are supposed to come by this afternoon. It's a really weird feeling. I don't have any stake in what prospective tenants think about this home, so it's not like I have to keep it "show quality" as if we were selling it. But at the same time, I feel obligated to keep it somewhat neat and tidy. It just seems like the decent thing to do. Also, if the house looks better, maybe it will get rented faster, which will mean a quicker end to the parade of people wanting to look at it.
Also, I'm anticipating that the prospective tenants might want to ask what we thought of the home, the property managers, why we're moving, etc. I haven't really figured out how to answer these questions if I'm asked. If I'm totally honest, it might impact whether people decide to rent this home or not, because we really didn't have the best experience here. I don't want to come off as badmouthing the property. But of course I'm not going to lie and tell them we loved everything about this home! We'll see. Maybe I can balance some good points and low points that we found with this home and let people make up their own minds.
In addition to all the house stuff, we're scheduled to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC this week. I can't wait! We've all been sick for the past 2 weeks and mostly housebound, and we're so ready for spring and all the new beginnings and good weather that it brings.
In other news that I haven't posted about on this blog yet, I'm 13 weeks pregnant! Everything seems to be going well so far, and we got to see a healthy, active little peanut about 4 weeks ago on ultrasound. The next milestone will be my appointment this Friday where I should be able to hear the heartbeat on Doppler. I'm nervous but hopeful that this appointment will go well. It doesn't make much sense, but I have in my mind that if I can make it to this appointment and have everything go well, I can finally take a breath and relax about this pregnancy.
When I get a chance, I'll update about our home and my appointment on Friday and hopefully have some pictures of us at the Cherry Blossom Festival!
3 comments:
Great news on many fronts! Congratulations on your pregnancy--I will definitely be praying for you and "Peanut." I'm also really excited that you'll be in the D.C. area for a few more months (I hope I communicated my enthusiasm on this point effectively in my rambling e-mail).
When may I come visit? :)
Can't wait to see your Cherry Blossom pictures! I hope you have a wonderful time!
Congratulations on the pregnancy, Kathy -- many prayers for you all! I hope we're able to see you soon, somehow, somewhere. :)
Also, it just occurred to me that the littlest Campbell might very well be born in The Old Dominion. He/she will be in pretty good company (Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, and, least importantly, yours truly). How exciting!
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