Ask Jo: Why the Move?

Every so often I get a question from a blog reader and think others might be interested in the answer as well so I answer it here on the blog.  Today is one of those days.

This question came from Pam in Illinois. “Jo, this is exciting! Can’t wait to see the finished house.  I am somewhat new to your blog and I can’t find the entry for the reason of your move.  I know you farm so I am wondering why you are moving to town. Just curious.”

You are right Pam, we do farm…but we don’t own the farm.  Right now we live on one of the farms that Hubby’s boss owns.  We’ve lived here for over 17 years and have really enjoyed living here.  It’s in a great location on good roads and only a mile from the school our kids went to.  It’s an old farm house even though it looks amazing on the outside and we enjoy an awesome heated two stall garage the inside could use some improvements.  We love our out door patio the apple tree, the siding and windows, and the huge garden space.  Hubby’s boss is good and we like him lots but there are lots of things about the house here that I would like to be different.

For the most part, we don’t have heat upstairs.  There is one vent in the middle of the hallway.  It’s cold upstairs…most nights I sleep with socks on the winter.  Every room in the house needs new flooring.  The flooring in my sewing room I am sure is likely from the early 70’s.  The walls in the dining room and living room have to be wall papered (I hate wall paper) just to try to cover all the walls up.  Under the wallpaper is a variety of coverings from plaster to sheet rock to some type of particle board.  The entire upstairs is painted wood flooring-and not a pretty kind.  The cupboards in the kitchen are plywood and have been painted so often the paint chips so easily….all the wood work is painted.  There is not a heat register in our bathroom so it’s really cold.  We can’t use the shower in the bathroom either.  When the kids were all home everyone had to shower in the basement and run through the house wearing a towel.

More than all of that, is this…If something happens and Hubby has a heart attack while walking across the yard and dies…I have to move.  Hubby’s boss is a great guy and I am sure wouldn’t push me out but I’d have to find a place, buy it and move as soon as I could.  It would be so awkward.  It would be bad enough to be grieving.  I wouldn’t want to feel homeless too!

By moving now we can pick a house that we want rather be forced to take what was available at the time.  We would be healthy enough to do some of the work ourselves…and we could enjoy our home for that many more years.

A HUGE downfall of living here is that Hubby can’t take a vacation day and stay overnight here.  He still wakes up at 4:30 in the morning.  He can’t go back to sleep.  He worries about chores and what is happening.  Even when our daughter got married last year the morning of her wedding he was up early and worked…and the day after the wedding, he was up early and worked.  If he takes a vacation day we have to not be here for him to feel comfortable…it’s one of those things that I both love and hate about him.  I love that he is dedicated to his job but hate that he’s so dedicated to his job.

Another reason why we want a house different than this one is space.  When the kids are all home, this house gets small FAST!  We don’t even have grandchildren yet.  I can’t imagine having 5 grand kids running around plus all of us in the house.

Another reason is that Hubby and I both LOVE antiques.  We love antiquing.  It’s a passion we both share.  We want a historic house.  We want a house that will display the antiques we do have really well…this house never will.  Our new house will.

The new house is in town…we had considered a couple other places but opted to pass on them thinking we wanted to slow down a bit and not have the maintenance of an acreage.  Town here is 3 miles away from the farm-a perfect commuting distance for Hubby.  I can still bring Ruby out and walk the field patch if I want.

Our new house was a foreclosure house.  We liked the location and it was CHEAP.  We were able to buy the lot next to it too.

We had always dreamed about remodeling a house…not to this extent but we did have a desire to bring an old house back to life.

Everyone asks -will Hubby still be working for his boss.  YES.  The next question..  What’s the boss going to do with the house?  We have no idea and it’s not our business.  The next question…Was his boss mad that we’re moving?  No…he seems happy for us.  We are so thankful for that.

We have loved living at the farm.  We are just ready to own our own home.

So that’s why we bought the house in town, remodeled and hope to be moving soon!