Moving

We’re right in the middle of moving! Finally, after spending all winter trying to figure out what to do, we are now implementing. Actually after spending three years trying to figure out to do, we’re finally implementing. We moved back to New Mexico in 2016 expecting everything to fall into place better than it actually did. But we are now more hopeful that soon we can create the slower, easier life that we left California for.

We are now in the preliminary stages of moving back to Albuquerque, within a few blocks of where we lived before moving to California. We’re purchasing a house whose best features are 1) low price and, 2) a large, sheltered backyard, and whose worst feature is a neighbor’s house above us overlooking the backyard.

For us, it’s pretty much aways been all about the yard. I’m hoping the house perched up there above our yard won’t bother me. It’s a little intimidating. I’m reminding myself how nice and sheltered from the wind that yard will be.

We’re under contract and due to close later this month. I’ve also submitted my resignation at work, and will be finishing up there later this month.

We are currently working hard to get the house in Placitas on the market. We’ve hired a real estate agent, a handyman (woman) crew, and are awaiting yard clean-up quotes from a couple of landscapers. The landscaping is going to be expensive even though it won’t look like much when it’s done, because it needs more than just a few bushes trimmed and a lawn mowed. (Lawn, haha, as if.)

There’s large amounts of rubble and holes that need leveled so it doesn’t look like a war zone. All in all, we’ve got to throw several thousand more dollars at this house to finish the remodel and get cleaned up, which is just painful. We’re just hoping it will sell fast, and we’re grateful that the house in Albuquerque doesn’t cost very much.

We are starting to get packed to move. It’s a complicated move, involving three houses (Santa Fe, Placitas, and Albuquerque), and two storage units (Bernalillo and Albuquerque). There’s also going to be two moving pods, one in Santa Fe and one in Placitas (both going to Albuquerque). We’re also going to need to get rid of about 1/3 of our stuff, so we’ve started to create huge piles of give-away and throw-away items, some of which we’ve hauled up to Santa Fe just to get it out of Placitas. It’s a big musical chairs.

John is going to live in Santa Fe for most of April while we wait for the Albuquerque house to close, so currently we’re moving stuff out of Santa Fe into a storage unit in Albuquerque to make room for him, and moving his essentials to Santa Fe, and moving his non-essentials to either a pod or a storage unit. Then after we close on the house in Albuquerque we’ll move the Santa Fe items to Albuquerque. And lastly, when the Placitas house sells, we’ll move all the furniture and decor we’re using to stage the Placitas house.

You’d think the last thing I’d be doing right now is buying stuff, but I couldn’t resist this:

It made me happy. And sometimes in life you just need a pig. That’s a saying right? Well, now it is.

The pig is currently hanging in Placitas to help stage the house, as is most of our “real” art and better furniture. I hope the house sells fast because I’m looking forward to getting our art and furniture moved into our new house.

We also bought a couple of cacti to put near the entryway in Placitas.

We didn’t want to try to use anything greener that would need water. We’re heading into our very dry season and the house might be on the market for awhile, and we don’t want to have to go out there and water all the time.

Later in the month we’ll have a professional photographer out, and I will post those photos. And then you’ll all say – why are you leaving? It’s so beautiful! The views!

It’s the wind folks, it’s the wind.