Winds of Change

We hit the road the day our house closed, now officially houseless, and head to...Yakima, Washington! Isn’t that everyone’s top destination? We stayed with family, attended a wedding, and took care of a few business details. We then head south to Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. For more details on what we are up to you might be interested to know that my husband, Dennis, and I are officially launching a new blog with the focus on traveling and our new lifestyle without a house. You will be able to follow along as we live a life on the road. You can find our travel blog life is a journey at: www.damclark.com. You may also find us by taking a look at the sidebar in this blog where I now have my travel link. When visiting life is a journey, make sure you subscribe to receive a post anytime we publish.

Oh, and don’t you worry. You will still be able to find inspiration right here with It Is What It Is. Since I will be traveling, there will be even more to share with you as I find my way on the uncertain path ahead. If you are a regular follower of this blog, you know my word for 2016 is change. And while I have dealt with many changes already this year, I know the winds of change will continue to shape my future in the days ahead for the better.

Now what photo courtesy of John Eisenschenk

Done and Done

While we have moved forward with our plotted course to move out of our home, sell it, and hit the road houseless, the last three weeks were full of the final to-do’s and extra-long days doing them. Even though everything seemed to be falling into place with the listing, selling, inspections, and the like, we had to maneuver around a setback or two, more than a few obstacles, and our share of headaches the last few months.

Our biggest headaches seemed to center on back injuries. My husband, Dennis, brought in the new year by injuring his back when we were going to need his back more than ever in the upcoming months. Fortunately, with physical therapy, massage, and a lifting brace for his back he performed remarkably. Injuring backs came to a head just days before our large furniture move on April 9. One of our friends who had helped us out moving this and that into our storage unit over the last two months, and was scheduled to help with the big move, put his back out. Then, the day of the move we found that a cousin of ours, who was scheduled to help, injured his back the night before. Fortunately for us, we have amazing cousins who came to our rescue last minute. It was like a mini family reunion with major cousin love moving us on.

The last two weeks were a combination of cleaning out this and that, boxing up the kitchen, food removal, and preparation for the next two months on the road. We held onto our mattress until a few days before closing and stayed in a nearby hotel for our last nights in town. Even with the ups and downs of the move testing our patience, all was officially wrapped up with the signing of the final papers Monday, the house officially closing on Wednesday, and the check hitting our bank on Thursday. Done and done!

During the packing process, Dennis found two dozen bottle rockets. After we locked up the house for the last time, he set up a launching tube and fired them off in groups of four to six at a time. When the final one had popped, I shouted at the top of my lungs, “Wahoo, the Clark’s have left the neighborhood.” Done and done indeed!

Fireworks photo courtesy of Epic Fireworks

Steps in the Right Direction

With the pending closing date set at April, 20, we are only weeks away from making the big move out of our home. We passed the house, well, and septic inspections with no issues to deal with, and as of last week an appraisal was done. While we are anxious to dismantle the home staging and get on with the business of wrapping up what we have left to move out, we continue to be in a limbo stage until the home buyer’s bank gives them approval of their loan. We are not expecting any problems with their loan application, but it is in our best interest to be patient and sit tight.

Waiting during this period prior to the acceptance of the buyer’s loan application has allowed us to slow down a bit and plan for our first few destinations. We really couldn’t do that before this because we didn’t know when the house would sell. Planning our initial destinations strengthened our resolve to be houseless and travel for the next few years. I know I was filled with a giddy excitement and I could tell my husband, Dennis, was feeling the same way. Anyone who knows Dennis would not necessarily put giddy and Dennis together, but I can tell you he was giddy, nonetheless!

Approximately three years ago we talked about moving. Two years ago we decided we didn’t know where we wanted to live and we knew we would be traveling extensively so why have the expense of keeping an abode. Since that realization we have aggressively laid down the tracks and set an intentional course on a new direction in our lives. While we are definitely changing how we do everything, change and this new direction have filled our lives with a knowing that we are headed in the right direction. How do we know we are headed in the right direction? Because with each step we take, doors begin to open, and life seemingly falls into place showing us we are on the right path.

Question mark sign courtesy of Colin Kinner

The Stage is Set, Sold!

March 11th the interior photography was taken of our home for a virtual walking tour on a real estate website. These first impression photos/videos are very important because most homes are viewed on the internet first, in person second. In the midst of everything else we have going on in preparation for moving, we’ve been busy shuffling furniture around in order to open up various rooms so potential buyers can see the space and picture their stuff. This is termed staging your home. I’ve been diligently pulling pictures off walls and stuff off shelves in order to depersonalize our home-sweet-home. Two bedrooms now have twin-sized faux beds instead of my office furniture in one and a gigantic queen sized bed in the other. It’s amazing what a few storage boxes, camp mattresses, and colorful bedding do to the look of a room. The dining table is set - dinner for four anyone? And the kitchen bar is set up for breakfast. How lovely!

With the stage finally set the virtual walk-thru went live Monday night, March 14, and on Tuesday we had 3 prospective buyers. One ended up dropping out due to their own contingencies and the other two buyers took on a bidding war. By Thursday, March 17, we had accepted an offer and it all became official on Friday. Sold! Yesterday the house inspection was done and tomorrow the septic and well inspections take place. Whew!

Since the beginning of the year, all of our energy seemed to build up to the staging of our home. Now that we are past that point and looking at a closing date of April 20, we are in a sort of limbo until we can finalize the inspection details. The main push is over. Once we agree on inspection issues we will begin to dismantle the staging and finalize the moving plan.

Staging is preparing for something. That something could be just about anything. For us it has been the sale of our home in order to travel more and be home-less. Once you set your sites on whatever it is you want to do, you can make it happen. You just need to open up the space around you in order to see it differently, and that's when you can allow for change to take place.

Sold photo courtesy of Sean MacEntee

Priorities

Our house will be listed for sale within the next week. With so many loose ends to take care of how do we prioritize when the day is full of priorities? How do we determine what is more important to do when everything is?

With our upcoming move to have no home and travel for awhile, we are in the throes of the last efforts to get rid of stuff we no longer need, and we are packing things we are keeping. With each item that leaves it is much easier to decide what goes and what is packed, and with each item that leaves we feel lighter and know we are headed in the right direction. We make almost daily trips to our 10 x 15-foot heated storage unit. Weekly we drop off car loads of stuff to our local charities, and send piles of garbage with our very helpful garbage guy and recycle guy. Our scanner and paper shredder are working overtime. If the weather is good, the priorities are outside in the yard; if it is raining, the priorities are inside. Setting daily priorities is the only way to stay sane and work together.

In the morning we discuss what we would like to accomplish for the day, we handle business matters and squeeze in a workout before we get on with packing, sorting, and hauling. As the day progresses we make adjustments to priorities as necessary. Come evening, we wrap up between 4 and 5 p.m. and before we go to bed we discuss how the next few days may play out. By morning, that can all change. We have fallen into a new daily routine crammed with priorities that would test anyone’s patience and ability to be flexible.

What’s important is knowing we can reprioritize and lay out the next few minutes or the rest of the day as necessary. By adjusting and going with the flow we get an amazing amount of priorities taken care of on any given day. And when all is said and done, we will have a lot less stuff, fewer priorities, and can pack patience and flexibility with us when we head out on the next chapter of our lives.

So how do we determine our priorities when everything is a priority? We talk about it and work as a team. After all, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together in the days ahead and being able to discuss things with patience and flexibility in mind will see us through-and a dash of humor wouldn’t hurt either!

Checklist photo courtesy of e3Learning