Moving Up

                Well our house deal worked out!  We got the big news last night that the sellers of a house in Kingsport accepted our last offer.  So we’ll close on a FANTABULOUS house at the end of May (pictures to come) and make our way home for good at the end of June. 

            This weekend, we moved out of our house and into an apartment a few minutes away.  Squishing 2500 square feet worth of stuff into 750 square feet is quite a feat.  We definitely have “big room” furniture mashed into this cozy little couple of rooms.  We’re good; the dogs, on the other hand, not so much.  They keep barking at any and every obscure sound outside.

Some highlights (if you will) of the last 2 days:

           

-       Matthew’s face of astonishment every time I would say, “just throw that out; we don’t need it.”  I swear, the boy would keep everything if I let him.

-       The moving men actually laughing out loud as I was directing them where to put my big-ass furniture in this little apartment.  I kept saying, “I know, I know….it’s only for three months.”  Like I have to justify myself to them.

-       Matthew jumping up and down (literally) when he missed the call from AT&T to set up U-Verse at the apartment today.  It is the weekend of The Masters after all.

            I can post this blog (and the two previous blogs) because Matthew told his bosses on Friday that he will be leaving in a couple of months.  Being the sweet man I fell in love with, he feels loyal after working with them for the last five and a half years, and giving them the news was tough for him.  And as a testament of his good work for those years, they all expressed disappointment over his leaving.  Like the house sale, though, this step made the whole moving deal seem real.

            I’m still anxious about not having a job, especially now that we’ve bought a house.  Once that works out, and I know that it will, whether it’s the way I think it should work out or otherwise, I hope I can finally take a deep breath.  Even with the uncertainty, though, I’m giddy with excitement about what’s ahead for us.  Moving back home deserves a blog of its own (and maybe a therapy session?), but like One Republic sings, ‘this has gotta be the good life; this could really be a good life, good life.’

             Happy Easter to all our friends and family!

Until next time, sending love,

The Spiveys 

Big Changes

Another blog I will have to wait to post – it’s April 2^nd, 2012.  I feel like our lives are changing so quickly right now, and I need to hurry and get it all down!

We close on our house sale tomorrow and are moving this weekend.  I’m not going to lie….I’m a little sad to leave here.  I love this house and all the good memories I have here.  I love the house itself, but leaving also makes the fact that we’re leaving Atlanta seem real.  That’ll have to be another post….

            We made an offer on another house in Kingsport yesterday.  There’re so many things perfect about it; I just hope we can agree on a price.  I’m trying to stay optimistic but not get my hopes up.  I think I’m one to get so wrapped up thinking about how I imagine things will be, and then it’s a long fall down when disappointment comes. 

            Speaking of disappointment…..a couple of weeks ago was the pharmacy residency match, which was a disappointment for me.  (Like for medical residents, residency programs and potential residents interview each other and then rank their preferences, and then there’s the magic computer that spits out where everyone is going.  If you’re not familiar with the match process, think sorority rush.)  I interviewed with two specialty programs near Kingsport but did not match with either. 

            Grady’s pharmacy residency program is one of the best in the southeast and I feel like I am well qualified for any second-year program, and I really thought both interviews went well.  I knew there were some other people in my situation – some who had gone away and are now returning home – but I got great feedback from the directors of the programs.  I felt sure the match would work out the way I wanted. 

            It felt good to listen to everyone have my back.  Whether justified or not, friends from work, family from home, my besties from college, all said it was their (meaning the residency programs’) loss.  I’m so lucky to have such awesome people in my life.  I figure, though, that if Peyton Manning could so humbly accept his bad news, I can handle this rejection with a little grace. 

            So now I’ve got feelers out there everywhere that could possibly have a clinical pharmacist position open anywhere within 2 hours of Kingsport in the foreseeable future.  My director at Grady offered to try to work something out for me to stay here to specialize, (and it was a tempting offer, for sure), but I just do not think I would be happy away from Matthew for a whole year.  I keep reminding myself that the Boss up there already knows what’s going to happen in the future, and it’s better than anything I’ve imagined so far. 

            This is such a crazy time for Matthew and me right now, but totally a good crazy.  While things haven’t gone exactly as we’d have planned in the last couple of months, we feel great about what’s ahead for us, and we’re excited to see where life takes us from here.  It’s simply another opportunity to trust in God and remember that everything really does happen for a reason. 

Until next time, sending love,

The Spiveys 

Our First Home

It is March 16^th, 2012, and I am writing this blog knowing that I am not going to post it right now.  Amongst the million other things going on right now, Matthew and I have been working with a realtor to sell our house in Atlanta and working with another realtor in Kingsport to find our next one.  It has been a lightning-speed process – once we started looking, we moved pretty quickly – but now things are actually starting to happen.

Our house has been for-sale-by-owner since November.  With only one semi-serious potential buyer in 4 months, we listed it with a realtor 3 weeks ago.  Today we signed a contract with a buyer.  We listed our house at a considerably lower price than we paid in 2006, and the final number is even lower.  I told Matthew today that it is difficult to be too excited given how little we’re really making on its sale.  Both of us realize, though, that we’re in a much better position than a lot of people trying to sell their houses, and for that, we’re grateful. 

 

Every time our realtor set up a showing, we’d spend the night/morning cleaning away.  Much credit goes to Matthew – he cleaned more in the last 3 weeks than in the last 3 years put together.  Who ever thought there’d come a day when I’d say, “Please!  Just put up the damn vacuum cleaner!” 

Then our realtor would always get feedback from the realtor bringing potential buyers by.  Anything but positive feedback made us say, “What?!?  Why wouldn’t they love this house?”    And I genuinely feel this way…I love so much about this little townhouse that’s been our home for the last 6 years.  I love the spacious kitchen, the large master bedroom, grilling out on the back deck with the woods in the background, the way the rain sounds on the trees when I’m lying in bed in the morning, the basement with my super-girly turquoise room, cuddling with my pups in front of the fireplace…I could go on and on.  Now that the ball’s really rolling with a sale, it’s a little bitter sweet.

Finding a house in Tennessee has been another venture.  I’ve made a couple of trips to Kingsport to look at houses on the market.  After much consideration and working some numbers, we decided to make an offer on a house.  We knew we would make an offer eventually but were holding off until our house sold until another offer was made on the same house.  So we put in an offer last night so the seller would get the two offers at the same time, and I felt sure that he would choose ours given that I had been back three times to see his house.  You can imagine my disappointment (and irritation) when I heard he countered the other offer. 

 

So we’re back to looking at what’s available.  Matthew and I do not have all too interesting lives, but us looking at houses may make for a good reality show.  Add our moms who repeatedly swear to not voice their opinions as they make faces of disgust or loud nods of approval at nearly everything, and it’s ready for HGTV.  The words of our life right now are, it’ll work out, it’ll work out…..

Until next time, sending love,

The Spiveys