Upside Down and Inside Out

Yes, I am back and hoping my few loyal readers will forgive me once I explain my six month absence. Of course, you should already know why I've been absent, Mom, but I shall explain anyway for the sake of posterity. You see, the Valentine Clan has up and moved. That's right, Chez Valentine is no more. (Technically, it is still Chez Valentine as we continue to pay for it, because we still own it, because no one has bought it from us yet. Sigh.) But it is no longer the place where we lay our heads at night, and as Jason put it during one of my more hysterical moments during this process, home is not a building or a specific place or town, but rather it is anywhere the four of us are together. I have been hanging on to that lovely sentiment for dear life, trust me.

Putting our house on the market and letting go of all of the dreams I had for it has been one of the hardest things I've ever done. I am still shocked and overcome by my attachment to it. We put a contract on it the very first day it was on the market, so clearly I fell hard for this house. It fulfilled so many of my childhood, "dream home" fantasies--despite the ugly kitchen floor and occasional leaky pipes, or perhaps even because of those flaws. I loved the idea of a project. Of course, I could rhapsodize for days, but I will not. Not now anyway.

This is about the last six months. So here it is:

We went to Texas. Got home. Jason went on a series of interviews. I went to Chicago with my Mom! Jason was offered two jobs. Amelia turned 1! After much anxious debate, he accepts a job in Washington, DC. Thanksgiving. We scurry around to get the house ready to go on the market. Christmas. We move to Northwest Virginia to live with family while we apartment hunt. New Years. Jason starts his new job commuting from Virginia. It is terrible. I work for an awesome company and therefore get to keep my job and work full-time as a telecommuter. Yay! I become addicted to watching the Real Housewives of the OC on my lunch break. Yay? Jason gets trapped on highway in terrible snowstorm. We determine he must get out of commuting hell asap. We find the only apartment in DC that fits our criteria: near the metro, within our budget, ok neighborhood, accepts dogs. It is 744 square feet. And nearly as expensive as the mortgage on our 1700 square foot house. We move our belongings out of our dear old house--one quarter of them go to the teeny tiny apartment, the rest are stored in the basement of a sainted friend. And now we are waiting. Waiting for the house to sell. Waiting for spring to arrive. Waiting for the new desk that I ordered so that I can set up a real office. Waiting for Amelia to begin sleeping through the night again.

To honor the dear old house, here are a few pictures of it in it's picture-perfect, ready for potential buyers state: