For those of you who know me well, you know that I am easily consumed / obsessed / addicted / etc. with things in my life! It could be as small as a new shirt at the mall that I didn't purchase but get home and wish that I had and can't stop thinking about it until I go buy it. I am easily consumed with real life stuff too, stuff going on in my life. Sometimes I just can't stop talking about it or fretting over whatever is going on in our lives. I have issues for sure, this is not a good trait! This new one is a little bigger though than my average obsession.
I am completely blaming Brady for this! We spent last weekend together, just the two of us and we did a lot of talking; talking about everything. It was AWESOME! I love spending time with him and listening to him talk. It started on Friday, we took some of his friends home after swimming at the Rec Center and drove one of the boy's home to a housing development where I have loved this one house for years, so of course I had to drive by and oogle at it, which turned into a conversation with Brady about moving and how he would love to move. By the time I got home from a meeting Saturday morning, he had found houses on the internet and wanted to go for a drive! So I indulged, only to find that the houses he had found were model houses, which meant... yep, we could go in and look around! Big Mistake, big, huge!
A little background... years ago when Brian and I were engaged, we had the big talk about moving to our "own" new house when we got married. At the time, we decided with a 5 and 7 year old and all the changes that they would be experiencing with a new stepmom living here and the adjustments they would be making, I didn't want to take them from the only home they had known, so we didn't move. Something Brian and I have both regretted since, not because of the kids, but because we never got our "own" start. Then about 5 years ago or so, we started talking about moving again, this time it was Brady who had a melt down about moving, this had now become the only house Brady had known, he didn't want to move from his home. So we stayed again.
Which brings us to the thoughts again! I have been living in our house for 12 years and Brian almost 15, now we have accumulated 15 years of, well let's be honest, crap! I have Brady's crib in the basement, Rachel's dollhouse, etc. I know I made one of my committments this year to get rid of stuff, but I am now focused on this more than ever. We are far away from buying a new house because our house is not even close to being ready to sell. We have to gut this place and make it "seller ready". WOW! Talk about a lot of work in the making. But I have to say, this may just be the motivation I need to get this place cleaned out. What better reward than getting a new house to move into without a bunch of crap. There would be no way to do all of this purging while trying to move into a new house, this is a good solution, right?
Here comes the consumption part, I can't stop thinking of this house. Brian, Brady, and I have looked at the two were are interested in at least 4 times THIS WEEK. I want to go there everyday after work, but force myself not to. When I mentioned that to Brady, he's like "oh mom, me too". He is obsessed too (not a good trait to pass on, grrr). He has even started a "house money" jar.
Cute, right? and a good way to learn to save for something, right? He thinks we can save up $200,000 plus dollars in the jar. Love it! I have even been shopping and looking for a new kitchen table, ours isn't going to work in the "new house". I even told Brian that IKEA would be open by the time we moved, yay -new stuff for our new house! I have a problem, we are a week into this thought process, and I am already plotting! I have taken a week off of work during spring break to start "gutting" the house. Brady insists that he is helping and this is our big project. He has already been cleaning out drawers and cupboards, he is just as obessessed as I am. How do we stop this train? Do I want to stop this train?
One of the thing's that I love most about Brian is that he doesn't usually let me do stupid things. He is the "fiscally responsible" half of our marriage (thank God) so I know that he will pull this train over when it becomes out of control, however I find myself looking forward to something, something that I haven't let myself do for a long time. We have had a rough few months and I feel like this is just the fresh start we are looking for.
So, I have decided, new house or not - worst case scenario, our house gets the serious 15 year clean-out and then we have a great "uncluttered" house to live in. Best case scenario... we take our now cleaned out belongings and move them into a new house! Either way, it's good motivation to get some stuff done around here, don't you think?
