Saturday, February 4, 2012

Dismantling

Last night I had dinner with the lovely and brilliant (and funny) Becca of Academomia. Over margaritas (me) and pinot grigio (her) we talked about careers and kids and husbands and more. It was a wonderful few hours, even when it rained and the deck of the restaurant cleared out, leaving just the two of us, sitting under a red shade umbrella chatting away.

Today we are working through the realtor and home stager recommendations. It's a loooooong list. I agree with most of it, but have vehemently rejected those that involve spending any money (like "consider purchasing a leather chair for the corner" - um yes, a leather chair would look lovely there, and had that ever been in the decorating budget, we would have purchased it, but it is not and there's no way we're buying any furniture when we're about to move to a neighborhood with homes 1,000 sq. ft. smaller than ours) and those that involve too much work (repainting Claire's room- it's a soft yellow, and maybe some people won't like it, but hopefully it's not a deal breaker). They also don't like that our dining room is a playroom, but tough. We don't have dining room furniture and we're going to switch it around and move out most of the toys, so it will just have to do. Today's tasks mainly revolve around the walls (removing all hanging frames and personal pictures; fill in holes; paint over holes and any other smudges; clean baseboards; clean light switches) and the front and back yards (trim, blow, power wash, mulch, plant). I'm tempted to make a sarcastic remark about how much fun we're having, but it is actually a little fun. And it's definitely nice to feel like we're DOING something as opposed to just frantically making lists and going to appointments and hearing a whole assortment of people tell me just how much I have to do. The productivity is soothing.

The Fort Worth research remains a little daunting. For those who know the area, we're looking in various downtown and near-downtown neighborhoods like Berkeley Place, Mistletoe Heights, Tanglewood, and others nearby. JP will be working from home (our one piece of good news last week- his company approved him to work remotely, which was HUGE for us and such a relief) and I'll be downtown, so I want as short a commute as possible. We live 7 miles away from my office now and I see no reason to extend that drive. My biggest struggle is finding a daycare for Claire (and Landon, but only for a few months). If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I just need a longer list to begin my research and phone calls. Hopefully we can get our house listed soon so we can heard to Fort Worth for some day trips. JP has still never seen his future city, he's just acting on blind faith and full fledged support for me and my dream job. He's a keeper. A keeper with a very long moving to-do list that he hasn't complained about once.

Back to removing everything personal from my house, along with trash cans, any decor item smaller than a cantaloupe (taken straight from the staging sheet, I kid you not), and pretty much anything else pretty and/or useful. The goal is to make it look like no one lives here. The problem of course is that four people do live here. We'll get as close as we can.

13 comments:

  1. You could always to a temporary nanny while you look for daycare/ get on waitlists/wait for a space to open up. Might make a smoother transition and put less worry on your plate during this busy time.....

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  2. I am from FW. Berkeley Place is my favorite neighborhood, followed by Tanglewood. I also love Monticello, but the elementary is not so great. Are you doing public or private for your kids? I know you said you want as short of a commute as possible, but if you are doing public I urge you to extend your search beyond Fort Worth. Aledo and Mansfield are both areas with great public schools and you get way more house for your money. My husband works in downtown Fort Worth and we live in Mansfield. Good luck in your search! You are moving to a fantastic area!

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  3. I don't know too much about the FW side of the DFW area (my family is on the Dallas side), but I would definitely look into the nanny thing until Landon goes to school. With 2 in day care, a nanny is about the same cost a lot of times. And, you might be able to find a nanny faster than you can find spots at the same daycare for the kids. Then you can switch to a daycare/preschool in the fall for Claire. Good luck!

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  4. I agree that the nanny thing would likely be best, and we'll be living right by TCU so surely we can find some college student who can help. The biggest disadvantage to that option is that JP will be working from home (a small home) and even with a nanny, the two kids at home aren't so great for all the conference calls.

    Meggan and Trent-- do you know anything about Westcliff West? It's right near Tanglewood, but it goes to Westcliff elementary school (we're pro-public school all the way). Any thoughts? It seems to be rated pretty well, but everyone raves about Tanglewood whereas I've never heard anyone mention Westcliff. I'm head over heels in love with a house in that neighborhood and I'm trying not to let the lust get in the way of a practical decision ;)

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  5. I had so much fun having dinner with you!!

    Best of luck with all of the transitions. I'm looking forward to reading about the adventure!

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  6. I forget what your timeline is -- would it be possible to find a summer camp/summer program for the kids (maybe in addition to a part-time nanny, but it would get them out of the house during at least part of the day), and then start them in school/daycare in the fall?

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  7. I am going to send you an email right now.

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  8. I live in Fort Worth, and would not encourage Westcliff elementary. In my opinion, Tanglewood and Lily B. Clayton are the top two schools, and the only schools I would personally send my children. Tanglewood is rated better, but my personal feeling on that is it is only rated better because 98% of the district is affluent. We are actually in Mistletoe Heights and our child will attend Lily B. Clayton, which we chose over Tanglewood. We, too, are pro-public school.

    Sundance Montessori and Kinderplatz are two really great daycares, but Kinderplatz is out of the way if you work downtown. Sundance Montessori is downtown, and is where almost my entire office sends their children. I think there are some church program daycares downtown, but I am unfamiliar with those.

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  9. If it's a temporary fix, for the daycare situation, you may be able to find a family daycare that will suffice until you can put Claire into a more structured program in the fall. If the situation is anything like what we have here in New England, it took us a year to get our 2 year old into the daycare of our choice... the wait list was absurd and the cost ($24k/year) was/is outrageous. We ended up hiring a nanny for the duration of the wait list, but were never able to work from home during those 10 months. We also found that we could have done family daycare (someone's house, a few other kids) if we had wanted. For you, family daycare or a nanny who is willing to take care of the kids in her own home a viable option since JP will be working remotely.

    The other option is for JP to find an office space to rent - and it may be a nice thing for him to get out of the house and have a space of his own from which to work. ... Not that you need to anything more on your plate right now-- but options are nice.

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  10. LL...and the doggies?

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    1. What about the dogs? They're here, they're happy (though confused by all the boxes), they're going to Fort Worth.

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  11. Oh, the staging stage... by far the worst part of selling a home. Having to live in your house, yet keep it perfect. Impossible. I was pregnant and had a 3 yo at the time. Just impossible. But, the house sold in the end. The hardest part for me was people coming through and making judgments on my choices. It sold in 6 weeks - not too bad for Houston in 2002. Fortunately I've stayed put since. Good luck LL.

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  12. I'm only slightly familiar with the areas of Roanoke, Flower Mound, and Lantana, lol, as we have family living in those locations. The Cowtown rodeo is fun!

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