The Next Right Thing

Rick and I aren’t incredibly decisive people. At least, not about little things like dinner or date night. We go back and forth with, “I don’t know, what do you want?” until one of us makes something happen.

We are much better about big decisions, but still take time to weigh the options, consider ramifications, pray, and wait for answers. But when the answers come, the dithering is done. We set our feet on the path and start walking. 

Rick’s acceptance of an offer to work at Penn State came after a long period of consideration, but once we knew it was right to move, we got to work. We had a destination, so we walked toward it.

Our biggest unknown has been when to sell our home here in Tucson. Back in September, the real estate market was hot. Demand for houses—even those in our price bracket—was higher than supply. We wondered if we should list our house to see if we could catch a buyer. Since Rick would be teaching remotely, he wouldn’t technically have to be living in Tucson to fulfill his contract. Why not try selling now?

So, we got to work. We decluttered, cleaned, and organized. We painted and repaired. We did all we could to make our house spiffy and consulted a company that specializes in selling homes like ours.

The experts said we could list our house quickly and see what happens. But it could go fast. Would we be okay with that?

More to think about. We talked with the kids. Could they be ready to move? Would we be able to find a house in State College, or would we rent? What if we had to move twice?

But what if, since we had the benefit of time (Rick’s job at Penn State doesn’t start until next summer), what if we remodeled a few things first to make our house more appealing to a wider range of buyers? Even with the market as it is, a house like ours would have better chances if we updated the bathrooms and kitchen. Hmmm.This made sense to us because when we first moved here, we thought we’d replace the pink toilets and tubs right away. But other projects like new AC units, a new roof, paint inside and out took precedence. We remembered our own hesitation to buy a house with pink toilets and our justifications for offering a lower price.

So, we decided to remodel. The head contractor said that once we had all the supplies here and ready, it would only take a couple of weeks for his team to get the work done.

We ordered light fixtures, vanities, granite, paint. We had almost everything ready by the middle of October and got on the contractor’s schedule.

They would start work the beginning of November. 

We counted out the weeks on the calendar. Great. If they finished work about a week before Thanksgiving, we could list the house just after Thanksgiving. No problem.

Meanwhile, the news about our upcoming move spread. People asked, “Do you have a move date?” And we would say, “Sometime between now and June.”

The demolition happened in one day.

“Wow,” we said to each other. “They are fast.” At this rate, we could have our house fixed up, listed, and sold by Christmas.

But the day after demolition, only two guys showed up. Where was the crew?

It’s okay; we told ourselves. We had kids doing school from home. Rick was working from home. That huge team of people was overwhelming and loud. Maybe it’s better with less people. 

Less workers meant less chaos, but also less progress. We had two working sinks—one in the casita and one in the powder room. 

We bought paper plates and plastic utensils and planned easy meals. We had two showers that worked okay without doors—the master bathroom and the casita.

The first week went fine. We learned some shortcuts and kept most of our food prep supplies in the casita. We handwashed dishes and dealt with the inconvenience of everything. We could do it for two weeks. No problem.

But the countertop installation kept getting delayed. Tuesday, no Thursday. No Monday, first thing so they could do it all in one day. No Tuesday.

Fine. We kept hand washing dishes and running to the casita to use the bathroom when the powder room was occupied. We told ourselves we could do it for a few more days. Once the countertops came, we’d have working sinks again. At least in the kitchen. As long as we had a working kitchen when our girls visited for Thanksgiving, it would be okay.

We did get countertops just before Thanksgiving. But, no faucets. And the drains weren’t hooked up. And no dishwasher. 

Phooey.

This was three weeks in and I began to question when the work would be done. I thought the house would be finished and we would have had it listed just after Thanksgiving. But as the guys returned to work just after the break, they still had a lot to do.

We emptied our cabinets so they could paint. 

The chaos was starting to get to me. And I was sick of workers showing up every day at 7:30 am.

They said they were getting close to done. I didn’t believe them. 

Meanwhile, houses in State College were being pulled off the market for the holidays, and I wondered if I could handle our house being on the market during the holidays. 

More decision making. If it were the right thing, I’d do it. But did we really need to hurry? Maybe the construction was slow because we shouldn’t move yet. Maybe there are some things we need to do here. Or maybe the place we will live there isn’t ready yet. God knows where we need to be and when.

I expect the remodeling will be done later this week. And we could probably put things back together and tidy and prep for listing pictures a few days after that. But is that the right thing to do?

Our girls will be home from college to celebrate Christmas next week. Covid cases are up in our area—so high that our hospitals are at capacity and our school district is back to fully online. I’m a little burnt out from the six weeks of construction that was only supposed to take two weeks. I’d like a peaceful Christmas. 

So, after much consideration, we’re doing the next right thing:

Once construction is done, we’re going to take a deep breath, enjoy the next couple of weeks with our kids and hit the ground running again in January.