Selling a house and other Sunday fun

2 hour trainer torture
We got up early this morning, and I watched the CBS Sunday Morning show. I don't know at what point in my life I got into that program, but I absolutely love to watch Bill Geist do his commentary on the most random parts of Americana. Today, it was messy offices. A few weeks ago, the national barbecue championship. At Christmas, Santa School. But it's an every Sunday morning thing.

Followed that up with two hours on the trainer while watching "Spiderman". I've only seen the movie once, so I figured the action would be new enough to me that it would keep me going. It worked, but my lower back is sore as I'm writing this now. It's my longest ride in quite a while, but I'm glad to have gotten it in. Have I mentioned that I'm still coping with this cold?

House for Sale
We drove to Versailles, Kentucky today. It's about an hour and a half away, and it's the place where I currently own a house. There's a lot more to the story than I'm going to tell in this entry, but I've had this house for sale since August when I moved out of the house. It's a great house in a good location, but I don't have a realtor representing me because I can't afford the fees. So I'm doing a For Sale By Owner deal (the low-tech version...yard signs and newspaper advertisement). I get to show the house about once every three or four weeks--clearly not often enough. But I show it whenever someone shows interest.

The carrying costs are wearing on me. They eat up one of my two paychecks every month. And K. and I are about to get married. We could certainly be using that money elsewhere (paying for the wedding to take the burden off my parents, paying off my truck, saving money for a downpayment on a house for us), and I hardly dare think how great it will be when I no longer own that house.

Even moreso, though, I want to close this chapter in my life--the Versailles, Kentucky chapter. I had a job there for 11 rather unhappy months that I am absolutely sure I will be writing about at some point, and I am absolutely grateful that I'm no longer there. Still, though, I'm stuck there in the form of this great house that I no longer live in. I'm working hard to move forward, to get back to myself, and to move on professionally and personally, but I feel like this house has me tied down. It will be a great weight to remove.

The people who looked at the house today seemed interested. I would love to sell them the house. They are applying for a loan. They are looking at lots of houses. They may or may not choose mine. I have shown the house to several people, and I have always spent at least the hour and a half ride back to my current house analyzing every bit of the conversation with the potential buyer the way some girls talk with their girlfriends about what a guy said on their first date. I think through in my head all the reasons why the person might buy the house. I come up with a (usually shorter) list of all the reasons why the person won't buy the house. By the time I get home, I have talked myself into being optimistically cautious. Then, I wait. So now I'm waiting.

Okay, wait. But I'm also putting this out to the universe--please collectively cross your fingers for me so that I can get on with this part of my life. (Honestly, I'd be so jazzed to surprise my parents by paying for the wedding that I can't even let myself think about it.) Honestly, the selling of this house would also somehow let me make right the decision to leave a life I really liked to move to this job I hated in Versailles, Kentucky. Having found another life (with K.) and a job (back at school), I'm almost there, but the house is a constant reminder that I can make bad decisions (this should be a whole other blog entry), and I think I've been reminded enough.