A Garden, a Job, and a Theory

I've figured it out.  If you want to get a new job, and want to sell your house and move to where that new job is, all you need to do is plant a garden!  I planted our garden last week, and this past Thursday I got a job offer from Georgia Highlands College.  I'm really excited about it - I'll be the Reference and Instruction Librarian on the Paulding Campus (in Dallas, GA, about 15 miles to the west of Marietta).  It's basically what I'm doing now, but I'll be in a *librarian* position.  ::Happy Dance::

So that was Thursday.

On Friday, I spent hours re-arranging the house and cleaning and boxing up stuff and organizing... We're pretty organized and neat folks most of the time, but the housing market in our area is like the rest of the country - very squishy.  So I want to give our 40-year-old house the best chance possible of attracting buyers.  I took a bunch of stuff to the thrift store, and that felt GOOD.  Why is it that a pending move is the only thing that really prompts us to get rid of stuff we don't need?  (BTW - anybody want to buy a weight machine???  Heh.)

On Saturday, we met with our local realtor.  She was favorably impressed with the house, so after a couple of hours of poking and prodding and talking and telling stories and signing paperwork, we got the listing together.  It should go up on Monday, and then the wild rumpus will really begin.  (The cat did NOT impress our agent, tho.  She coughed up a hairball just as Laura was taking photos.  Anyone want to house a psychotic cat for the next two months??!?)

On Sunday, we drove to Dallas.  We explored the town, ate lunch, and met with our Dallas agent Michael.  The Atlanta area was hit hard by the bursting of the housing bubble, so we were hopeful that one of the seven houses we picked to look at would be at least "a possibility".  Housing is pretty darn cheap right now, so that is good. Unfortunately, most of the first set of houses were Completely Unacceptable.  One was terrific ("Brown 2") until we discovered standing water in the basement.  One was interesting ("Purple with a Study in Blue") but the lot was terrible.  Why is there a 2' diameter black pipe sticking up out of the ground in the back, with a screwed down lid and electrical outlets running into it???  "New Farmhouse" looks like the previous owners took hammers to the walls and fixtures before they left.  The other four aren't even worth mentioning.

Today I'll be poring over the listings again, looking for houses that meet four basic criteria: location, price, a quiet place for a study, and an "interesting" quotient.  At this point, even if it's not interesting we'll consider it as long as it meets the first three!  We'll head back to Dallas on Wednesday, and go from there to see what we can find.

So thank you all for your prayers - God definitely works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?  We didn't find a job for Greg, but being close to Atlanta will open up lots of avenues that our corner of Alabama could never offer.  We're still only 1 1/2 hours from family, so close enough to be there if we need to be.  And my dad can still come over for Football Saturdays in the fall.  All good!  Now we just have to sell our house (insert another plea for prayer here) and find a place to live in Dallas.  Oh, did I tell my job starts in 8 weeks?  So no rush!  (ACK.)

And about the garden?  Fortunately everything I planted can be harvested in late April or early May.  And the seeds for the summer veggies will keep until next year.