Our Final Year in BHH

I am not even going to attempt to bury the lede. A few weeks ago, I texted my realtor friend and asked her when we should consider listing BHH. She replied that the housing market starts to heat up in March. Because Western New York has such abysmal winter weather, house hunting comes to a screeching halt in November. So, we will be putting BHH on the market in March 2024. Gulp…

I try to keep it real here, even at the risk of worrying my mother, who reads from afar. (Hi, mom!) The news that I have less than a year to get this house ready makes me waffle between excitement and mild panic. Recently, I also learned that I will have to have major surgery with a twelve-week recovery. So, while I should be up and moving well within a couple of weeks post-op, I will be wholly restricted from lifting, exercising, and basically, anything else I regularly enjoy for the full twelve weeks. Ugh…

Winter would be the perfect time to lay low and recover from surgery, but there are some unknowns. I also need a biopsy, which has pushed the timetable to sometime in early summer. Unfortunately, that means I’ll lose most of the warm weather I rely on to complete outdoor tasks, compressing the exterior maintenance timeline for BHH into the next few weeks.

To that end, I’ll focus on repointing the foundation, window restoration, and finishing the details on the street-side front porch.

Between exterior maintenance tasks, I’ll keep plugging away at the staircase restoration. I know everyone is very excited about following along with that project, but I think it is something I may be able to do standing upright or sitting down, and it may fit well with the latter part of my recovery. If not, I have an alternate plan in my back pocket. I always do.

At this time, I’m thinking only good thoughts for the biopsy, surgery, and everything else. I can only do so much here, and what is left undone won’t be the end of the world. I do have kids who can fetch things for me and take direction well. I’ve also got a small stash of cash to pay people to help, and maybe I’ll learn to love lying around doing nothing. Here’s hoping that’s true!