I had serious intentions of living all over the world, really, I did.  Milan, Paris and New York. Not just one, but all of them. I didn’t get very far…leaps and bounds and I landed next door to my parents in Chicago suburbia right where I grew up. Hard to believe but a second marriage, four kids, two dogs, two guinea pigs, an au pair and a tank of piranha’s somehow kept me close to home. Believe me, I fought it. I tried desperately to move even sixteen miles away but we always ended up at the “dream lot” overlooking my parents’ house. I am half serious…half sarcastic. People think we are nuts. I know we are but we are diving in and taking everyone down with us.

Our adventure starts now. We are getting ready to put our house on the market. I am dreading it for several reasons. Could we have picked a worse time to sell? And don’t get me started about cleaning out closets. Think of the drama: No. 1, a slobby teenage daughter, trying to straighten up her room for a showing on short notice; the several un-repaired holes in the wall from No. 4 trying out his knife skills with a “dig” in his room, to a perfectly shaped door knob punched out or the air soft gun practice in the safety of No. 2’s bedroom while we were not home. Lot’s of holes and lots of stupidity thanks to our highly evolved children. 

While in the process of (hopefully) selling our home, we will develop the plans with my (very) involved parents. We have a concept. We all have opinions. God help the architect who translates our wants, needs and desires. We will then move to a rental property like a small circus stuffed into a townhouse and start construction of the house…and let the fun begin.

It is here on Confessions of a Tear Down I will take you through the whole process. This is the reality of starting from scratch and building our dream.