I wonder if I can reduce the last five years into just a few sentences. I got a third job as a weekend receptionist at a local assisted living facility.  Thomas and Ethan both graduated college.  I was unable to keep the family home and the bank sold it in a short sale so we (Susanna, Sam and I) moved to the country and lived in a small cottage on the property of a friend.  Emma got married and I bought a house in North Carolina.  

We didn't want to move right away so Sam could finish high school in our home town so we spent time fixing the house up. My hope is to document the things we did to make this house our new home. 

The process started in 2011 when I decided I needed to prepare for my future.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage on the Virginia home once Susanna graduated high school.  I knew I would need to have someplace to live after Sam graduated.  I decided to move closer to 'home', which made my mother really happy.  We started looking for houses.  My criteria was three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a single story, preferably brick (no mobile homes) and a garage.  I also had to be priced under $100K, so the search began.  I looked online at several houses and when I would visit home, I would go look at some of the contenders in person.  Finally I had a short list of houses to look at.  We contacted a real estate agent and hit the road.  I knew that whatever house I chose there would always be something out there that was better.  I could look at houses forever.  So I told myself I would look at five houses and choose from those.  This was the winner.

I had a home inspection (which turned up several things that needed to be addressed), and decided to forge ahead with the sale.  After several months of making offers and having the bank reject them we finally settled on a price.  The asking price was $72K, I paid just under that.