City to Country to City Again

Nearly two years ago, when we moved from Seattle to two acres in my former hometown we had some adjustments to make. Like not having any neighbors. Walking the garbage can what felt like a quarter mile down the driveway. Being able to hear a pin drop at night. Entertaining ourselves by talking to the cows and feeding the horses. Having to explain to the pizza driver for the umpteenth time how to get to our house since it wasn't right off the road.

We recently moved into a townhouse/duplex community. And there are new adjustments. Reminders of our Seattle days although this is no Seattle. New noises to get used to, like the apple packing plant right behind our unit that is sure to get busier and nosier as apple packing season picks up. Reminders that there will be parking space issues. Mail delivery issues. Note to self: next time we move do not choose a place right in front of the community mailbox. You just might get a nasty note from the mail carrier about your mother-in-law's car being parked too close to the mailbox no matter how far forward she pulls. Note to mail carrier: that thing you drive, it has reverse.

But the best adjustment. The one that makes my heart sing. Friends. Neighborhood friends. At this very moment the girls are playing with children they go to school with. Growing up my memories of playing with neighborhood friends, many that occured in this very same neighborhood, are my fondest memories. I'm so glad they have that again. But that's not good news for Stella the dog. She was their sole playmate, well other than the horse and the cow, since we brought her home last summer. She's heartbroken that they have left her in the house to play with their human friends. She'll adjust just as we all have.

Couch Love

It looks like we will be moving sooner than we thought. We found out on Friday that the landlord is raising the rent....A LOT. Um, no thanks.

So since then I have been obsessing over houses and furniture. I'm getting excited about setting up a new place.

I LOVE this couch! His name is Blake and he is from West Elm.

I thought I wanted a sectional but not since I found Blake. I haven't decided if I want all 91" of Blake or two 81" Blakes face to face. I especially love that the bottom cushion is one piece. No annoying crack to sink down in and no annoying Cheerios underneath the cushions to vacuum up. Not that I do that. I probably should but I'm afraid to look.

Not so deep roots

Just when I allowed myself to mentally stay put and decorate the house we are in now the owner sent me a message asking if we want to buy the place in a year. The problem is his price was way off of what we feel like we should pay based on a lot of things, especially the current market. I'm not sure where he came up with the number but now I'm back to being torn. Do we do some hard core negotiating or find a place listed for much less and look from some of the things that have been on our wish list for a while (like decent square footage on one level)?

I'm torn again between looking for a one-level ranch/rambler fixer or staying here in this Cape Cod style fixer. It's so tempting to not move again. But if we can spend tens of thousands less on a different house, that's tempting too.

Conflicted

The home we live in now is not ours, we rent. The owner would like us to buy it but we are conflicted. He hasn't told us the asking price but we do know he is a bit upside down in the house which is probably the biggest reason we hesitate to mentally buy this place. I've put a lot of thought into it and here are my pros and cons:

Staying Here:
~No moving expenses
~No moving hassle (isn't that worth like a million bucks?!)
~We feel comfortable here
~We know what we would do to update the home, we've (okay, I've) got it all mapped out in my head.
~Land and space so we aren't crowded.

Moving:
~Land. I'm not sure I want to be responsible for almost 3 acres. And I kind of like living in a neighborhood.
~Less expensive options. Maybe.
~Less updating. Maybe. Although, for some reason, I am usually attracted to the ugliest house on the block and have lots of great ideas. This drives Dylan crazy.
~One level. I've wanted a one level house for a long time. The last three homes we have lived in have been two levels. I would like a spacious rambler.

Something along the lines of this!


Right now we are in a house that looks like this:


The house needs a ton of updates; all new flooring, walls moved, kitchen redone, bathrooms redone, light fixtures redone, exterior lighting installed. I could go on.

I tend to obesses about things. I'm trying not to obsess and trying to allow things to happen as they are meant to.

Getting excited

Our house is a wreck, boxes are everywhere, stuff is all over the counters. But I'm getting excited to move. I can't wait to get setteled into this new house. I keep thinking about how I'm going to decorate but there's one problem, I've only been inside once. It's hard to fully visualize a house you have only seen once. But I do love the house, I know that.

Kendall is doing better with the idea of moving. The poor girl breaks my heart. She's been so sad about leaving this incredible neighborhood. These kids play like a swarm of bees, moving from one house to another. There are 10 kids ages 2 1/2-9 that all play together. Kendall is especially going to miss Mathilda. I call Mathilda her soul sister, Taylor calls her Miss Tilda. She's 3 years older than Kendall but they love the same things. Kendall has sobbed herself to sleep many nights since we told her about the move because she doesn't want to leave Mathilda. She tries striking a deal with me "Please Mom, just one more year" "Please just give me the summer with her". After she falls asleep I cry for her. I've been extra weepy anyway because of all of the good-byes. But I know it's going to be a good move for our family. Plus, it can't be good for her to be obsessed with someone who is 3 years older than her when she's already 6 going on 13, right?

Luckily Mathilda and her family headed out yesterday for a 2-week roadtrip. We will be moved and gone by the time they get back. I think that has helped Kendall relax a bit. She doesn't seem all-consumed with what Mathilda is doing or worried about having one last time to do whatever with her. We are coming back for Dylan's Mom's birthday in 6 weeks. I told Kendall and Mathilda that they could be together then. They seem happy about that.

Taylor is much more go-with-the-flow. The other day she said "Can we please just go to our new house by Grandma's? I want to clean my new room with a scrubber". Okay, sure.

Saturday is our moving day. I will post pictures as soon as we get everything set up at the new place.