We bought a house

So... We bought a house.  We've been here several days and I'm still finding it weird to think that this is ours.  It still feels like we're visiting someone else.  This is the first time in at least 10 years that my residence hasn't been temporary.  I'm finding that I'm putting much more thought into what stays and what goes and where it will live.  It means unpacking is slow, but it feels much more important that things be right somehow than in our previous abodes.

DS entering the house for the first time after signing the paperwork.

There are a lot of things to love about this place.  We came for the school district and the walkability of the town.  It's a mile walk to the train station and downtown, which means I can easily meet DS on his way home from work or take the kids to the library without the car.  It also means DS can continue not driving to work.  Apparently, when he takes the express train the commute is about the same as when we were in the city despite now being 10 miles away.

The town itself is just gorgeous.  We joke that we have the crappiest house in town, because everything here is just so big and lovely and well cared for.  Not that our house is crappy, but in comparison.  I want my yard to be as lovely as the ones around us.  There are so many lovely plants and flowers here.  

The view out the front picture window.  Lots of flowering trees.

There are so many plans I'd like to tackle over time, probably in part because I've never been able to physically alter my living space before.  We'd love to add a second shower, add some cabinets to the kitchen.  If we decide to never move, I'd like to look into adding a master bedroom suite over the living room.  It's a split level house so it seems feasible, but in reality I don't know next to nothing about construction.  But first we need things like a lawn mower.  It's already past time to cut the grass, haha!

One of the flowering trees across the street after a good rain. Taken on today's walk to meet DS at the train station.

My mom is coming towards the end of May to visit the babes and I kind of wish she could come now. So many things are in bloom, and it just feels like a magical place when I'm walking around.  I want to share that.  I'll share it with you too, just come over and see us :)

Where does the time go?

I was just searching for my photos from Mardi Gras to show a friend, and realized they are not to be found here, on flickr, or facebook.  Why didn't I upload them??  I'm sure I took some.  It occurs to me that even with my incessant back-posting, my blog is seriously lacking.  So perhaps you would like an update.

I'm counting down my last days in Santa Barbara as we speak.  The cats are being moved by an animal transport service.  They'll be picked up on Wednesday, flown to Philadelphia, then boarded until they can be delivered to us in August.  The movers come Thursday to pack all our belongings, and then will pick them up on Friday.  We'll be staying with friends here until Sunday morning so we can tie up any loose ends, like cleaning, then we're flying to KY to visit family and friends.  We'll be there for almost a week, then we'll rent a car and spend the weekend in WV visiting more family.  Finally, we're driving to our new home, which will hopefully let us in.  Getting keys isn't something that's been worked out yet... We should be in our new place by August 1, and with any luck, should have our stuff the next day.  Though that's up in the air.

We've been trying our best to fit in all the last minute things we wanted to do here.  DS took one last climbing trip to Pine Mountain this weekend.  I've been to my last book club meeting, and hosted my last BSG night.  I've already said goodbye to several people for the last time in the foreseeable future.  Sad times.  I also thought it would be a good idea to make sure only things worth keeping made it to Philadelphia, so I've been combing through my belongings to cull the crap.  I actually had medication that expired in 2004, and mascara from high school.  Oy.

Because we don't need to pack, we are happy to be avoiding the unpleasantness of the cats protesting the destruction of their world.  I'm really sad that they'll be with strangers for nearly 2 weeks though.  Though not sad enough to drive them across the country again.. seriously.  I feel almost sorry for whatever sucker is flying with them.  Still, I am cherishing things like Felix bringing me 6 balls of yarn over a couple of hours, and Winston waking me up with a full facial and complimentary ear cleaning.  It's the little things ;)

I'm not sure how much internet time we'll have after Thursday, but I'll try to update when I can.

Decisions

In a recent conversation with Kimberlina, it was pointed out to me that I never shared our moving decision. Not only did he get an offer from Salt Lake City, but also from Santa Barbara, California as well. A tough choice was ahead of us: go to Salt Lake City where there are friends and realistic living expenses, or go to Santa Barbara where the research is better and live on a box on the beach...

We chose the box on the beach. You think I'm kidding about the box, but only a little. We currently have somewhere between 1000 and 1100 square feet in our apartment, and it's pretty full of stuff. With nearly double the rent, we might get a 650 square foot apartment in Santa Barbara... pretty insane if you ask me.

The plus? He's really stoked about working with this guy, and we're both intrigued by the idea of living by the ocean (Santa Barbara is only about 2 miles wide, squished in between some small-ish mountains and the ocean). I grew up in a land-locked state and didn't take my first trip to the ocean until I was a senior in high school. And I've never seen the Pacific Ocean.

So the big problem now is.. getting a job myself that pays enough that we can both move around our apartment and not starve, as well as getting rid of enough stuff that we can move around in our apartment. Thus, I have begun purging. Like crazy.

Our current lease is up at the end of this month, and this place won't let us have a short term lease that ends in the winter (jerks!). So we're moving to someplace that will, and then moving again in December. It's pretty lame, but it's giving me an excuse to get a head start on the whole packing and purging process. I'm working on going through all of my stuff and packing it in such a way that a lot of the boxes can remain boxed until we get to California. But in doing so I've realized that even with getting rid of several pieces of furniture, there's no way we could fit into anything less than 800 sq ft right now.

Hence, a second round of purging. Tackling the stuff that I didn't think I could part with, and actually parting with it. I'm reading this book called "It's All Too Much", and it's actually really helpful. Things to think on:

1. If you're hanging on to things for sentimental reasons, or because it's too important, think about where it is. If it's in a box in your cellar or closet, how can it be that important?
2. Only fill your house with things that are either useful or beautiful.
3. If you haven't used it in a year, it's not useful.

600 square feet, here I come!