Let The Games Begin

I know I have mentioned before the possibility of moving. I think I even our great debate weighing out the pros and cons of moving vs. renovating out current house to make it more family friendly. I think we have come to the conclusion that we are going to move. So, while you all shake your head knowing we have only been in this house for about a year, let me do some splaining. Laugh all you want, but a lot of our decisions are based on the needs/wants of our imaginary child. We know at some point that we are going to have at least one, so we want to plan accordingly. We want our kids to be able to safely ride a bike in the neighborhood. Our current neighborhood isn't terrible, but it isn't terrific either. We want our kids to grow up in a good school district. In my research, I have realized all schools are now going to a standard curriculum, which is fine however some schools are cutting essential programs in process. Why are we pushing math and science at the sacrifice of arts and foreign language programs. There is currently only one school district in our area that teaches Spanish in the elementary schools still, so that is where we will be headed. We are also looking in to the possibility of the Montessori schools. Again, research for a child that doesn't exist yet. On a more immediate factor, I'm sure some people might be wondering why we would be considering moving when we are both less than ten minutes away from work. While that is nice about our current location, I actually rather like taking the bus to and from work when we lived in the apartment, and I think Andrew is willing to trade a longer commute for a house we like and can grow in.

Since we have decided to move at some point, in the semi near future, I started a list of things we would like in a new house. Here is the list: a garage we can actually park in, a kitchen larger than a closet, at least two and a half bathrooms, at least three bedrooms, a fenced yard, a formal dining room, possibly a fireplace, a finished or partially finished basement, and possibly some existing trees. I know, that list sounds like a lot. Andrew's eyeballs grew as he hear me rattle of the list one day. Man if I am going to move again, I'm going to get most of what I want. We both cook, so we want a kitchen we can both move around in at the same time. Having lived together now for three years, we have discovered the importance of having multiple bathrooms, which we have yet to have. I would love to have a partially finished basement where I could create a Packers shrine! I need some place to hang that stock certificate. We had great hopes and ambitions when we moved in to this house, and I kind of feel like we let the house down because we didn't do all the things we set out to do. However, when I think about it, we really had done a lot of work to the place. We did front and backyard landscaping, we had a sump pump put in, we painted some rooms that needed a fresh coat of paint, we have the house some TLC, we sealed off the basement wall, put in a new fridge and microwave in the kitchen, and stained the deck.

With our list of wants in hand, we set out to look at five houses this weekend. I was reminded again that photos can be deceiving. Houses that I wasn't as sure about I loved, and house I thought I would love I really didn't. After looking at five houses in very different parts of town, there was really only one that I would consider buying. Even that one had a lack of storage space. A girl has to store her Christmas tree somewhere. The house we liked really only had one small closet in the basement for actual storage. While appreciated the beautifully finished basement in the house, they could have left some room for storage. Of the houses we looked at, one just needed more updating than we care to do, one just wasn't the right layout for us, another was way too close to major roads, and the others didn't have the right fit. I knew this next house was going to be a chore to try and find, and I was right. Some might think I'm crazy for looking before we even have our house on the market, but I need to get out there and see what else there is to offer. I have easily looked at hundreds of houses posted online and quickly nixed many of them. Of the 296 houses currently listed for sale in the school district we want to be in, there are only two that I remotely like. Yes, I'm picky.

In the coming weeks I should be posting about more projects around the house as we try to get some things fixed up. The major project is obviously the wall in our bedroom. I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to buy this house from the looks of that wall. Sadly, with all the snow on the ground right now we can't exactly show off the landscaping right now either.