A New Home

We're here, we're here!  At home in Wisconsin!  I'll take some pictures tomorrow in the sunlight and show you our new house. 

But for now, here's the quick and dirty version.

We moved in last Monday after signing away our children's inheritance.  Good news is that our payment is affordable.  Yay for low interest rates! 

Especially since the a/c broke on Wednesday, the hottest day of the year.  If you live in Verano, give those maintenance workers a wistful smile from me.  I miss them.  So much.  I like our guys here a ton.  But I'm not too fond of the check I have to write whenever they come over. 

We love the house.  It's really perfect for our little family (and whoever wants to come to WI for a visit).  Not loving the mice in the basement, but hoping that if there are any more they'll either move on or meet their end trying to get that last lick of peanut butter off the trap. 

Everything else is of course perfect!  Well, not really.  But we're working on it.  We should be old pros at moving.  Instead we're bumbling around forgetting important things like feeding our kids (thank you new neighbors who took care of that not once, but twice.)  Enrolling the kids in school, registering our car, putting up pictures.  All in good time.  For now, we sit in the sunroom (because it's the only room with enough furniture to seat us all)  licking our popsicles (since the a/c only got fixed yesterday), staring at a blank wall (no pictures up) or reading a book (we did get library cards!).  Perfect!

First Time

photo from here

So we haven't gotten an offer from the school, but if we do, we'll most likely buy a house.  I can't say it very loud because it's SCARY.  We've been serial renters our entire marriage, so buying a home seems like a very big step. 

Here's what I've learned so far:
-I think our piti should be less than 25%.
-Lots of houses are in foreclosure right now.
-And there are lots of other houses on the market.
-A lot of them are dumps, especially the ones that will be easy to afford.
-I don't mind a kind of fixer upper.  I'm not sure about a gutter.
-Jesse and I are not in complete agreement about what kind of house we want to get.
-I don't know anything about buying a house.


So what do you know?  What do you suggest?  What has your home buying experience taught you that I should know?

Today

Right this second, Jesse is interviewing (by telephone) with a school in New Zealand. For whatever reason, I think it's hilarious that there is the vague possibility that we might go there. We really need a gypsy wagon.

It was 94 degrees here today. It looks like autumn is coming tomorrow or the next day. Maybe next week? I was so depressed by the heat, I looked at the weather in Maine. Perfect fall temperatures. Highs in the 60's, low 70's. Lows in the 40's. We are trying hard not to miss Maine. It's not working especially well.

We have been working especially hard with Mermaid in math. She has math anxiety. She's actually pretty good at it, just needs to gain confidence. Monkey wants to learn math, too. She's eerily quick. Sometimes, she makes me nervous.

Last week, we went on a bike ride. The bike path follows a narrow wood to the creek. The kids could almost wade across. We hear people kayak and canoe down the creek. I am a little suspicious.

Indiana, Where People Are SO Nice

Our trip to Indiana was. . . not bad. I mean, moving is never a dreamy proposition. And we had tons of help from our friends in Maine (where people are also SO Nice.)

We're wondering if we can put the ticket I got for driving on the Merritt Parkway in the moving truck under our moving expenses. (FYI, a moving truck IS a commercial vehicle. In NY, they know that idjits like me exist, so the signs only allow passenger vehicles.)

Indiana is full of Really Nice People. The kids were enchanted. So many people giving them so much candy. We found a place to live. YEAH! 10 month lease. YEAH! No dishwasher. Booo. Backyard. Yeah! And Mermaid made it into the GT program. Yeah!

We spent 72 hours in Indiana. Accomplished everything we needed to. I think we're going to like it there. (and people continue to be so nice. they're letting us crash at their house while we wait for our house to open up.)

The Moving Equation

So, moving+pms+dieting= 2 lbs lighter, moderately pissy, swearing like a sailor (so far, just in my head).

Oh dear.

5 (dino)Bite Size Reasons Why You Shouldn't Move

We're moving house again. Each time we pack, it's a different story. When we moved to Taiwan, I would pack a few boxes and when I needed a rest, work on Chris and Da's wedding quilt. Jesse packed us up in Japan. He went on a three day backpacking trip right before he flew home. And he brought it up for a year how hard it was to get rid of so much stuff. This time we're working together, sometimes in tandem. We both had the realization that boxes were the way to go. Everything in a box.

Good friends are watching the kids for a couple of hours each day. I'm still working out each morning. We went strawberry picking on Wednesday. I'm either dreaming about mass murderers on the run or of packing. I'm not sure which is worse.

Our meals are getting weird and wonderful. I made pasta with sweet potatoes and ricotta cheese. The next day I realized the ricotta was way past date. Tonight we had spinach, cheese, and chicken omelets with a side of salsa. We have 5 dino bites, 4 veggie burgers, two packages of spinach, other assorted frozen vegetables, gyoza skins, and deli meat in the freezer. Lots of pasta and evaporated milk in the pantry, and a big pot of lentil soup in the fridge. Who wants to come over for dinner?

I need to find out what Jesse wants for breakfast on Father's Day. And lunch, and dinner. Or it might be a pathetic affair. And I might have packed the kitchen by then.

One more thing to feel guilty about

Great. Like I wasn't feeling bad enough as it was. Frequent moves in childhood linked to poor outcomes.

(I'm sure they'll be fine.)

I Will Pack Like a Pro

I've been thinking more about moving. The actual physical moving of stuff (some of which, such as the couch, I wish we were not). It's a little overwhelming. Toys, games, shoes, clothes, furniture, dishes, art, computer, blah, blah, blah. I want to start on the clothes, but I can't pack our winter clothes just yet. It has been 40 degrees here this week. Yikes. Coldy.

So it was with excitement that I saw this popular article in the NY Times about packing your carry-on. I'm so motivated. Not just to pack that well. I now have an excuse to go buy more clothes so I can pack efficiently. I mean, I will be living out of a suitcase fore 5+ weeks. I'm sure I'll just be hitting up the Goodwill, not spending tons of money. But now I know what to buy.

Keeping New House In...

Indiana

I know. Crazy. It's hard to imagine us there, but maybe we'll like it. Jesse is skeptical, I am optimistic.

It's another year appointment with the possibility of going tenure track next year. (where did we hear that one before?) Anyway, keep following us as we take a stab at living in every time zone in the USA. We'll keep having FUN and hope you come along for the ride!

Sneaky Mom

I was thinking of all the things I should be doing when it hit me. Jesse is gone. The kids are at school. Time to make a goodwill run while no one is the wiser.

I love moving.

The Roller Coaster Moving Machine

UP- new friends, new church callings, new house to decorate. Maybe I can talk J into those chairs at Target
or a new couch.
A yard. A dishwasher.
New stomping grounds to explore.
We'll probably be closer to family.
We can go to DC and relive my childhood memories.
Where will we be next year?



down- making friends is hard. and it takes time. i feel a little guilt about leaving our ward. it's tiny and really needs people.
i just barely started working out again. how will I do it by myself?
J's going to make me move that awful couch. again. And he'll probably try to make me get rid of my red chair.
what if our neighborhood is even worse?
what if they try to give me the one calling I hate. cub scouts. gag.
we'll just have to move in a year again.
finding a place is hard.
moving is hard.
where will we be next year?

In My Pretty Garden

A shot J took Sunday morning. Early. His ride comes at 6:15. I don't know if this is our last snow, but this morning I did see the daffodils poking up maybe an inch. I bought a big bag of bulbs last fall and planted them in front of our house. I've loved spring flowers since our first spring in Utah when we realized that the previous owners had planted hundreds of tulips in front of our house. I thought it might be nice to give the next occupants a similar gift. Maybe this will be my "Bekah Wuz Here" tag I leave until we settle somewhere.

Hey, Wake Up!

It's Moving Day!

Maybe I'll post some pictures later, but for now, I just want it recorded that after a fabulous meal (thank you Ramas) and some delicious lemon bars (thank you Britt), and 4 hours of sleep, I have been cleaning my house at 2:30 in the morning. Rest assured friends, it could have waited until morning. But here's a little known fact about me. Under stress, I am a touch manic. I know most of you have a hard time believing it. Laid back Bekah intently washing windows, folding clothes, cleaning the fridge, and wiping down cupboards at 3 in the morning (I started packing my suitcase, but it woke up Jesse).

So when I come crashing down in a couple of days, family, please forgive me. But the house looked really good when we left!

Calling Cards

I took a cue from designmom and had calling cards made with our new address, blogs, and email addresses. I got the free ones from vistaprint, though expedited shipping was $13.68 for 250. They did get them to me in less than a week, so no real complaints there.

If the kids were older, I'd have them make ones of their own, but we still share friends. Convenient.

Yard Sale

Today at our yard sale I was a little dumbfounded when people came and after a quick once over, left without a word.

My first thought was "Hey! This is all great stuff! If I came to this yard sale, I'd want to buy just about everything. I mean, a shop vac for $5? What a bargain!"

Then I remembered. I did buy this stuff in the first place.