Better this week

This last week has been an emotional roller-coaster.  With our house going on contract,  my biggest worry:  Where are we going to live!?  Since we are hoping to relocate down to San Diego sooner rather than later, we wanted to find a rental that wouldn't lock us in.  Hmm...easier said than done.  I probably called or e-mailed at least 50 people asking i f they were willing to do a short-term lease.  Almost everyone said, "no way" and some people were downright mean about it.  I was just asking.

We did find a 4 bedroom apartment.  Seriously though, 5 kids in an apartment for who knows how long?  And it wasn't exactly inexpensive either.  We would have to sign a year's contract, then pay $2,000 to break the lease, but it was the best we could find!  Then add on storage for all our stuff, and if I wasn't able to sell my piano, that was a big worry too.

Enter Craigslist.  I put an add on Craigslist asking for a 3-4 bedroom home with a short-term lease.  I got 1 or 2 replies offering a sublet room (thanks, but that won't exactly work), then a guy e-mailed me with an offer of a 3 bedroom 2200 square-foot house, basically agreeing to month-to-month rent only $100 more than the apartment.  It wasn't exactly in the area we were looking at.  It's farther in Aurora, and I was a little worried.  Aurora can be really spotty, there are great areas, and really scary areas.  But I figured it was worth a look.

The house is about 40 years old and has 3 enormous bedrooms with a big family room and living room.  The kitchen is an OK size and was updated about 1 1/2 years ago.  The tub is the lovely 60s orange color and I think there is still some original wallpaper on the walls.  But, it's on a full acre and the homes around it are amazing with the yards immaculately kept and big, mature trees!  This house could be pretty amazing too with some TLC and a big bucket of $, I have a feeling that it's the bucket of $ that's lacking.  A friend of ours told us that Mike Coffman, our US Representative used to live right in that area.  As I walked through the house, I kept asking myself, "Can I live here?"  I'm not buying it, I'm not even decorating it (as my brain has been in the decorating mode lately).  The answer was yes, I can live there.  The flexibility is worth a lot. 

So, as fun as an apartment might be, this situation is better.  We can take my piano and other furniture (if they don't sell), the kids will have tons of room to play, I will have room to baste quilts (providing there's time for sewing....I sure hope so, I'm going through withdrawls!), and we can shove all our stuff in the garage and basement.

So, life is better.  I haven't broken into tears for about 2 days now.  Feeling homeless is not a happy thing.   I just hope we can move before winter as the house faces North (ugh, a pain for shoveling the driveway!) and we probably won't have a garage to park in, as it's full of "stuff."

So, as long as the house really sells, we're in good shape.  Here's hoping for a job.

(Oh, and this week I was linked on a fun "quilty blog," Pleasant Home.  It was like a small moment of "fame!")