PLAN C

Friday, January 20, 2006

After my little episode of last Tuesday, it was clear that 3 months was about the limit of our family being apart. After figuring some rough numbers -- between the rent for my room at Carol's, the airfare back and forth to Chicago (cheap though it may be) every weekend, plus all the incidentals that come with traveling like that, and some other costs associated with our 2-state residency -- it was clear that we could build a small budget for the 4 of us to move to San Diego.

Renting a place for the family will be yet another sort of limbo state, but it won't be as taxing as the one we're currently experiencing. Sarah may have to change schools again when we buy a house. Don will be between jobs, so things will tighten up for awhile. But at this point, it seems a small price to pay.

I spent some lunch hours and evenings looking into places last week. At first, it was downright depressing. With 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 kids, a tight budget, and the lack of willingness to commit to a year lease, we aren't exactly the ideal tenants. Add that to the need to be relatively close to work and in a good school district, and I had a real challenge on my hands!

I inquired into about 24 properties that seemed to fit the criteria, 6 of which would agree to take us given all our restrictions. One house looked like it needed to be knocked down. Perhaps if all 4 of us leaned against it, that could have done the trick. Another had a kitchen so old, it could have made it into a Kitchens History Museum, and the ceiling fixtures were bare lightbulbs. And so small, it reminded me of my sister's first place in Atlanta. In that apartment, Don bent down to gather the garbage and turned on the oven with his behind. Now THAT's a tight space.

One was cute, but way too far. One was tiny, but in a good school district. One was really okay, but so sterile.

Finally, I came upon Aron & Kristi's place. It's right in the part of town we were thinking of buying a home. Good school district, right off the highway, and a walk to a shopping plaza. The best part of all is that we are taking over Aron & Kristi's lease, so the rent is far below retail and only for a short time. We'll have to live in 1200 square feet, but there are fantastic common areas, like the pool and fitness center below, and the unit is very nice. I think we could live like this for awhile!

So now all we have left to do is pick a date, do about a million little things, pack up the house and the kids, and LEAVE. It is such a comforting feeling to know that in a couple weeks, I can go back to riding herd on the homework and doing other people's laundry again.

Come visit us!