I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here yet on the blog, but this season of life has been crazy. Overwhelmingly crazy.
And here I thought spring term would be better because I'm not taking classes. Ha! Wishful thinking on my part. Six day work weeks have become normal. 9, 10, 11 hour work days are not unusual. I think I show up at least 5 minutes late everywhere I go. I feel like a pack mule on a pretty regular basis. After loading everything up for an event last Friday, I proceeded to lock my keys in the trunk and Jake had to come rescue me. Bottom line—working two jobs is for the birds and I’m a hot mess the large majority of the time. I’m only surviving because I know I only have to do it for 5 more weeks. For those of you work 2 jobs for a living—major props. Seriously, I salute you. Anyway, Jake and I have just been struggling to stay awake (literally) and trying not to get sick (my body failed at this last weekend. Lame.).
Logically, we thought this would be a good time to move.
All jokes aside, moving was not something we planned on doing. Yes, our rent was going up and that was annoying, but certainly not out of the realm of our budget (San Diego friends, I won’t even say what it was going up to, because you would just laugh at me). On the very day we were going to sign our lease renewal, an opportunity we couldn't pass up just fell into our laps. We ended up at our friends’ house for Easter dinner and found out they were currently in escrow on a property with two small houses in the back they were hoping to rent to friends. Long story short, we jumped on it and are now in a lease agreement for one of these houses with the current owner of the property and hoping/praying that our friends’ purchase goes through. (You know, so that we can start a commune... kidding).
I know it's not much to look at now, but it soon will be! So why are we downsizing to an older, smaller place with tiny bedrooms, no dishwasher and poor insulation? Besides the one main obvious reason that it’s a single family home unattached to neighbors (woo-hoo!) there are a few other perks:
- Number one, Jake and I really want to buy a house, and this place serves two purposes. A, we’ll pay less in rent, and be able to put away more money for a down payment. B, we really want said house to be a fixer upper. We are itching to get our hands on a project house and this will serve as the perfect trial.
- Also, even though this house is smaller, the storage is infinitely better, Garage space, anyone? Hallelujah. I’m giving up my walk-in closet, but that seems a small price to pay.
- Have I mentioned yet that it’s less than a mile from campus and, subsequently, my job?
- And, while there is no garbage disposal, there IS a compost pile AND a garden space—we are so excited to get our home garden growing!
- Finally, the pièce de résistance: the yard. Oh, the yard. We have big dreams for this place.
I know that we live in a part of the country where it rains for much of the year, and summers are fleeting, but they are spectacular. Jake and I often find ourselves telling people, “We know it’s not nice for very long, but when it IS nice it is SO nice.” Profound, I know. But there’s no other way to describe it. In the Willamette Valley, we dream about summer. It sustains us through the months and months of rain and gray. And you soak up every last ounce of it. So, needless to say, we could not be more thrilled to be spending the summer in this place.
Barbecue and margaritas, anyone??
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