home bittersweet home.

as i mentioned in an earlier post, the house we live in now is not our forever home.  le sigh.

finding our house was an absolute fluke. paul had started working for a shady company building locomotives in the boonies of welland, and one day, after taking me on a field trip to see where he worked, we came across a beautiful old home in a lovely neighbourhood off the main street. because curiosity always kills the cat, i went straight home and onto 'mls' to creep it out. before i could even find the house i was crushing on, i stumbled upon our current humble abode. i booked a showing the next day, fell in love four seconds after walking through the front door, and we bought it two days later. a 30 day closing, three lawn chairs as seating in our family room and my double bed later, and we were moved in and as happy as a dog with two dicks. life was good. paul had a seven minute commute, i had a garden to plant and we were clueless as to how ghetto our neighbourhood really is.

because nothing ever goes as planned, paul was offered a job five months after moving day. in toronto.

his cushy little drive to work turned into three hours of highway driving a day, starting in the wee hours of the morning, the move had actually set us a half hour farther from his new job. almost five years, 400,000 km's and about the same in coffees later, and we are ready to face the facts; it's time to start looking for something permanent. this has proved to be easier said than done. as rick (one of our best friends, who happens to be our real estate agent and has curly hair) would say "it's time to put on your big girl socks and take off your underwear". clearly rick's curls are too tight and he shouldn't attempt saying things like this in public. especially to clients.

the fact that i'm head over heels in love with my house (if i could pick it up and move it to one of the neighbourhoods we love, i would) makes me do the stutter step into finding our "big boy and girl house". the one we want to raise a family in. the one we want to grow old in and are forced to move out of by our children when we're too old to care for it ourselves. i have been told a few times that when we find our barbie and ken dream home, i will finally let go of the one i love now...but i have a hard time believing that. with a list of stipulations, expectations and preferences, i know that finding a house that feels like home will take some time. paul says i rush into things, ahem buying a house after being in it for four seconds, where as he likes to take his time, think things through and really let it sink in good before he commits. this time around, his foot is down and we are not going to settle for anything less than "this is the fucking one". 

while out for breakfast yesterday, we wrote a list of all the things we want in our next home, and have come to the conclusion that it has to be out there. at least something close to it. rick convinced us to go to an open house for a home in one of the neighbourhoods we like. he said it would "motivate us" to continue the hunt and make the move. so there we were, paul, rick and i. i'm pretty sure the real estate agent thought we were some hippie threesome looking for something cozy with a large master bedroom and extra-large tub. 

it was the first big step. and i'll admit, it scared me. it kind of excited me. 
but it mostly made me want to put my big girl socks on and take my underwear off. 

no baloney. call simioni.