So, summer kind of sucks this year. Its hot as the devil's backside outside (which is weird for this time of year in Northern California--its usually not 100 degrees until September; you know, autumn. When its supposed to be cooling off). I am spending all my time either looking for a place for our family to move to that doesn't cost a large fortune (I'm even willing to consider a small fortune at this point) or getting up at the crack of dawn to get in a 10-mile training walk before the day begins. The walking is great and I LOVE doing it, especially for a cause, but it takes up hours of time that I would otherwise be spending, oh, I don't know, sleeping. Or blogging. Or organizing my house for a move to G-d knows where.
Luckily, there's this:
to distract me from the heat and the frustration and the no-time-to-get-anything-done-ness of this summer.
There will be a lot of down-sizing in our lives, a lot of "since there won't be any more kids, I guess we don't need a 3-bedroom"-ing and yard sale-ing (as in the selling side of it, not the buying part of it). The housing market is picking up out here for sellers (as is evidenced by our landlords booting us to sell their house), so renters are running back to apartments and condos. And apartments and condos are taking full advantage, charging obscene amounts (not like Manhattan amounts, but we are talking the suburbs here--$3700 for a 3-bedroom apartment in suburbia? INSANE).
In the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley, this move is forcing us to stop trying to keep up with the Joneses and focus on the essentials--all we really need is each other. Husband, Ethan and me.* And the tickle-fights & laughter. And the bedtime stories & cuddles. In reality, 3 people don't take up a lot of space. Or need a lot of things. I'm not a girl who has ever really liked a lot of change, but in the past 3 years, I've come to reluctantly embrace it, searching for the positive in the curve balls life throws us, in the sense of not being entirely in control of where we're going or what we're doing. The thing that stays consistent--our family--is what matters, not how many square feet we occupy (although more than 1000 sq ft would be nice, thanks very much). So yeah, I'm all enlightened on that and everything. But I'm still going to cry when I have to donate 100 books to the library.
*(and probably a self-storage rental for all our crap that won't fit into a tiny apartment).
7 comments:
I have such a hard time giving away books too. The truth is, I never really re-read any of them, but I just like having them there! Still, I do find that as much as I like my stuff, it's also always nice getting rid of it and having less stuff to manage. So sorry you have to move again :(
Hey- we squeeze our family of 5 into our 1,000 sq ft house :) You know...the starter homes of Mountain View that cost about $1 million dollars. You gotta do what you gotta do around here. Sorry it's been such a pain for you guys to find a place :( I hope something turns up soon.
Of course you only have to be living in the hottest (I mean in terms of demand) part of California-- which I imagine has NO influence at all on the cost of the rentals. Good luck, keep a mattress on the floor for us.
The real estate market in California is enough to make you go insane. I've gotten nearly certifiable in the past year.
Good luck! I know it's not easy out there...especially down south!
I am in Tracy (northern/central cali) and it was in the 100s all last week. You'd think after being born here and living here til I was 19 I would be used to it. NO! 5 years in San Diego has messed me up, I cannot deal. I don't remember it being this hot...I say that every year of the last 5 we've been back. Yuck. Happy house hunting.
Clearly, you should move to Madison. Great schools awesome neighbors, and a booming tech industry. WHAT COLD BE BETTER? Oh! And a freaking boatload of independent bookstores. But winter is terrible.
If you sign up for PaperBackSwap.com, you can list your books there, mail them out when people request them, and stockpile the credits for when you get a place big enough to start using them to get more books. :P
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