MOVING??

(warning: long, journal like post) Probably NOT interesting to anyone. But hey! It's my blog I'll ramble if I want to!

The rumors are true. We are moving and until this past weekend we weren't sure where, but we did know that we were moving- to another house.
WHY are we moving?
Reasons: #1- cheaper rent (over the past few months we've found lots of equally nice homes for 100's less per month- tempting? YES!)
#2- no more RED CARPET! (the WHOLE house is ruby red carpet and I knew moving in I could do it for 1-2 years and that's it! LOL)

Don't we like our house?
Well yes actually we do. Of all our homes this is my favorite, but like any home there are things we don't like. #1- Can't park on the street at night. (looks nice, but is a pain to obey when you always have an extra car or two visiting) Musical cars has gotten old in the last 2 years.
#2- RED CARPET shows EVERYTHING, I have to vacuum almost everyday to keep it looking decent. Sock lint, crumbs, anything is SO visible on dark red carpet. I always feel embarrassed when people come over and my floors looks white trash.
#3- poor insulation and weather stripping. There are more than one window and door that have light that show through and when it's cold or windy, it's very drafty! Mya's room is the worst- so hot in the summer and freezing in the fall/winter months!
#4- junky stained linoleum. Stained pink from the red carpet that wears off, stained yellow in the bathrooms from previous owners rugs and looks like nasty urine!

So yes, I do like the house, but I'm fine moving on to one without the above flaws too! We love the neighborhood: the look, the feel, the neighbors and our own private park! We'll definitely miss it all!

At first I was excited to move because we were finding lots of home about the same size and nicer for LESS. But you can't ask an owner to hold their home for weeks for you. So although people were finding out we were moving they were confused that we didn't' know where to. Once we hit November we were about 30 days from moving and then started calling on homes we really liked. We were super bummed to find out that the top 2 we wanted were already rented! :( We'd love to stay in our ward or one of the neighboring wards where we already know lots of people. Our ward boundaries are probably the smallest of any ward in Las Vegas. And there are NO 4 bedrooms that I have found for under $2000 a month! Sorry, we can't move to go up in rent!
We've found some houses that we really like but then the neighborhood isn't as nice. I hate the "mechanic yards" where you have lots of broken vehicles being stored and worked on. I hate dead grass, over grown bushes, trees have never been pruned and look like bushes, etc. Call me picky but I love the look of a neighborhood that has a picky, stupid HOA. Hate em but love em! Jonathan is the opposite. He hates the typical LV neighborhood where every house & yard looks the same and has so many rules. He wants the older homes that are FREE from HOA rein. Too bad most of them are either really old and too junky for me or way too custom and totally out of our price range.

In the last week or so when we didn't have any houses that we could afford AND liked, we started to worry. We don't want to leave this house that we like only to settle for another we don't like near as much. There are plenty houses for LESS $$ but we want to like or love it too!
We wanted to hold out for one in a particular neighborhood where 1 house was once available and we LOVED everything about the house & neighborhood. We're told they pop up a lot but we'd have to wait. 21 days away from moving? How long do we dare wait?! We decided to still look further away than our immediate area for anything else. Several good options popped up and we looked through 3 of them.

We actually liked all 3. One 1 story we loved and had a yard! with grass and a patio, but the house was smaller than we wanted. One although the biggest and closest to the size we're in now- seemed small and had a different set up- good and bad. The last one I knew I'd love from the pictures online. Has my dream kitchen, a wall big enough to finally use my entertainment center, plenty of good sized rooms, a decent sized back yard (although no grass), has a linen closet! which is SO hard to find in LV, and a long driveway which is one of Jonathan's main wants. LOL There is only one thing that I might not like. The area over tile for a kitchen table is very small, so we might have to put our table in the formal dinning room which is over carpet. Other than that, I couldn't find a thing I didn't like. I was so giddy looking at it.

We decided not to wait for something better, closer to our home now, for fear this one would be rented out and nothing else would come up. We wrote the check for 1st months rent and turned in the application to the realtor. We left feeling excited but anxious and sad too. Its a great house and I love it and the neighborhood! But that's it, we'll be out of our ward in 3 weeks! We LOVE LOVE LOVE our ward and everyone in it. We KNOW everyone in it! It will be fun to meet new people and start over but hard too. The whole way home, Jonathan and I both felt a little sick like maybe we shouldn't have jumped on it. Does that mean we made the wrong choice? I have felt better about it since, but still hate to announce that it's official, we are moving and its AWAY. I'm sorry. We'll be back to visit lots and we'll be inviting you over to us lots too! I guarantee it! ;)