The Year in Review - 2017

Life has been very unsettled for the past couple of years.

In January, 2017 my position I held for the past 4 year term ended and I spent the remainder of the month at home,  job searching and trying to organize the house in anticipation of moving at some unknown future date while.

The month of February was spent working at a temporary position in a county that was a 5 hour drive from home. I lived in the Twin Cities with my brother and his family during the week, commuted one hour each way to the job and went home on weekends. Most enjoyable about this time was being able to spend time with my nieces; going to school/sporting events that would have been missed when it was a 10 hour round trip. Least enjoyable was all the driving in winter weather.

In March, I started my new position. The new position was 2 and 1/2 hours drive from home so I ended up staying with my parents because the commute from their home was 45 minutes each way. It was a win-win for all of us. My dad's health had been declining and because he was the driver (Mom didn't have a driver's license) they were getting out of the house less and less frequently. I often worked late, but when I didn't, Mom and I would run her errands. It also gave me quality time with my parents. 

I would go home on the weekends. Date night for DH and I became a steady tedium of searching for a house, which often meant a mid-week 5 hour round trip drive for him.

After the first two potential home purchases fell through after the home inspection, finally, in November, we found THE Haus!

It had everything I was looking for - wood floors, nice woodwork, older light fixtures, leaded glass windows, and even a stained glass window.

We moved between Christmas and New Year's. 

My "good weather" commute time is now only about 25 minutes.

The cats settled in nicely. (We won't discuss the car ride on moving day and the 2 1/2 hours of yowling the entire way.) They are loving the fact that we've got a back and front staircase from the main floor to the second floor; great for chasing each other.