Well, two of you were wondering, so I guess I’ll give it up:
“What?!”, you say. “You’re moving?”, you say. “In two days?”, you say. “ARE YOU CRAZY?”, you say.
My answer to all of the above is yes, yes, yes, and without a doubt yes.
We decided at, well, whatever time I posted that last post. Probably about 20 minutes before that. And we’re leaving on Wednesday or Thursday. Have we got anything packed? No, not really, aside from most of our clothes. We don’t even really have boxes. It looks like Chernobyl in here.
Why the sudden decision? Oh, there are plenty of reasons. Let me enumerate, in point form for your convenience:
1- Neither of us is working. Thus, neither of us has money. This makes it slightly difficult to pay rent and utilities.
2- I could go back to my job teaching at The School Which Shall Not Be Named– but honestly? That job was making me crazy. My health is worth more than a job, I think. I do love teaching. I do not love teaching within the School Board Which Shall Not Be Named. They are crazy there. Therefore I shall take a job substitute teaching for the next year if I have to– hey, it’s still a little over $100 a day and being that I am a french immersion teacher I will more than likely be subbing every day. Plus, I won’t have the pressure of lesson planning and correcting every night.
3- Even when we are both working, it’s expensive to live here. I have never lived anywhere (and I’ve lived in 8 of the 10 Canadian provinces) where things cost so much. Sure, it costs more to live in a big city– and that’s fine if you’ve got the cash. We don’t. Once we both started working again, we’d be able to shovel our way out from under all our debt eventually, but even once that happened we’d still just be treading water. We want to be able to save. So we’re going to spend a month or two at my parents’, and then once we’ve got enough saved up, we’re going to look for a place. Okay. We’re paying $565/month here for this teeny little one-bedroom apartment where the superintendent won’t even come up and fix the windows that leak everywhere, plus we have to pay for electricity, heat, hot water, etc. etc. etc. Where we intend to move? A two-bedroom two-storey house, including full basement and garage, with hardwood floors, lawn care, oil and propane included, for $550/month. If we wanted three bedrooms it would be $578. Not too shabby.
4- Family. You know my dad’s had health problems this past year. I’ve really hated being so far away from my parents and my brother and sister and their families. It’s not going to be ideal, living in my parents’ basement for a month or two (ick, yeah I know, it’s going to suck, probably, especially since my mother drives me insane), but it will allow us to save money, and be near them. Plus, Rob’s parents are seriously considering moving to PEI, also. So he’d be able to see them everyday if he wanted, instead of once a year. And when they do move over, they’ll be able to stay with us (in our possible house) until they find a place.
Why is it going to happen so soon? Well– mainly spontanaeity. We’re adventuresome! Let’s go! There are other reasons, though. They’re in the middle of renovating this building and rent will most likely go up next month anyway (their renovations? Painting the hallway. But that’s a renovation, damnit! And every other time they’ve done anything, even if it was just put better lint traps on the dryers in the laundry room, they’ve raised the rent, so I don’t see why it would be different this time). I’m sick of being here. It’s sudden– so sudden that I’m not sure that I’ll even be able to see all my friends before we go. I’m sad about that, very sad, but basically we have to be out of here by Thursday if we don’t want to have to pay August’s rent anyway.
So! We should probably start packing, right? Heh. Yeah. Here we go.
Wow! You sure know how to make a decision! Every great journey begins with a single step, and you’ve already taken that. Best of luck!
Wow, that is news! Sounds like a good plan though – will be less expensive, in the long run. Are you going to be able to blog while you are at your parent’s? I ask for purely selfish reasons, as I love your blog.
Does this mean that even if I DO get my butt in gear to attend the HRM S&B on Wednesday, you won’t be there?
BTW, there’s a whole ‘nother two weeks to go before August starts. Why do you have to pay August rent a week in advance?
I’ll miss you as well – even if you can blog from a PEI basement – because you won’t be blogging from/about Halifax, a town which I miss. (It only has pretensions about being big enough to be a city.)
All the best eith your move, Janey
Good luck with everything, you guys!
Yes, purely selfish reasons, but ….will you have blog access?
Good luck!!! It sounds like it’s time for a move…I’m about to embark on a rather big move myself….double gulp…;)
No worries faithful readers, Louise will have blog access. Her folks have Highspeed, and we have a wireless router with a handy dandy usb wireless card.
Might take some time to get settled and what not, but my ever fabulous bean will still be around.
Oh my God!
Wow!
You two really are adventuresome.
I’m sending you good thoughts and wishes from NY. Hope everything goes smoothly and well!
Save travels!
That is huge news. Good luck with the move!
Holy cr@p! Talk about a change! I completely get why, but STREEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Don’t forget to breathe (I’ll try to remember that myself) and when you get a chance, send me your snail mail addy so that I can send you your jewelry, k? I knew there was a reason I was procrastinating on that one…
Oh wow! How awesome… and stressful!
It will totally be worth it though… seems like a very good move for you guys. (literally.)
De-lurking to say Good For You!! Nothing better than getting out of a bad situation! All the best, and hurry back (love the blog – don’t comment often, but love the blog!)
Good luck with the huge move Louise!
Good luck Louise!
~Z
WHOA! Remind me to check all of my bookmarked blogs every few days! i totally understand your reasons (and cannot tell you how jealous i am that we cannot just pick up and move South, as Brandus is still dealing with school) and wish you the best of luck! take some pics when you get settled.
oh, i know this is the wrong post, but your moonstone headpiece is GORGOUS.
geeze, i don’t get time to check my blogs for a couple of days and the world changes…
Good luck – here’s to a new beginning in a familiar place!