I started on an endless journey to find a new house. Everyone knows how incredibly daunting and frustrating that can be, but throw in a few plumbing issues in the house that we are currently in, and it makes for a very urgent matter… For days now, my husband and I have been going back and forth about what city we want to move to, which schools are better, and so on. When I like the house, he points out the negatives with the neighborhood, a.k.a. teenagers. When he likes the house, I point out that living in a 2-bedroom shack at the beach with two kids and a dog, is not my idea of “Living the Life”, and no the dog will not do her business on a cement wall. And no, I do not want to try it out and see if she might get used to peeing-while-standing-at-a-40-degree-angle.
We have not agreed on a single house so far, and its only week one! In the meantime, I am dragging my kids around to look at all the potential homes and neighborhoods. You can imagine how fun that is for them, instead of playing outside with their friends or going to a park, they get to spend hours in the car helping me make a decision. I am however, a very prepared mother. You are hungry? Here is a granola bar. You don’t want a granola bar? Alright, I have an apple, a fruit snack, a banana, some low-fat sugar-free chocolate chip cookies that are not really chocolate chips but sure look like them, don’t they? I also have all their DSI’s, PSP’s, boy games, game boys, play boys, ipods, shmypods, and anything else to keep them occupied and keep me from feeling like the worst mother in the world.
Last night after a long afternoon of driving around, my youngest told me he had a very good idea on how to solve our home finding problem. I was very excited and all ears, mainly because this 5-year-old has had very good ideas in the past! And I quote: “Mommy, since you and Daddy have been arguing on which house we should get and can’t agree on anything, I think you need to go get a house that you want, and Daddy will go and find a house that he wants. Don’t worry, we will come and visit you all the time! You can even take the dog with you, so you won’t be lonely.” Who can argue with that logic? It makes perfect sense.