looking ahead

It seems Jonny and I are always, always looking ahead. It's not that we aren't proud of where we are right now and that we don't enjoy our lives. Because we are and we do. Period.

But we like to have something in the works. A plan. It is what we talk about in the wee small hours lying in bed together. It's our common goal.

So here is where we are right now: living in an apartment in Aurora while we own three houses in Virginia.

Here is where we want to be next year: living in a house somewhere in Colorado while we own three houses in Virginia.

We are looking around at different areas of Colorado and are currently drawn to Broomfield. Which is across Denver from us, to the Northwest. Jonathan loves that Broomfield is closer to the mountains than we are now. I love the mid century ranch homes there.

Our main goal is to live somewhere where he will not have to commute so we are going to take our time deciding where to live. Our second goal is to live somewhere with great schools.

But the housing market here is very good. So we hope to put a down payment on something next summer when our lease is up here. I want it to be a small house. I am really enjoying being in this apartment! But we really need to be in a house so the kids can run around and play and I don't have to worry so much about disturbing our neighbors. And so they can have a small yard to play in. But this cozy size is so appealing to me. Our electricity bills are so much lower. I can clean the whole place in just a few hours. And I vacuum all the time now! At home I hated lugging the vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs. And forget about hunching over and vacuuming the staircase. I practically never did that! (Sorry, Mom.)

But Jonathan wants a little more room than this! We both need a bit more distance from the wild screamy children sometimes. And it would be nice to have a spot for guests to spend the night, which we are lacking right now.

But we should be ideal customers for some lucky real estate agent! We want a very small house, preferably one floor, with a little yard. We want kind of a crappy-looking thing that we can put some work into. Basically I want a house that will provide some incredibly ugly "before" pictures!

Hopefully once the market back in Virginia picks up enough we'll sell our house and pay off our house here. We want to hang onto the two houses in Richmond for as long as we can--when we sell them one day they can pay for the kids' college educations.

So that's the plan. Meanwhile we are trying to save every penny, so if you only receive a card from me for your birthday and no present, now you know why.

I am spending a lot of time online looking at houses, and I've started an Inspiration Book which I am filling with decorating ideas for our next home...