finding the silver lining

I'm excited to move to the cities.

I am.

But I know I'm going to miss the big house we've been living in. With two bathrooms. And lots of storage. And many kitchen cabinets. And a washer/dryer. And a dishwasher, for Pete's sake.

The house we hardly had to pay any rent to live in. Or utilities. Or heat. Or garbage.

Do heat and garbage count as utilities?

And I'm going to miss the openness of home. The wind in the trees, the back dirt roads, the "middle-of-nowhere" feeling, the call of the loon on the lake...

Okay, okay. I'm moving on.

The hubby and I looked at many many apartments. The nice ones were expensive and the ghetto ones were cheap. Hubby wanted nice; I wanted cheap. It didn't go well.

As it turns our we'll be renting from my aunt and uncle in the cities. They have a decent-sized house and we'll have the whole upstairs with our own kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room, etc. We'll also have a separate entrance. And the price is right, if you catch my meaning. The only real bummer: it's minuscule.

So today, instead of pining over all I will miss, I thought of things I will appreciate about renting the upstairs of someone's home in the twin cities.

1. It will be a snap to clean. I'm talking 40 minutes, max, to dust, vacuum, sweep, wipe counters, and clean the bathroom. It's that small.

2. There's no rust in the water. I'll be able to wash whites there, instead of hauling them to my mother's house like I do now. You think it's a pain to go to the basement to do a load of laundry? Try five miles away.

3. I'll be close to Cub Foods. No more local grocery store! Not that I'm against local businesses, just that Cub is so much cheaper. And has a much wider selection.

4. I'll be close to Target. This requires no explanation.

5. No one will try and murder me alone in my home when Darren's gone for drill. I won't be alone.

6. There is no mud.

7. Consequently, no need for weekly car washes.

8. The weather is nicer, longer. Yes, 170 miles does make that much of a difference.

9. Because there are hardly any kitchen counters, there is hardly any room for clutter. I hate clutter. May it forever be relegated to the closet and out of my sight.

10. My husband will have to sort, organize, and purge some of his clutter in the move.

11. We will have a walk-in closet, as apposed to the closet we have now with accordion doors that always get stuck on the carpet.

12. My aunt and uncle will probably take us out to eat about once a month. They're like that.

13. My sister and my sister-in-law are both attending school down in the cities, so we'll see them more often.

14. The nearest Snap Fitness is 7 minutes away. Here, it is 30.

15. We will live closer to our friends and hopefully will see them more often.

16. Como Zoo.

17. Trips to the airport will be 20 minutes instead of three hours.

18. There are RedBoxes in the cities.

19. My cell phone will work indoors.


See? I can find the silver lining in anything.