Rolling To A Stop

Not much blogging lately, but it's because big changes are coming!

Christie has been offered not one, but TWO jobs at Baystate Medical Center here in Springfield, Mass. It looks like she'll continue as a full-time employee on the Thoracic ward (where's she's been since we got here), and filling in at the Cancer Treatment center when she has the time. She's actually been offered a job at nearly every place we've been assigned, but we really, really like the Springfield area and can see ourselves living here for quite a while.

Consequently, we're burning up the road looking for a house to rent in the area. We like the apartment complex we are in right now, but it's not in the greatest part of town, especially for the boys. Christie's contract will be up here on October 15th, so we need to have a place to live by then, or sign another 6-month lease here. We have our hearts set on an older place we found in a nearby town called Hadley. It's in a neighborhood, but the houses are very spread out, so lots of privacy. Beautiful view from all the windows, a nearby garden that we can eat from, plenty of yard for the boys. I'll post pictures if it works out. It's about 30 minutes from the city, but we feel like the academic and recreational activities in this area far outweigh the extra time Christie will spend on the road. Plus, the school system is fantastic in the even that the boys ever decided to re-enter public school . The area is chock full of colleges, libraries, coffee shops, music, art, and community events that make it feel like a small town, yet with all the amenities of a larger city. It reminds us a lot of our beloved Fayetteville and Rogers/Bentonville in the heart of the Ozarks.

Our furniture situation is quite complex, as we knew it would be. We have been living in furnished apartments through Christie's company since we hit the road last February. If you've seen the old posts, you know that we have our own kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, the boy's toys, etc. but all of our "real" furniture is in storage in Arkansas, 24 hours away from here. It's going to take a considerable amount of time and money to relocate all of that, which is not easy to come by with Christie starting a new job. Our current plan is to use blow up mattresses and lawn chairs (which we already have with us) until such a time as we can afford plane tickets down, truck rental, laborers, and time off work, etc. Not sure how long that will be - hopefully mid-November, but possibly next spring. After all - we don't want to buy or rent temporary furniture when we have our own just waiting to be rescued from storage.

So it may be a camp-out for a few weeks or even months, but we're really liking the idea of a permanent job and semi-permanent home. We'll eventually look to buy something when we've had more of a chance to save up for a downpayment, and there are hundreds of beautiful New England homes to choose from when the time comes.

More details later. Sorry this isn't very snappy to read, but I wanted to get the information out there for everyone who's asking. We'll be very busy up until we get moved in, so I'll catch most of you on Facebook more than on here, but I promise I'll soon get back to weekly and bi-weekly posts asap. Thanks for reading!