Apparently, I don’t write enough because my own mother was starting to question my health. Without further adieu, I present to you a blog post.

In case I hadn’t mentioned it before, I’ll say I’m moving. This was not a surprise to me in the least. No, it was more of a relief. The dwelling that Rick, Karl, and I currently inhabit has made it’s shortcomings well known. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I’d be moving come this April (the month our lease expires), it was more a question of specifics. Thankfully, I didn’t really have to think about a lot of those specifics because Rick decided he was going to buy himself a house and invited me to move in.

Over the last month or so, Rick (including me, Karl, Kristi, and his family) have been checking out the housing market. House shopping, I found, is a fun experience. The fun, I think, comes from seeing how others live. There’s something intriguing about it; like being a fly on a wall you’re not supposed to be on, but I digress. In all, I think Rick probably went in close to 50 houses. I haven’t asked him this directly, but he probably only considered making a bid on 5-6 of them.

So, walking into the kitchen to see about dinner on Monday night, I was presented with the news that Rick’s latest bid had been accepted. If all goes as planned, we will be moved in to the new place by around Easter. That timeline works out great for us because of when our lease expires. It will give us plenty of time to move at our leisure.

The house is about 2000 square feet (an upgrade from the approximately 1600 we have now). It also has a 4 stall garage. 4 stalls! I’d never lived in a place with a garage that big before. There are apparently already plans to convert 1 of those stalls into a 4-season rec room. In other words, Rick’s grandma has a pool table and we have a dart board (real darts, none of that plastic tip business), neither of which is being used at the moment and the rec room will remedy that situation. The bedrooms are certainly bigger than what we have now and there’s 2 full bathrooms, including one with a single person jacuzzi.

It’s an upgrade on all levels. My only problem with it is the location: St. Anthony (in other words, Northeastern Minneapolis. It’s supposedly a nice area (I haven’t been there to see myself yet) and it’s close to all your major needs like grocery stores, gas stations, fast food, etc. The one pain is going to be the longer commute. I know it’s insane to ask for anything less than a 10 minute commute around a major city, but somehow I am lucky enough to currently have that luxury. And you gotta find something to complain about.

Did I mention the screaming deal Rick got on the place? He managed to pay close to $60,000 less than list price. That’s 80% of list! Pretty damn good for a first time home buyer.

In all, I can’t wait to get moved in even if the drive to and from work is going to be a little longer. Congratulations to Rick for making this milestone in his life.