News Update.

We interrupt the not-so-regular not-so-schedule posts to bring you the following news update ...

You know, it's been a few months since we've done any major changes in our life ... I suppose we're about due for another one ... just to keep life entertaining :)

For those of you who know us well enough this probably won't come as much of a surprise ... especially after our summer stay at "the cottage", but after an awful lot of thoughts and consideration we have decided it's time to move. We will be packing up our belongs and moving them to the Attercliffe area.

Since our return home from "the cottage" I have managed to settle back into our home and city life. Those of you who have been to our home know that the set-up isn't the most ideal and somewhat irks us that we have our living room in the basement to make enough living space upstairs (it's suppose to be an eat-in kitchen but is too small, so the actual living room has been changed to a dining room/office/playroom and the living room put downstairs). Rob became increasingly uphappy with the house setup, the city and a few other issues. While I didn't particularly like these things either, I could make due with them and can also see the advantages of living in the city. It was decided we would do some house reorganizing during his time away from school while he actually had evenings to do such things - we would make a bedroom downstairs for ourselves and then rearrange the rest of the house in order to get his office and the living room upstairs. Basically this required moving every room except the kitchen and bathrooms.

While we were hashing out how we would go about doing this an e-mail arrived in our inbox informing us that a house had become available in the Attercliffe area. And so we began to persue this ... not quite sure what we thought of the idea just yet. We had always said if the right deal came up and it didn't cost more we'd move to the country ... well it appears this deal has appeared - the difference in rent offsets the extra expenses that come with living further away from everything. Viewing the house made us realize it was a bit smaller then it appeared from the outside, but after much thought and consideration we decided to go ahead. We won'tb e gaining any extra living space ... but at least Rob will have an office and the living room will be on the main floor where it should be.

I will admit that this wasn't a very easy decision. I found it very difficult. I began to realize as much as I love the country and dislike the city .... I really don't dislike the city as much as I thought. I miss my space, I miss the quiet, but I've gotten used to it and the conveniences. When it comes to city living we are very well located and it's hard to give that up. Leaving Hamilton also means we lose the benefits of being a low-income family in this city - no more free dentist, no more cheap swimming lessons and city programs. (At the same time we would have lost those benefits for two years after we file our 2009 taxes as Rob now has an income ... so I suppose that's not a huge factor.) The biggest factor was the extra driving. Thankfully we seem to be somewhat done with excessive doctors appointments ... but regardless it's going to take up a whole lot more time for appointments now. Rob is fine with the extra distance to and from school - already busy divising ways to make the best of this time on the road.

In the end after weighing everything out we've decided to move forward ... forward meaning out in the country on a 1+ acre lot. The kids are extremely excited about this, for which we are very thankful. Rebecca is especially excited about having Grandma for her teacher ... we are working hard to instill in her that Grandma is Mrs. Diek at school and she will not be spoiled but that Grandma is going to be especially strict with her so that nobody can say she is playing favourites. And while Rebecca tells us she knows this, I'm afraid her little head doesn't really truly under stand this and we do have some fear of whether this will cause any emotional struggles ... time will tell. The kids are also excited that they can now have a dog ... seeing as mom won't have one in the house, now there is enough space for one outside the house :) Rob and I are also excited ... just somewhat unsure at times if it's the right decision ... I think I struggle with that more then Rob ... he's just so excited to move into a "real house" (as he calls it), have an office and mostly to be in the country. I suppose whenever a person makes a decision they question whether it's the right one ... but now that we've made a decision we can move forward with it.

It will be November by time we move. Some work has to be done inside the house before we can move in ... so we're not really sure if it will be the beginning or end of November. It's a bad time to be moving the kids around, but thankfully both of them do well in school, so although a mid-school-year move will effect them, hopefully it won't be too major.

And now we return to our not-so-regular not-so-schedule posts ...

Edit: For those of you who are not familiar with the area. It is about a 30 minute drive south east from our house to our new home. The closest town will be about 10 minutes away and the closest major city is 30 minutes away (that being Hamilton). It will take Rob about 40 minutes to get from our house to The College.