Thursday, November 30, 2006

Update

Things have been busy here lately. We lost out on the red house we are looking at. (A bid was excepted the day we decided to submit a final bid at the sellers counter offer.) So, we've spent at least one day each week driving around to look at other properties or neighborhoods and lots of time online looking. We have a few we are considering. One is nice and a decent size but far out and potentially problematic for DH getting to work. Another is very large and close to a train line dh could take but the house itself didn't appeal to us as much (It seemed to dark and cluttered.) and it's more expensive. A third option is an older house that needs cosmetic work and some updating but it's a bit closer to dh's work near where we used to live.

Fortunately, since this is a buyers market and low season as well, we should have a little time to really consider each of these options as well as any others we come across. I'm drawn to the first house which was very nice, well cared for and had just about a perfect backyard but I'm afraid the commute would be too hard on dh. Even with the closer in house he would be commuting roughly 1 1/2 hours each way. This house would likely add anywhere from 15-30 min. to the commute time. He works from home 2 days a week, so he would only be commuting 3 days/wk but I think that might prove to be too much. Commuting is one of the major challenges of living in this area. DH's commute time is pretty typical since this area covers so many suburbs. DH has even known co-workers who drive from Pennsylvania down to D.C.!

I have started on the leaf quilt. I did the chain piecing of the hsts last night and this morning now I just have to cut and press. Which is what I should be doing now since Reza's asleep and I hate to iron when he's awake. Oh, well. I have a headache and ironing is not exactly my favorite thing to do anyway so I think my progress is pretty much done for the day.

Besides blogging, I also came on-line to submit an application for scoring essays from home. I think this will help me keep my English skills up and give us a cushion if we have to go to the upper end of the mortgage spectrum. If not, then maybe we'll plan a few educational trips with the extra $$. Mustafa wants to go to Egypt, DH wants to go to Malaysia and I have a whole list of places I'd like to visit. It's a good thing we homeschool. This way we have a lot more flexibility for when and where we go. I don't know when I'd find out about the job so keep you fingers crossed for me.

That's about it for now. Time to go make lunch and defrost some meat for kebab tonight.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

House hunting is so difficult isn't it. We're in the same boat and nothing is saying "buy me" to us. Good luck with your search :-)

Patty said...

Sorry you lost out on the red house, but I suspect there is an even better one out there just for your family. I hope you can find one close to your husbands work so he doesn't have some horribly long communte each day. That is hard on a person.

Cathi said...

Shellie, I have a pay it forward swap ready to send! Can you send me your address?

Also, I was born in the DC area, College Park Maryland! My dad had a government job and actually had to commute to Pennsylvania for one of his contracts, the opposite way!

I hope that you find a great house. I will miss visiting DC, we could have met up! But my parents just moved to Oregon to retire, guess it will be a while before I see my old home again.