We have moved! A lot of things went into the final decision, including the cost of heating a place that was too big for us, the ridiculous internet situation, and the horrible road. It was ultimately a family decision but the day before we moved, when we walked into the house the first time since we viewed it, I could tell my husband was regretting it. I think it was mostly that closed-up house smell that bothered him. It seems so small, but the place we were in was really just too big for us.
Now that we are in it, we love it. The carpet really captured our hearts. It's an old 80's type of carpet, not shag by any means but longer than what is fashionable these days. It's not beautiful either. Why do we love the carpet? Because the cats love the carpet! We are such softies...
Our oldest cat, 17 yrs, had gotten bare patches last summer. The vet said it was cat OCD, and asked "Have you moved recently, or gotten a new pet?" "yes, and yes," we said. But now that I've seen her rolling around on this carpet, and being more active than she has been all year, we realize her stress was the tile floors in the other house. She rarely left our bed all year. Now she naps everywhere.
Our landlords are awesome. They are actually people I work with. I was a little nervous about having friends as landlords, but figured it was worth trying something different, start off friends instead of enemies! She came over one evening to explain all the plants in the yard to us. The mystery fruit--is a winter kiwi! It climbs up a beautiful arch-trellis that is the entrance to the backyard. I keep my bike in the shed, so I walk underneath it every day. They'll be ripe around July, I can't wait!
It even has a cat door. Our other 2 cats (who don't sleep ALL the time) spent about a week figuring out how to use it. At first we had to hold it open for them. Finally they started going through it on their own. We shut it at night.
It's closer to everything, my husband has even walked to the store a couple times with us. :)
