I have to address this particular subject right now because at the moment my mom in in Reno.? With any luck she won’t go back and read the posts she missed while she was on vacation.? Who the hell am I kidding.? She trolls my site daily for new photos of my child.
Soooo… Appleton.? Wisconsin.
Let me give you a little background on me.? Remember that whole I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder thing?? Well, for me the worst month of the year is January.? If you’ve never been to the Northwest for an extended period of time in January you just won’t get it.? Today was the first day of sun we’ve seen in nearly a month.? Honest to God sun.? It may have been 45 degrees, but by gawd we were going to the park sun.? The Northwest is wet, cold and dreary. ? I can’t stand it.? It makes my joints hurt.? Even typing this is killing my hands.? Oh, I’ll get to what you are all thinking in a minute.
The other little part of this is that the trusty husband works for a company with 2 home offices.? One happens to be in Appleton, WI.? In his position he is an employee of the regional office located here in the Tacoma area.? Basically, he has gone as high as he can working for the regional office.? His only opportunity for advancement is if he were to work for the “home office.”
So here it is January and I’m in a little bit of a funk.? I want to add to our family, but no more people will fit into our current house without an addition or just up and getting a bigger house.? Unfortunately, we can’t afford to move right now.? Hello!? Suck-tastic housing market.? Whee!
Then there’s that whole I’m jealous of Rhonda thing.? Oops.? Sorry sweetie.? I didn’t tell you that.? I am.? I’m totally jealous of her new house.? The starting over in a new city.? All of that.? It could be that I’ve been in the same house for 4 years now.? This is the longest the trusty husband and I have been in a house.? Seriously.? We’ve moved 12 times in 11 years.? And we’ve been in this house 4 years.? You do the math.
I have this nomadic tendency.? Probably why I repaint walls every 6 months.? I can’t move… Oh! let’s repaint. ? Sears loves me.
So couple the fact that I have this undying need to change something in our housing situation and the “best” opportunity to do so would be for the trusty husband to apply for a job at the home office.? I started looking at houses online in Appleton, WI.?? This is the point where I loudly proclaim to my family that WE ARE NOT MOVING!!!? If you think wet rainy is bad try looking at houses online in Wisconsin.? In January.? Good lord.? There is like 2′ of snow on the ground in every photo.
Then the other day I was cleaning my office (for the forty billionth day in a row) and the trusty husband comes in and says, “you wanna know why I don’t want to move to Appleton?? Come look at this.”? He shows me the Green Bay/ Seahawks game on TV.? Yep, blizzard.
So while I think it would be fun to live somewhere I could have a white Christmas and a back yard ice rink, I don’t think my joints could handle the cold.? But damn, have you seen the housing prices compared to the NW?? $275K for a 4 br, 3.5 ba, 3500 square foot house.? In a “good” market my 1400 sq ft house would go for $249K.
Besides, I’ve lived in the midwest.? I don’t think they’d let me back.? Says the lady currently listening to Eminem.? Don’t judge me.
Nothing wrong with listening to Eminem, happen to like some of his stuff myself.
Now, I want the post on the music you bought on iTunes …
And I’m happy you’re not moving, I’m not either that I know of … 🙂
We may have snow here in the midwest but we definitely do have SUN! It’s not so bad. (Who am I kidding, it’s freakin’ freezing! That’s why we all stay inside our warm, big, cheap houses!)
Maybe snowballs would be an outlet for the Boy’s slingshot arm practice??? Who am I kidding, I grew up in the Midwest, moved to the southern climes as soon as I could, and ceremoniously burned my ice scrapers, never to move back! Can Trusty Husband find a new company that would ‘steal’ him away for a huge pay raise and a warm location?
C had a job offer 1x in Madison. He declined. We don’t care about snow and actually snow would be good for your seasonal disorder. When the sun shines off that snow it is blinding! I couldn’t live midwest but man it is soo much more affordable than here!
i would take cold and snowy and SUNNY over mild and cloudy ANY day. That’s the kind of winters we’ve had here last and this. Yuck. I need SUN. I need BLUE SKY!
I’m with Kate. I”m not sure you’d want to move to the midwest anyway. We get gray AND suck-ass snow.
I say we all move to Florida or Texas or Arizona.
Oh to be warm right now.
take it from a girl who spent many Januarys in the artic aka MN–it’s crazy when you think 20 degrees is a warm day. too many icicles off the nose.
we will let you back… come on.. give Ohio a try
From guy who spent Jan. to May in St. Petersburg Russia:
It’s crazy with ZERO Fahrenheit is WARM.
Take a moment to check out my embarrassing Eminem event by clicking on my name.
I admit, though Voodoo Donuts is a great place.
Hmmm. Sounds like he should be looking in Virginia. Four seasons but mild and lots of sun. I don’t actually live in Virginia. I just dream about it….
Totally hear you on the wanting to move away from her right now thing. And what’s really weird is I had a dream the other night that our realtor told us to move to Wisconsin – said it was good for Hubby’s career. And so when I woke up I thought “Maybe God is telling me something” so I looked up info about Wisconsin – and saw that not only is it very snowy there in the winter, it’s also really dark! So that would not be much of an improvement. Kind of the opposite really. Anyway, just thought it was weird we were having similar thought processes.
ooops, that’s supposed to say “move away from HERE” not *her* … ^#@$ typos!
Well, I am all for moving. We were in Alaska for nearly four years and I was dying to get out of that house. And you would be in the same state as Brett Favre. And you might run into him in the mall or something. Then you could take pictures of your chance encounter and send them to me, and I would live vicariousy through you. (I have a little crush on him, sorry.)
Anyways.
Where was I?
Oh yeah, moving. I say DO IT. Plus my parents live like three hours from Wisconsin. Its beautiful country. And, you know, it gives me an excuse to get up there and go to a Packers game.
I’m from Wisconsin (Madison… big difference compared to the rest of the state politically). If you moved there I would get to see you as often as I see you now! Really we will be coming up to WA this year; and we’ll be back to Chicago as well.
I think you would be really really bored in Appleton. You’d be able to get a big house… but that’s about it. No Nordstrom’s either. 🙁
i just caught on to this post… as u probably have read i’m moving!! we’ve been in the great NW for 3yrs. now, and though i will always think it’s 1 of the most beautiful places EVER, i admit i am looking forward to a climate change!!!
we are those dreaded “California transplants” that everyone up here seems to love 😉 i really feel it’s partly why dh never found the job he wanted up here. then BOOM, 3 calls for interviews in 1 month from Texas!!! talk about open doors… the people are SO much more welcoming of Californians down there, and i’m SO excited about the Tex-Mex as Mexican has always been my FAVORITE food!! however the trees are scraggly-looking!! : / and the summers HOT & HUMID, but since dh will be a high school teacher, he will have summers off & we will just go back to CA in summers and up here occasionally 😉 although i’ve been surprised how HOT even the NW can get in the summers!! and humid too (though i’m sure NOTHING like TX will be!!!).
we will be living next to several waterslide parks, Six Flags & Sea World so hopefully that will keep our boys happy… no more driving 1hr. just to get to a darn zoo that is not even all that big/impressive…
moving is fun, i’m going on my 3rd out-of-state move… have u looked at the CNN Money Best Places to Live lists?? i too am ready for a change. maybe your dh can find a job somewhere other than Wisconsin?? took my dh 3yrs. to find a job, but it’s finally happened!!!
I almost threw up as I was catching up on your posts! Next time put the end result at the beginning, for your moms sanity… for Gods sake!!!!!!! What would I do without the SOUND KNOWLEDGE that you guys are at least within driving range. Perhaps… I should threaten you with the fact that if you move, I shall follow, moving as CLOSE as possible. Hah!!!! That should worry you enough that this idea should NEVER present itself again. Quit freaking me out.
Poor, pitiful, and shaking,
mom
Is housing just pricier on the West Coast, then? I know from my own online browsing that housing in BC is SO much more expensive to live than it is here in the Maritimes; the difference would be laughable if it weren’t so sad!
I do also want to observe, as one whose family once tried to have a backyard skating rink, that apparently some knowledge of land-slopage is involved if one wants to accomplish the thing without disaster. Otherwise you’ll end up with an unexpected indoor pool come the spring thaw, which your three year old will then –um– go downstairs to helpfully try to vacuum up for you. Because that’s what the vaccum is for, right? To clean up big messes!
(my mother nearly fainted when she saw me standing there, ankle-deep in stinky rinkwater with the vacuum choking, chugging and drowning beside me– really, with the number of times I should have been electrocuted as a child, I probably shouldn’t even be allowed to blow dry my hair without supervision)
[…] so dramatic as to upset the balance of life.? (ie, my mom freaking out over mere mention of moving to Wisconsin)? All of this is contrary to my aversion to change, but it is necessary for my […]