A New Beginning - life is about to get VERY interesting

So many of you may or may not know (or guessed) that I have been job searching since I graduate in May. Wanting to stay local near my family, I applied to over 55 jobs regionally. I did applied for jobs in the Chicago area and even had an offer (which I turned down). Finally after all the resume and coverletter revisions, HR applications, phone interviews, and 3 on-campus interviews, I have been offered and accepted a wonderful position at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA as their Asst. Director of Residence Life for Staff Recruitment and Development. Read about my journey on this blog posting, http://thesabloggers.org/2010/11/blind-date/ . This is very exciting and life-changing for us, since it will require us to move OFF-CAMPUS. More than that, it's a whole culture swift for me since I've been living on campus since 1992 (that's right for 18 years). Where will all my midnight knocks come from? Where's my instant community? All will be gone. But this is good for our family. Karl immediately started packing our place and the stress of finding a new place began.

After letting my current work and staff that I was leaving (I'm starting the new job Jan. 6th), Karl and I started the stressful process of deciding where to live. We went up to N. Philly where one of my new colleagues lives. Had a wonderful tour up there. Really loved the area but it would be a hike for Karl everyday (roughly one hour). Then we contacted some real estate agents and went neighborhood shopping with the kids in the car (bad choice). They struggled being in the car for so long just driving up and down streets in N. Wilmington. But we started getting ideas of where we would want to live.

Meanwhile, we were working on figuring out how to pre-approved/qualified. As the following week came, we discovered we can't get pre-approved right now due to our finances. So the next thing we needed to figure out renting. Quickly, we decided that we rather rent in Newark, DE where we currently are than a new area in N. Wilmington. Number 1 reason: kids. Really...to try to find daycare in Nov. for both kids in Jan is almost impossible. Every place we called wouldn't take both of them due to space and potty training (Luke is still only 2 years old). With Carlita starting kindergarten in the fall, I wanted to get into a good school district but really there's already going to be a huge change moving into an apartment after being in the halls. Plus finding babysitters will be hard in a new area. Staying in Newark allows us to use the college students and my staff as needed. We can drop them off or get sitters to our place in a snap. Number #2 reason: Community needs. I need my local community support. To try to establish new friendships, systems of operations for the family (i.e. grocery shopping), and learn a new area while I'm learning a new job will be an overload. Staying in Newark will allow us to be close to all our friends, the university, and my students. This will also be essential if in case Karl or I couldn't get to one of the kids in town of emergencies or if we're running late. One of my staff or Samanta can go get them.

So we decided to rent locally - close enough to the university so students can come babysit and Karl can get to the kids in time since he works right in town. I would be the one traveling like crazy (1 hour plus each way f I take the train in/out everyday) but I'm okay with that.

So off apartment hunting we went. We wanted to stay over $1000 in order to maximize our monthly savings for a house (or to reduce our debt). But as we discovered, apartments won't be big enough for us and the quality ...well they were less to be desirable. So we started looking at townhouses. Much better for space and the type of communal living we were looking for but it did up our budget.

Then on a Thursday I decided to post an ad on the university classifieds explaining we were looking for housing. Next thing I know I got a response from a professor I know through pilates class, explaining she was going on sabbatical in the spring and looking for someone to take care of her home. So off we went to see her home, only 4 miles from campus, right over the PA border. And we had a lease all drawn up and signed!!!! It's a great house with land and two cats to take care of. It's really the most perfect situation. We're only renting for 6 months which is what we wanted - we want to save up enough money to reduce our debt and start looking for a new home starting in March. If we can have it purchased by June/July, that would be great.

alot!).

Thank you everyone who has supported us through this endeavor. We really will need you all for this change to be successful.