Four years

Our 1946 bungalow

Exactly four years ago we moved into this house. It's hard to believe it's been so long! I sometimes miss the view we had in our condo on 5th Avenue: an unobstructed view of downtown & the North Shore Mountains. However, I don't miss the smells of the neighbours' cooking in the hall & the subtle odour of cigarette smoke that filtered through the building, or the sounds of our neighbours arguing. The street we live on now is busier than where we lived before, but I like this part of the neighbourhood better. & a 40 square foot deck doesn't even compare to having a yard in a full city lot.

I think now that Sprout is a bit older, we're going to really start taking advantage of the yard we have. I've been thinking about getting or making some play structures for Sprout or maybe finding a little picnic table on Craigslist. I hate having 70% of our yard paved, especially since it's so unnecessary: we don't even have a car to park on it. Hopefully Sprout will make use of all the pavement to ride around this year.

Even though it's great to have a house, I still get what boat owners refer to as 'two foot-itis' & I want a better one. I'm not really after a bigger house though, as the ~1100 square feet that we have is definitely enough. My wish list includes things like more than two closets in the entire place, a second bathroom, a kitchen less than 43 years old, perhaps a few less things that a home inspector would call 'marginal renovations'. That's not so much to ask, is it? Sadly, though, to find a slightly newer house that fits the bill in our neighbourhood, we'd be looking in the $800,000-$1,000,000 range. I suspect we couldn't sell this one for that much, so I think for now I'm going to have to live with my 1969 kitchen, my crooked toilet & my wonky wood panelling. (I know, I know: first world problems, right?)