TheBanyanTree: Our House

[Margaret R. Kramer]

The decision is made.  We’re going to move.  I’ve been in this house 15
years.  It’s a nice house – a split level, three bedrooms, two baths.  It
has cedar siding punched with woodpecker holes and a new roof.

We live on three levels.  The upper level has the loft (a cozy living area
with a fireplace and a patio door to the small upper deck), my office, a
bathroom, and our bedroom.

The middle and main level has a living room with a vaulted ceiling, a HUGE
dining room, and a decent sized kitchen.  But the kitchen is right in the
middle of the house and has no windows.

The lower level which is also a walk out has the family room, a bathroom,
and Ray’s office.  The furnace and hot water heater are tucked into the
crawl space.  Our washer and dryer are actually in a closet.  Open the doors
and you have a small laundry area at your service.

The double garage sits at the back of our small city lot.  It’s full of
leftover junk from our lives and Ray has begun the very tedious process of
going through that junk, reorganizing, saving out garage sale stuff, and
making a throw away pile.

Our small backyard is a delightful forest of tall oak trees and multiple
shade gardens.  The trees shade the house in the summer so the central air
rarely gets used.

Ray built a built large deck just off the house (the lower deck).  It sits
among the oak trees and when I’m relaxing on the deck, I can watch the birds
just feet away at the feeders.

Our house is painted a grayish blue.  It looks like a small cottage from the
front – you can’t really tell it’s a split level until you’re inside.  Ray
made shutters for the front windows that have large red hearts in the
middle.

We sit right in the middle of our cul de sac.  Children play in the street
all the time.  The neighbors are mixed ages – older couples, young couples
with small children, and singles.  It’s a diverse block, too, with Asians,
blacks, and whites are in the neighborhood.  We’re right on the very edge of
the St. Paul city limits, so our neighborhood has a suburban feel.

It’s a safe neighborhood.  A lot of the St. Paul city police officers live
on this side of town.  We have one on our street.  The police chief lives
just a couple blocks away.

There is an elementary school less than a mile away.  There are several
parks within easy driving distance.  It’s not a walking neighborhood,
because there are no public sidewalks, and most of the streets around here
are also cul de sacs.  You kind of end up walking in loops.

Ray has painted all the rooms within the last couple of years.  We have all
new carpeting.  We’re on the verge of needing to do more, but not wanting
to.  Ray and I rattle around this big house and fill it with more and more
stuff.

We never use the living room except for Christmas.  The Christmas tree is
set up in there and we gather around the tree to open our presents.

We don’t use the family room except when the grandchildren come over.  We
set up a play area for them with a table, a desk, and lots of toys.  Their
Sesame Street, Teletubbies, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas videos are
kept in a storage cabinet.  The boys can easily go in and out the big patio
door and we can watch them while they’re in the backyard.

The lower bathroom’s shower stall hasn’t been used in months.

Ray has a 26 mile one way drive to his part-time job (which he loves).  I
have a 32 mile one way drive to a full time (which I hate).  We would like
to move closer to Ray’s job and it will also be closer to mine.  A smaller
and less expensive house or townhouse or condo will give me the flexibility
to take a job that doesn’t pay as much as I make now but will enjoy more.
Plus, most of the jobs are in the western metro, not in the eastern metro
where we live now.

It’s time to move.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at earthlink.net

http://www.polarispublications.com
Be a star!

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amid the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.
~Joseph Addison