End of Year Update

(So pretend this actually posted NYE, humor me)

This was a big year for Mr. Gaia and me. Which is why things have been so quiet.

In April we found out the economy was hitting Mr. Gaia's company and that the company would be closing its doors in June. Eek!! I hated my job, so I was not opposed to moving (although I love Bug Hill and loved my house), so, with my encouragement, Mr. Gaia applied with another company in Big City. And he got the job starting June 1. So, whew!, no interruption in paycheck for him. Mine was a different matter, but I was only without a paycheck for about 9 weeks.

The cool thing about living in Big City is that there is usable public transportation. So with the purchase of a monthly pass, I can take any bus I want. I work downtown, and am able to park at the park and ride (which means a slightly longer drive than I had in Bug Hill, but not much) and ride the bus to right outside my office. I find that I can knit on the bus fairly easily and I've gotten to know my fellow passengers fairly well. The bad thing is that my commute ends up taking almost an hour, so I usually leave the house at 7am and get home at 6pm. Which is a huge difference from Bug Hill where I worked part time.

We found a nice house that was well within our price range and not too far from shopping and the library. But the economy means that we still own our house in Bug Hill. We took the advice of all the real estate mavens and found a property management company to lease it. I can't believe the amount of rent people are willing to pay, but since it's so hard to qualify for a loan, people are willing to dig deep. We hope our renters will eventually be able to qualify for a mortgage and will buy the house from us - rent to own is not an option in Texas (nor is it a viable option for me). Right now the house isn't costing us anything, but taxes should be interesting when it comes time to file.