You asked -- I'm delivering....

So, it seems some of my faithful out there want to hear more about "Project Country Living". Here you are:

Background Items you need to know --

1) I'm super-close to my family, (God love them, even if we are a bunch of dysfunctional misfits, we love each other!). My grandparents have been a huge part of my life, as obviously my mother has. Of course, after the loss of my brother, we became even more tightly knit. My grandparents have always wanted me to move closer to home, as have I, because I know they won't be around forever.

2) We are currently squeezed into a tiny house (think 1100 sq feet), with literally no back or front yards. Where we live, a nice 3-bedroom would cost around $140, 000 to $150, 000 (this is still in a subdivision with no yard space), and the type of house we'd really like would be upwards of $200,000. (Read -- I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E).

3) My MIL (mommy-in-law) watches the kiddo. However, she has told us that she will not be able to watch 2, both because she thinks it would be too much, and her and Daddy G would like to travel once he retires in the next year. (This means we will not be able to have another baby until the Muffin is in school, because there's no way we could afford daycare for two.)

4) BabyDaddy is a country-boy at heart. He's a huntin'/4-wheelin'/fishin' and campin' kind of man. (I tell him if he works on his tan a bit, takes some 'roids, and agrees to wear flannel, we could put him on Brawny Paper Towels). His dream is to have a farm where he do his country-boy thang.

5) I have now lived "in the city" for 7 years. This means I am used to being able to dash out to the Wal-Mart (pretty much across the street) when I need something, and having pretty much any store I need within 5 minutes. For anything else we need, there's a major city 20 minutes away, and two more even larger cities, each within an hour. Not so much gonna have that if we move to the country. The nearest Wal-Mart is 20 minutes away (the town is comparable to where we live now), and the nearest "bigger" city is an hour. Needless to say, there will be no "five minute runs" to Wal-Mart anymore. (Obviously, this is of more concern to me than BD).

6) I'll have to find a new babysitter, because my mom still works, (but I was going to have to find one anyway if we wanted another bebe').

7) BabyDaddy is a career Fireman. You're not going to find many paid FD's in the country. He says he could drive to the department he's currently at from our new digs (2 hrs--but he only works 2 days per week) until he can get on at a closer department. There is a smaller FD 20 minutes away, and then two departments (one comparable to here, and one much larger), one of which is 40 minutes away, the other an hour.

The Potential Scenario -- We would sell our house, (which we were planning to do soon anyway), and put whatever money we made in the bank. We would move into my mom's house, and if we loved it there, we would take the money and use it toward building our new house. If we hated it, we make it the down payment on a house back up here.

Summary -- The Ups: We could afford pretty much our "dream" house (within reason of course), we would be near my family again, we would have land to play on, and we could afford to have another baby soon. The Downs: We wouldn't have the conveniences of living "in town", we would have to find a new babysitter, I would worry about BD until he could be closer, I would miss my friends, and we would now be further away from BD's family.


There's my story -- What would you do??