November 7, 2024
I haven't been updating much lately. Partially, because I've been playing Grundo's Cafe in my free time. I like it way more than retail Neopets. There's none of that new ugly art, botted shops, microtransactions or slogged out plots. It's like the old 2000s Neopets. Even the new stuff the devs come up with seem like it could have been in the original game back in the day.
Anyway, moving on to non-internet related activities. Unfortunately, 2024 has been tough for my family. My father died in March and there have been a few other things that have happened since that have hit harder than they should have. Losing a parent has been quite the multiplier. I have a blog post half-written about it that I'll post at some point.
I have lived over 1,000 miles away from my family for the last 15+ years and for the first time, I've had this weird sick feeling in my stomach about being so far away. It feels wrong. I've been casually looking at houses but the task of moving cross country just feels so overwhelming that it hasn't gone beyond that.
A couple weeks ago I made the pilgrimage to my hometown to attend a baby shower. While I was there, I mentioned a house that I had found to my mom. To give some context, this house is not livable and needs tons of work but it's a 3,000 sq ft house from the 1800s on 5 acres of land and its absolutely beautiful. I showed her the listing expecting her to humor me by flipping through the pictures but immediately forget about it. I was pleasantly surprised when she suggested we look at the house while I was home. My mom was able to get in touch with a realtor through a friend and she agreed to show us the house the next day.
The pictures in the listing did not lie. This house is in rough shape, half the rooms have no drywall, there's no kitchen, parts of the house have small holes to the outside, the basement is dirt. Walking through it was kind of like a urbex adventure. BUT it has a re-built fireplace in almost every room, a classic arch above the stairs, giant windows, a great view of the Berkshires, and most importantly, giant room for me to put all my kawaii shit. Despite being abandoned for a few years, it also has a newer 4 car garage.
Last week, my mom walked through it with a contractor and got an estimate for the work needed. It's a pretty big chunk of change and would take 8-12 months to complete everything but I'd get to design the kitchen, bathrooms, pick out all the finishes. Basically, like a new house in the shell of an old Paul Revere-ass house.
It's a huge commitment, but my husband is on board. We've lived in the downtown area of a major city for over 5 years and we both want a change. Admittedly, this blog is pre-mature, I have a few things that I'm waiting on before we can make the final decision. It could very well not happen. But for now, I'm going to enjoy being excited and adding to my fantasy home Pinterest board.