a friend and my brother have been sending a few reassurances my way about this move, and i'm really starting to get excited, and a lot less scared, about it. both have assured me that there are plenty of jobs out there, and even some of the service jobs pay fairly well. so even though my rent will go up, we'll have a house with a yard, in neighborhood a lot safer than where we are now, and in a district with decent schools.

let me say some of that again, a HOUSE, with a YARD, in a SAFER neighborhood, and a district with decent schools.

we've been checking out the rentals and house sales over at the atlanta journal-constitution and saxy is just astonished at the size of these places. i'm not surprised so much, but it's going to be interesting living in a big place again. still, a house on a 1 acre lot with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths for only $895? wow! saxy says the cats will get lost in one of these houses. lol

the interesting thing is the differences in what we see as "small" and a "bad neighborhood" and what my brother sees as those things. he could not imagine a 4 bedroom being smaller than his home, but i told him our apartment could fit on the ground floor of a house we grew up in as kids. his place, apparently, is about the same size. then there was the neighborhood discussion:

my brother: we wouldn't be able to get you into a great area.

me: what do you think is a bad neighborhood?

him: oh, well, just not one of the middle class neighborhoods.

me: okay, well, let me tell you where we live and we'll see if our bad neighborhoods match. where we live we have gangs living on the street, and drugs being sold, prostitutes on the corners, and gunfire once a month if not more, and some of that right outside out window.

him: oh no! it won't be that bad!

me: then, sweetie, we're all for it!

i figure after having lived here, we can live anywhere, almost. and i certainly can live in any place he considers a "not so great neighborhood" as long as it "won't be that bad!" and i trust him to find us a halfway decent place since he works in construction. he'll make sure the house is a good deal for what we pay and what we need. he told me to go to the ajc site and do a little dreaming, so i did. that was fun. :)

but the biggest reassurance was for us to not worry about the money. he'll help us cover what we can't, including the uhaul.

so, we're covered, and things are going forward, and it's all going to be good. i'm looking forward to all this now. yep, getting excited! i want to move now. i want the house with all the room now. i want the YARD. this will be good.

i just hope the cats don't get too lost.