What We Did Wednesday- Homes, Swings & Slides

There has been a lot of talk going on in our house.

When you are military you have a couple of options when it comes to housing.

First, you can take military housing if/when it's available.

Second, you can find a home to rent or purchase.

Either way the military either provides the house or provides you with a stipend to use to help pay for your rent/mortgage utilities.

The benefit of living on base housing is that your utilities are covered as part of the housing, thus the disadvantage of living off base is that you have to cover those utilities yourself.

In our situation our allowance covers our rent.

Thus we pay the $250-350 in utilities each month (water, trash/sewer, and electric...oh the variable electric bill).

Did you know that July was the hottest across the country in something like the past 1400 months!

Despite having our AC set to 80º downstairs and 78º upstairs the electric bill was still more than I'd like to ever pay, but definitely less than I assume my neighbors pay!

Not many people will give up their cool AC settings.

Anyways with that in mind Bud and I recently started to reconsider trying to get base housing.

Here is how it started.

We moved here July 2011.

The housing list was supposed to be 6 months, so we got a short-term lease on an apartment.

As the 6 months came to an end on our lease we discovered they wait list for base housing had grown.

Bud was about to leave for nearly 3 months of school and staying in the apartment wasn't his idea of taking care of me.

*Remember I had a brand new baby and 2 dogs who needed to be walked 2x a day since we didn't have a yard*

So we started the search and finally settled on the house we are currently living in.

The day we moved into our home we got a call from the base housing people telling us that the list had gone up to 12-24 months and asking if we wanted to stay on it.

We declined.

Moved in and got settled.

Here it is nearly 1 year later and the idea that we could be saving an upwards of $350 a month combined with the fact that it doesn't appear there are any other stay-at-home moms in this neighborhood to befriend or a park to steal away to each afternoon is weighing heavy on our hearts.

Technically we still have another year on our lease.

Yet, we know that 2x over the past year the homeowner has tried to convince us to buy this house.

We are not interested, but we are willing to allow him to show the house and try to sell it if it means we can get out of our lease early.

The base housing list is back down to 6 months.  

So if all worked out we could get out of here and into the base housing by January.

The neighborhood we like has a clubhouse, playgrounds (a great place to meet other moms), a pool, and trails for walking. 

So we are on the list and we are waiting.

If the owner of this house decides he isn't up for selling than our only other option is to hope the property manager can find someone else to rent it, also releasing us from our contract.

So Saturday we drove around the different military neighborhoods we were considering.

We made mental notes of the pros and cons of each.

And since poor Bitsy didn't have much to gain from our driving around we decided we should stop and play in between neighborhoods.

So to the park we went.

Bitsy had her 1st experience in a real swing!

I think this made up for staring out the back window of the vehicle.

I mean seriously, she's positively thrilled!

I decided I needed a swing too.

Something about swinging brings out the inner child and releases stress.

Plus holding an adorable happy baby helps!

Daddy had her next!

But swinging wasn't all they did.

They also opted for the slides!

She seemed moderately entertained.

We were right by the Pope Army Airfield so we got to see a few planes coming and going.

Bitsy heard them and like with any loud noise she tried to compete...

"AAAAAAHHHHH," she yells!

Finally we headed over to the grass.

See our yard is horrible.

The property manager and the home owner don't put anything into the yard so we are only required to mow and that's all we can afford to do.

Grass struggles to grow in our neighborhood, it must be the soil.

Without a proper yard, Bitsy never gets to play in it.

Oh, that and the fact that we have a gazillion ants!

 This was Bitsy's reaction.

"WHAT. IS. THIS"?

Honestly, she didn't want anything to do with the grass.

Oh, well I guess it'll take some time.

But playing with Daddy's hat, that's a whole other story.

Seeing these two together melts my heart.

I always pictured my hubby as an awesome Dad.

Now that Bitsy is more mobile and interactive they are both thriving with each other!

And I love it.

After the park we headed to the 2nd neighborhood.

On the way home DQ Blizzards and fries for us and a nap for Bitsy.

It wasn't an super eventful day, but it helped us decide where we should apply to live.

I know...3 addresses in one state.

Honestly, we are leaving this in God's hands.

If he thinks we should move he will have to open all the right doors at all the right moments!

We can't afford to pay for 2 places at once.

Any prayers from you all would be greatly appreciated.

Either that we move or that God grants us the peace to stay where we are and that he starts to show us people to be friends with.

With 2 more years here...it's time we make more friends and settle in.

I hope you all have a Blessed Wednesday!