New chapter?

I found access to the account. Last time I wrote I tried to update my account to be associated with my new email address and it the process did something where I locked myself out. It took some time, but I got back in.

Since I last wrote K and I have been trying to decide if we should move closer to where I work. Our oldest two at home are going to be going to that high school, therefore they will be riding into work with me everyday. The drive is about 30 minutes each way. The gas prices aren't going down anytime soon. K goes to grad classes over there - 45 minutes each way. So we are spending a whole lot of time in the car, spending a lot of cash on gas, and not close to anything where we are now.

We, however, own our home here. Well, we are making payments to the mortgage company. Once we move, we can try to sell, but we can't carry two payments, so if we make the move, we jump and have to hope we can sell fast.

We have found two homes we like. One is within walking distance of the school. The other is about a 10 minute drive, but is 800 sq. feet bigger, and $300 a month less expensive. The bigger, less expensive house, is actually in a very good neighborhood, but when K did a search on the property, the owners owe $9000 in taxes and when I did a search on the company trying to rent it - they aren't the same people and the company Home Advocate Trustees, seems to be slightly shady. I don't want to move the family into a home we may get pushed out of.

The smaller, more expensive home, is in a great location, but the layout is, well, odd. We can get a two year lease on the smaller home, so it would see us through any fall out from the house here, but I can't seem to wrap my head around the layout.

We need to make a decision soon. They would like us to move in July 1. We have to decide.