While I have a few more political pieces in the works already, a variety of sources have indicated to me that the next installment of “The Campolos Crazy Move to Cincinnati” is long overdue. So then, without further ado, here’s Part One of the scoop:

While selling our house and moving all our stuff here between Christmas and New Year’s Day didn’t exactly make for a restful holiday season, we have certainly felt a whole lot more comfortable ever since. We’re still a long way from settled, but having Miranda back in our space and Roman in his own room, cooking with a real oven and stove, showering with palpable water pressure, and not having to worry about our noisiness bothering the guy upstairs has made a big difference. Now all we have to figure out is how to buy this old house and renovate it into our home.

The question isn’t whether Ric and Karen (and Donna and Jeff next door) want us to be their neighbors, but rather whether Ric can find a suitable, affordable place for the music studio and artist apartments which have always been located in this space. The abandoned house across the street would be perfect, but its owner seems dead set against selling it to us, let alone at a fair price. I might be able to convince him if he would sit down and talk with me, but so far he won’t do even that.

Unfortunately, Marty and I feel like we can’t wait much longer to establish a permanent home, mainly because we only have a few more years with Miranda before she goes off to college. Our amazingly flexible sixteen-year-old has been great about all this upheaval, but her patience is clearly wearing thin, as evidenced by her steadfast refusal to unpack her boxes or decorate her room until we promise we’re here to stay. Actually, we all feel the same: As much as we truly want to live in community with our friends here on Hemlock Street, we need to secure this house very soon or go ahead and find another.

(I am sorely tempted to roll right into Part Two (which is WAY more exciting), but I’m learning that shorter is better when it comes to blogging. So…more later.

While I have a few more political pieces in the works already, a variety of sources have indicated to me that the next installment of “The Campolos Crazy Move to Cincinnati” is long overdue. So then, without further ado, here’s Part One of the scoop:

While selling our house and moving all our stuff here between Christmas and New Year’s Day didn’t exactly make for a restful holiday season, we have certainly felt a whole lot more comfortable ever since. We’re still a long way from settled, but having Miranda back in our space and Roman in his own room, cooking with a real oven and stove, showering with palpable water pressure, and not having to worry about our noisiness bothering the guy upstairs has made a big difference. Now all we have to figure out is how to buy this old house and renovate it into our home.

The question isn’t whether Ric and Karen (and Donna and Jeff next door) want us to be their neighbors, but rather whether Ric can find a suitable, affordable place for the music studio and artist apartments which have always been located in this space. The abandoned house across the street would be perfect, but its owner seems dead set against selling it to us, let alone at a fair price. I might be able to convince him if he would sit down and talk with me, but so far he won’t do even that.

Unfortunately, Marty and I feel like we can’t wait much longer to establish a permanent home, mainly because we only have a few more years with Miranda before she goes off to college. Our amazingly flexible sixteen-year-old has been great about all this upheaval, but her patience is clearly wearing thin, as evidenced by her steadfast refusal to unpack her boxes or decorate her room until we promise we’re here to stay. Actually, we all feel the same: As much as we truly want to live in community with our friends here on Hemlock Street, we need to secure this house very soon or go ahead and find another.

(I am sorely tempted to roll right into Part Two (which is WAY more exciting), but I’m learning that shorter is better when it comes to blogging. So…more later.