Is that not an amazing title? We have a home! A place to hang our snow suits and fall asleep at night; in our own beds! Amazing, eh? I would love to take credit for this and say it’s because of my Jessi luck (horrific things happen and then everything works out for the best)…but I’m not sure I can. At a stretch I think I can say my luck has been passed to Raymond; because his misfortune led to our great fortune. Here’s a little about that…

As many of you know from this blog post, the last time we tried to move into an apartment we were all sick and things went very awry. What you may not know is that my husband had a work trip that night to Stockholm that also went awry. Somehow, his train tickets were reserved in the wrong order so he had to get new ones. In addition to that, partway to Stockholm, he realized his hotel reservation was for the wrong city. This resulted in him not getting any rest until late in the evening and going through his meetings very ill the next day.

Fortunately for all of us, one of his co-workers felt terrible for him and took it upon herself to help in the best way she could. She offered to help him find an apartment. More specifically, she offered to let us tag along when she went to look at an apartment that she thought would better suit our family. That meeting went really well and we are now the happy tenants of a quirky building in a quiet neighborhood.

Thank you Lisa!!

The apartment doesn’t tick all of our boxes, but newly arrived expats can’t be too choosy. Here’s what it doesn’t have:

• Two bedrooms
• Bathtub
• Washer hook up

Here’s what makes it work:

• Clean, functional laundry room with two brand new washers and a new dryer
• Heated air drying room (this room is off the hook crazy and I love it)
• Locked buggy parking for strollers
• First floor entrance with clearance for American size furniture
• High ceilings
• Lots of windows
• Recycling just across the street
• Large indoor assigned storage
• Accepts cats!
• Fun light fixtures
• An owner that we met who acknowledges that we can sign a sublet in his building

As you can see, the pros outweigh the cons. Of course, we will have to buy some sort of portable tub for the boy. He will wreak havoc if showers are his only option. Suggestions anyone?

After spending the entire day unpacking, I have to say that the energy in our new place is amazing. The small one was in an amazing mood all day and I was insanely productive. We almost slept over, but that would have left our cat home alone and that’s just not cool. After very little discussion, we’ve all agreed that effective tomorrow we will fully move over to the new place (cat and all). We had intended to stay in our temporary quarters until things were fully unpacked, but our bodies yearn for comfy beds and frankly, there is just something very cozy about the new place. The decision to move tomorrow was unanimous.

I’m very thankful this apartment came our way. It was the only place we visited after the previous apartment fiasco that our son actually loved. He never wants to leave, which says something for the energy of the space. Thank goodness for amazing new friends who help us find our way 😃

Until next time…