How is it already June?

Seems like the year just started last week. I have been busy in so many ways these last few months so its hard to tell where to talk about so rather than go back, I will tell you what has happened lately.

School finally ended for my bunch and Fatimah was the last one to finish. The local school she attends had since it opened its doors been a year-round school. What does that mean? It means that your child starts school in July around the beginning of the month and then until June of the following year, they have a schedule of eight weeks in school and three weeks off. Then in June they are off three weeks and they start the next grade . It is great when all your kids are in school that way but since she is my youngest, she is behind the others by five years. So while she was always in school, the others are now on a traditional school year. Our little neighborhood ebbs and flows with the tide of families that move into the area, it has made the decision to go to calendar year. Being one square mile in circumference it holds a good number of families. Many of which are muslim. Many big families have gone through our school and every year we get. "Is this the last one?" They have a few more years with Fatimah and yes this will be the last one!

After 17 years in the same house, we (I guess I) decided that we needed a larger house to bear the weight of this family of mine. Being a ex-realtor I thought that with the market the way it was finding a home would be a snap. Our city has million dollar houses all the way down to houses I wouldn't let my pets sleep in. So how hard can it be to find a house? First, I have a bit of a criteria to make sure that this is the end of moves for me.

Must have at least 6 bedrooms, a four bath house, laundry upstairs on the main level or sleeping level. Stairsways must have a landing (hubbies knees are getting bad), and a formal space for living room and dining as I will try to attempt to have guests after so many years, and stay in the same school district. Finally, a sizable yard over 9000 sq ft. and be at least 3000 sq ft in size. The hubby set a price limit and so my search began. It has been almost three months now and yes you can find those qualifications but the idea of the kids having to move from their school too was a challenge that hit us first. Aieysha broke down when we suggested that we have to go to other schools. And I got the, "that school is for preppy kids", routine so much. I don't care, maybe some preppy would rub off!
We have the ability now to view most any home available for sale on the computer and I began to research the houses that I wanted to see. I arranged for a old colleague to help me see the houses since I no longer had privilege to go on my own.

Houses were definitely designed with men in mind. Women do not design houses that you must go through a bathroom to a room to seat guest and your laundry closet is not right next to the front door. Kitchens are not supposed to be in full eye view of everyone who enters your home. Bathrooms should not be bigger than the secondary bedrooms and a garage is not the place to store my groceries.

With the loan market having thousands of repossessed homes and more failing each day the market is full of houses. But, finding a home for a large family is harder than you think. The builders when they get more expensive think you don't have big families or all your kids are grown so why do you need large rooms for kids and why shouldn't the master bedroom be half the size of the upper floor. Why should your closet not be as big as most bedrooms and all the rooms on the main floor should all be one large area. I mean come on what was I thinking!

We found a few houses that meet this criteria but they are either over 400,000 dollars or they are beat to heck by age or lack of care.

It is now mid June and if we find a house in time before calender year starts we will be lucky. Then we are stuck with Fatimah going back to year round school but only if we can move in before July. Yeah ya think.

Seems hard to believe that just two short years ago I had just arrived in Libya to meet my inlaws for the first time. Looking back I still wish to visit Libya again. But I will probably have to go by myself. The kids had such a miserable time there that they cringe at the word Libya and hubby has really shown no interest in going anytime soon. So for now I watch all my friends here going back for another visit or for some the first time to begin the cycle of marrying off our kids. I wish them all the best on their travels. For now my home is here.