The last straw

We came to the conclusion this morning that we need to do something I really don't want to do: move. I really can't describe how much I don't want to do this. There are many things we love about this house, and we've done things like unpack the good china, hang pictures and put up a swingset. But the management company has gone from requiring weeks of nagging to make repairs to refusing to do them entirely. Our landline phone hasn't worked since the beginning of June, and I admit that the lease is a bit vague about whose responsibility the phone lines are (the phone service itself is ours, but the actual wiring in the house itself we feel is the owner's responsibility). But this morning when they refused to fix the broken garbage disposal, which is preventing the sink from draining properly and causing waste water from the dishwasher to back up into the sink when we run it was entirely unacceptable. Leaving aside the issue of the fact that the garbage disposal is an appliance specifically mentioned in the lease as being their responsibility, the ability to have water drain down our kitchen sink is something any reasonable tenant should be able to expect.

Sigh. I don't want to pack up all of our crap again. I really don't want to have to spend money we don't have right before adding another person to the family and a temporary reduction in income. The last thing K's schooling needs is the disruption of moving right before the disruption of a baby comes along. But we can't live in a house where things don't get fixed, and I have a strong feeling that since our lease is up at the end of February and we'll be moving to a month-to-month lease, if we call in a lawyer, we'll find ourselves having to move anyway, but not on our timetable.

Fortunately, we are close to the end of our lease, and I found at least three good-looking listings today. I've actually spent a lot of today reminding myself it's foolish to fall in love with an online house listing, since you can't really tell dimensions from online photos. Actually, I really like two of the listings for very different reasons (the third is essentially identical to our current house, but less stylish, although I'm willing to put up with ugly paneling for $100 less a month). I'm going to try to set up a schedule for us to go through the house systematically and purge and pack everything that's not vital to everyday life (while I will be eternally grateful to B's parents for all of the packing and moving they did during our last move since I didn't have the time to do it myself, it did have the drawback that I didn't get the chance to do some purging that would have been useful).

Argh, argh, argh. Contemplating all of this just makes me so tired. It definitely needs to get done before the baby arrives, since if there's anything worse than trying to move in your third trimester, it's trying to move while recovering from a c-section and breastfeeding a newborn. But that doesn't mean that moving in my third trimester is going to be a picnic either. I'm just hoping this will all coincide with nesting impulses and give me the kick I need to get unpacked promptly.