Moving.... again....

We have been looking to move from our TINY apartment for about a year, but not knowing what country to look in was a huge obsticle in our search! Well, we decided with the economy the way that it is and how good Pete's company is doing here that we should count our blessings and stay put in Finland for a bit longer. We are really doing good here and we know that we are fortunate and we do not take that lightly. So we decided to look in Finland. We found a place and went for it. There are different ways to do it here and I am not going to go into the loan details, but we are responsible for the inside of our new townhouse and the company is responsible for the 'common' areas of all of the townhouses. Well we found a great location and great townhouses that were available. We liked it but were unsure about the schools. Once we got that settled we decided to go for it. Well good news and bad news. Good news.... they had ONE unit left! They had several the first time we looked! Bad news.... BAD condition. But we fell in love with the floor plan and the location so we went for it.

When I say BAD condition I mean awful really really awful. They had a dog who liked to eat walls. Yes, walls. And floors. I wonder if they ever fed that thing. We had to hire a carpenter to rebuild some of the walls and fix the floor so we could put down laminate. We have fixed and painted every single wall in this place. I spent 25 hours over the weekend scrubbing on my hands and knees the tile floor in the bathrooms, sauna and utility room. Gross doesn't even come close to the condition. Pete had to get some industrial grout cleaner to turn our black grout light grey. We are not going to even try to save the sauna. It is coming out and the carpenter is coming back to put in a new one. But somehow (because of Pete's friend and carpenter) we are ahead of schedule and should be good for our move on February 20th.

S had testing today and some more tomorrow to be considered for a bilingual school. It is a public school, but the main language of instruction is English. I am keeping my fingers crossed for her and I know she did her absolute best! She is so shy, but she was so brave today and did everything they asked! She was really fantastic. If they don't want her, they don't deserve her is how I see it! If she doesn't get a spot at this school she will go to the mainstream Finnish school and I will homeschool her in English, which is what we have been doing. E is on a waiting list for an English daycare near the school S is testing for. They are full so we will see. Her current daycare has said that she could stay there too, which is a huge relief. They are in a different county than we will be living in, so we were so surprised they offered that to us! But so happy because we have really gown to love this daycare and the teachers are fantatic and they know E and her personality and her allergies and asthma. They work with us and they really care for the kids.

So things are moving along and we hope to be finished, no we will be finished by the time Nana and Aunties come to visit! YAH for a visit! I cannot wait!!