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I’m addicted to the Home & Garden Network. I watch more than just the decorating shows… my favorites are really those shows where other people are looking to buy a home, and I get to peek in at what homes look like in different cities, and how much they cost. In some places the house prices are ridiculously low – at least compared to where I live.
So, I fantasize about moving to those places – to owning a ‘dream’ home with a much smaller mortgage than we currently are straddled with.
I think if I picked a place and told AMP that I wanted to move there, and could find us jobs, he’d do it. In a heartbeat. Well, as long as it was finacially feasible, after all I’m married to an accountant.
I, on the other hand, prefer to fantasize. Because, push come to shove it would take a whole hell of a lot to make me move… like the ability to move my entire family (or at least the members I like), definitely my nieces, and my best friends. Or, in lieu of that, to own a private jet that would cost me nothing to travel back and forth at a moment’s notice.
As much as my family may drive me crazy, I could not imagine living far away from them. I like how I can just ‘drop by’ and have lunch with one of my aunts. I love the afternoons spent at my parents place. I love coffee dates with cousins. Or girl’s nights with friends I’ve known since I was 8.
I don’t like change. I’m not good at meeting new people and making new friends – hence why my strongest friendships are with people I’ve known forever.
Which means my options are:
a) Convince all my family to move with me to wherever I decide
b) Find someone to gift me a private jet, plus pay all related costs
c) Stay here, and just live vicariously through my shows
I think I’m going to be here a while…
This post inspired by Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop: What would it take for you to pick up and move? Go visit and read some amazing posts. :)
The Undomestic Housewife 
I love those shows too. And my husband is always talking about moving to some other place where housing is SUPER cheap. It’s insane where I live to buy a house.
But it would probably take something like a dream job to make me move
Visiting from Mama Kat’s
Yea, dream job – or as I tell AMP, I’d be a little more willing to move if it meant I no longer had to work and we could start having kids.
I LOVE HGTV! I live vicariously through House Hunter’s International.
Visiting from Mama Kat’s…
I know! There was one episode of a house in Bali — It was gorgeous, and cheap.. And I wanted to jump on a plane to there right that second.
I’ve moved a lot, primarily for new jobs. I haven’t lived near my family in over a decade.
I wish there was a way that my two adult daughters and their families could move near me now…I miss them.
Aww.. Maybe one day you guys can live closer together. I only live close to one side of the family.. the other side (my dad’s) lives across the ocean and it’s hard because we don’t ever really get to see them.
Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure there’s a charity out there that funds private jets for individuals who can’t manage A and don’t want to content themselves with C.
Haha.. Maybe… I kinda hope not, with all the more important things people need – like food and shelter and protection.
It is nice to fantasize about living in all of those places on the decorating shows but it is hard to move away from your family and change.
Yea. I don’t know how my dad did it – he moved away from all his family to marry my mom – they are all on a whole different continent. We actually moved back there for a couple years when I was 6, but I got so homesick for my mom’s side of the family that I literally made myself sick and we moved back.
I’ll be living through them vicariously, too. I’m such a creature of habit. I think we’re here to stay.
Me too.. living vicariously it is.
That’s the hardest thing about moving – the lack of family, close friends, the “safety net.” I would give my eye teeth to call up my sister or a friend to go out to lunch or even run to Wally World.
Aww.. yea, I couldn’t imagine that. I’m over at my parent’s for lunch 3x a week.. I couldn’t imagine seeing them only for a weekend every 4 months like we do with AMP’s family.
Thanks for checking out my blog.
I’m a huge fan of the Home & Garden Network as well as the DIY Network and I think, in part, that’s what makes me want to move so badly. For now, however, I’m like you. Living vicariously through these shows.
Living vicariously is easier sometimes.. and cheaper.
I love to watch those shows too. I don’t always agree with the choices they make.
Dreaming is always fun, even if unlikely! :) I’m your newest follower!
Aw.. thanks Marvi! Welcome!
Me too! AMP laughs at me when I start `arguing` with the TV about how they have no idea what they are doing.
I live outside of NYC so homes are stupid expensive here too. Thanks for stopping by my blog! As you know, I’m not moving ever, so I’m stuck w/you. At least we can live vicariously thru our shows and meet far away new moms via blogging/social media, right?
Exactly.. I wish house prices were the same everywhere – and by that I mean cheap..
Holy similar to me!!! If I would move..I have a whole laundry list of “have to haves”. So I’m right there with ya…vicariously living! THanks for stopping by from Mama Kat’s.
Glad I am not alone on this one. :)
I get what you mean about fantasizing through TV. I do it all the time. I love those home buying shows, but then I realize that I could never get out of my mortgage right now. *sigh*
Mortgages suck. The only thing that tempts me about moving is cutting my mortgage down by a substantial amount. Maybe then we could pay down debt and AMP would not be able to use that as an excuse to put off having kids.
I’m looking at that house in your picture and thinking, “Who wouldn’t want to live there?” It’s gorgeous! And really expensive-looking! Well, hopefully you’ll get to either convince your friends and family to move with you or find someone to give you a private jet, or much better, maybe you’ll have both. But there’s nothing wrong with living vicariously, too.
Thanks for dropping by my blog! :)
I know! It is a gorgeous house.. wish I could find one like that in my price range.. then I might move regardless of my list.
I am with you on this. I love those shows too and constantly fantasize about moving into a huge house in Florida. But, I definitely need to take my family with because there’s no way I can be away from them.
Yes! I saw the homes in Florida. So ridiculous. Maybe I should work more on the family about moving, haha.
I LOVE The HGTV dream homes, but I agree, I couldn’t live far from family. I did that for 8 years, and now that I have my kids, I couldn’t take their grandparents living right down the road from them!
Yea, that is my other thing. Moving might be able to get us out of debt and on our way to having a child… but then I could not imagine not having family nearby to watch my children grow.. and to be a daily part of their lives. It is a catch-22 situation.
I love these shows as well. Mr L is always talking about moving, we did move he hated it and wanted to come back home. He is you, he loves having family so close and being able to drop in. I am not so like that. I like it but my sister is the furthest away I would love to live near here and would move today if I could. He would not so I don’t even mention it to be honest. So I am stuck here in this town that has been home forever and a day! One day I shall get him out though one day xx
Maybe one day you and your sister will live closer together.
AMP is the opposite – he moved 4 hours away from his family when he was just 20. Though he sometimes talks about moving closer to them, but there is no way I would move there.. so we cannot seem to agree on the whole moving thing. Which is fine, because I am so good with staying put for now. I hate moving.
I think everyone has those dreams… I certainly do! Great post! Stopping by from Mama Kat’s!
Thank you!
Beautiful house, I’ll take one of those too please!
:) It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?
I vote for B! And while on that fantasy route, include paying for someone to clean said large dream house. lol
I used to love HGTV and spent far too long watching it. But, we dumped the bulk of our cable a couple months ago (saving us many pretty pennies every month) in favor of less cable plus Netflix and HGTV was one of the cable sacrifices. Since we made the dump they’ve added back Syfy and Bravo, so I’m holding out they’ll eventually add back in that delightful network that airs House Hunters! :>
Oooh.. totally didn’t think about the maid, which is funny, because usually my first reaction to giant houses is “who’s going to clean that?”
Hope you get HGTV back… it’s a great channel. :)
I love those shows. When my husband lived in Cleveland Heights, we would walk the neighborhoods on the weekends and check out open houses. (We would also critique the landscaping everywhere, and talk about what WE would do differently).
The toughest part of my move has been leaving my family – I talked to my Mom daily, and after our first month’s phone bill we had to switch to Skype! It’s hard not being able to pop down to my parents and brother and sister’s house when we want…and my Mom can’t rescue me if I’m feeling poorly.
I can’t get my husband to randomly walk into open houses with me.. though he’s the only one who is a fan of the idea of moving – but it has to be somewhere farther away and cheaper.. so no gazing into our neighbor’s houses.
That sucks being far away from your mom – thank goodness for things like Skype, which makes it easier to stay in touch.
I watched that show a couple times. I’m glad we found the house we did that we can afford (all paid off) and is perfect for us with lots of space in a decent neighborhood. I wasn’t even envious of the homes they showed. Being close to family is nice. It sounds like you have a good thing too! I was glad we lived near my parents–it made it much easier to check in on them.
Glad you found your perfect house. :)
This is precisely why I laugh when my husband talks about moving somewhere warm. It’s a nice dream, but I’m not actually leaving my sister.