This has been the longest year ever. We chose to sell this property because we had a kitchen pipe burst on December 23, and it was going to require pulling out a whole wall of cabinets. Since the house we live in was a rental property before we bought it, those cabinets were pretty beat up, and I was concerned we would be left with no kitchen if we didn't make a plan before the repair was made.
We never set out to be landlords , it was just a bad time to sell when we bought a house together, and I've been lucky with good, long term tenants. But it was a constant source or stress, worrying that it would need a major repair. Selling the rental took much longer than expected for a litany of reasons. All the extra bills kept us stuck at home pinching pennies. Finally, we can get back to get back to living life again.... Except we will keep being frugal, because we're going to do the house selling thing all over again when we move to Alton.
We went to Alton again this past weekend to explore more neighborhoods, events, and amenities. First stop was the Farmers & Artisan Market, where we would love to be vendors next year! It's right on the riverfront and has a great mix of vendors.
Next we drove around looking at a couple houses that looked promising, not because we can actually buy yet, but because we wanted to get a feel for different areas of town. We stopped at the Milton Schoolhouse to explore. That is a super cool space and I could see Lilly and I basically living at Maeva's Coffee.
For lunch we stopped at Morrison's Irish Pub. I know we should try lots of local restaurants, because Alton is full of them, but it will be tempting to come back to Morrison's every time. The food is excellent, and Francis said he could see this being our regular pub when Lilly is an adult. Hopefully they stick around for several more decades!
Last stop: Alton Square Mall! Lilly wanted to check out the library to make sure it's up to her standards. She found many of her favorites, and I had to request several from our local library just to get her out of there. They have done a nice job of keeping that mall useful even though it's mostly vacant. It does have a few stores and restaurants, as well and a cinema and the library. The empty space has been covered up and serves as a kind of history exhibit for the area. I wish I'd thought to take pictures!
Can't wait to explore more of Alton and the Riverbend area this year! We've started our vision board for our future house and put it on the wall where we can add to it every time we complain about something our house is missing. Maybe I'll share that in another post!
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