File Under: Wishing (cf. Careful With That)

I have found, more and more as time goes by, that when there's something I really want, it does tend to show up, often sooner rather than later.

I'm talking about simple but meaningful things, sometimes involving personal interactions and general lifeyness, and sometimes flatly material items.

This computer right here, and the accouterments it took to get it up and running, are a good example.

Living in the two apartments has been a really good thing for all of us; we can be as close as we want, but with enough distance to give the girls the space they needed, especially at first.

When the girls aren't around, we've tended to spend almost all our time down at Bob's, and I had started to really covet a more shared space. I wanted to be able to spend time not only doing things together, but also just being together, even when we were involved in our own activities.

One really effective way of making that happen would be to have a second computer down here. It's not that I wasn't welcome down here, but we would both have things to do on the computers in the evening, and I would either be waiting for him or keeping him from his own computer. But I didn't want to just go upstairs and do my own thing.

Then all of a sudden someone Bob used to know reconnected with him on Facebook, and after a couple of exchanges he mentioned that he had several computers and wondered if we knew anyone who might be able to put one to good use.

Oh, and Dad was planning a trip down here a few weeks later.

And here we are.

Even longer than I'd wanted another computer, I had deeply, cravenly coveted a flatscreen monitor. I knew prices would be coming down over time, but I also knew that it wasn't something I would be spending money on, certainly not until I actually needed a monitor, and probably not even then.

And then this computer showed up and we needed a monitor, and Gerarda suggested Craigslist, and there was a flatscreen 15 minutes out of town, together with the exact chair I would be needing, for a price that even I could see my way to paying. (I trust the wireless mouse & keyboard issue will sort itself out eventually, but I'm willing to be patient; the computer itself works and that's plenty to keep me happy for a while.)

As the whole computer situation was arranging itself to my satisfaction, I was also becoming aware that, A) The girls have become comfortable spending time all together when we do, and with me spending a bit of time downstairs when they're home, and B) I was still feeling like I had to divide my time and pay very close attention to who was where and when and for how long and how everyone feels about it and are the girls invading Bob's space and, and, and.

What I really really wanted was a living room. Someplace that wasn't one person's territory, but where Julia could do a puzzle and Robin could read a book or chat with a friend and Bob could watch Star Trek online and I could read Shakesville, without anyone having to be Visiting someone else.

I assumed we'd get a single house eventually, but who knew when, and besides I love my little neighborhood and really didn't want to leave it and start over.

You see where this is going, don't you?

When I got home from work today, Bob mentioned that the Korean family was moving out of the house two doors down.

When I went to the corner store, the door of the house was open and I stopped to ask them if it was going to be available to rent. She thought it would be. It's three bedrooms and she even told me how much they pay; it's about $35 more than we're currently paying for each of the apartments.

The neighbor across the street came out and told me where the owner lives, and I walked over but there was nobody there. Then he turned up at the house and I went in and spoke with him (and got a quick look at the place - it's the mirror image of the house between it and ours, which I have been in).

He's got some work to do on it while it's empty, and I assured him we're in no hurry. It shouldn't be difficult for our landlady to re-rent these apartments if we do move, but I don't want to leave her too suddenly either.

So, who knows. These things are decided solely by word of mouth, and the guy may already have someone lined up for the place, or someone else may come along who he knows or has some connection to, and we may come home one day and see someone moving in. But he knows we're interested and now we'll just wait and see what comes of it.