running through my head

Why is it that thoughts of moving enter my head when I'm pregnant? As the rain continues to descend on this already soggy city, I find myself wishing for the winters I used to have--cold, snowy winters with crisp, frosty air. Toronto winters. Instead I slog through this wet muck for 8 or so months of the year.

Sigh. I know we'll be in this apartment for a few years yet, and I'm fine with that because I'm fairly sure the four (!) of us will fit comfortably in it, even with the 2 little ones sharing a room. But doesn't everyone want to own a house at some point? With the cost of real estate here, it's not really a possibility for us unless we move an hour or so east. And if we move that far away from downtown (where Tomek works), we might as well just keep on moving east another 3 hours to the interior of the province. Voila. A dry climate. Cold, crisp winter days. Very little rain. A huge lake. Hills to climb. Mountains to ride. My parents. Relatively affordable housing. Less "city" atmosphere. Probably cleaner air. 4 months of winter, not 8. And hot summers. Tomek often mentions he'd like to live somewhere warmer. But I'm not willing to live in the States ever again, (no offense) and anywhere else would just be too far away from family, and take a lot of getting used to.

Work is the main factor that's holding us back from seriously considering moving to the interior. Tomek wouldn't be able to be in the same line of work he's in now, because they don't have a lot of high-rises out there. As for me, I'd like a career that at least somewhat lets me use what I studied in college. But at this point I think I'd have to brush up on the ol' skillz somewhat.

On a tangent, Tomek needs to get out of his line of work in less than a few years. Case in point. :( It's not always like that, but his job and the stress get to him way too much and it worries me. Not to mention it makes him miserable. He works with morons and unco-operative people in a filthy environment under stressful situations: trying to organize and manage the installation of all these systems in new buildings, working with and around other trades and training his grunts at the same time. He's so gifted with languages I'd really like to see him get into some kind of translation. He listens to a lot of podcasts, I wonder if there is an angle in there somewhere. He knows Polish and Spain-Spanish and a bit of French, Mandarin, Russian and Italian... if he could get into some lucrative translation that he'd enjoy, and keep the work he does now for the occasional side job, I think he'd be a lot happier.

Time for a nap