Sweet Granola

In an earlier post, I wrote about the space issue at my house. Now, as every man I've ever known has told me, it's not all about size. It's what you do with what you've got. But I think I've maxed out on what I've got! I feel like I have about 1500 sq. feet worth of stuff in 1000 sq. feet of space. But those aforementioned gentlemen were right, it's not just about size. It's also, of course, location. "Location, location, location." (That's one of those words that sounds less like a word when you repeat it again and again. Location.) But I've rather lost the plot.

Now, I can live pretty comfortably in the amount of space I've got. I've lived in small places before, and they ran the gamut from scary attic in a refurbished crackhouse  (so, maybe the rest of the neighbourhood hadn't quite caught up...) to a charming (read: miniscule) one bedroom, to the amazing 2 bedroom with the bright sunroom apartment that I lived in before my fella and I bought the house we live in now.  What I'm taking forever to get around to here is that I'm not in my "desired area." I'm close. It's about a 20 minute walk to work, depending on how much snow there is. [Insert eye-roll here.]

But I'd rather live in my favourite neighbourhood, if it were possible. Where work is. Where almost all of my friends are. Where there's a real feeling of community. Wolseley. The "Granola Belt" of Winnipeg. See, right now I live in the West End, or as I like to call it, NoWo. (North of Wolseley...abbreviations make everything cooler, my fri.) NoWo has gotten a lot better since C and I moved in 5 or 6 years ago, when house prices were just what a couple of green first-timers like us could afford. And, well, who needs amenities? So overrated. When we moved in my friend D said "Well, it's not without it's share of cars parked on the front lawns..." Smartarse. But, like I said, the 'hood's changed a bit. There are less slumlords renting fall down shacks to total hosers and more young people and families moving in. House prices have really risen. My neighbours are kick-ass and as a huge bonus, my aunt and uncle and my little cousins live right down the street. My poor uncle/personal handyman. Lemme tell you how much he likes having two hundred-year-old houses to work on. (Love you Unkie M!) So there are things I'll really miss when we eventually move. I guess the thing to do is just enjoy this coming year. After all, we'll only live about a 20 minute walk away, depending on how much snow there is.