i went back to ohio

We are coming back to Ohio. Or Northern Kentucky. Did I say Northern Kentucky? I don't know if I'm ready to admit that yet. We have looked online at a couple houses. We are in the process of wrapping our heads around moving back to the States again. We haven't done anything officially at this point, but we have started kicking at the dirt.



A few of things we would like to consider:

-School districts. We've targeted a handful around the Cincinnati area but ultimately we won't decide until we land jobs. Jake also wants to be able to ride his bike to school. We'll have to see about that one, but it's an important footnote.


-Commute time. We want to live within reasonable commute distance from work and schools. In a midsized city like Cincinnati we don't always have a lot of options for public transportation or perhaps I should say effective options. You basically have to live and work on or near a trunk bus line to make it viable. If you have to transfer - good luck getting to work on time. We have been a little spoiled here in Stockholm. Because of low house prices in Cincinnati there are communities we can consider to buy in but because of traffic we have taken them off the board for the most part.


-Greener. We ain't all tree-huggy, but I'd sure like us to consider an efficient home as far as utilities go. Efficient appliances, efficient house. There are seriously efficient wood burning stoves from Scandinavia that I'd like to install in our home and it would work best in a ranch. Not the craziest about ranches but the right one might just suit us. Sure would do well with extra insulation up in that crawl space. Depends on the overall package though.

(Psst...tree hugger tip - reuse your plastic handle bags when shopping. Even though the stores hand them out like candy you don't have to take them. They don't break down in the landfill. Mormor taught us to keep them in the back of our car.)


-Room to breath. Like I mentioned before, we are hoping to stay put for a while. We have two boys who love sharing a room now but that may change over time and each may need his own space. It'd also be ideal to have an additional guest room or office for overnight guests. As well it'd be nice if we had space to host family (a big 'un) occasionally or the neighborhood kids or parents' group or church or whoever. It doesn't have to be a huge house even though the market currently allows us to get more for our money. We just want to get a smart house, for us.

Tall order? We'll see. We look forward to returning.

Various people on this side have asked what part of the US we are moving back to. It has got me to thinking. In some ways I think it would be neat to experience other regions, say like the South or East Coast somewhere but we always find ourselves a little homesick after one of these moves and seem to default back to Cincinnati because of family. It's hard to beat while the boys are young and with so many cousins around. Not to forget the aunts and uncles too. In the end I think family trumps everything. Although as I write this it makes me a little sad to think of the times we will miss with our Swedish family as well.


Sometimes it is tough to have your feet on two different continents.