Olive Creek

When Chris first told me he was thinking about taking a job at Duke my heart sunk to my toes. It's not that life has been so unpleasant since we moved here but I was really looking forward to moving closer to my family. When we moved here I came with the idea that we would be here a grand total of four years. That said, we are staying.

It took a lot of praying, on my part, to come to terms with the idea of staying. The job at Duke is a fantastic opportunity for Chris and he really loves his job and has had a really good experience here. I have not had such an exiting time. I started to list all the things I didn't like about North Carolina. . . humidity, bugs, fear of safety, bad schools, etc. Some of those things can't be controlled but some of them are particular to where we live.

I could tell Chris was really excited about staying here and that he really wanted to. I asked him to at least look around to see what else might be available. Not much this year. I conceded to stay and he promised to do his best to make me feel safe and do what he could to minimize the things I don't like here.

One of the top things on my list is the area where we live. We live in a nicer part of Durham but Durham is really patchy so there are seedy areas not too far from where we live. Durham schools are not very good either. Moving would take care of those problems.

Yesterday I went out with a realtor to look at a couple of neighborhoods. Chris and I decided to look first in Hillsborough which is not far from Durham but is a small town and very cozy. The first house I looked at was a house in the Olive Creek subdivision.






I loved this house! It is built by a woman builder who is local. The craftsmanship in the house is much better than the houses I've seen that are built by national builders. This home has a three-acre lot. It's mostly wooded and feels like a cabin in the forest. I loved the front porch and the screened porch in the back. The kitchen looks out to the screened porch and I could see myself sending the kids out to play while I cook dinner!



All the floors on the first floor are wood floors. Off the master bedroom is a study/office that sits over the garage.



There were a few things I didn't like about this house such as smaller bedrooms and there is not a bonus room which is something I wanted.



I doubt we will end up with this house but I really enjoyed touring it and imagining living there.

So, I am starting a new list now and that is of the things I like about North Carolina. I know we are going to be here for awhile and that's ok. I have lived here long enough to know how to deal with the humidity and bugs and I know that it's only a certain part of the year that I have to deal with that. I do love that it was 70+ degrees yesterday and we were all wearing short sleeves.