New Roommates

Meet our new roommates - my brother-in-law, Andy, and his girlfriend, Danielle.  They moved in with us because they sold Andy's townhouse and haven't yet found a house they haven't been outbid on.  It's clearly turned into a seller's market. 

A champagne toast to Andy closing on his townhouse earlier today!

Andy and Danielle traded a palace for the equivalent of a closet when they moved out of their three-story 2,000-square-foot modern townhouse into a 200-square-foot space in our 100-year-old home. They planned accordingly though, and arrived with just a bed, two dressers, their clothes, a bag of groceries, a few houseplants and their coffee-maker.  The latter was a smart concession to their light-packing because, believe it or not, Chris and I don't like coffee.  The remaining contents of their old home are packed into a storage unit.  Despite two very excited little boys jumping on their bed, they moved in and unpacked in an hour. 

We have an ulterior motive for inviting them to stay with us, besides of course some babysitting here and there.  We want to get them hooked on living in the city, and specifically, St. Paul.  After years of them far away in the exurbs, we want to keep them close, even when we're no longer living under the same roof.  In the meantime, we're going to enjoy the kids having their aunt and uncle around all the time.  This is an opportunity that won't come around again once these two find their forever home.