Kick in the pants?

The landlord called me today. Nice lady. We get together and the kids play. They let us treat this as our own home and stay off our backs. We take great care of the house and treat it like home.

So, my reaction to what she told me surprises me. This is our 13th month and she says they are probably going to raise the rent. We have a two-year lease and there is a provision for this so she is well within her right. Their property taxes went up and she wants the rent to cover the difference. Totally understandable. I mean, why have a rental if you can't make money. Once they make the decision and get it to us in writing we'll have 60 days to figure things out. Perfectly reasonable.

The thing is, as soon as she said it, I thought, that's it. THAT is my breaking point. My husband and I while in the middle of a serious discussion about our future said that we'll know when it is right to make a break and try something new. We joked that God would let us know and that if the landlord sells the house or raises the rent, that will be God going, "Here's your sign." And I just felt so certain as soon as she said she'd probably be raising the rent. So certain that we should move on and instead of finding more of the same, change our future.

The economy is in the tank. It's not really a GOOD time to be chasing dreams. On the other hand, we've lost everything but each other (THANK YOU) and we don't have much to lose by chasing a dream or two.

From a financial stand point, paying any more for this house would be foolish. We are paying too much now just because the yard was worth it to us. But the house is in need of a good bit of repair and compared to other houses and rentals in the area, it's way over priced. I don't want to make our 10th move in 9 years. Really, I don't. I want to settle and put down some roots and just worry about something besides moving.

I don't know. Should we look for something else around the city? We hate the city. We joke about that scene in Madagascar where the animals say, "The star is out." We do that all the time. "Honey, Look! The star is out." HATE. THE. CITY. We're really in a suburb but it's all the same. We've talked about moving much further out but the commute is an issue.

I'm confused. Conflicted. Scared. Hopeful. Nervous. Anxious. Excited.