Poppy, believe me, I have considered up that way(moreso toward Torrington), and have seen some nice houses in the lower $200k range, but then I run into over a 100 mile round trip (it's 67 miles to S. Windsor and 79 to Ellington each way) every day for work, part of which means going through Waterbury and it's daily traffic jams, people heading to the Cape on Friday afternoon, etc..., so I'd probably end up spending 90 minutes each way just commuting, and frankly 40-50minutes each way is enough time wasted in a car as it is now. Not to mention the costs of going 100 miles each day when gas hits $3 a gallon this summer (not "IF", but "WHEN") again. As it is, by the time I'm done with work (5:30-6:15 almost every evening, plus the obligatory 3 Saturdays a month), I see my kids maybe 1 to 1-1/2 hours a night(most of which is eaten up by helping with homework, eating supper, etc...) before they have to go to bed for school, and I'm gone in the morning to beat traffic and be into work at 7:30, so don't see them then either. Forget even having time for my wife and I, so if I then start commuting from that far out, well.... Due to the agreement that came with relocation assistance, I'm stuck here till Sept. 2008 (or have to pay it back), so the least of all evils is to pay through the nose and rent, and then after 2 years, if something hasn't changed, flee to someplace more hospitable for working people. I might consider eastern CT, IF I can find a job that will pay close to what I make now (yes there are jobs in eastern CT, but even in western CT companies can't pay what the cost of living demands, and from what I saw during my job search, eastern CT wasn't much better, but then we get too close to the in-laws, who are about as good as in-laws could possibly be, but still could be problematic from a meddling standpoint if we're THAT close, if you get my drift. Only time will tell, I've got 2 years to sort it out, and make up my mind. When I moved here, I had no illusions of "the grass is always greener" stuff, I came somewhat prepared for what I found (since I lived in CT for 4 years back in 1987-1991), but even then was hit with sticker shock despite the weeks of research...
