WordVixen.com

Hunting for a house, that is.

Hubs and I are sick of renting. Sick of having to call in the maintenance guy to fix the crappy equipment that comes with the place, sick of the horribly drafty doors and windows, the literally hollow baseboards and trim (I kid you not, what wethought was solid wood was in fact rotted out leaving the form of the original wood in the paint so that it looked totally normal until we accidentally pushed too hard on it and it caved in), the mysterious leak from somewhere around the tub that leaks through the ceiling in the kitchen and INTO the ceiling light’s cover. The kitchen faucet that can only be turned off by pushing down on the center of the thing rather than the actual handle, and now we just had to have a part replaced in one of the toilets to stop the jackhammer noise that woke me from a dead sleep 2 hours after I went to bed after a long day. I’ve already talked (at length) about the neighbors, and now the CO2 alarm goes off every time I make chicken or turkey broth.  I’d mention more, but I don’t like to complain. (insert tongue into cheek here)

So hubs and I found a cute little end of unit townhome in an awesome location. New community, immaculate exterior and yard, ditto for all the neighbors. Only problem is that it was a 2 bedroom 1 bath, and for all of its shortcomings, our current home is 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath plus an additional toilet (weird set up). So, we sat on it for a few days, unsure whether we should apply for a mortgage, set up a viewing, etc. A few days later, we looked at the listing again and it was under agreement.

No big deal. We really liked the house from the outside, but really? were we ready?

We’re still not sure. But after this weekend’s incident with the jackhammering toilet, we’re a little more ready than we were. My friend wrote a post on waterproofing basement walls which is a good reminder that not all is rosy in the home owning world. I would hope that a home we buy would be in better condition than this place, but at least the fix is free when you rent!

In the meantime, my internet marketing income as well as the posts like the one just before this is starting to creep up. It’s not enough to make the difference between home ownership and renting yet, but it’s getting closer. I just need to keep hammering away at my sites, and eventually we should be able to start looking at homes that are in the slums and actually have all the amenities we require. I hope.

Wow. What a weekend.

You know, I usually look forward to holiday weekends because it gives me a chance to really focus on my websites while hubs is at his family’s, but that’s not what I did this weekend.

Tuesday was our 3rd anniversary (that would be May 19th if you didn’t feel like doing the math) so we took Friday off as a vacation day. Now, since we’re in save money mode, we had trouble figuring out what to do to celebrate. So, we eventually settled on doing what we did last year and spent the day in York. Yeah, I know.

So, Friday we hit both malls in York (York Galleria first because I hate crowds and I wanted to hit it before people got out of work). Got my hair cut (Weird tradition, but I’ve gotten my hair cut ON my anniversary every year since my wedding day- this year I was a bit late), bought a couple Veggie Tales DVDs, 2 Celtic music cds, 2 Disney shorts DVDs, some stuff for hubs, and so on. Had breakfast (at 1pm) at Round The Clock Diner which is da bomb. Best club sandwiches and croissant sandwiches around (also the best clam strips but we skipped those this time). And hubs insisted on hitting Toys R Us and Ollies (discount store where ya never know what you’ll find) and I insisted on hitting Borders. Duh. Me + allowed to buy anything I want = books.

OK, so it was almost 90 degrees out and high high high humidity. I had about 20 oz of water during the course of the day and hubs had a glass at breakfast, so by the time we got home we were sick as dogs from dehydration but then ordered out for filet mignon and lobster tail anyway. Oh yeah. Cuz that’s how we roll. (and that lobster tail was so good that I didn’t even use the butter!).

So, we’re still pooped from Friday, but Saturday hubs went to his brother’s to play board games. I, however, spent the whole day running around. I had to get birthday cards for both mom and dad, an anniversary card for them, and a father’s day card for pop.  Spent about an hour wandering around the local Christian bookstore debating whether I really wanted to spend $25 for that cute pink camo LTV (or is it LTC? Living Translation something) Bible or not (decided against, hoping it’s still there for my birthday- seriously, too cute!). Did the grocery shopping for the drinkables since I knew I’d be lugging in all the groceries myself later on, got home with just about enough time to eat Bagel Bites before church. Ran off to church, went straight to the grocery store and finally got home and could rest at about 10pm. Not counting putting the groceries away.

Then Sunday we went over to his parents’ house. Played frisbee in the backyard for about 45 minutes while we waited for his brother to get there. Sit down to eat only to realize that the AC wasn’t working and it was 85 degrees outside. So after dinner, hubs and I took a walk (a long walk- probably a mile or so) while we waited for the repair man to show, and then sat outside enjoying the pre-storm breeze while waiting for the house to cool off after the AC got fixed. (Note: one major problem with central air is that when it blows- you don’t have 3 other units sitting in other rooms). Up till about 3 am playing board games and then….

Today was Dad’s 68th birthday, so I rolled out of bed and went straight over to parents’ house. We went out for a nice (not fancy, just good) dinner about 45 minutes away and then spent another hour or so tooling around all the back country roads. Afterwards, mother and I went to visit my great aunt in a nursing home (she recently had a stroke, and she’s living there while they’re doing therapy with her), and then went to see either another great aunt or possibly a great great aunt, or possibly the cousin of a great aunt, or… Some other relative who was in the same nursing home whom I’ve never met before.  I’ll tell ya what, though, her room was CUTE! Loads of storage, kitchenette, huge bathroom (has to be big enough to accomodate a wheelchair), and she was pretty sweet too. I totally loved her! I wouldn’t mind being like her when I grow up. Sweet attitude, gets around pretty well, goes to all the activities, and was concerned about the other residents who went to the wine and cheese party (because of their medications, you know).  What a shame that I wasn’t introduced to her sooner.

So. Now I’ve got about an hour before bed and I’m finally online, even though I’m also cooking at the same time. And now, I’ve got to go and do some link building. Yeesh. A woman’s work is never done- even on a holiday weekend.

But coolest thing so far this weekend? Just a little bit ago my husband told me I was looking “particularly scrumptious today”. Good boy!

In my opinion, what defines great fantasy is when the author comes up with a completely new explanation for perfectly normal mysteries.

Consider cars that backfire, and yet when you look outside, there’s no vehicle on the street? I believe that I have solved this mystery.

It’s the Knight Bus from Harry Potter’s wizarding world. Remember how it goes crack and jumps to another area of Britain altogether? Well, I’ve decided that the Knight Bus doesn’t just deliver silly wizards to various places in Britain, but all over the world. And those non-existant cars that backfire? Well, that’s just the Knight Bus apparating and disapparating.

Ta-da! Mystery solved.