I've Been Keeping a Secret

It became obvious to me that by telling all the inter-world we found a house before we had a fully ratified contract angered the Housing Gods who then caused everything to unravel purely for spite.

(What? That doesn't make sense? I disagree. It makes complete irrational sense.)

Now that the "thumbs up" has been giving by the "Housing Gods"... we're buying a house!!

FOR REAL AND FOR TRUE!

I know. I can't believe it either.

News came today that we now have a fully ratified contract and our closing date is 1/9/09. And let me tell you there's nothing like cutting it close, we have to be out of our apartment by 1/14/09. Between the cleaning, painting, fixing and moving - we will be a very tired couple. Luckily, I had taken that week off with hopes that we would be moving.

More information later, right now we are in Florida for Christmas and having a wonderful time. If it wasn't for that whole having to go back to work in Virginia thing, I would never leave ever again.

WTF?!?!?! Really?

That is all I'm going to say about this.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28284679?GT1=43001.

When I showed this to Matt, his statement was - "that's really messed up. Congrats, BK, you've outcreepied yourself again"

I have to agree.

Just ew.

The Reason I Married Him

How many times have you come home from work after a 13 hour bad day with really sore feet to find this?Today was my day.

Dinner (salad w/steak and homemade onion soup) on the table with a foot soak at my feet.

This is what I wearily came home to find, all set up and waiting for me by my perfect husband.

Feel free to be jealous, I know I married Mr. Perfect.

Screeeeeeeeeech – CRASH!

That, my friends, was the sound of a house deal hitting a very thick brick wall. Matt and I have decided to walk away from this property due to lack of positive feedback from the lister as well as the bank who owns the property. At this point, it feels more like a cat and mouse game and we are the mice. When we do get information, it is contradictory to something we've been told previously, or it seems to have an underlying "if-and-or but" involved that makes us very uncomfortable. After speaking with our agent, who is equally uncomfortable/concerned, we have decided to put this deal on the back burner and consider it a lost cause unless something changes that makes this deal seem MUCH less shady.****

Before we go any further, lets all put our bad-attitudes on. Follow me people -
HMPH!, kick at the ground, roll eyes, cross arms indignantly, shift weight to one foot and start tapping the other.

Ok, now that that is out of the way. Back to the drawing board we go, with 6 weeks left before we have to be out of our apartment – including the 2 weeks that we will be in Florida for Christmas.

(Feel free to freak out right along with us)

What makes this whole situation much worse, there isn't anything new in our price range that we haven't looked at and scratched off the list for one reason or another. We either have to settle for something that doesn't really work for us or, extend our lease (if possible) on our apartment and continue to live out of boxes, or win the lottery and not have to live within a budget. (I'm feeling this last option is the most likely to happen. You agree?)

****Update: We are thinking of offering them a "this is how its going to be" ammendment to the contract. If they agree to it, we will move forward, if not, we will walk. I'm not hopeful.

Waiting

We are just busily waiting. And waiting. Then we do some more waiting. It's all very exciting, I tell you. The hold up is the closing date. We had to change the suggested closing date due to Matt's travel schedule, and are waiting for the bank to agree to our suggested date. We are also hoping the lister actually turned in the changes - it seems she "forgets" sometimes. Also, the bank is not working at a speed that I wish they would. Apparently, my nervous energy means nothing to them. I just don't understand.

To make matters worse, we didn't win the lottery! How dare they not pull our numbers! I mean pfffffftt! Matt says it means we have to go back to being "Poor-ionaires" since we had foolishly convinced ourselves that we would be millionaires tomorrow. I guess that means I should do laundry tomorrow so I have clean clothes to go to work on Monday.

Huff...

EUREKA!

Found it!
Made an offer on it. Bank counter-offered.
We accepted.
Closing Dec 12 .

Don't mind the drunk girl dancing in the streets its just lil 'o me.

It's not perfect. It needs a good scrub, and some basic TLC. (flooring, paint, possibly appliances) Oddly it also needs door knobs on damn-near every door in the place.

Yeh. I have no idea either. Any thoughts?

Anyway, it's a 3 level 2400sqft townhome. It's not our dream home but it will do for a good long time. Actually, I can't say I even know what my dream home would be. I guess I'll know it when I find it.

Now, if only I wasn't so horribly worried about the economy - I would be hooting and dancing in the streets at the same time.

Holding Breath, Face Blue

This 2008 election, I voted for the very first time. I'm now a registered voter for the very first time in my life. I do not hang my head in shame for never registering and voting before - it was a decision I made for reasons that are my own. It is my right - whether you agree with it or not.

Yet, for once I feel strongly enough to pay attention not only to the candidates but also the agendas. For once, someone made me want to pay attention to the gibberish that was coming out of a politicians mouth. A politician made me want to vote.

So here I am, on the edge of my seat demanding that my candidate win purely because I voted. (it makes perfect sense to me) Here I am hoping my candidate wins and uses my vote wisely to turn this country around. I admit it, I'm a nervous wreck. This may be worse than watching the Buccaneers play. I will need Tequila.

What Do You Think?

"DON'T WORRY INSIDE A DOG BUT IT IS SAFE IN JAIL"

If you were looking at house listings and saw this in the remarks, you'd be completely confused. Right?
Then you would realize that this poor-english speaking lister is trying to tell you that there is a caged dog on the property. Right?
Then you would wonder what agency would allow such horrible english on their listings. Right?
And shake your head in disbelief. Right?
Then you would wonder if it is a series of sentence fragments that accidentally got smashed together. Right?
Then you would give up because you aren't interested in that stupid property anyway.
Good, 'Cause that's what I thought too.

Matt wants to know what the poor dog did to get thrown in jail.
Drunk barking?
Barking and Entering?

Wow! House shopping is apparently taking it's toll on our sanity...

REALLY?

After all that hemming and hawing - all the anticipation - the bank lowered their price by $1000. REALLY? All that effort FOR THAT? Huh.

Remember how I told you that I don't do well with this game playing business? Yeh, so now I'm just irritated. If that's all the effort they can put into this "relationship", I do not feel the need to stick around. Seee - ya!

I guess my feelings about this place were all wrong. Oh-well, onward we shall go.

We found a few other places that Matt is going to look at this week and report back to me. One day, maybe one day, we'll have a real live home to call our own. Unfortunately, we are now becoming short on time and I'm becoming short on patience. We only have 3 weeks until we have to let the apartment complex know whether or not we're moving out in January - which is also just about as long as my last big nerve can hold out.

Anyhoo...go check out my honey's site to see the "Weekend in Pictures, Part Deux" that I promised a couple of weeks ago.

AAAAND! (this is my favorite part) WE'RE GOING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS / NEW YEARS!!! HOO-RAY!

Dear Friends in the warm weather I-miss-it-so-much state,

Please have lots of alcohol ready as I will be very cold and oh-so ready to drink!

Sincerely,
Me

Did I mention that it is unaccepatbly cold right now?

Tag! You're it. Wait...

I forget. Is it our turn to counter-offer or yours?
I'm so confused...

We haven't counter-offered the bank yet. We've been working out our next move with our agent when a surprise phone call came. Apparently, the bank wants to counter their own counter offer next week before we counter and asked us to "sit tight". (confusing, right?)Basically, the lister says the bank knows they're offer was unrealistic.

Huh! I thought my "let them wait and sweat it out" was only making me feel better. I guess it may have actually made them a little nervous. It probably didn't hurt that our agent sent the lister pics of the roof damage and the latest "going rates" for townhomes in the same area.

This might turn out to be an interesting game after all. I love watching players dig their own hole, especially when it benefits me.

TAG! You're it....AGAIN!

The Game is Afoot

Update on the house situation.
We submitted an offer on the "the gem" and the bank has replied with a counter-offer that made Matt, myself and our agent say, "Puh! Not in this market!"

We are giving it a few days, then we'll come back with another offer. I'm sure they will counter then we will...yeh, the game is on. Matt and I have decided what our max is and our agent is gathering information as well as running some numbers.

We'll see how far it goes. I don't do well with these types of games, I dislike them. My patience is already wearing thin.

Anyway, I'll update as things happen.

Stay tuned for another "Weekend in Pictures" post in the next couple of days!

A Diamond in the Ruff

Back to the house shopping drama.

We were out bid on the PINK carpet townhouse. Which to me, is fine. I liked it but wasn't willing to pay THAT much for it. Not with all that work that Matt and I felt it needed.

We found another that was sold 2 days after being put on the market - before we could put an offer in. Yeh, it was that nice.

BUT! I have spied a gem. A gem that is sparkling just for me.

When Matt and I started our search, I found a property that had been on the market for well over a year and was very obviously over priced. This property immediately intrigued me. I had to know why its been there, empty and lonely, for so long. The lister told our agent that it was overpriced from the beginning and no one has shown any interest in it, but that nothing was wrong with it - as of the last time she'd been in it.

So Matt and I added this to our list of properties to visit. We did. I liked it. He didn't. We had just seen a fantastic property before that we both really really liked and I think we both dismissed this particular property. I've talked Matt into looking at it again.

You know how you get that feeling? The one you can't ignore? I've had it about this property from the day I found it on the internet.

Now that we're a little more seasoned as house shoppers, I feel we've overlooked a real gem here. We know that it has some water damage in one bedroom - which I'm assuming is a roof issue (we're having an inspection this Saturday) But there is nothing else wrong. It has new kitchen appliances, fresh paint and the flooring is in great condition. Considering the time that its been on the market, with no interest, we are considering making a "low-ball" offer with documentation of the damage. The worse they can say is "No", right? If we get this place at the right price - at the price I'm tossing around my mind - it would be easy to fix the roof/water damage and land ourselves a nice home and investment property. (Assuming the financial and housing market ever - even kind of - recovers)

Maybe it won't work out...maybe it will.

Contractual Obligations

Dear Bugs of Virginia,

Apparently, you are not aware that there was deal made between myself and your bug-friends in Florida. The deal was this: stay out of my house and I will NOT mess with you in your "house" - in other words, stay out of my house and live. I was assuming that this deal was nationwide.

My bad.

I am now offering you the same deal - no strings, no hidden obligations, no surprises. Just stay out. Simply put, if you refuse to abide by this contract, you will die.

So, assuming that you were unaware of this deal - I have spared your little friend a horrible death by way of cat(s) and released him to his natural environment. Please do not let this happen again. Next time, I will NOT be so kind.

Sincerely,

Lori

P.S. Do you always send the biggest bug you can find to welcome a new resident? I mean really...

House Shopping Drama

Ok, so remember the last post where I told you we found a place that we were considering making an offer on? Yeh, well we did. No. We didn't get it. Someone beat us to it. Huff.

So back to searching we went. We looked through 5 or 6 places last week and found one we liked. Not as much as the last one but it was good...except for the PINK carpet. Yup. Pink. On all 3 floors. For those of you who don't know me - I have a great dislike for that color. I think its just plain ugly.

Anyway! The price was right and carpet can be replaced, right? So we submitted an offer today. Want to know what we found out? According to the listing agent, the bank wants everyone to know that in the 5 days this property has been on the market they have recieved 8 offers. So we need to get our best offers in by Wednesday at 10am. Hmph...sounds like a tactic to start a bidding war to me. I'm not playing this game. If its meant to work out, it will. Plus, this property needs other upgrades to make it acceptable and I don't see that its worth raising our offer any higher. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but if it doesn't work out, we'll just keep looking.

I'll keep you updated.
Stupid house shopping....

Hungover House Shopping

Yep. It was exactly what the title says it was.

Note to Self and a warning to all my internet friends:
Do not drink waaaaaaaay too much the night before you have to get up early to start house shopping. It's a very stupid -STUUUUUUPID - thing to do.

Oh Sweet Jeeebus. Sweet sweet jeeebus. Yesterday was NOT a fun day.
See, Matt and I went to a local establishment the night before with some of my co-workers to watch the USF v Kansas football game (We won. Go BULLS!) and because of this, we did not enjoy the house shopping experience as much as I thought we would. I just wanted to lay in my bed, in my comfy clothes with a cold towel on my forehead, my eyes closed and my mind blank. Matt just wanted to be in his recliner sipping a huge glass of cold water in a very air conditioned apartment. Alas, we could not. We had made arrangements for the explorations into a future home. So there we were - all red eyed and snarly tailed - taking notes, asking questions and snapping pictures. By the time we were done, Matt had begun to bounce back. Me? Not so much. Although somehow, I managed to hold it together the entire time, (pure force of will my friends, pure.force.of.will!) and completely fell apart when we got home.

We managed to make it through all 10 properties and actually found a few prospects. There is one location that we liked best and considering making an offer on. It needs flooring (right now a good steam clean will work for our needs), painting and a good scrub, but I can see us happy there for several years. I'll keep you posted on how things go. Wish us luck.

Oh! and if I ever get all tanked up the night before house shopping again - I hope one of you will come slap some sense into me and remind me that I am old enough to know better because apparently, I forget.

Long Lost

Hmph.
I see its been a day or few since I've been here.
I apologize.
I have neglected you so.

Apparently losing track of time is what happens when you work long hours, have sore feet and heavy eyes.

Nothing new has really happened so you haven't missed much.
Or maybe lots has happened and I missed it. Huh.

Anyway, we start entering houses, taking pictures and making notes this weekend. I'm excited and too tired to decide if I'm nervous or not. Either way, I am sure I will have all sorts of things to say about it. I promise, we'll get together next week and discuss our findings - or lack there of.

Right now, I hear my bed calling.
Speaking of heavy eyes...................

Labor Day Weekend in Pictures

Saturday:

Farmers Market

Where I filled up my new bag (all the way from Russia) with fresh yummy fruits and veggies.

House Hunting:
Where we actually found something we love... lets all cross our fingers that this works in our favor!

Out for exercise with:

Sunday:

Wisked off to a cabin in West Virginia where

we enjoyed lunch at this park

we wandered through a quiant town that apparently has a problem with alcoholic beverages, with an emphasis on BEER (I take offense...)I sat around my very first camp fire**and made my very first S'mores
with some very cool people
and dog...
**It's comforting to know that misquitoes in WV love me just as much as the ones in Florida.

Monday:

Slept late then went to this park

where I went hiking for the first time

Where I learned that these are not hiking shoes because I did this** while climbing down here

but I saw this

and this fine specimen too

**and other various bruises and scratches

Fan I Am Not

It's no secret that my husband is a reality TV show addict, much to my dismay. I myself, am not a fan.

So here we are on a Tuesday night and I am being tortured with this rubbish.

To make it worse, I have to listen to this dweeb give his opinion of who has or does not have talent.

Again, I am not a fan.
He annoys the bah-jeeeesus out of me, to say the very least.

ANYHOO....
During tonights episode, Matt suddenly proclaimed, "They suck! My only regret is that I can not be there to 'boo' them in person!"

Really? That's it? I regret that this is on our TV and my husband is enjoying it.

Vent over. Thanks for listening...HUFF!

Now someone please come to my rescue...pleeeease...

Cringe

Does this story make anyone else cringe?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/08/16/egypt.septuplets.birth.ap/index.html

The thought of having 7 newborns makes me nauseous. SEVEN?????!!!!!
That's counting with TWO hands, people.
Matt and I have been talking about starting a family soon.**
I can't imagine what we would think or do if faced with having a large number of newborns.
What are your thoughts?

**This one statement just made both of our Mothers unnaturally happy.

Summertime and Winter Clothes

I've just recently realized that summertime doesn't mean much to me anymore.

1. I'm not in school anymore so having 3 months of freedom is just a vague memory from the past.
2. I don't have children so I don't have to worry about keeping them occupied for 3 months.
3. I still have to go to work everyday.

Summer here in Virginia is very different. Back home, it's very humid and muggy. I hear people complain about the humidity here and I just laugh. You guys don't KNOW humid. If it does happen to get overly humid here - it only lasts 1-2 days. It's all humid, all the time back home. This is actually a nice change from what I'm used to - but I don't want to get used to it. If I get used to it, I won't enjoy it as much as I do right now. It will also be hard to go back home.

Winter only lasted a few weeks (if that) in Florida so summer was all the time for me. Now that I'm in Virginia, I'm starting to think differently. Summer is beginning to mean something to me now. I still won't have 3 months of freedom, I still have to get up for work everyday and I haven't magically and spontaneously had any children but winter is coming. WINTER IS COMING! Yes, I know it's a bit early to worry about winter, but I don't like the cold.

If you've been reading regularly, you know I "landed" here in mid-March and it was COLD. I don't care what anyone else says. I was frozen and I wanted nothing more than to go home. I was very grateful when it started warming up - in June. Now I'm looking forward and realizing that the cold will come back - and before I know it, I will be freezing again. And cranky. (Hey, don't laugh! It's August and I have to turn the heat on in the car in the morning on my way in to work, and I think the evenings are getting a bit chilly. If you don't believe me, go ask my husband!) Not to mention, we don't have any warm weather clothing, we have NO idea how to drive in snow and I'm scared out of my mind to face ice. ICE?!?!?!

With all that being vented about, we went shopping today for some warm weather clothing, both online and at a local store. I think we made out pretty well. We spent $500 and I think we both got everything we will need - water repellant coats, jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts, gloves, warm socks, long underwear, and winter boots. I'm thinking we made out pretty cheap - considering my husband is very tall and finding him clothing that fits him is difficult and expensive.

So hey! Winter! - BRING IT ON!
I'll be the one in the corner whimpering.

PS. Matt is sitting here looking for places to go snow-tubing. I'm scared. He's excited. This is going to be an interesting winter.

Insider Information

The week before last, my supervisor invited Matt and I out for happy hour at a local restaurant with a few of our team-mates. (keep in mind that I am the only woman on this team) During this evening, as I was engrossed in other conversation, I heard an awful lot of laughing coming from Matt and the other men.

Later that evening, Matt informed me that my co-workers were telling him to hold off getting a job for as long as possible. Apparently there is a bet going as to how long Matt can hold out.

What these men don't realize is that I'm completely and totally ok if Matt wants to stay home. I'm not pushing him to get a job. I like coming home to a clean house, laundry done and dinner cooking. Seriously! What woman would not like that? Obviously, a second income would help in many aspects of our lives, but I really like having a house husband. This is kind of cool.

So I won't tell them, every time they ask me if Matt has found a job yet, that I am completely supportive of whatever decision he makes. Especially dinner.

A Brief Visit

WOOT!

I know what some of you are thinking. I know that some of you don't have the relationship that I have with my husband's parents. I admit, I am very fortunate. I love my in-laws. They are fantastic, wonderful, supportive people and I'm happy they visited.

And no, I'm not buttering them up to ask for anything. I just really like them that much.

The funny thing is, they were only here a few hours. They are on their way to Russia for a few weeks and happened to have a 7 hour lay-over at the airport. Since we are so close, we picked them up and were able to show them our apartment, around town, the local battlefield park and have a yummy lunch before taking them back to the airport.

It was good to see them. Although after they left, I began to feel isolated and far from home. I know as Matt and I settle, make friends and plant roots, we will begin to think of this as home too. I'm still having a difficult time adjusting though.

Speaking of missing home - Matt and I finally were able to get library cards here now that we've got our drivers licenses. We were both pretty excited as we both like to read, the library is within walking distance from our apartment and it looks all new and pretty.

Alas, it sucks. Seriously.

It is all of those things I've mentioned but finding any book thats on my "TO READ" list is a whole lot of wishful thinking. We are missing our old little local library in Florida that always had what we were looking for. This one - not so much. If they do have it, they only have 1 or 2 copies that gets transferred from library to library and have a waiting list a mile long. We are very disappointed. Oh well, we will have to make do - I'm sure theres a book swap store around here somewhere, and I'll be raiding Sarah's books too.

(Oh Sarah, FYI, I stole Fight Club. K?)

Speaking of books. We wandered into a big chain bookstore today and it dawned on me...books have gotten expensive! I've bought plenty of books at a chain before - these prices are not new to me. I just very suddenly recalled books being so much cheaper. Didn't little ol' paperbacks use to cost $5 or something? Huh?

Hmph. Stoooopid library.

And the Hunt Begins

Matt and I have started the drive-by routine.
You know the one:

1. Drive past the neighborhood
2. Drive around the neighborhood
3. Drive through the neighborhood
4. Repeat at night (because that's when all the creepies come out - like us)
5. Sit outside of various residences entering the address into your iphone to see if you can afford to live in that area.

Rinse, Repeat

Oh. Did I say afford?
Hahahahahahaha.....hehehehehe.....heh.
I make me laugh.

We've only just begun and I can already see myself making lists, taking pictures, cataloging, color-coding, budgeting and analyzing. (yeh, just a touch of OCD) By the time I'm done with it, I will have thoroughly violated the potential home. In my defense, it's not like apartment hunting where you can move out when your lease is up if you don't like it. You're just plain stuck with it.

Anyone have any tips, advice, stories?

Wish us luck - lots of luck. Oh, and money. Please. Ok? Thanks.

Identical?

I was talking to a co-worker yesterday when I noticed a picture of his oldest daughter and remarked how much she looked like him. He then handed me a family picture of he, his wife and two daughthers, then said to me, "I think my youngest looks just like my identical twin brother."

I just stood there, completely confused, then asked, "Identical"?

Noticing my confused expression, he said, "Yeh. I know, it sounds weird, but she gives me the same facial expressions that he used to give me when we were kids."

Huh. That's something I never would have thought.

Gone

We made it to Virginia in one piece - exhausted, sad, excited and frazzled, but we're here. Did I mention exhausted? Even the cats survived. Surprisingly, they were even quiet for the vast majority of the ride. I'm convinced they were in the back of the car plotting our horrible deaths. I'm pretty sure I heard sharpening of claws too.

I still stand by my thought that we should have found a way to bring our Florida apartment up with us. This apartment is nice, but I don't love it like I did the other. Plus, it doesn't fit our junk very well. Thankfully, and hopefully, this will be a very temporary place.

We spent 3 days running around Florida frantically cleaning, painting, packing, spending time with family and drinking with friends. We even plotted and planned a few trips down for a few football games (GO BUCS! GO BULLS!) and if we're really lucky, we may have a few friends come up and go with us to the WVU vs USF at West Virginia.

That is one thing I am really going to miss - football w/good friends. We didn't go to all the games but, we went to a lot and had a blast every time. Raymond James Stadium is very dear to my heart.

We'll miss you guys, come up for a visit!

Not Quite Gone

The apartment is packed. The movers are loading the truck.

I'm sitting here watching the action in a chair that will be loaded shortly. I've realized that I would really like to take this actual apartment with me. I really really like this apartment. It's roomy and spacious and laid out really well. Sure. Like any place, there are some things that I would change about it, but I can honestly say that this is the best apartment we ever lived in and I'm sad to be leaving it behind. All 1347 sq. ft of its reasonably priced self. I can't find anything even kind of close to its layout/price in Virginia. I will be sad.

Also, I'm amazed at how much SHIT we have (excuse my language!) Holy macaroni! When we finally settle in to whatever we end up buying, I will be doing some serious cleaning out! This is madness. There is just stuff everywhere.

Well, looks like it's time for me to go - I'm being kicked out of my chair.

The Sun Will Come Out...

Tomorrow!

I get to go HOME! to the hot humid yumminess that is Florida.
MMMmmmmmm....Home........squeek!
Somewhere around 4:30pm - as I leave for the airport - I will look a lot like this


If you happen to be close to the airport around that time and see some crazy lady with a ridiculous grin - it's just me. Wave!

Quick Update

I've been away far more than I had planned. I am surprised at how little I've posted lately, but my thoughts have been elsewhere. I've been pulling some long hours at work and getting ready for the big move. Not to mention the fact that I'm missing Matt. He inspires me daily with his silly antics and it has been 5 weeks since I've seen him.

I have officially packed up my room here at Sarah's for the move. (Click here to follow Sarah and her friends on their road trip across the US to San Francisco for the BlogHer convention) My plan is to pack up their Explorer with all of my stuff I have here on Monday evening, pick up the keys and unload it into our new apartment on Tuesday then fly out Wednesday afternoon for home (Florida). WOO-HOO! After some family visiting and one final night out with our friends, we will be hitting the road at dawn-thirty on Sunday morning for the long drive up. I know I will be weary at work Monday morning. Wish me luck.

Other than the mild insanity that is my life right now, all is well.

We will be posting more pictures from our Honeymoon (yes, my friends, there are many many more) and our road trip up as soon as we get the interweb set up at the apartment. I also promise to complete the final installment of the Honeymoon Diary sometime soon. Be on the look out for what I am sure will be the madness of house hunting too!

Three Sheets to...ANGRY!

Man!
I woke up on the dark side of cranky this morning. I don't know if it was the buzzing beast yelling at me to get up at 5:30am (aka: dawn-thirty) or if it was a bad case of the Monday morning after a long weekend blahs but HOLY! You would not have wanted to meet me in a dark alley this morning.

I think I would have actually bitten, clawed, hissed and spit at anyone who had dared to look in my direction. Luckily for them, I tend to be an even-keeled person and leveled out soon after arriving at the work environment. I guess I really didn't have a choice, biting my co-workers or boss isn't an option, is it?

Down the Home Stretch

Only a week and half until I fly home and visit with my friends and family. It is also the time when our household,the Kitty Empire, Matt and I pick up and move to our new home, 900 miles away. We will be driving up with 4 cats and the two of us in Matt's car - straight through. Huh...we should all look something like this

As I mentioned before, Matt is no longer employed and thought he would be bored out of his skull for 2 weeks. HA~! He should have known better. I've given him a list of things that need to be done and picked up. He's been running everyday so far. There is all sorts of things that need to be done for us to be ready to go. I fully expect to be worn out when we get here and I've got to work the next day! He will be busy waiting for the movers to arrive with our household and looking for a job.

Now, I have a question for you guys. If you were a first time home buyer again and had 6 months to find a home. Would you look into a townhome or a detached single family? Or, if you've had a townhome, did you like it? Anything I should be looking for? I'm slowly convincing Matt that we should at least consider a townhome. They are very nice here and detached homes tend to be very expensive while townhomes are much more affordable for people like us - just starting out. I don't know what is the right choice for us, but six months will come and go quickly - so we've got to start thinking about it and looking.

Dazed and Confused

What?Huh?What?
REALLY?!?
This is necessary?
Am I naive? out of touch?

I'm confused.

So let me get this straight. There is enough of a need to have an over the counter paternity test readily available. When did this become a problem? When did this need arise? Are we just...?
Shouldn't we...? How come...?

NEVERMIND!

I don't want to know. My head hurts already and I'm sure any answer you could give to any question I may ask would just make my head spontaneously combust with many many more questions.

Trading Places

At the end of last year, my contract ended at my previous job. For three and half months, I was a unemployed and bored out of my skull. To make it worse, Matt would come home and occassionally tease me by calling me “House Wife” and then, one day, he looked at me and playfully told me that I wasn’t allowed to pester him about money since I “couldn’t even hold down a simple job.”

Ooooooooooooooo, did he get THE LOOK! Well, guess what happened today?
Go ahead, guess.
Yep.

Today was Matt’s last day of employment. Not only because he is moving to Northern Virginia but his contract has now ended (yeh, perfect timing). And….he hasn’t not yet been able to locate a permanent position here. So, guess who gets to tease a certain HOUSE HUSBAND about not being able to hold down a simple job. ME! HA!

My, my – how the tables have turned.