I mean, an INTERCOM!

2007-08-21

Yesterday on Craigslist I posted a want ad for a fairy godmother, and so far I've had 4 replies. One was spam, one was potentially dangerous spam (according to hotmail), one referred me to God, and the fourth wanted to know if it's okay for the fairy godmother to be male. I wrote back to that guy saying that's not a problem and does he have a portfolio of his supernatural achievements that I could look at? I wonder if he'll actually scrape something together; that could be funny.

So, last night we looked at two more houses. The first one (4 miles out of town, on 3 acres) made me laugh because it's so 70s. It had an intercom system, and Francisco and I both grew up with intercom systems in our childhood homes, so I thought that was funny. Also, the downstairs bathroom has Crazy colors and etc, and I think if we bought that house, I wouldn't want to change that bathroom decor, I'd just want to accentuate it. The upstairs (master) bathroom is a little tamer but still funny. The kitchen has carpet on the floor (!), which would have to come up, and also it's a little small but the counter space could be fairly easily expanded by taking out a sliding door pantry adjacent to counter space and putting in another counter. The problem with that would be having to change all the counter tops to match--the original is in good shape and is that funny white with gold squiggles. I wonder if that laminate is still available... We'd also want to replace the carpets in all the rooms (they're navy blue), and that wouldn't have to be done immediately, but when we got around to it, it would run into some money (the house is 2260 square feet). Basically, we liked the house but fear if we bought it we'd be over our heads, financially. We could afford the mortgage, but it might be hard to afford all the updates at the same time. So we're going to watch that house listing and see if the price comes down any more.

The other house we looked at is in town [were supposed to view a third house--the one on 5 acres--but according to our realtor it needs a Lot of work, and is in the same price range as the 3 acre house. so forget it] and ohhhhh kittens. It is beautiful. Basically a guy took an old house, gutted it, and put in all new stuff. There are fir floors in the living and dining rooms and concrete floors and counters in the kitchen, laundry room, and bathrooms. I absolutely love concrete and the guy did a very good job with it--the floors, in particular, are stained beautifully. The three bedrooms are large and there are ethernet connections in practically every room, plus the yard is pretty good for gardening except it would all be in the front yard. The price is very affordable. There's no garage to use as a workshop, so that's a drawback, but the main drawback [here it comes--you Knew it was coming] is the neighborhood. The house is the nicest one on the block, by a good margin. The neighbors to the immediate west had 5 cars in the front drive and street, and when we emerged, starry-eyed, from the house, the woman of the house was screaming at her barefooted children something like, "I TOLD you kids to play outside!", and I swear she had a southern accent. Those people could not be any more of a stereotype, no matter how hard they tried. I fear them; I suspect they'd be revving engines and yelling at children night and day, as well as feuding with neighbors for entertainment. Actually, they reminded me of these people quite a lot, except for the accents and the festivities. [PS that video kills me; Billybob, an AtomicFriend, pointed it out] We went down the alley and there are spray paint tags there, as well as on fences and buildings in surrounding streets, so it didn't take long for us both to conclude that, beautiful as the house is, we could not possibly live there. I mean, I don't think there are Shootings in the neighborhood (this town doesn't roll like that), but I wouldn't be surprised if there were burglaries, and at the very least that pretty house is going to be spray painted--possibly repeatedly. We went home depressed, wishing we could pick the house up and put it someplace better, but alas.

I didn't realize house shopping would be this arduous, because we had such an easy time finding our North Carolina house. We bought the third house we'd looked at, with no seller hassle or drama, and were very happy there. I think the Universe was looking out for us then, so I thought it would still be on the case and we'd therefore have an easy time finding a house here, but so far not so much. Perhaps this is a lesson in patience; if it is, it is obviously needed.

What I ate today so far:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with spoonful of peanut butter stirred in
Snack: A small handful of Thai curry flavored cashews
Lunch: Grapes, some mustard-flavored pretzel chunks, and the most delicious cottage cheese I've ever eaten.

Really the cottage cheese is what I wanted to talk about, because it was so good I think I must've accidentally bought the full fat variety. I mean, really, I couldn't believe how good it was. I might have asked it to marry me, I can't remember. However, about an hour later I had to visit a bathroom on another floor for a violent bowel-related incident. I don't know if that was the cottage cheese's fault, but it was unpleasant except I now feel at least a pound lighter. So....I'm not sure but I think that all adds up to a positive.

Tonight I'm supposed to go to Happy Hour with some coworkers but I don't really feel like drinking. Crazy!. I committed to go so I will, but I'm going to get a soda or a beer that I can nurse for the whole time we're there, and see if I can oozle out early and go home. I've got things to do and relaxing to get on with; I can't sit around getting drunk all night. Maybe Francisco will consent to walk down to the Starlight Lounge (sounds fancy, no?) at 6-ish and fetch me home. I won't need him, but if he arrives I can say, "Oops, gotta go!" Also he can bring cash so I won't have to pay for my one beer with a credit card. It would probably be good for me to memorize my bank card PIN so I can get money from the bank machine, yes? I fear I've turned into one of Those Women; the ones who don't know anything about the family finances. This is probably because I know so little about the family finances.

I'm tired of typing now.

Love,
E

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cats-kittens

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let's not say goodbye - 2011-02-23
the Rachel Zoe collection - 2011-02-10
I feel happy today - 2011-02-04
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