What do you think the odds are...

that this house:




...is:

(a) structurally unsound
(b) chock full of lead paint and asbestos
(c) haunted ?

And if a, b, and c are all false, then what are the chances that we could afford to buy it and also afford to hire my contractor cousin to help us fix it up?

Because:

Obviously it needs a lot of work. The red carpet is horrendous, this bathroom scares me, and the mirrored backsplash is so fugly that it's probably illegal in at least three states:

But look what it once was:



Think of what it could be someday...


In truth, it matters very little at this point, since we're not in a position to buy any house, let alone one that needs months if not years of constant, expensive TLC. Daydreaming about once-gorgeous, possibly haunted houses beats doing my homework, though. When I read Faulkner, it makes me want to grasp him firmly by the shoulders and then shake him vigorously while shouting, "Embrace the period as a punctuation mark! The full stop is your friend, William!" Then I want to tell him, "Also? Personal pronouns are great, but when there are four males in a story, you cannot refer to a somewhat peripheral character as simply 'he' and expect me to be able to differentiate which 'he' you're trying to indicate."



Accomplice...or is that accessory?

Someone I know asked me if I'm interested in buddying up for National Novel Writing Month, to keep each other motivated and accountable. I agreed. I'm both excited and worried that I'll fail spectacularly.



Call the Cat-Whisperer

Today the cat hissed at and slunk away from the visiting BoMB* for no apparent reason, even though he'd watched, unfazed, as BoMB walked right by him a few moments earlier. He also yowled at, shrank from, and growled at MB this morning. I have no idea what's gotten into him, and I'm a little bit worried. Even weirder, when he seemed frightened of MB this morning, he let me pet his head to comfort him, and I'm usually the first one he bites when he's in a snit. I hope he's just in a weird mood and that things are back to normal tomorrow.



Reading: Go Down Moses

Playing: Godsmack




*BoMB = Brother of MB

I like pleasure spiked with pain, and music is my aeroplane

Back in April, MB and I thought we were ready to start looking for a house. We made an appointment with the bank to get pre-approved for a mortgage. I began searching for houses online with the fervor born of an internet addiction and an obsessive need to plan. I found a lot of so-so options and a few really nice-looking options. I found two places I liked so much that I daydreamed about how we could fix them up and redecorate. Then I found a home that I loved so much that I actually allowed myself to imagine MB and I living there. I had a mental picture of watching our future (hypothetical) daughter walking down the front stairs.

I tried not to think too much about it. We went to the bank, and were told that we could probably afford more than we'd thought. Then we found out that we'll make $2000 too much this year to qualify for 100% financing. And that due to a screw-up with the way Sallie Mae was reporting my tiny student loan, my credit score was too low for us to qualify for a decent set of rates on an 80/20 loan. A few weeks later, there was some weirdness with MB's work schedule. My job is still officially classified as a one-year contract.

About the time that we decided to sign another lease at our apartment and wait another year, the dream house disappeared from the realty site. Even though it had already been made clear that we weren't going to be able to buy it, I was really bummed. I put away all the house listings I'd printed and stopped surfing the house sites. Since the car debacle, we've wavered back and forth between hoping for a house in 2007 and figuring we'll be lucky to make 2008.

As of now, the plan is to save like crazy and see if we can scrape together a 5% down payment by the time our lease runs out in mid-2007. On a whim, I grabbed a booklet of homes for sale from the grocery store tonight. The daydreaming-about-kids-house is back on the market (or maybe it was never off the market, just the website). I covet its 9-foot ceilings and front & rear staircases and butler's pantry and three bedrooms and office upstairs with a little balcony and wood floors.





I keep telling myself that we'll find the house we're meant to find, when the time is right. It's sometimes hard to be mature and sensible, though.




Reading: Book 6 of the Mediator series

Playing: Knuckle Down by Ani DiFranco