So we have told our realtor that she can walk through our house on Wednesday.
That sentence causes my chest to tighten.
We have done some landscaping in our front yard.
We have hauled out several pickup loads full of stuff.
Our house does not look any less full.
Right now, it sounds like a dandy idea to tell her that we need a month. Or three.
We have to empty rooms in order to paint.
We have to paint. No option.
And now Olivia is crying. Dissolved on the floor. And I am not sure I care why. She needs to go to bed.
I need to go to bed. Barring that, I need to do some laundry.
Maybe I should dissolve on the floor crying. But I am pretty sure no one would care why.
We have made an offer on a house-- a nice house in a nice neighborhood that looks like it was decorated by my mother in law. Not that there is anything wrong with that; my mother in law has great taste. Anyway, that means a marathon to getting our house ready for people to see it. Including our Realtor.
In other news, we were approved for the loan we need for the new house. I was a bit worried about that, simply because I forget to pay bills on time occasionally. And we owe too much money to everyone in the world.
We landscaped the front of our house today. We had a couple of flower beds already, but they were kind of empty. So we lit out at the crack of dawn this morning and went to a nursery in El Paso (just past Vilonia) and bought some shrubs. Then we went to Home Depot and bought some huge ferns. Then I painted part of the front of the house (where I am not longer sure we will be able to put scaffolding) with a roller. That takes forever.
Tomorrow, I need to finish tiling my bath tub. And decluttering. And, more decluttering. This does not strike me, right at this moment, as my smartest move ever.
Is anything more alluring that stolen moments to write? Right now, I should be coding my research project, which is due on Tuesday. But I am not. Here I am instead, with too much to say and everything wanting to come out in a jumble.
The news of today? The county I grew up in has some of the cleanest air in the nation. That does not surprise me in the least. But I can't help but think back to high school when one of my friends did a science fair project on acid rain, and discovered that nowhere was safe from it, not even Newton County, of the A air quality rating given by the American Lung Association.
In other news, I have decided that I desperately want to sell my house. And truthfully, it is not that I don't love my house-- I do! But I need a four bedroom house in a way that is hard to express. Miss O occupies our bedroom, Mea's bedroom and the living room. I so want *one* room where all of her stuff can reside! I even know the house I want. It has four bedrooms and was built in the 1950s, and was never updated. Paneling everywhere! And a pink bathtub in one of the bathrooms. Pink! 1950s cotton candy pink. And you know what? I would totally leave it.
This is so, by far, not everything I want to say, but I have miles to go before I sleep.
My life is a bit overwhelming. I sorted through paperwork for a good portion of the day trying to find everything we need for our house loan application.
MLK is awesome. I got a whole extra day to work on my homework.
I am trying to make my computer desk into something other than a chaotic mess. So we went to the box store and brought home a couple of cabinet pieces to set on either side of the desk, and to hide the cpu. I built an awesome computer, but the case is huge. And sucks dust like nobody's business. So I am hoping that keeping it in a cabinet might reduce some of the dust. And it will certainly be hidden. And we got a drawer unit, to hold the media that go with a computer. I have a ton of CDs. A *ton*. Installation CDs, kids games, clip art, backup files. All of these need a home.
Of course, lots of stuff at my house needs a home. I have way too much stuff. And every time I begin to think about getting rid of some of it, I get overwhelmed and distracted.
We all drove up to Mom and Dad's today. First, though, I had to get my tags renewed-- because I am a loser and did not do it in October when I was supposed to. Traffic was terrible coming up here. Trucks everywhere, and Miss O had to go to the restroom three times.
We got our new heat and air system installed. It is really nice to have heat again ; )
Old houses certainly have quirks.
I seem to be having a gathering at my house in December, which means I have to throw out stuff. I cannot bear for my oldest friends to see the mess my house is. And Do is probably going to stop by on her way to Louisiana. So, yeah, I have to clean my house. And I need to paint my living room, dining room, and trim. Because I have nasty paneling in my living room and ugly knotty pine trim in both the living room and dining rooms. And my dining room is yellow. Which is fine, until I paint my living room, then they will clash. And they are only divided by columns. So, they have to match.
All this after my final paper is due on Dec. 8, grades are due a week after that. Then I am free for a week to clean my house.
I have discovered that I am broke. My debt to income ratio is too high.
How did I discover this wonderful piece of information? Our furnace went out. It just will not come on any more. And even when it did work, it was inefficient and obviously on its last legs.
So we have to buy a new one. A $6000 new one.
And my dad has to co-sign. I find this depressing. I try to pretend that I am enough of a grownup to not need my parents help all the time. And truthfully, we manage most of the time. We have bought two houses on our own. We have bought vehicles on our own. We paid for the transmission on our truck when it went out. We did, however, get help when the air conditioning went out on my van. They offered, though, because they thought that it was making me sick to go without air conditioning (and it was).
So that is where I am. In my mid-thirties and still not financially independent. I hate that. Hate that.
