Christmas Lights

We decorated the house last week with Christmas lights and the tree. I love the star lights; they were at Big Lots and pretty inexpensive. Someone keeps messing with the controls, though. They have about 8 different blinking options, and I have them on steady on. Twice they were steady on when I've come home, and then hours later I've looked out the window to see that my front porch has become a disco party. I have my suspects. It just weirds me out that we haven't heard the culprits on the porch when they've come to change them...



We also put up the tree. I took this picture right after I took the pictures outside in the cold, so the lens fogged up and gave that soft focus look. Between that, the paneling, and the shag, it looks like the ghost of Christmas past. Matt and I were considering Photoshopping pictures of us as children into it and sending it out as a Christmas card. Over the past week, the tree has also developed a distinct lean to the right.We'll l have to fix it before my family's fake Christmas tomorrow.

Totalled

So, last Friday night I was on my way home from work. Nearly home, in fact - don't they say that the majority of accidents occur closer to home? I was minding my own business, thinking about what I needed to do when I got home, when it hit me.

Or rather, she hit me. With her car.

It wasn't icy or even rainy, and she wasn't drunk or anything like that. It was just one of those things where someone gets distracted at exactly the worst moment. She was turning into Dunkin Donuts, and did it right as I was driving past the entrance, and so she drove into my front end. The airbags went off, the driver's side door wouldn't open, and a lot of little pieces of my car wound up all over Eddy Road. And her car was just as bad. Turns out that the woman who hit me is a member of Ste. Marie, and so was the lady who stopped and let us use her cell phone (it's always when you you really need, when it's the moment you say that you get a cell phone for, that is the most likely moment for the battery to die, isn't it?). So it was a fairly amicable accident, all things considered.

At first, I was really annoyed. I mean, I was soooooo close to having this car paid off, and I had been thinking about all the things I would do with the money. I had had dreams of new carpeting and painting walls. But that's going to be delayed apparently. And I was annoyed about having to deal with the hassle of renting a car, making all kinds of calls, and now finding a new car, and all the time that takes up.

But as the week has gone by, I've been thinking about things and learning some things. First of all, my friend Bill said something which was not intended to be about me, but I think God wanted me to hear it. Bill said that sometimes God allows things to happen because He wants us to remember that we always rely on Him. So when we begin getting too big, too full of ourselves, He permits things which He knows will make us turn to Him and lean on Him and recognize that He is the giver of all good gifts. And so I think God is reminding me of this in a very gentle way.

The second thing is that the woman who hit me is in a much worse position by this accident. She's been unemployed for the past year, and the unemployment benefits run out in January. Also, her insurance company totalled her car, and she has no way to get another. Now, Matt and I will get by. We'll get another car, and we'll deal with still having a car payment. We are by no means ruined by this accident.

But we both are worried now for this woman, and praying for her. So I want to ask all 6 or so people who read this to pray for Ann as well. Pray that somehow, whether it's by finding another job for her, or help from her family, or the generosity of people who know her, that she is able to get through this time. ad marjorem gloriam dei, right?

Cutting Down Our Christmas Tree

Matt's family has a tradition where they go cut down their Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We joined them and chose our tree, and helped the rest of them pick out their trees and cut them down. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the day. You can see all 158 pictures here.

You can see all 158 pictures here

First Home Project

The best home projects involve at least:

• new wiring
• cutting holes in exterior walls
• many trips to the hardware store
• soldering
• lot of help

That's why we decided to make our first project putting the washer and dryer into the bathroom. The way that it was set up when we moved in, the washer was in the bathroom and the dryer was in the basement. Neither of them were High Efficiency, and simply having to haul the laundry up and down the stairs made it less likely that we would get laundry done until we had completely gone through all our socks and underwear. So this was one of the things we really wanted to get done first.

Matt ripped out the bottom cabinet against the back wall of the bathroom the other night. Then on Thursday, Hip came and helped him remove half the top cabinets. Then the real work began. Mike came over on Friday night and helped Matt run the wire for the new outlet and they also cut a hole in the wall and installed the vent for the dryer. Matt's parents also came over with tools and made a run to Lowes to pick up some supplies. Then Saturday morning, Matt, his dad, and Aaron moved the washer and dryer upstairs and finished up the outlet. Today, Hippert came back and they did some repairs to the plumbing.

Two days, one disastrously messy kitchen, and about $250 later, we have laundry on the first floor.


We've lost the storage space that we had in the cabinets, but the top cabinet should be enough to store toilet paper and towels. We'll be putting a small counter on the bottom half, with a hamper and laundry detergent and such underneath it. It's still messy looking now, but we're running the washer and I'm sure it will be much easier to get the laundry done. Which means it might actually get done on a regular basis!

Spamalicious

I hate spam. I seem to get a ridiculous amount of spam by email, and now I'm getting spam comments on the blog on a pretty much a daily basis. So I've added a word verification requirement here for comments. Hopefully it doesn't also prevent real people from posting.

Last night Matt and I went to see Boondock Saints II as "date night." Date night is in quotes because we went with Mike, Paul, and Anthony, and frankly, it was guys' night and I was tagging along. Boondock Saints was an unapologetically guy movie, and the sequel followed the same format; lots of shooting and swearing and absolutely no romantic subplot at all. They even indulged in a rant about being men and driving fast and smoking and eating red meat. Grrrr. The movie was good, not as good as the first one, but it was pretty good. The fact that it was guys night was okay because it was nice to spend time with them, and we went to the theater in Methuen and we drove our own car so it gave us time to talk on the way there and back again. It was good to be in the car where we weren't distracted by all of our creature comforts of home - the tv, the computer, etc - and we talked about work, the house, family. Quality time, for sure.

For the house, we are hoping to get the laundry situation updated next weekend. The plan is to move our washer and dryer into the bathroom, putting the laundry on the first floor, and give Matt's parents the washer which came with the house (which is a fairly new machine, energy efficient and works pretty well). That means ripping out the lower cabinets in the bathroom, installing a new outlet with a dedicated circuit breaker and a vent for the dryer. I'm a little concerned about losing the storage in the cabinet, but I'm sure we'll be able to work it out. I'm more concerned about where we're going to put the laundry detergent, because the upper cabinets are too shallow to hold a big jug. We'll have to measure and see if we can fit a narrow deep shelf in between the washer and dryer. I'm hoping! I'm also debating whether we can install a laundry chute from our room to the bathroom. That would be the best!

Pumpkins & pomegranates

Tonight, Matt and I are running Life Teen. It's a social and Matt came up with the theme: Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. Which basically means that we're playing pumkin themed games and eating pumpkin themed treats. We're playing Ghost in the Graveyard, and we'll also have pumpkin putt putt (you putt into the pumpkin, you don't putt the pumpkin), pumpkin pass, and one last game which will be a surprise.

Last night I made 48 pumpkin cupcakes, and Matt got the Dunkins at his work to donate pumpkin donuts. The kid we're planning the night with works for cold stone creamery and is bringing their pumpkin ice cream. I really hope there's a bunch if people there or we'll have crazy leftovers!

On a whim, I bought a pomegranate thinking I'd eat it all myself. Well, turns out Matt's never had them before and he Loves them, so we bought a couple more at the grocery store last night. I was looking up recipes and the most interesting one so far has been pomegranate martini. I'll have to buy a few things before we try that.

So much to say, so little time

Man, we've been busy over the past few weeks! Owning a house is great, it really is. I love having all of this potential, all these things that we can do. Over the past couple weeks, Matt and I have rearranged furniture, compared paint colors and half-way organized our room. We've had friends over, and family, and we're planning a big housewarming kind of bash this weekend. As great as it is, though, it seems like there's always more things to get done, more cleaning or moving furniture around, or dishes or laundry.

Not that we're actually doing any of that stuff; I'd hate to give the impression that we're a bundle of energy and industry, bustling around the house and putting everything in order like the animals in Snow White. I would estimate that for every hour we've spent actually doing something to the house toward getting it in order or improving it, we've probably spent 3 hours playing Rock Band, watching movies, or surfing the internet. I wish we were more disciplined, but neither of us has the drive it takes to come home from work and then commit to a few hours of cleaning and organizing.

So we get it done in fits and starts. Last night Mike came over and helped Matt install the surround sound system. Now that that's in, we can figure out the layout of the room, hang pictures, and generally get that room in order. While they were working in the living room last night, I got started on organizing my desk and craft nook in the upstairs hall. Tonight I was hoping we'd get a few loads of laundry done, organize the front living room, and sort out our room a bit more, but I've been dealt the migraine card today, so I don't know how much of that we'll get done.

Or maybe we'll snuggle on the couch and watch "Confessions of a Shopaholic," which arrived from Netflix and looks pretty darn good. I might get enough sympathy on the headache that Matt might tolerate a chick flick. I'm just glad I'd planned on having leftovers tonight and I don't actually have to do anything for dinner.

What's for dinner?

I have a whole bag of apples from our trip to Mack's this weekend, and I also had a leftover leek from making soup to bring to work. So when I saw this recipe on Real Simple's website, I knew I had to try it this week. The good news is that it's also super easy. You simply throw apples, leeks, and chicken in a baking dish with oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Bake for 45 minutes or so. Which was just enough time to wash the prep dishes, vacuum the first floor and the stairs, and use up all of my energy in Mafia Wars.


The chicken came out incredibly tender and moist. The apples released their juices and made a delicious braising liquid. I was a little wary of the leek, since I've never eaten them as a side vegetable. My prior experience with them has been only in soups where they've been simmered and pureed until they're hard to distinguish individually. But they were really delicious, kind of a cross between onion and celery, and the apple added a complimentary sweetness. We'll see what Matt thinks when he gets home, but I feel pretty confident.

Apple Picking

Baby boy Vigneau has finally arrived. He came in the middle of the night, so Allison went and took Keira this morning to give Mike and Tanya time to rest. She called me to see if I wanted to go with them to Mack's Apples in Londonderry for some apple picking. I had been thinking about going to Mack's today also, so I called Theresa and we all went.

And when we brought Keira home, we got a peek at Israel Benedict. Whom Keira was insisting on calling "Baby Mac."

Oh Right, Pictures...

Here are the pictures I said I'd post. These are the rooms which are presentable right now. Check back this weekend to see if I managed to clean our room or organize my desk nook!

Night Visitors

As promised, I'm posting pictures of the house now that we've moved in and unpacked (most) (well, almost half) (listen, I'm working on it) of our stuff. But before I share those pictures, I have to share pictures of our most recent visitors.

Last week when the garbage truck came around for pick up, they skipped our house. I don't know if it was because the house has been empty for so long or if we actually needed to notify the highway department. But after unpacking - with all of the packing materials to dispose of - and a week and a half of living in the house and having people over, we had quite a bit of garbage to have picked up. I called the highway department today and they promised to have someone out here "first thing in the morning" to pick up our garbage. Not knowing how early that was, I brought everything out to the curb so that I didn't miss them tomorrow morning.

Then Matt and I took a walk when he got home from work. We went over to the old apartment and checked in with the St. Pierres to drop off the keys and pick up any mail which was still being delivered there. After chatting with him for a bit and bringing his garbage cans to the curb for him, we strolled back home. As we approached our street, we saw the first of our night visitors:

There he was, happily snacking away and blocking the way to our door. I am sure our new neighbors thought we were crazy. We stood there in the street, stamping out feet, clapping, yelling and generally trying to make as much noise as possible without disturbing the whole block. This did not work. Pepe le Pew was very focused on the chicken scraps he'd found. So we started looking for rocks. Darn our neighbors and their well-tended lawn. The wasn't a single useful rock to be found. I managed to find a few along the guardrail and we threw those, but we didn't want to actually hit the skunk for two reasons: 1) we didn't want to make him spray us and 2) it just feels wrong to throw rocks at animals. After being unsuccessful with the rocks, Matt pulled some dead branches off a tree and kind of threw them to make them skitter at the skunk. The skunk responded by laying down and making himself more comfortable.

So Matt put his paintball skills to use and snuck around the side yard while I kept watch at a safe distance. He managed to get to his car and pulled it out of the driveway, finally scaring the skunk enough to make it skedaddle under the guardrail. I ran around to the porch and we decided we'd have to move the bags in until morning, so Matt cut the engine and began getting out of the car. As soon as the car lights died, the skunk turned and began running right back to the garbage bags. Back on goes the car. We grabbed the bags and ran for the side porch. Matt got there first, opened the door, tossed his bags in and turned to grab the ones I held. He let out a yelp, which took to mean that the skunk was chasing me and so I yelled and dove into the enclosed porch. I dove right into night visitor #2:

Just to give you a sense of scale, this spider was about the size of a nickle, not including the legs, and he was dangling at forehead level right in front of the side door. My very manly husband ran into the kitchen and told me to get the rest of the bags because he was not going outside again. So I grabbed the camera and snapped a couple quick pictures

Now I'm going to eat dinner.

(Finally) Home

I'm interrupting radio silence at last. It took a week and a half to get Comcast out to the new house and install our internet, which is why I've not been able to post. I will try to catch things up over the next few days about the move and the house and our huge list of projects.

First, the move.I was amazed with how many people came to help, and how quickly we got everything out of the apartment and the first truck load ready to go. We started at 10 and we were headed to the new house by 11:30! And at that point, pretty much everything we owned was in the truck or the driveway (Thank God it was a nice day).

When we got to the house, I was too busy directing which rooms to put boxes in and what to unpack first to take pictures. Once the basics were in and unpacked, we stopped to grill some hotdogs and hamburgers and to feast on Kim's amazing lazagna. We also took a break to sing Happy Birthday to Mike (whose birthday had been the week before).

I'll post more later today, including pictures of the house now that we've moved in!

1 week to go

So we have one week until closing. I am both excited and frantic with everything that needs to get done! Packing, getting the utilities set up, recruiting help, and prioritizing everything that needs to get done once we're in is a little overwhelming, but I know we'll get it all done. Our place right now is a disaster, with everything pulled out of closets and drawers, and many things to pack, throw away, or donate.

I am very happy that Matt and Mike found a Craig's List listing sq feet of maple hardwood flooring for a bargain price, and it turns out that the guy who's selling works at the same place Mike does. Makes the actual purchase of it pretty easy since Mike can get it from the guy after work today. I didn't think we're be able to even think about buying flooring until next spring, so this was a really nice surprise. I am pretty sure that it will go in the dining room to replace the green carpet, but we won't make any decisions about that until we're actually moved in.

I'm also pleasantly surprised to learn that we might qualify for USAA since Matt's dad was in the military. This means we might be able to get home insurance through them, which is supposed to be less expensive than other options out there. Matt's mom is calling them today to find out.

Very Superstitious

Many times in the past few weeks, I've picked up the laptop to blog about what's been going on, and there's been something which has made me put it aside. I hadn't been very aware of it, but part of me knew I was doing it, and I didn't want to think about it too much. Then this morning, I realized that I am being superstitious - afraid I might jinx our good fortune.

We have found a house, and we're under agreement. It's a great house, in very good condition structurally, the systems in good order, and the location is good, too; The last house on a dead end street, close to church and family. We had the inspection last week, and the appraisal should happen this week. The lot is big, .68 acres, but that's deceptive because a large part of it is steeply sloping, and would not be usable for things like a pool or patio. But when we were there with my parents, my dad and I were talking about what we could do with the yard and it still has potential. We can pull some trees and carve out some of the slope to have a sort of tiered yard, and the hillside facing east is a perfect location for berry bushes. And there is enough space in the level area for a small garden, and there's a screen house.

Our awesome carpet. Well, almost ours. Hopefully.

The interior is pretty dated, and we'll have lots of renovations to do to update. Lots of panelling to pull down, and carpeting to pull up. But the inspector said that there's very little we have to do right away, and most everything is stuff we can do as time and finances permit. So we'll need to have an electrician come in right away, and we'll need to pull out the wall a/c unit in the dining room and close up that section of outside wall, but other than that, it's going to be one project at a time for years to come.

Isaac and Me-mere came to the insection last Wednesday

If that all goes according to plan, we'll be closing on the 25th, which is 2 weeks from tomorrow. Yikes! We have so much packing and organizing to do, and it really feels like we have very little time to do it. Matt is working on Saturdays, and on his day off during the week he is taking care of Isaac, so he's not home to pack or anything like that except at night after work. At least he can bring laundry with him to get that done while they play. I have a wedding to sing at on Saturday, and we have youth group stuff to do for the next few weeks, but other than that my days will be spent packing and throwing stuff out and buying stuff like garbage cans and blinds for the house.

What I'm Listening To

I love audiobooks. I like listening to them in the car while I'm driving, and I love listening to them when I'm doing housework or running errands. But they can be expensive, so I have been lately exploring the world of free podcasts, and thought I'd post a few I'm enjoying:

• This American Life: This is a weekly radio program on NPR which runs about an hour long. Each week's program focuses on a theme, and they'll usually have 3-4 stories about that them. I've been listening to it on the radio for years, and the podcast used to cost money. I'm thrilled now that they're making it available for free.
• The Moth: The Moth is a story-telling project in which people tell true stories live and in front of an audience. Some of them are funny, some are stunning, and all of them are really well done. I came across it because there are some of the Moth's stories which are included in some This American Life episodes.
• Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me: NPR's news quiz. Funny, and I always seem to catch a bit of news that eluded me throughout the week, and then I'll go find out what the heck they were talking about.
• Jim Kelly's Free Reads: a NH writer who is reading his work in a serial format and posting semi-regularly. I'm still listening to archives, so I haven't been paying attention to how often he posts, but he keeps commenting on how he's missed posting dates, so I'm guessing it's irregular. And on August 5 he posted a friend of his reading a story based on a mix of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein, and the second half of the story is yet to be posted! It's a good story so far, so I really want to know how it ends. Right now I'm listening to Jim Kelly's novella, Look Into the Sun. I've really enjoyed his short stories, and I'm loving the novella. A lot of his stories reference NH things, especially Portsmouth. He's a better writer than reader, but whenever I can hear the actual writer reading his work, I'm not complaining.

I also bought The Shack on audio a few weeks ago. I liked a lot of it, tossed away the portions which kind of dig at organized religion. Basically the story is about a man who's daughter is killed, and he has a crisis of faith. In that crisis, he actually meets with God as three persons in a shack in the woods, and talks about what they want from him, who they are as God, and what it means to have a relationship with God. My favorite parts are how God the Father says about everyone "I am especially fond of that person," and the time he spends with Jesus talking about being human and living in God.

So that's about all. A whole post, and I don't talk about house hunting at all! Yay for me.

Nope. didn't get it

Well, it took a couple days to hear back, but Ian finally got a response on the house from this weekend. It went for "well above asking."

Moving on...

Sigh... Goodbye Sundays...

Youth group will be starting again soon. We had our first planning meeting today and we'll be doing more planning for the next several weeks, and I love working with the kids and playing games and talking about God with them. It's hard to give up Sunday nights though, mainly because it's the time we spend being lazy and doing nothing.

I think for me it's especially hard because I have rehearsal first thing in the morning on Sunday (at 9:30), and then mass, and then usually it's family stuff (or lately, looking for houses stuff) and then going back to church by 6 and finishing up around 9:30. So it's 12 hours of going going going, which is not really a day of rest. Since Matt works on Saturdays, Sunday is the only day when neither of us is working and coming home drained.

Lazing around on Sunday evenings is something I'll miss, but I also know that we have a really good time most Sundays. More, it makes us think about our faith and our relationship with God. It gives us opportunities to share our experiences, and it puts us in places where we can pray with the kids and each other. I know that all the years I've worked with the kids have deepened my faith.

Yesterday we looked at a house before Matt went to work and two more after he got out. The first one turned out to be the best; one of the ones we saw in the evening was right on Mammoth Road and pretty ragged looking, though it did have a good backyard. The other one we saw in the evening was a gorgeous Victorian which had been faithfully restored inside, but the electrical was very out of date, the yard was miniscule and the neighborhood was kind of beginning-to-be-sketchy looking. The one we saw in the morning will need a rehab loan to take care of pet-soiled carpeting and the results of what must have been out-of-control teenagers. The yard was smaller than ideal, but the neighborhood was good and it's on a dead-end street. So we offered on it. But the house apparently had several offers on it already, so we'll see what happens. I am trying not to let my heart get caught up again so quickly.

In between while Matt was at work, I ran errands and hung out with John. We were supposed to have gone minigolfing with him last night, but we had to go look at houses. But John and I had a nice visit in the afternoon while I made soup and did some cleaning.

So that was the weekend. We're supposed to know tomorrow if our offer gets accepted, and I'll post here tomorrow evening when I get home.

Really, Why Does It Feel So Much Like Dating?

First of all, thanks for all of the encouragement in the comments. I know that we are very lucky that we are even able to be looking for a house right now and that we will eventually find the right one. It was a big blow on Thursday because we had really felt confident that we were following where God is leading us.

So why the roadblock? Were we wrong? Or does God want us to go through these struggles to teach us something? Is there anyway to know for sure? As I said, we'd "put out a fleece" to try to figure out what to do. Here's one of the things we did: We had pretty much decided what we were going to offer, and so we had my friend, Mitch, go through the whole house with us and give us an estimate on how much it would cost to do everything we wanted to do. We had decided that if his estimate came in below a certain number, we would go forward. It came in below, so we went forward.

We had felt so sure, and things were clicking along so smoothly, that it really was genuine surprise to find that it was not the house after all. And that's what makes me really feel like it's like dating. All the people at work, telling me that they know that the right house is out there for us. That there's a reason and a purpose to all of this. And finding out the house went to someone else really does feel like I had a crush on someone and then found out not only that they were seeing someone else, but they just got engaged.

Well, Darn.

So we're still looking. We saw a house this morning that has a lot of possibility to it. It need a LOT of cosmetic work and probably a new roof. The yard's a little small, but other than that it looks pretty good. We are seeing 2 houses tonight. One is billed as "ready to move in" and one is kind of in between the one this morning and the "ready to move in" house. And we pray and pray and pray.

Also, I don't know what happened to the settings on my blog, but I've lost all my font and formatting buttons. Who stole them?

(ETA: Now they're showing in firefox, but not internet explorer. hmmmm)

Kind of a bad day

Woke up this morning and checked my email to find an alert from the real estate website that the house we are trying to get is now listed as pending, and we haven't heard from our realtor. We're probably not getting it. I am so incredibly bummed about it. And more, I am confused and frustrated about what we are supposed to be doing. Both Matt and I have felt like this is the house God has been leading us to. We've had several things happen in prayer or when we've "put out a fleece" so to speak which gave confirmation that this was right. So now what?

The way I feel right now is hard to express, but here's the song I was listening to on repeat as I was driving into work this morning:

Hello Lord, it's me your child
I have a few things on my mind
Right now I'm faced with big decisions
And I'm wondering if you have a minute,

Right now I don't hear so well
And I was wondering if you could speak up
I know that you tore the veil
So I could sit with you in person
And hear what you're saying but
Right now, I just can't hear you.

I don't doubt your sovereignty
I doubt my own ability to
Hear what you're saying
And to do the right thing
And I desperately want to do the right thing

But right now I don't hear so well
And I was wondering if you could speak up
I know that you tore the veil
So I could sit with you in person
And hear what you're saying but
Right now, I just can't hear you.

And somewhere in the back of my mind
I think you are telling me to wait
And though patience has never been mine
Lord, I will wait to hear from you
Oh Lord, I'm waiting on you

Right now I don't hear so well
And I was wondering if you could speak up
I know that you tore the veil
So I could sit with you in person
And hear what you're saying but
Right now, I think you're whispering

Sara Groves Hello Lord lyrics

I just learned I can post to my blog through my phone by texting. So let's see how this works.

A Day Up North

Matt and I both took the day off yesterday and went up north to Lincoln for a day of hiking & swimming. The day was gorgeous, and the hike was awesome even though the water was really too cold for actual swimming. But we had lunch, waded for a bit, and took a good long walk in the woods. I got a bit of a sunburn on my face and back and shoulders, but the bugs weren't bad at all. On the way home we stopped in Tilton and did some shopping in the outlets. We had dinner at the Tilt'n Diner, and then came home and played video games for the rest of the evening. It was so nice to have a day to spend together without an agenda or obligations. We didn't have a specific time to get up, or a plan on where we were actually going. And because we had all day we were able to talk or even just be quiet together without feeling like we had to get everything in in a short period of time. We talked about the house search, his job search, and a whole lot of nothing important. It was just a great day!

When you find the right one...

It is very strange to me, the advice I've gotten as we've looked for a house. "You'll know the right one when you see it. Maybe not right away, but it will be pretty soon after walking in the door." And, "God has the right house for you, and you just have to wait for his time." And, "Why are you being so picky? You don't need to have so much." And, "What's the rush? Why do you want to find a house so soon? Take your time and enjoy life"

Now, all of this is good advice, I suppose. But my question is, when did buying a house become so much like finding a spouse? There isn't much practical advice given (although I do have to mention the one about trying to find a house close to a school - sexual offenders aren't allowed to live close to a school - which I thought was pretty good advice). And then I have this whole group of friends who are also looking at houses. We trade tips, talk about the houses we've seen, steer each other away from even bothering with the real losers. When Matt and I go out somewhere, I catch myself checking out houses as we drive by.

With the house we were under agreement about, I found myself irritated with the house and the seller; That it could have so much right about it and still turn out to be the wrong one ticked me off to no end. I had the same feelings about a guy I dated a few times many years ago. The guy was funny and smart and I really liked his friends. The dates we had were very fun, and we had a good time together. But things just kind of foundered after the first few dates, and then he stood me up when we were supposed to see my brother's band play, and after that, it was pretty much over. I remember being most annoyed that I had wasted a month or so thinking that this was going somewhere, and he turned out to be the wrong one.

Most of what I picture when I think about the house I want to own is a place where the door's open and people drop in and feel comfortable and relaxed. But there is a difference between showing hospitality and entertaining: hospitality is dependent upon the people who are opening their home to others, while entertaining is more about things - how fancy is the kitchen, how deep is the pool, is the TV a wide screen big enough to watch a movie or a superbowl game? So it's good this morning to remind myself that a house is a piece of property and not a vocation. It's a building which we will likely sell at some point, not a lifetime commitment. While we hope that the house we wind up with will be a great home where we can welcome family and friends and children of our own, we also know that we can still welcome people into our home and our lives as it is right now.

Moving on, not moving in

So after prayer and lots of discussion, we've decided to back away from the house. It seemed like a really nice house, but the seller wasn't willing to negotiate or cooperate a few points. So I had to say good bye to that awesome kitchen, which does make me sad, but Matt and I are convinced that this was the right decision. We both felt confident about this after taking time to pray separately, and even after the seller then came back and said that he would do what we'd asked we still felt that God was guiding us away.

Now we've put in an offer for the house next door. We decided that we wouldn't try to do any negotiation on this one since it's a short sale, and so we offered what we think is a reasonable offer. If they accept it, then we're good, and if not, we walk away. Now, because it's a short sale (which means that the seller owes more than his house is worth, so he's basically asking the bank to take a hit on what's left of the mortgage), our offer has to be reviewed by both the bank and the seller. The bad news is that the bank can take months to respond back. The good news is that the selling broker contacted us to tell us that the offer has to have all kinds of contingent language that says that once they accept we'll move fast to close, which is fine with us. The offer also states that if we find another house we like before the bank accepts our offer, that we can walk away without losing anything.

Some things I've learned about the house since we started thinking about it: our friend Joe used to live in our apartment, and he's always liked the house, too. He said that there many times he "claimed this house for Jesus Christ." And another friend's father-in-law apparently grew up in the house, and he said that they had a tradition of praying the rosary together every Saturday much the same way that Matt's grandparents did. I'm trying not to assume that these are signs, but it's nice to know that it's had that much blessing on it.

The offer is officially on the table as of today. So we'll keep praying.

Maybe having second thoughts

Isn't it always the way? Just when you think everything's settled and you know what the plan is, one weekend can throw you into complete uncertainty.

The house inspection was Friday, and I am officially a fan of John Turner from Criterion Engineering. John was thorough, straightforward, and focused on solutions. Overall, he said he was generally pleased with the house's foundation and the land it's built on. He had great suggestions about the porches - both short term fixes and long term overhauls. He was honest and didn't sugarcoat the issues, but gave us realistic ideas about repairs, replacements and renovations and some idea about what those things would cost.

So what are the issues? Well, the biggest one is the overall heating system:

1. The chimney is in pretty rough shape. It could fall down soon, and I keep thinking of a few years ago when we kept getting freezes and then melting and then freezing, and several bricks fell off of the bell tower of Ste. Marie and one went through someone's car which was parked in the side parking lot. Yikes! John suggested lining with metal or (his preferred method) which uses a rubber ballon that you pour the cement around and then deflate the balloon (um, cool. If we do that, I call dibs on popping it). Alternatively, we could power-vent the burner and then just knock the chimney in and not use it at all.
2. The boiler and furnace has no tags on it. There's no history of maintenance at all. So who knows? It could last us a while, it could crap out this year.
   
3. The oil tanks are 50 years old. They seem in good condition, but there's not a good way to test them and we could find ourselves with several gallons of oil on the basement floor if it gives way when we get a delivery.
   
4. There appear to be at least some walls without insulation. Hmmmm. Wait... what??? How does a house get built in New England without insulation in all exterior walls?
   

Aside from that, there's just a lot of work which is pretty half-assed. Several of the electrical circuits have ground wires, but aren't actually grounded. The plumbing is okay overall, but then John turned on the shower and the cold water won't come on, the middle (which should be a mix of hot and cold) actually gives no water at all. So, hot showers? check. Yeah, not as awesome as you would think. The kitchen cabinets and counter aren't installed right, so the cabinets are a little crooked and the corner where the counter ends meet doesn't line up seamlessly. So it makes us question what else have they screwed up?

And then there's the house next door. The house next door is one I've always thought was pretty, had a nice yard and I know the neighborhood. This weekend, the house went on the market. I've lived on this street for a few years so I know that they did renovations, and it seemed like they did a fairly good job on them. This house is bigger, it has lower taxes, a pool, a fireplace, a larger lot, and a finished basement. So there's a part of me that hopes that first house falls through. BUT, the house next door has a tiny kitchen and it's subject to third party approval, so it would be a headache to go through the buying process on that one.

That's where we are. Matt made the comment that either the house next door is a distraction or it's the house God wants us to have or He's put it in our radar so that we don't buy the first and wind up with the house He does want us to have. Right now I'm hoping for a clear and hard-to-dismiss sign from God about which way we should go on this.

Because I have absolutely no clue at all.

Everything in Proportion

Everyone has things they remember fondly from high school. For my husband and his brother, one of those things is Marino's Rainbow Italian Ice. They tell stories about how they and their friends would buy them and eat them. They analyzed how each person would eat them. They talked about the amazing bottoms where all the sugary syrup would have settled to create an amazing taste sensation. They even spoke with a mixture of awe and longing of "the one" which was pretty much all bottom.



You can imagine Matt's excitement, then, when his brother called to tell him that he had found GIANT Marino Italian Ices at Market Basket. This isn't just big. This is an amazing 5 quart container, equal to 26 of the normal size ones. Of course Matt told Mike to get us two of them. Now, this is not like a gallon of ice cream that you can scoop into manageable servings. No. This is ICE. That means you scrape it directly out of the container until your thighs go numb and you begin to complain to your wife that your arm is getting sore from all the scraping.

Wonder what the bottom will look like on this one?