Monthly Archives: January 2006

As in, before the crazy people get all their crap out. So you’ll have to look past the rather large amount of clutter in these pictures and imagine what it will be like when it’s cleaned out. But first, some tidbits from the adventure:

– The house is being sold because the owners are divorcing. They’re divorcing partly because the man has taken up with his former secretary. The two of them are now living in the house, and she (the girlfriend) doesn’t want him to sell. The house had been on the market over 4 months when we went to see it. At our initial appointment, the girlfriend locked us out of the house and refused to let us in even when their agent banged the crap out of the front door using the lockbox as a knocker.

– The owners’ agent consistently referred to the girlfriend as “that bitch” in our presence.

– When we finally got into the house, the girlfriend sat in the dining room glaring at us and tried to report our realtor for harrassment.

– The whole upstairs of the house emits the fragrant aroma of years and years of pot smoking.

– The owners’ agent was almost criminally incompetent, unable to walk her client through a purchase agreement, help them make a counter-offer, or even fill out and submit the requisite paperwork for putting the house on the market in the first place. All of this was ultimately taken care of or initiated by our realtor.

– The owner’s dog, a huge rottweiler/doberman mix, was housed primarily in the basement, where it “marked” the crappily-installed wall panelling to the point that it was starting to warp and pull away from the basement foundation. (All of the panelling will be removed before we move in. Though the owner had a really hard time understanding why on earth we’d feel like we had to remove that stuff in order to make the house livable.)

So, yeah, it’s been interesting! We’re just keeping our fingers crossed that nothing too insane happens at the closing, which is on the 27th. But it’s looking like the house is ours, and I think with a little TLC it will be a wonderful first home. Anyway, here are the pictures – remember to look past the clutter!

This is the front of the house:

This is the living room – behind all the crap there’s a fireplace with built-in bookcases on either side:

This is the dining room – more built-ins and that awesome wood panelling on the walls.

Here’s the ceiling in the dining room:

Here’s the kitchen, which as you can see was “updated” some time in the 1970s:

And here’s the extreeeeem pink bathroom:

So, yep, we’ll have plenty of remodelling projects to keep us busy! But it sure will be nice to be doing them in a place of our own.

Feeling a little overwhelmed. Paperwork still needs to be signed and it’s not a done deal, but they accepted our offer. I’ll post some pictures later. Um … wheee?

I don’t know which it is, but I’ll tell you this: since I started really showing, our cat Oscar can’t get enough of sitting/sleeping on my belly. What’s funny about this is that it usually makes Hoss kick, so it’s like there’s this weird kitty/fetus connection. I don’t think Oscar is heavy enough for Hoss to really feel him (though he/she might be able to feel the purring vibrations), but I’m sure Oscar can feel some of the kicks from the baby. Normally, I’d think that kind of unseen movement would freak Oscar the hell out, but Hoss’s kicks don’t even phase him. It’s like he’s incubating the baby, just curled up on my tummy, purring away. Do you suppose this means that Hoss will have whiskers?

Well, I exaggerate slightly – it could be worse. We have an awesome realtor and mortgage broker, so we feel very lucky. But suffice it to say that our current negotiations are being made slightly more … colorful, shall we say, due to the complete mental instability of several of the parties involved. I’m not going to give out any more details until it’s over one way or the other, because I’m supersitious like that, but you’ll get a good story when it’s done! We’re having the house inspected tomorrow afternoon, and with a tiny bit of luck we should know if we’re getting the house or walking away by this weekend. Keep your fingers and toes crossed that things work out in our favor – it would be real nice to be done looking.

Busybusybusy. But here’s a brief update:

– The house hunt continues. We’ve made an initial offer on a place, but everything is still up in the air; I’ll blog the details (and possibly pictures) as soon as I’m able. Suffice it to say that Mr. Squab is having heart palpitations and keeps muttering phrases like “money pit” and “this is happening too fast” and “I feel sick” under his breath. Keep your fingers crossed. I think.

– I’m having another ultrasound tomorrow, partly just to make sure everything is still OK (no reason to think otherwise) and partly to see if Hoss will be more cooperative this time about letting the doctors see his/her kidney and heart functions, or something. Seeing as how he/she is kicking me in the bladder on a fairly regular basis and with increasing intensity, I’m pretty sure all is well. But it will be nice to see the little bugger again.

– The job, it sucks. Not really newsworthy, I know, but I just thought I’d state it for the record.

– and, oh, yeah: Happy New Year!