Weekend down.
Another 2' or so of paperwork shredded/sorted/filed/recycled. David had the excellent idea of getting one of those 'neat receipts' scanners and using that to cut down on the stuff we're keeping (recipe clippings, project sketches, interesting magazine articles, lists). They use them a lot at work, apparently. Also finished organizing the chest freezer and donated a ton of extra food to the Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
Curt and Petra came over with their truck on Saturday and were wonderful and helped us get rid of a lot of the big junk that we couldn't put into the apartment dumpster. They ended up wanting the giant desk, but will have to come back for it later this week/this coming weekend. We splurged a bit on dinner and got T-bone steaks (monsters) for the grill and had corn and twice baked potatoes and caesar salad and caramelized pineapple over ice cream. And I made mango lemonade. And then we all exploded. Very good though, from what I heard.
Yesterday, Greg (with David for support) went to the dealership to get a new (used) car to replace the Breeze, which at this point has really seen better days and is becoming unreliable. He picked a Ford Focus, a stick shift, so there was some weird shuffling of cars so that David could drive it home and then give Greg some lessons. Sounds like he'll be fine...I'm not
too nervous.
David and I also discussed house options. Extensively. With everyone. AND our mothers. Got some really good advice, and some that was not-so-helpful. Mom says that we shouldn't be looking for an investment, because what we're really buying is the place we're going to live in. Discussing it so much really solidified in my mind that we really aren't into The Stripper, even if it is a good deal. And that we are really crazy about the Wisteria, and want to try as hard as we can, either to get it (ideal) or to get it off the table and out of the realm of possibility. We've got what I think is a good plan to try. David is talking to the mortgage consultant today.
Here's the thing: what we
thought was going to happen with this process:
Buying a house and paying the mortgage is a better option right now than renting. We can't afford very much and our credit is meh and we don't have a down payment saved up, so there's no way we'll find a 'dream home' on our budget. This will be a starter home, not someplace we stay in for years and years and have kids in. This will be a house we deal with until we can move on. We'll find something we can deal with. We'll buy it, put up with the problems, live in it for a few years, maybe do some upgrades, and meanwhile save for a down payment on the home we actually want.
And then we found something we actually DO love, and could have kids in, and would want to stay in. This is the house we were thinking we'd have to wait 3 years for.
But the two plans aren't even comparable. We can't put these houses next to eachother and pick the better one. We have Plan One: Stopgap Measures While We Save Up, and Plan Two: A House We'll Stay In For A Long Time. They were supposed to happen in order. Now there is the possibility of skipping Plan One and going straight to Two, and
MAN does that look good. So now we're looking for two homes: one that fits the Plan One criteria (not that bad, could handle it) and one that fits the Plan Two criteria (love it, see us continuing to love it). ARRRGGGGGGGGHHH! *rips hair out* I do not like difficult decisions! (David has found something in Auburn that looks like it might be a nicer Plan One than the Stripper...I forsee another long drive coming our way...)
Thursday I took my old portfolio and some sketchbooks into work for Jay to look at. I got a lot of compliments and suddenly I feel awful about not drawing for two years. I thought I didn't enjoy it anymore and I wasn't good enough at it anyways and so I was okay with not having time/energy/pain-free hand but now there's this awful gnawing, gaping HOLE in my gut that's saying "OMG what the hell is wrong with you, painting makes you HAPPY and confident and you've been avoiding it for years." Uhg.
( This week's stuff TO DO )