Blech!

There is a bathroom in my house that I never use.
#1, I rarely go downstairs.
#2, It has been broken for a while. The toilet is wonky and we haven't been able to spare the couple of hundred $ to hire the plumber. No biggie, we have two other bathrooms.

Never using this restroom has proven to be a HUGE problem this afternoon.

I have been downstairs for the last few days trying to catch up on the mountain of laundry that leaving that chore to the minions doesn't seem to get done. This evening, as I was moving the queue of baskets closer to the laundry room, I happened to catch a glimpse of something odd out of the corner of my eye.

The ceiling in the unused bathroom is turning black.

The aforementioned area of ceiling is directly under the shower in our master bath upstairs. You can imagine my reaction.

What the ...?! Son of a...!! (that is "heck" and "gun" for those of you who don't know me in person.)

Needless to say, I was feeling a bit gloomy as this evidence of my "new" house's true age reared its ugly head. Leaky pipes somewhere under the shower. We are probably going to have to tear out the whole floor/ceiling to get this fixed. (And by "we" I mean the contractor my husband and I hire.)

I have started to cheer up a bit since the realization first hit.

#1, before the end of the year we should have enough money (end of year bonus) to cover the repairs. (and tax refund will definitely cover it if the bonus doesn't)

#2, I HATE our master bath. It is TINY. I never shower in there. (I am not TINY.) The shower is smaller than an old fashioned phone booth. The entire bathroom is smaller than...hmm...I can't think of anything comparable...a department store dressing room, maybe?

Why does that cheer me up? you ask. Well, that side of our bedroom has two doors, the bathroom and a walk-in closet. The closet is just as deep as the bathroom, just separated by a wall...and if we are going to have to rip the floor / bathroom to the guts...Do you see where I am going with this? I don't really NEED a walk-in closet.

That moldy/algae-ish whatever it is that has been growing under our secret leak could be just the push we need to do some nice minor remodeling.

PS- My daughter, who is in charge is cleaning the cat litter box in the downstairs bathroom, said she noticed the spreading blackness, but didn't know what it was so didn't think it was necessary to notify an adult. grrrrrr, we are definitely going to have a talk...

No Panic

DH said that as far as he could tell, after talking with the Churchill Mortgage
guy, we are almost definitely getting the loan. So, about 90% done with house shopping then.

We took Mom by to show her the place. She had been there when it was DH's office, but only just to pop in and pick him up one time a long time ago. It looks very different now without all the computer desks, etc. I took some pictures to show interested parties over the net, like you and people I know from forums and old friends in Alabama, etc.

If all goes well we should be moving in early April.

The House might SELL

Well, I got home from the Poetry Reading (see below) at about 4pm. There was a message on the machine form the realtor basically saying, "It is 12:30. I am coming by to show the house at 1."

At least by the time I found out there was no reason for me to panic, I had already missed it, lol.

I called her to find out if everything had gone ok and to find out if showing a house twice in a week was a good sign that it would sell quickly.

She said:
1. She has shown the house 3 times.
2. The house has been fine, I should not panic about how it looks, especially since...
3. The people who saw it today told her they were going to go to the bank to find out if they could get the money.

She said they realize we have rights and we aren't going to be kicked out too soon. Still, it is a good thing we already started preparing and planning. This could have hit hard if I had just buried my head in the sand and thought that since the market is so bad that the house would just not sell.

Good thing I made the bed this morning!

House-showing yesterday

If you are wondering why I haven't posted in a while. (I don't think anyone was. No one reads this blog but me.) I had a call from the realtor Monday afternoon to let me know that someone wanted to see the house Tuesday morning at 10. So, I have been cleaning like a mad woman and trying to at least only moderate slobs live here instead of rip-roaring MEGA SLOBS. I think I managed that.

We stuffed all of the dirty laundry into garbage bags and put them in the SUV, lol. Mostly it was the girls' clothes. Today and tomorrow as I am washing them all I am going to make sure that about half (maybe more) go to charity, or friends, or family, or ANYONE who wants them that is not one of my daughters.

DD9 suggested that to make it easier next time someone wants to see the house we should try to keep is as clean as possible in between showings. Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

Take a Deep Breath

I just watched a lady I have never seen before pound a For Sale sign into my front yard.

Well, actually, it isn't MY front yard. The front yard actually belongs to my landlady. AND apparently, she has decided to get out of the landlady business.

We are paid up until May, so I am trying not to panic. The housing market sucks right now, so I am trying not to panic. We recently paid off DH's old debts so we MIGHT be able to get a mortgage, so I am trying not to panic.

I am trying not to panic.

I am going to start seriously pitching stuff we don't need around here. But I will hold off on taking the furniture apart. For now.

Things could be worse. I won't panic.