House Hunting

Fidget and I went and looked at 3 hobby farms yesterday. The last one that we looked at wasn't too bad, but it was about 50 yards from the nearest turkey barn...and it smelled bad. And if it smells bad on a 30 degree day in December, it will be unbearable with a little humidity and/or heat. Needless to say, that one's not for us. The second one we looked at was nice. The house had sort of an odd layout: there's only one bathroom and it's on the mainfloor. Which might be okay...except the laundry room and office/5 th bedroom was on one side of the bathroom and the rest of the house was on the other. That house also featured something I'd never seen before, and something I called the "Jeffrey Dahmer option". It had a room on the second floor with a bathtub in it; the bathtub is not connected to any plumbing, nor is there a commode or a sink in the room. It's literally a room with a claw-foot bathtub in it...with a drain that goes outside, through the wall. Hence my nickname for it. The house was okay, but just didn't feel like it was solid. The first site we looked at was great. The house needs lots of work, but the structure is solid and the price reflects the work it needs. Had a great barn, okay garage, wonderful other building, and a few tin buildings that we would probably tear down. Property needs to be baled, but would be exactly what we're looking for. Except the driveway. The driveway is just over 1/2 mile long, curvy and muddy. It would take $2000-3000 worth of gravel and work just to fix the driveway--and then there's the matter of snow removal in the winter. If it weren't for the driveway, it would be a serious consideration. The well is good, the septic needs work, but the owner is willing to pay half to update that. Damn driveway.

Those were pretty much the only hobby farms near our price range and in the area we're looking at. So, we expanded our area and decided that if we could find a house we loved that there are a few towns nearby we might consider living in.

The market here is ridiculous. The city where I attend school is about 30 miles south of us, and that's where the majority of Fidget's family live so we had initially thought we'd move there. The prices are a joke! If I wanted to spend that kind of money, I would buy a house in the Twin Cities or Denver...where they actually have a job market/economy to support the prices. The little town we live in is the same. It's insanity.

We're hoping the outlook improves in the next month or so. We are selling a turn-key home. We are (at the suggestion of our realtor) painting the halls and living room white. We are doing this even though we just finished faux painting last summer. The houses we have looked at (about 15 so far) have had walls that were hot pink, electric blue, green, black, red...NONE of them have had white walls--or any other neutral shade for that matter. We just got new flooring (linoleum in the bathroom and kitchen/dining and laminate throughout the rest) in the entire main floor of our house. The houses we've looked at all look like they're straight out of the 70's with filthy shag carpeting, gummy old linoleum and the like. And I'm not talking about the "fixer upper" that we looked at!

One place we want to look at, and people will think we're nuts (maybe we are) is an old schoolhouse that's been pseudo-converted into a house. It's tens of thousands below our price range, it's sitting on a few acres, and the area isn't too far from where we want to be. It could be a fun project--but it could also be a pain in the rear.

That's all for now--for those of you in my area, please keep your eyes peeled for hobby farms for us.

Blogging Trouble

So, I may have made a mistake. I don't even pretend to know much about blogging and blog pages and such...but after seeing the ad to update my blogger account, I pushed the "okay" button. And now I have been unable to log in to blogger. Ack! I actually have time right now to be blogging, and I can't get in! So I sent a message to the blogger-helpers, but they have yet to respond. Yes, that's correct, after me spending almost an hour looking all over their site for a way to contact them for assistance without having to access my account, finding it and pleasantly writing the note they have ignored it. Has anyone else been having this problem? What should I do about it?

In any case, I wish you all wonderful Holidays--Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, New Year's, and any others I might have missed.

Since I've received 3 emails plus Dawn's question, I thought I'd answer here:
If I can't blog, how did the post appear?
Good question you all. Apparently none of you have degrees in mind-reading, so I'll answer you. :) I downloaded Firefox. Using Firefox, I went to blogger.com to log in. I was already logged in. I dunno why or how. So that, my inquisitive readers, is how I was able to blog the first time and edit this time. :)

Thank God That's Over

I made it through the week. I've never been stressed about finals like I was this semester. I had a really quirky group of classes this semester...Thank God it's over.

If I EVER mention I'm doubling up on history classes again, please someone smack me.

I think my grades will be decent, and for me that's close to miraculous. I've never cared much for or about school. I graduated high school a semester early just to get away from it.

I'm glad I took these particular classes this semester, as I finally have a goal in mind. Yes, I think I know what I want to be in the unlikely event that I ever grow up.

Fidget and I went Christmas shopping today. It was nice, no huge crowds, no one shoving. I even managed to sneak off and get her a "secret" present. I love it when I can do that. It's a little game we play when we're holiday shopping...I try to lose her in a store and take off to go shopping without her and she tries to not let me do that so she can see what she's getting.

On a completely different note: Our house is up for sale. We've decided to move, although we're staying more or less in this area (within 30 minutes of where we are). More on those specifics later. Here's what I'd like to know from my faithful reader: Are any of you familiar with burying St. Joseph upside down in your yard in order to sell your house? It's (supposedly, according to Fidget's mom) a Catholic thing. I don't know that I have faith in it, but it makes Fidget and her mom happy. Besides, I love to pick on Fidget's mom (from here on known as FM). The other night, Fidget and FM were on the phone talking about when FM was going to come and help us paint (yes, the faux painted walls that we just finished last spring need to be re-painted white...supposed to help the house sell faster...but I digress)...where was I...oh yes, the phone call. I yelled from across the room, "Ask your mom when she's coming to bury Jesus?!" teehee And whenever FM is in the room and the topic of selling a house comes up, I mention burying Jesus. teehee Or what really gets her, "Hey FM, is it legal to bury someone in your yard and then just move away?" (This was asked in a crowded restaurant.) TEEHEE

I know, I'm a shit.

FINALS WEEK APPROACHING...Danger Will Robinson!

So, I believe I am about brain dead now. For the past week, the professors at my university have issued a series of challenges designed to rattle even the most studious of students. Papers, exams, presentations, essays (basically a paper, but the professor thinks it is less "intimidating" to students to call it an essay), and quizzes (it's an exam, see "essay"). Why the last minute rush? Why, it's finals week next week. As if we didn't have enough to do studying for finals, they crammed a shit load of extra in the week before.

Feminist perspectives, inaugural addresses, crime rates, essay exams, cumulative finals, recidivism rates, narcotrafficking, Colombian cocaine exports, abolitionism, suffrage, critical analysis of literature, slavery in the territories, genocide, prisoner empathy...and those are only a FEW of the items I've worked on since coming home from my last class today. What's funny? It's all starting to jumble in my mind...I've got William Lloyd Garrison coming from Colombia; Susan B. Anthony was pro-ERA; Glaspell as an anti-abolitionist...it's all a big, jumbled mess.

I think I'm giving it up for this evening. It means more work tomorrow, but I'm beat. I'm too old for this shit. One of my classmates asked if I'd like to come to a party tonight--I asked her if she was nuts?! Criminy.

I'm going to go and make myself a nice warm cup of soup and become an absolute vegetable in front of the TV. Mindless humor is called for here.