People get very attached to their homes. That’s kind of an understatement. People fall in love with their homes, especially when they’ve lived there a long time. Their houses become a labor of love and a reflection of themselves. So how do you tell someone that you like their house…but….it stinks. It reeks. We’ve found a great house. Nice floor plan. Excellent neighborhood. Close to the new job. Less than we wanted to spend. A bargain. Except for the stench... Read more

House hunting boredomthey all start to look alikefloor plans a big blur Brain has turned to mushI stopped thinking days agoOn autopilot That about sums it up. Between FICO scores, and mortgage points, interest rates, floor plans and amenities, my brain has locked up and stopped working. I have lost the power of intelligent thought, not that it was ever high-voltage to begin with. I just want to wave a magic wand and be a month down the road and... Read more

I got the dreaded phone call yesterday. The one you get when your child has gone away with someone else and then they call you and say “She’s alright, but….” #1 went on a youth group trip to Six Flags in Dallas. She broke her left front tooth on one of the rides. About a third of it. Gone. She saw the chunk go flying as the ride kept spinning. She’s an 11 year old girl who had a naturally... Read more

Welcome, South Africa, to the sidebar! Thanks for stopping by, please come again! Read more

We think we may have found a house. By “We” of course I mean that I have found a house and my dear sweet husband is prepared to let me have my way. That’s the way it should be. He leaves and goes to the office. I am stuck at home for most of the day. We should buy the one I like. On the other hand, he is the one who earns the paycheck and we should buy something... Read more

We have five. Not a lot by our grandparents standards, and nothing compared to the amazing Imelda with 11, but a huge family by modern standards. House hunting for our crew is turning out to be much more interesting than we thought it would be. There are not many choices in our price range in the size that we need. Then there are the stunned silences. The mortgage broker, the real estate agent’s secretary, the neighbors of the houses we... Read more

Summertime in Oklahoma would be more honestly known as “Fly Season”. They’re everywhere. Every house looks like the set of the Amityville horror with the swarms on the windows. We killed 32 this morning. 32! and this is a regular day. We’ll probably massacre 20 or more this afternoon before the Computer Guy gets home. I hate flies. They’re nasty. They eat poop and throw up on stuff, and my husband has OCD….do you have any idea what it is... Read more

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Read this. Loved it. Had to share. You see them at the grocery, or in a discount store. It’s a big family by today’s standards – “just like stair steps,” as the old folks say. Freshly scrubbed boys with neatly trimmed hair and girls with braids, in clean but unfashionable clothes follow mom through the store as she fills her no-frills shopping list. There’s no begging for gimcracks, no fretting, and no threats from mom. The older watch the younger,... Read more

I am sorry that I have not posted in the last 10 days. How is that possible? Can it have been 10 days already? We have been house hunting. We need something closer to the Computer Guy’s new job. (He starts today. Good Luck, Computer Guy! I love you!) We figured out that it was going to cost us $18 a day in gasoline for him to commute. I don’t know about you, but I can think of many things... Read more