Duh......

As the new year approaches, the fog is thinning out. Cindy made a reference to the ol' glass half full routine, and it seems that we were looking at the real estate mess as a half empty glass. Upon further analysis, it seems that the sub prime mess is an opportunity for us, not an impediment to our desire to buy a house and get married in it this coming year. If you look at it, next year may be a great year to get into a house for two reasons: prices are low and have probably bottomed out, and interest rates continue to fall. We should be able to buy a lot more for our money than we could have just a couple years ago. And it is most likely that the home value will appreciate rather than continue to decline. The hard part, of course, is the selling. We are not going to take near the amount of cash out of selling our properties that we would like, but that seems to be a short term problem. In the long term, the benefits of buying low far outweigh the issue of selling low, if ya get my drift.

We are planning on going full steam ahead after the 1st of the year with preparations to put our properties on the market as soon as we are able. At least that's what we're saying now..........

Hey! Stop Being Such a Downer, Cindy!

Sorry folks, I've only been looking at the glass half empty. I've been looking at the world through the opposite of rose-tinted glasses. Gloomy glasses.
But life is good-life is wonderful. Screw the economy! Screw the real estate market! None of that has anything to do with the fact that I've found the love of my life. I've found the person with whom I shall spend the rest of my days. My pissing and moaning and boo-hooing is nothing but stupid self-pity and I've decided to apologize to all of you who had to read it.
I'm the luckiest gal in the world.
Thanks C2!

Okay, I actually feel more like this...

Yes. This is how I feel.

Big Hurdles to Jump, Mountains to Climb, Rivers to Swim...

That photo represents how I feel. I'm exhausted. Although I only have 3 more classes this semester and one paper to write before December 20, I still drop at the end of the day. And I'll be damned if I'm going to sell my house that I've put all my blood, sweat and tears in for the last few years at a loss and then pay a realtor thousands of dollars on top of that. So yes, we are in limbo.
It's painful because we want to live together and help each other through all this, but these circumstances require more creative solutions than what we are able to come up with now.
Ugh.

Ugly Reality

They say timing is everything, and believe me, it's true. Cindy and I met with a realtor a couple weeks ago to get a lay of the land as we prepare for selling our current residences in order to buy our new house together. All I can say is that 2008 isn't looking like it'll be the best of years to sell real estate. What was most upsetting was seeeing how much comparable housing prices have been dropping, and continue to do so. So we are now strugglling to come up with a Plan B. Could we both fit into her current house if we had to? What if I can't sell my condo? What about the wedding if we are high and dry with our properties? There are no obvious or easy answers.....

The photo is by Saul Leiter, an early master of color photography. It sums up the mood for me.

The Job Ahead

Yikes! It's been a while, hasn't it? The reason for a paucity of posts has been quite simply a paucity of wedding planning activity. Cindy and I have been putting our spare energies into figuring out our housing improvement palns. I'm the one who has it easy here. All I have to do later this winter is clean my cheesy condo up and put half of my belongings in storage. Then I should be ready to sell. Her place is a whole 'nother story. Much to our dismay, we found out a few weeks ago that the roof on her house is in need of replacement, not repair as we had hoped. Then the really fun fun starts: The Kitchen! This will be an almost complete room redo, including floors and ceiling. But, we have a plan and a budget, which makes it a wee bit less intimidating. From the kitchen we will then head to the foyer, and then to the upstairs bath for a bit of cosmetic work. I bet your eyes are glazing over as you read.......
With all this activity being directed towards selling our properties, we have begun to contemplate the WhatIfs. What if one of us sells and the other doesn't? What if neither sells? What if this whole housing meltdown melts down further? And so on.......
We're currently taking applications for Kitchen Repairers, so send us in your qualifications and we'll be happy to give you a tryout.......

Raise the Roof!

Not really-it's more like: buying a new roof. As we move closer towards consolidation of our lives, we are beginning to hit the home repair/upgrade project seriously.
Hey-I should also call this post: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Because, truly, it seems like days and days between the times we get to see each other. And I miss you, C2!

So, how are things going?

Life is wonderful. I know we haven't posted because the eventual business of life kicked in hard as the summer ended. But life is good. I never get tired of seeing C2's face. I still get excited when I see him at the door and I still have the biggest crush on him.
We priced out a new roof and some kitchen niceties ( a new countertop, a new cupboard, flooring, etc.) in preparation for selling the house in the Spring. It's not like I have extra money for any of this, but these efforts are towards gaining some benefit in the house price.
And the kids started school this week-AND SO DO I!
Just one class to start, one about Gender and United States History, and then I'll move to more than one starting Winter quarter.
The holidays are coming, too! Whee.

Life is good

I'm so in love with C2. Just thought I'd share that with y'all.

The Obvious, yet Elusive, Choice

Now that we've decided to make it a home wedding (kind of like a home birth) I could smack myself in the head wondering why we hadn't thought of this before! It's so perfect-and considering my distaste for the whole wedding-as-commodity idea. Now I can stop being so afraid and resistant. I was really afraid that we'd be dragged, kicking and screaming, into a whole vortex of table linens and color schemes.
Now, peace and happiness reign.
Ahhh.