Blustery

It's a very chilly and blustery day here in Virginia. It rained all weekend. There are low portions of our backyard that are completely flooded and gooey. Just beautiful weather, lovely!

And now, I'm going to switch to bullets because I find it easier to make a brain dump with bullets.

• Even though it rained, we did accomplish a couple of things this weekend.



• We have procured the services of a realtor and started looking at homes to buy. I am still looking at homes to rent. We're not sure what we're going to do, but interest rates are so low, house prices are low and there are certain areas of Norfolk that are highly desirable in terms of rentals. So we're trying to find a home in one of these highly desirable neighborhoods that we can buy, live in for about a year (or longer if my dreams would come true) and then rent to incoming military personnel. For a profit.



• Of course, finding this elusive house is easier said than done. It's like the real estate market in New York City. By the time I call on a house I've seen online, it's already under contract. It's some cutthroat business finding a house in Larchmont or Ghent.



• We have looked at three homes in Larchmont now, two to rent and one to buy. We were impressed with exactly zero of them. These are the oldest neighborhoods in Norfolk (kind of like The Point was in Newport) and so the housing stock is older. Not 1850 Newport old, but 1930-1950s older. Some of these homes have been remodeled beautifully and don't show their age. These houses are obviously all outside of our price range.



• The last thing I really want is to finally, FINALLY have a home of my own (weep for me and my homelessness) and have to pour my heart and soul into making it beautiful only to rent it out in a year.



• So to say that I'm a little conflicted about buying versus renting is an understatement. I just don't know what I support right now. There's only one school district in Norfolk that we want the kids to be in and that's Larchmont. But the only really desirable places that people want to rent are in Larchmont or Ghent. Ghent has a crappy school. Oh, the convolutions of my mind in that I've started thinking "Oh, well, maybe I could homeschool the kids".



• Yes, I'm that convoluted and delusional.



• BTW, I'm reading a book, just randomly, about homeschooling gifted children and it's very enlightening and informative and makes me have daydreams about homeschooling.



• On Saturday after we looked at the Larchmont house, we drove to see another house in a neighborhood close to the base. HOW I STILL WANT THAT HOUSE. I never thought I'd want an enormous house, but this one was almost new, 3,100 SF, four bedrooms plus a huge finished third floor complete with full bath and wet bar. The master bedroom had a reading nook and a two-sided gas fireplace, the kitchen was huge and beautiful. There was so much storage, oh the closets! And the garage! And the stainless steel appliances!



• Alas, this beautiful, foreclosed-upon house was in a shady neighborhood where we would probably only break even on rent. Gentrification is occuring there, but at a snail's pace...not fast enough. I was so sad for a little while because we ALL loved that house and were talking about how we could buy the lot next door and put up a fence and remove this tree to make a big, fenced-in backyard and all it needed was a little touch-up paint inside. Sob.



• Enough about houses. I am getting carpal-tunnel from looking at the real-estate and rental listings.



• Hans still has a cold. The ship still has not come out of dry dock. Some shipyard honcho bet the CO an entire month's paycheck that they'd be out last week. No go. The shipyard people are kind of #*$holes, really. No word on if the CO is getting his check or not, but I'd guess not since the shipyard is above blame for the problem. It's frustrating for ME to listen to, so I can imagine that Hans' head is about to explode. And not just from having an endless stress-induced head cold.



• I am pretty much over my cold. I have my runs up to two miles, maybe just a little over. I need a pedometer. I got lost last night in the cul-de-sacs and didn't know where I was. I'm thankful that I brought the iPhone and not the iPod...just turned on GPS and followed the map. Oh, and I made a SKIRT yesterday. A real, live, wear-it-out-of-the-house skirt! With a zipper and everything. I am super-proud of myself. I have been trying to sew for years...every time ended up with me in angry fits. This pattern was pretty straightforward. I know that the next skirt I make will look even better. Sewing is the only way around the No New Clothes 2012 challenge.



• Last week Hans and I attended the change of command ceremony for our friend Grady. We know him and his wife Angela from Stuttgart. I don't want it searched so let's just say that the name of his ship is also the name of a little island in the Pacific where Marines raised an infamous flag and leave it at that. Anyway, it was a good ceremony, Grady gave a great speech and they had an actual veteran from the aforementioned battle on the aforementioned Pacific island there. Hans and I went out for lunch afterwards, which means we had two dates in only four days. I could get used to that kind of life!



• Annika lost another tooth. It dangled for about a week before it finally came out, and I swear, the new tooth was visible the next day. That would be like Annika's teeth--slow moving and needing a little push from behind. Ay.



• William is counting to twenty and spent his first night in the big boy bed on Saturday night. He didn't get out once, hooray! Hans and I thought about dismantling the crib yesterday, but I asked him just to take the side rail off. I cannot handle the thought of dismantling the crib just yet. I mean, this decision of Will's to get in Josiah's bed and sleep was very sudden. How was I supposed to know that when I put him to bed in the crib on Friday night--that was the last time? That was the last time I would lean over the rail to tuck him in and watch him sleep? I just have to downshift a little. Sniffle. Anyway, we took the side rail off and last night he was up until 10:00 wandering around the room.



• Josiah is extremely interested in Helen Keller this week. I need to find a copy of "The Miracle Worker". I always liked that movie when it was on TV, back in the olden days when we had to wait for a year to see movies like "The Sound of Music", "Mary Poppins" or "The Wizard of Oz". Now I could probably download it onto the iPad and be watching it in 38.2 seconds.



• Meals on Wheels is going great. We just finished up our sixth Monday of doing it and I plan on doing it as long as we're out in Chesapeake. It only takes up about an hour of my time and it's so rewarding to give a smile and a little time to a few folks who need it.

I think that's about it for now...hopefully that gets me all caught up. Pray that the right house comes along, whether in rent or purchase form.