Update

So, on Monday morning hubby called his Dad at work and arranged for us to go see him when his shift finished. It turns out we were right - his Dad didn't agree with any of the crap his Mom came out with, he said that she'd brought it up on their way home from our house that night and he told her that she can't go to someone's house and impose her beliefs on them. He actually told her he feels sorry for her for thinking she can do that! He had no problem whatsoever with what happened that night, and certainly doesn't agree with the "you're uninvited" thing or the "we won't ever come to your house again" bullshit either. As for the dogs not being welcome, he said she must've just said it to get at hubby. He also said that she should've said the same thing to Dave (hubby's brother) because she's being very selective with her criticisms. He said he'd talk to her and that she's being silly.

Last night hubby got a call from his Mom - she didn't apologize or anything, she didn't mention anything to do with what she said on Saturday. She then proceeded to invite us over for dinner this Saturday - to which hubby said, "We can't, we've already been this month, remember?" and she replied "Can't you just come anyway?" - er no, lady, can't you "just" apologize and we'll take it from there? She also then asked if we were taking the dogs with us to the Grand Canyon when Taj is here, because apparently she'd look after them for us if we wanted her to. Well, again, can you first apologize for all the bullshit that came out of your mouth?

So, we're not going on Saturday. Dave is coming here for dinner, but she thinks he's going there - that's not our problem. She should've thought about the consequences of her bloody diatribe before she spouted that shit, we never told Dave not to go over there. She said they were having other people over for dinner this week so I assumed nobody was invited, then hubby told us we're uninvited apart from once a month so whatever! Her loss, not ours. All this just because we don't say grace in our own house? Nobody stopped them from saying it, but they can't expect people to participate in something they don't believe in when they're in their own house! In their house, yeah, we participate but not in ours. I don't see why that's a problem anyway. The thing she really needs to apologize for is saying it was both her and their Dad who thinks all of this, when he has no such opinions - he thinks like a reasonable person, in fact. It's not exactly a little white lie, that's the kind of thing that could really damage our relationship with his Dad if we weren't so inclined to go and speak to him ourselves. She obviously didn't think we'd do that, and I bet she was pissed when she found out we did, but if she hadn't lied in the first place we wouldn't have had to. Plus, that's his Dad we're talking about - he has every right to speak to him, and so do I for that matter. She really thought she could just call and act as though nothing had happened... How silly is she? She at least needs to apologize, and since that's not happening then I guess we'll just keep our distance.

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Yesterday, the woman who's selling the house we offered on got out of hospital so she's signed our offer. We paid the earnest money too, so now we're waiting to hear something from her bank. Hopefully they won't mess us around but who knows? At least things are moving along now, it's a good sign. :-)

The whole thing is stupid, but

Good news!

Wednesday evening while we were at the dog park, we got a call from our realtor to say that our offer on the house has been accepted - the listing agent has confirmed that any other offers they might receive will be treated as back-up offers, so unless we back out we should get the house! Yay!!!

Of course with it being a short sale, the bank has to approve the price (again). It's all a bit silly, but that's the way it is. Hopefully they won't mess us around - we just want to buy the house, after all! Right now they're not getting any mortgage payments on it, so hopefully they'll just be glad to have a genuine offer from someone who is definitely good for the money (us!). We'll see, anyway.

Some not so good news - there's a US government shutdown looming, which if it goes ahead will start at midnight tonight. All the national parks would close, including the Grand Canyon... Well, we have 2 sets of visitors coming in the next month and we're supposed to be taking them there. My friend T arrives 2 weeks today, and we're supposed to be going to the GC on Sunday April 24th... My Mom and stepdad arrive on May 3rd and we're supposed to be going to the GC on Friday May 6th... Fuck! Now obviously this shutdown (if it happens) will cause a lot of other problems, but I know T, my Mom and stepdad would all be really disappointed if they couldn't go to the GC. Sure, they will probably be here again sometime so could visit it another time, but it's gonna be one of the highlights of their time in Arizona. So I'm really hoping the shutdown either doesn't happen at all, or that if it does, that everything is up and running again before April 24th!

This morning I felt like absolute crap... I don't think I slept very well last night, and I had a lie-in this morning for a while but kept getting disturbed by Suzie so when I got up at 8 I had a really bad headache and also period pain. Great! Well, it was my day to clean the house (I aim to do it Monday, Wednesday and Friday but this week I did it Tuesday and was supposed to do it again today). Well, I really didn't feel like doing anything at all. I forced myself to, though, because I would've been really disappointed in myself if I'd left it. So I changed the bed linen, did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the dogs' water fountain, tidied the house, dusted, polished, vacuumed, mopped and then I cleaned the bathroom. After all that I had a nice shower - I sure needed it by that point! I feel much better now that the house is beautiful again! :-)

Then I made us lunch, and now I'm relaxing after taking some painkillers which seem to be kicking in now, so that's good.

Oooh, we have cupcakes! We got them last night at Albertsons - they were $1 for a 4-pack, so we got 2 packs! How bad is that?! Sooo good though, yummy cupcakes! :-)

A surprise!

We're still waiting to find out if our offer has been accepted - all signs are good, there are no other offers and since we've offered asking price and we're good for the money we should be OK, but until we're told that for sure we're not getting too excited.

I logged onto my online banking this morning to check my UK account and found a nice surprise - I got an impressive tax rebate! I had to send the tax office a form saying that I'd left the country, and it said "you may be eligible for a tax refund" - well, I got a lot more than I ever expected! I called them and found out why - my last employer had me on the wrong tax code for the entire 3 years I worked there, so I was overpaying quite a bit in tax. Anyhow, it's probably better to get it now because I don't have a job and with us buying a house (hopefully!) we could use all the extra money we can get. I also owe hubby money from when he paid off my loan for me before I moved here... So I won't be keeping much of it, but it's still good! The money can go towards our deposit for the house :-)

House update

OK, so now we're waiting to find out if our offer on the house has been accepted. I can't stop thinking about it! It should be accepted I think, we offered asking price and they previously had a buyer who "wasn't able to perform" (makes them sound impotent! haha) so I think they'll be glad of the offer really.

Our realtor just called and told us they're trying to get ahold of the listing agent to check that they've received our offer (they should have done, but so far the realtor hasn't been able to speak to them). Obviously this is going to be a waiting game and I imagine it'll be quite stressful at times, but hopefully we'll be lucky and not have too much trouble. We're aware that it's going to take several months to complete, and with the house being a short sale the owner's mortgage lender will probably take a while to agree to it (we're hoping they'll be reasonable but who knows?!)

Our realtor told us to be cautiously optimistic, which I think is how we both feel anyway. We're excited but anxious, because we know nothing is set in stone yet and it may not go through. We'd be really disappointed if we didn't get the house, because we both love it to bits, but I'm trying to keep in mind that if for some reason it doesn't work out, there will be other houses that we'll love too. Still, I really hope this is the one!!!!!

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I've been busy again today, got up before 6 feeling like crap (didn't get enough sleep!) and made us breakfast and coffee, took the dogs for a walk, did the dishes, tidied up, did laundry, dusted all over the house, vacuumed everywhere but hubby's office, mopped all the tile floors and finally cleaned the bathroom. The house looks fantastic again, yay! :-) Then I made hubby some lunch, and now here I am goofing around on the internet... again.

I think I should make myself some lunch now!

Maybe, just maybe!

We may just have found our house! I don't want to say too much but in the morning we'll be putting an offer in... Hopefully we'll be successful! It's a gorgeous house in a great neighborhood, it doesn't need any work doing to it and it's a really good price. Fingers crossed!

A day in the life of a housewife... again!

This morning I got up at 5.35, made breakfast and coffee, walked the dogs and fed them (Gracie wouldn't eat anything - that pissed me off!). Then I did the dishes, did some laundry, changed our bed linen, dusted, vacuumed, mopped and then cleaned the bathroom. I also cleaned the dogs' water fountain. I cleared the yard of dog poop too. Then I made us lunch, and now I need to do some more dishes and put the other ones away. I'm tired!

We're going to look at some more houses today, there are 4 we're supposed to view this time. Hubby is finishing work an hour early (he didn't take his lunch break) and we're meeting the realtor at one of the houses right after that. Then this evening the in-laws are coming for dinner. It's 92ºF right now and it's going to be 97 later - it's too hot! It's going to be hot for a while, I think. We're in April now and it's not going to cool off now, not much anyway. That means walking the dogs early every day, before it gets too hot for them (and me!).

Last night I had another driving lesson, it was my first one since Sunday. It went really well, I ended up driving for about 4 miles on a main road and didn't do anything wrong! I shifted gear fine every time, I obeyed the speed limit and I didn't drive too far to the right of the lane! Hehe. I also had some traffic lights to contend with, and stopped behind a car without getting too close. I also got a good start when the lights changed, so that was good. I didn't get all stressed out - I think I'm getting the hang of this driving business! :-)

I drove us to our local supermarket on the way back, and parked in the lines albeit at a funny angle! Then I drove us home, the long way, so I didn't have to make any left turns, haha! I enjoyed it, it was a good confidence boost because I did good and that was by far the furthest I've ever driven on a "big" road so it showed me I can do it and everything is fine. :-)

Houses!

OK, well we hoped to look at houses on Tuesday as I wrote in my last post. Our realtor was supposed to call hubby around 4 p.m. but she didn't, he texted her and asked if we could look at houses and she said she wasn't free until Friday. We've felt for a while she was messing us around, and we didn't think we'd ever end up seeing any houses if we waited for her all the time. So, hubby called his mom who knows a husband and wife realtor team through church, and she gave him their details. He called and left them a voicemail and they rang us back within a couple of hours, and hubby gave them the info about what kind of house we're looking for, our price range, etc. Yesterday the guy came to our house at about 3.15 p.m. to pick us up to view houses! Yay! We finally looked at some houses! We saw 6 in total yesterday, and a few were a definite "no" - one was in a very dodgy area and pretty run-down, one had loads of water damage on all the ceilings and was generally in bad shape, one had been ripped apart for termites and had a tree out front with the roots probably going into the foundations of the garage and house and one had power lines right next to the house, had a very very old A/C unit and needed a new roof - and was definitely overpriced! There were 2 houses we really liked but they'd just received offers on them and we're not ready to make any offers just yet, we need to look around a lot more. It was interesting anyway, it showed us what to look for with regards to potential problems and we found it to be quite an experience! We're hopefully viewing more houses tomorrow afternoon, then the in-laws are coming round for dinner (hubby's parents and brother too, so our little house will be a bit cramped but it's OK!)

When I last spoke to my Dad, 2 weeks ago tomorrow, he told me he would call me "next week" (so last week) - guess what? He still hasn't! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly shocked, but come on! For fuck's sake, this is getting ridiculous! He knows how much it annoys/upsets me when he does this, and still it continues. I guess he'll never, ever change. I'm still not going to call him though, because why should it always be me making the effort? More to the point, why should it always be our phone bill getting run up? So no, there won't be any calls from me.

I'm being a good little housewife, I cleaned the entire house again yesterday and I'm still doing the dishes after every meal which makes it a much more manageable task! I washed the doggy beds yesterday too, and today I've done more laundry. I'm going to clean the whole house again tomorrow, it works out well because that's when we're having the in-laws over for dinner, but I was going to do it anyway - Monday, Wednesday and Friday are my full-on cleaning days now. That gives me Tuesday and Thursday "off" but I still do other things around the house, just not a full clean. It also leaves weekends free, because that's when hubby is free so we can do things together. I'm finding it to work really well, the house always looks great because there's never too big a gap between thorough cleanings and it keeps me busy. On a Friday I have a couple extra tasks, I clean the dog water fountain and change our bed linen in addition to dusting, vacuuming, mopping and then cleaning the bathroom. Hubby's only "job" around the house is to be in charge of the fish tank, i.e. do the water changes. He doesn't mind doing it, it's not like he has to do anything else housework related after all. He's really happy with the way things are now, and so am I! I love being able to take pride in our house every day, it's not a fancy house but it's clean and tidy and it's our home for now :-)

We might finally be getting somewhere... Maybe!

Hubby got an email from our realtor last night, she now has her computer back virus-free and found hubby's emails which had somehow gone into her junk mail. Hopefully we might be able to look at some houses when hubby finishes work today at 3... Fingers crossed, anyway.

When we went to get our mortgage pre-approval, it was based on 20% down which is what hubby wants to do. Our realtor has now said she doesn't understand why we don't want to just put 3.5% down, like most first time buyers. Well, that'd be because we'd end up borrowing a lot more and our monthly payments would be higher, and hubby has saved up so what's the point of not putting down 20%? It makes more sense to us to put more money down and have lower monthly payments - otherwise the mortgage will be crippling us! 3.5% is fine for people who haven't got savings, but it seems daft to only put that down when you do have the money there!

The dogs had a fight this morning, it was the first time in a while. Neither of them was hurt, hubby grabbed Suzie as soon as she started and then I got the spray bottle and used it on them both. It didn't have any effect this time but I think it's because I didn't get it in time - it was on the dining table and I was in the living room area, so it took me a little longer to get it. All's well now though, thank goodness.

I took them for a short walk just before 9 a.m. - it was already 70ºF then, it's going to be 83 today, then 86 tomorrow, 92 Thursday, 95 Friday... yuck! This is spring? Damn!

I'm not exactly looking forward to summer in the desert, it'll certainly be an experience... =/

Sunday

I had another driving lesson today, which went pretty well. At one point I had some idiot in an SUV tailgating me, even though I was actually driving slightly over the speed limit. That pissed me off - I slowed down and gave them the finger! Oops. I probably shouldn't do that, but it worked, they backed off. I'm not gonna be bullied into driving faster just because some impatient tw*t behind me can't tolerate the speed limit! Some people... jeez!

I'm doing much better with changing gears and my confidence levels are higher now too. I'm getting used to driving on the big roads - it's still daunting to me but I just need to keep doing it and eventually it'll be second nature.

After my lesson we went to get some groceries, then came home. I've been doing some laundry and prepping for dinner tonight, we're making green curry so I've chopped up the onion and red bell pepper, and the chicken. We're taking the girls to the dog park in around half an hour, so when we get back dinner shouldn't take too long to make. I've also done the dishes twice today already, after our pancake breakfast and just now too. I'm really trying to keep on top of the housework at the moment, it's easy to let things slide sometimes and I end up getting mad at myself so I'm making a concerted effort to be a good little housewife. I'm still not sure it's really who I am, but I'm trying to give it a chance. I do want to provide a good home environment for us, I can't provide for us financially right now so it's the best I can do really. The thing is, I could get a random job doing something rubbish, and I don't want to put people down who do those jobs because I think people do whatever they have to do in order to live, but I don't need to work right now. In some ways I feel guilty about that, but then at the same time it's not really anyone's business but ours. Hubby is happy with our situation, and he likes that the house is kept nice without him having to do anything around the house. I can also take care of the dogs so he doesn't have to worry about them while he's working. Basically what I'm saying is that this works for us - so I don't know why I feel guilty sometimes. I'm just not used to being unemployed yet, I guess!

We still haven't seen any houses yet, I really hope our realtor gets in touch with us soon (i.e. tonight or tomorrow) to set up an appointment with us. I don't want to sound harsh, but if she doesn't then I'm considering hiring someone else. Our lease on the house is up in 8 months and we want to find somewhere soon to get the ball rolling!

Bored!

We were hoping to look at some houses today, but those plans fell through. Our realtor isn't available and her computer has a load of viruses on it, so she's waiting to get it back. For some reason the emails hubby sent her over the last couple of days didn't get forwarded to her Blackberry (maybe they went in her junk mail?) so she hasn't been able to research the house listings we sent her yet. So maybe tomorrow, or sometime during the week we can start looking at houses properly.

Not sure what we're going to do instead today, we took the girls for a walk and that's it so far. I'd really like to go somewhere and do something, but I don't know what. I don't have any money right now anyway, and hubby can't think of anything for us to do either. We can't leave the dogs for too long because we're having to crate Suzie when we're out, just in case the dogs fight.

Tonight we're going out to a buffet with the in-laws, so that should be good. We're gonna take the dogs to their house and leave them there (Suzie in her crate) and then we won't have to rush home to feed them and give them their meds (Suzie needs her antibiotics at 8 p.m. and Gracie needs her eyedrops, joint supplement and antihistamine!!! Too many meds to keep track of, but we're managing!)

So, what to do? Hmmm...

Not related to the terrible disaster in Japan

Last Thursday I bit the bullet, so to speak, and went to the DMV to apply for my learner's permit. I kind of expected to fail the test, but somehow I got 86% (I think 70% is a pass) so I got the permit. The whole thing took like 15 minutes from start to finish - I was impressed!

So hubby has been teaching me to drive in his car. I must admit, my first lesson was quite scary as I obviously didn't have a clue. I found myself wishing that he had an automatic instead of a stick-shift (or manual, whatever you want to call it!) but he has a 6-speed stick-shift, so it's tough!

I've had 5 lessons now, almost every day with the only exception being Saturday. So far we've only been in an abandoned parking lot, which is a good place to learn for obvious reasons. I manage to start and stop most of the time without stalling or burning the clutch (although it does happen sometimes - I'm getting better though!) and I can change gear fairly smoothly most of the time. I started learning how to reverse yesterday, which I can do alright most of the time but I'm struggling a little with turning the wheel the right way - I'll say I'm going to back up and turn right but I end up going the opposite direction! I'll get there soon, I think. It's not as difficult as I was expecting, on the whole. I'm quite enjoying learning. I haven't been on any "proper" roads yet but I did drive us to a neighboring in-use parking lot (next to the one I've been learning in) and park us there... far away from any other vehicles! I parked in the lines though, straight, which is something a lot of people around here appear to struggle with! (either that, or they're too lazy since the spaces are pretty big and you can park badly and still be in the lines!)

Yesterday we went to our bank to start the mortgage process. We have a friend at the dog park whose mom is a realtor, we met her a couple of weeks back and she gave us her business card, so as soon as we get the pre-approval notice from the bank (we should know by Friday) we can set up an appointment with her and go and look at some houses properly! So far we've only looked from the outside, but we've found some promising looking houses in nice areas for very good prices (less than we can afford, so that's a good thing!)

Oh yeah, and the whole thing with my dad is still not really resolved. He called me last Monday and started telling me how busy he was the previous Wednesday (he'd told me the week before that, that he would call me either the Wednesday or Thursday, and didn't). I tried to have a normal conversation with him but he kept going on about how tired he is now he has the dog and how busy he was that Wednesday, blah blah blah, and I had to point out that his failure to call was hardly a one-off! I mean, it happens without fail every single bloody time he's told me he'll call me! I didn't raise my voice or anything, but I told him that when he repeatedly doesn't call it really upsets me and it disappoints me every time. Now, my dad can't take any criticism whatsoever, so he had to get all sarcastic with me and the tone of his voice really pissed me off. He said, "Shall I call you back on Wednesday when you're in a better mood?!" and that infuriated me - I replied, "I knew you would try to turn it around onto me, sorry, bye" and hung up. Now I know that hanging up isn't nice, but it was either that or I would've told him exactly what I think of him and his bullshit. I probably would've said something like I'm sure if you needed to make a call about the orchestra, you'd remember to do that. Obviously we all know where your fucking priorities lie, seeing as you missed your only daughter's wedding for one of their bloody rehearsals. See? Hanging up was probably the better option, although I think I'd be justified in saying that to him because it's clearly true.

He emailed me on Tuesday, apologizing for not calling and saying he would try to be better about calling me when he says he will. I replied and said that I was sorry for hanging up on him, but I was very upset. I basically repeated what I'd said on the phone. He replied again, saying that he really misses me and it's really hard for him knowing he won't see me much now that I'm living in the US. He said he was glad that hubby and I are so happy together. The whole thing sounded very final to me, and I guess it was because even though I wrote back that same day he still hasn't been in touch again. I wrote that I missed him too, and that I've been here 6 months now and although I'm very happy with hubby it hasn't been easy for me all the time, and it does feel as though a lot of people have forgotten about me in those 6 months. I also tried to make some "conversation" writing about his dog and our dogs. I don't want to be petty, but since I was the last person to make contact I think he should be the next one to do so, by email or phone or whatever. I also don't really want to make the call myself, and since my last email went unreturned I'm loathe to email him. If he really does miss me, surely his actions would reflect that. If you miss someone that much, you must think about them occasionally and you'd think that you'd make the effort to do what you said you would.

So, I don't know what the situation is now. I don't know what to think anymore. I think I just have to get on with my life, and if he doesn't want to be a part of it now then I'll just have to accept that.

A week ago I spoke to one of my good friends, R, on Skype. She couldn't believe his attitude - that's to say, she believes it, but she's also shocked by it! She doesn't understand why he would act this way either. I told her that I think he resents me for leaving the UK, and I also told her how he's always accused me of "being stupid" whenever I've done anything. One example is that we booked our wedding at the end of May last year, for the middle of October. At the time we booked it, I hadn't had my visa interview, but things were moving along with the whole thing and we went ahead and set the date because we'd already chosen the venue we wanted and they didn't have many dates left so we wanted to secure one. Also, it meant people would have adequate notice and be able to make arrangements to come to our wedding if they wanted to. I phoned him to let him know and he basically told me I was stupid for setting a date before I got my visa. He then spent the next 2 months being incredibly negative about the visa and saying that I might not get it. I knew there was a chance of being denied, of course, but we didn't have any "red flags" in our case and I thought the chances of a denial were slim. Guess what? I got my visa. I was also in the US 6 whole weeks before our wedding. I think my dad was 'secretly' hoping that I would be refused the visa. It's not so much of a fucking secret when he made it pretty damn obvious that he wanted me to be refused it. I don't want to be awful because I know it must be hard for parents if their child emigrates, but my mom made it clear she would miss me but also that she was incredibly happy for me too. She told me the day before I left that she knew I was doing the right thing, that she would really miss me but she knew hubby would take good care of me and that he's a lovely guy. My dad wasn't exactly so selfless. If he wants to get into an argument about me effectively choosing my hubby over him (which is pretty ridiculous) then he can go and look at his own actions when he got with my stepmom, and how he believed every single lie about me that came out of her mouth. I chose to take a chance, a risk if you like, by emigrating to a whole different continent, 5,500 miles away from where I'd lived my entire life. I knew it was the right thing to do, but it wasn't easy to leave everyone and everything behind either. Some may view my actions as selfish, but those people can get stuffed quite frankly. It was selfish of certain people to make me feel guilty for my decision to start a new life and be happy, in my opinion.

House hunting!

I've been meaning to blog for a while now but never got around to it. I guess I didn't really have anything that important to say!

The saga of Gracie the night monster continues... Last night was horrendous, she wouldn't stay in bed and she was pacing around our room, so hubby let her out (again) and she went potty. She hadn't done anything when he took them out before bedtime, though - how annoying! Then she seemed to settle, but at 2am she was whining and scratching on my side of the bed. I let her out again - she peed. Again, why she couldn't have done that either of the previous two times we'd let her out, I don't know! Then again she woke us at 5am. Jeez! I don't know what her problem is, but she definitely doesn't like night time. She just won't settle. We have a problem virtually every night and it's doing our heads in! I would put her out in the hallway overnight but she would still whine and cry and then she'd start scratching the bedroom door, so it wouldn't help much. It's infuriating! She wakes us probably as many times as a newborn baby would! (I'm not comparing having dogs to having children, by the way - I know it's completely different but at least you expect a baby to wake you through the night!)

Yesterday we searched online for houses for sale within about 10 miles of our area. We made a list of some of them and went to drive by them, to see what the areas were like and if the houses looked worthwhile making an appointment to view. Of course, you can only tell so much from the exterior, but it was more about location and whether the areas had a good vibe about them. We've ruled out one house for definite, because in order to get to it you have to drive right by loads of really run-down trailer parks and boarded up houses - it didn't exactly feel safe round there! The house itself and its surrounding neighborhood seemed nice enough, but it was almost as though the housing estate was built in amongst all these dodgy trailer parks! It just didn't have a good feel to it. So we didn't waste our time - at least we've ruled some in and some out, which is what we expected to do really. It's going to be a learning curve, that's for sure. We're pretty sure we know what we want, for the most part - our main requirements are as follows:

- 4 bedrooms or more

- 2 bathrooms (or 1.5, 1.75, whatever!)

- 2 car garage

- good air conditioning

- nice location with good access to the freeways and good amenities nearby

In addition to that, I'd like to have a laundry room as we do now and it's really nice not to have to do laundry in the garage (in Phoenix it's way too hot in the summer to spend much time in the garage, since they generally don't have A/C!). The laundry room isn't absolutely essential but it would be nice!

We saw one house which looked nice but it was literally 3 doors down from a big elementary school - that kinda put us off. I mean, we're wanting to have children soon so for that reason it would be good, but traffic would be crazy at school start and end times and there were signs up saying no parking between 7am and 4pm - so you couldn't even park outside your own house! That wouldn't be so much of a problem for us because we'd park in the garage or on the driveway (depending on if we had 1 or 2 cars and if we had enough space in the garage for both) but if we had guests that could be very problematic. We ruled that one out.

There were a couple of really nice neighborhoods we looked at and we want to make appointments to view those houses, so we effectively ruled some houses in! Quite a variation in prices, going from literally as little as $85,000 to $135,000. We could go higher but we figured we'd start out low and see what we can get - in this economy there are a lot of nice houses going for cheap, so we may as well try and get one for as little as we can. We don't need a flashy house, after all! The 4 bedroom requirement is partly because hubby works from home so he needs an office, we need a bedroom, we'll need a nursery when we have a baby and it would be nice to have a spare room. Also, we're planning to have at least 2 kids so when that happens maybe we'll forget about having a spare room and they'll have a room each. We'll see! Neither of us wants to move house again for a long time, so we need to make sure we buy the right one and one that's going to be big enough for us and our expanding family! :-)

I got a message on Facebook this morning from hubby's sister in Florida, asking if we're going to be attending her daughter's high school graduation in June. Maybe it's because I'm not American and I don't "get it" but really? It's over 2000 miles away! It's a high school graduation! I spoke to hubby about it and told him that since his sister didn't come to our wedding, I don't see why we should go all that way for a high school graduation! I'm pretty sure that weddings are a bit more important than graduations, right? Surely they are! Anyway, I've never met his sister and although I would like to, we're not going to be able to make it regardless. Hubby's vacation time doesn't re-set until July, he only has a few days left at this point and he's wanting to take them soon; we're wanting to buy a house and so him taking unpaid leave isn't really an option; I looked at flights and the cheapest I could find was almost $1000 return for the two of us, which is significant when we're going to need a deposit for our house and moving fees etc. Hubby's parents are going, he said they'll probably be driving - so we could go with them if we had the time, but if we were going to go it would have to be by air because we don't have enough time to drive there and back! Also, we'd have to find someone to look after the dogs and they'd probably have to go into kennels for a few days - I'm not keen on that idea, and it adds more expense! A couple of people we know from the dog park offered to look after Suzie if we went away, but that was before we got Gracie - with 2 dogs I'm sure people would be more reluctant to make the same offer! Plus, I couldn't impose the night monster on anyone - how mean would that be?!

So anyway, I told hubby's sister that he doesn't have the vacation time and we're trying to buy a house so taking unpaid leave isn't an option right now. I still don't see why we should make that effort to go all that way for a silly high school graduation when she didn't make the effort to come to our wedding.