Two Shades of Crazy

Something freakishly abnormal occurred recently that has caused my whole frame of mind to shift into a new gear. For a few years now, the hope of getting a bigger home has been naught but a wisp of a possibility. Actually, we've been told, due to circumstances beyond our control, that it's not even a remote possibility to get approved for a new home loan. Long story short, the dreaded Union that Josh is unfortunately a part of, has made Josh's job history sporadic at best. About a year ago, we decided to go house shopping as he'd finally been able to hold a job for a whopping two months. Keep in mind, the work is "there" but the sporadic looking history turns all lenders away like stink on skunk. Well, after talking to a loan officer (or two) they all but laughed in our faces when we said, "Hey, will ya pre-approve us for a loan?" They said that he needed at least six months of steady work to even think about it. So we patiently awaited the six month mark. It came. It went. Then the year mark came. And guess what? The stupid lender said, "Oh. Did we say six months? We meant two years. Sorry." I grumbled my way through the day and gave up all hope of my children not sharing a bedroom into their teens. We then got recommended to a well-known lender and I had a lovely little chat with a nice guy that was more than helpful. When I told him what the previous lenders has said, he was shocked. He said that there was no reason why we couldn't get pre-approved for a loan.

*insert my jaw dropping to the floor*

So I smiled ear to ear and a whirlwind of life's possibilities began to flood my future vision. Visions of a world where black widows don't creep into my bed had me floating on cloud nine. (or maybe the visions were induced from the many chemicals sprayed in my house to prevent said scenario. Who knows.) So what have I been doing this past half month of not blogging? I've been fixing up the house in a desperate attempt to get it on the market. We are still in the process of checking all our p's and q's to make sure that somewhere in fine print it doesn't say, "this is a complete waste of energy as it won't happen. oh...and you'll probably sell your house and the loan won't work. So prepare a room with your parents." It's all happened so fast that I'm not sure what to think at times. The house is getting to a point where we could probably list it sooner than later and I have a nice realtor that's willing to work with us through the madness. No offense to our house, but I'm sort of done. It's kept us dry (mostly), warm (in half the rooms), and safe (except from horrifically deadly spiders and mold). No matter the disastrous things that have occurred, we've fixed them and moved on. But I'm ready to start over in a bigger house. And by bigger I mean one more room and one more bathroom. The move up isn't going to be massive by any means, but two toilets is a must. One toilet for me and the kids...and one ultimate throne room that I plan to never touch or come anywhere near for Josh. As for the kids, they're way too excited about the potential move. I've tried not to gear them up, but it's hard not to when we go look at potential homes. As anti-optimistic as I am, it's hard not to get your hopes up. Even if it's just for a little while. Wish us luck. This could be a bumpy ride. And because it's been awhile since I posted pictures of my monkeys, here they are. Crazy kids.