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Looking in those neighborhoods was like a trip to the Final Frontier on the verge of the unknown! We've been so ITP, that how people exist outside of I-285 is such a mystery to us! Realistically, the neighborhood that we settled on is only a few minutes away from the house that we originally put an offer on, and only ten minutes away from where we live now. So, it may be the Final Frontier, but not that far from areas that we've been living in for years! We were really surprised to find a diverse selection of houses that were huh-yuge! There was one house that looked GORGEOUSLY quirky from the pictures. It had a giant cactus and succulent terrarium adjacent to the sink in the kitchen, a Lord of the Rings-worthy fireplace, and even had a "secret room" (or "grow room" -hee!) that could be accessed from one of the bedrooms. Although these things made this a very intriguing house, there were a multitude of problems. -mostly stemming from the fact that all of the "improvements" seemed to be done after hanging out in the "Secret Room". ;o)
BEHOLD the mighty cactus and succulent terrarium!
Pat: "Dude! I think I found the entrance to the secret room!
Our Realtor: "Where? Oh my gosh! It IS a secret room!"
Regina: "Um, you KNOW they grew weed in here. Right?"
The house that we ultimately fell in love with was an updated 60's ranch that was just waiting for our touch of retro! Ironically, it was just down the street from the "secret room" house. It was owned by a general contractor, so the improvements made to the house were actually improvements! The only thing we had to do to make us happy was install wood floors and gutters and paint! The seller even went down almost ten grand in price the same day we put in an offer. So far, so good! Right?
Our house! -more on that later...
Then the shit hit the fan. Everything was going well with the house. The seller agreed to fix everything we wanted him to fix. We had just got all of our loan info together and were just going to get the house appraised when I got a call from Pat. He got laid off! Poor guy! He had been working at this company for six months, just got a raise, then got dropped like a hot potato. No two weeks notice, no severance package, no "Well, we may be able to hire you on again when things are good." -just a severance letter that would allow him to collect unemployment. Fuckin' economy! I totally freaked out and told Pat that we should call off buying the house, but after some MAJOR forethought, we decided to put the house in my name. Luckily, the payments were still going to be manageable on my income and our interest rate wasn't going to be much higher. We were so relieved that we had dodged that another bullet! We joked to all of our friends saying, "Well at least I'm not pregnant!"........I should watch what I say in the future.
One week later, Pat and I decided to go "Apocalypse Shopping" at Walmart for some frozen and canned goods and such. We were kinda freaking out and figured it would be a good time to stock up, since we were NEVER going to leave the house again! I was walking through the Feminine Needs aisle when I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had my monthly visitor. I have an irregular cycle anyway, so I chalked it up to stress and the possibility that I was having a 40 day cycle. Just to be sure, we bought some pregnancy tests anyway. I had been off the pill for almost a year and was taking a test every few months. So, I didn't really think much about this particular test. I "prepared" it and set it on the tub. 5 minutes later, I took a look at the test and there were no lines! I was about to get totally pissed that I had bought some cheap, crappy tests when I realized that that my dumb-ass was looking at the wrong side. I flipped the test over and two bright pink lines were staring back at me! Ironically, the only thing that could sedate me was watching Baby Boom, that silly 80's movie with Diane Keaton, on OnDemand . I had to watch someone get thrown into motherhood and come out on top! -even if it was a fictional movie that didn't make a lick sense. Has anyone ever noticed that the baby in that movie NEVER grows up while her mom builds her baby food empire!? Oh the 80's....I digress.
Later, I went to the doctor and discovered that I was, in fact, pregnant! -8 weeks, to be exact! We even heard the heart beat already. Here is a picture of our little nugget:
Ah, the miracle of life!
So, that's just this month! Who knows what will happen next. So, the kid wasn't exactly planned, but that's kinda how we were wanting to have one anyway. We always said we'd welcome the "mistake" child. The more we thought of our situation, the more we realized that the only thing we didn't plan was Pat getting laid off! Plus, I've got to be proud of my kid for having my comedic timing, entering into existence at an inopportune moment! If I've learned anything from this experience, it's that I should appreciate the irony that exists in my life. I used to think that all of the shit that happens to me is because of some Karmic Debt that I have occurred (maybe it still is), but I've gotten to a point where I don't feel like God is smiting me anymore. -and I'm happy about that! In the end, nothing really matters, as long as you've got people who care about you and you have people to care about!
