devilsbard

since there's only a few people who actually read this, which I can't complain about really (I don't come here to read other guy's blogs either), i figured i would say hello to all 5 or so of you and let ya know all about the things going on.

I have spend my entire weekend and the previous weekend fixing up our house, and arranging to look at other houses. It's been exhausting doing it all alone, as my wife is pregnant and my daughter is... 5. So can hardly be expected to help me for any extended period of time. It's turning out great though. I love working with my hands. I took wood shop for all 8 semesters in high school so I love getting a chance to use it all.

Also I've been listening to one of my favorite books in audio form for the first time. "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman. i've really started to like audio books. I prefer reading, but between work, school, family, and the house repair and house search I really don't have much time to do anything else. Hence why i forced myself to come on here and look at pretty pictures for a while. I made a series of very bad measurements and cuts and realized I needed a break.

As for the house hunting: we have placed a bid on a house we like. We had been told by the realtor that there were no other offers on the house, so we were pretty sure our well research and carefully constructed offer would be accepted by the bank, who owned the home, without much fight. We were wrong. First they responded saying they had multiple offers, which seemed unlikely, and they asked for our "best offer". We did that and raised our price to the maximum we were willing to offer for the home, that definitely needs work. The bank accepted us as the party they wanted to deal with, but would not budge on their overly inflated price. I don't like feeling pressured. I don't like to be toyed with or intimidated. It doesn't get the desired response. I entrench and I become very combative. Meaning that when our realtor emailed us with the banks ridiculous counter offer, my response to him was "Tell the bank our offer stands. With all the work needed we won't pay a penny more. They can take our offer or go fuck themselves. And god help anyone who buys that home from them at that price."

Now I don't really care if we get that house. If the bank comes back and accepts our offer I am almost inclined to lower our offer by $5,000 - $10,000 after our inspection just to fuck with them. But I hold out no delusions of hope that a faceless corporation will back down to what they may see as a perfectly reasonable price. So we are looking at around 10 houses tomorrow. No use waiting while we wait for the corporate bureaucracy to come back and tell us "no". Also we were not initially told that the home was a foreclosure. Which I do not like the idea of in the first place. I don't like the idea of gaining from another person's misfortune. But, as I often do, I ignore my beliefs when the good of my family is a factor.

Here is a quick bit on the progression of our place:


Also here's a picture of the water tower my daughter named "Henry" as i drove to work the other morning. The sun rising behind it. I just liked it, though it's a simple snap shot with my phone.