Mar

24

Farewell

There is a family story about me from when I was a very young child. Apparently after enduring a diaper change I looked up at my uncle and shyly informed everyone that Uncle R. was clean and dry. It must have been the absolute biggest compliment I could come up with, something that encompassed all that was impressive and noteworthy in my world at the time.

He was whip-smart, funny as hell, and he was cool. If you’ve been reading my aunt’s blog you may know him just a little bit from the comments. My heart is with her today, because last night, they had to say good-bye.

If you’re the good-thought-sharing type, I know she could use them.

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Mar

23

Mulling

There is a couple around our age that moved into a large, beautiful home down the block a few years ago and JB and I spent a lot of time jealously wondering how they afforded such swanky digs. Maybe it was the side heroin-import business, or the internet porn, or her fame in Tijuana as a maestro de pelota de ping-pong . . . we had many theories.

Now they’re moving again, apparently to a bigger, better location — because 2300 square feet is not enough when you’ve got all those smack-smuggling pay-per-view vaginal-table-tennis activities to manage, I’m sure — and when we saw the open house sign yesterday afternoon JB and I decided to stop by. Their agent let us snoop around and I left lustful sluglike eyeball-trails gaze over the formal dining room, gorgeous staircase, gourmet kitchen, and giant windows. Every inch was spotless and nicely decorated, they had actual art on their walls instead of sweet-potato fingerprints, and I swear I wasn’t rifling through their walk-in closet but . . . well, I couldn’t help but notice that their clothes were neatly arranged by color.

Listen, I know you’re not supposed to covet thy neighbor’s goods, but damn.

Anyway, we only did this to be nosy, because god knows we can’t afford such a fancy place, but, well, it turns out we kind of CAN. JB ran some numbers and given the fact that we have a 15-year fixed loan from our remodel and our house value isn’t high enough to get a new combined loan that would drop the monthly payments, we could actually in theory use the equity in our current home to buy a new house at a higher value and pay the same amount per month, maybe even less.

We think our neighbors are asking too much for their home, but it got us thinking about what else is out there for a similar value. And you know, there’s a lot. Housing prices are down right now, even in Seattle’s crazy market, and we could definitely upgrade. Get some more living space, maybe even a view.

There are all kinds of questions, of course, like whether our house would even sell right now, whether we could get a new loan given JB’s brand-new job, and whether or not it’s a good idea to make ANY big financial moves like that at the moment. Also: schools, commutes, the unbelievable ass-pain of showing a house while living in it, and the associated costs of moving. Oh and the probability of ANY place, no matter how amazing, looking trashed within one month of housing two small children.

It’s just interesting to think about, I guess. Also, as long as I’m dreaming, I would like someone to buy me this house IMMEDIATELY.

:::

PS: Oh! I almost forgot: I participated in the Big Climb yesterday, and I posted a bit about it here. To those who sponsored me or sent encouraging words, thank you so much!

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