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House hunting

I like to picture the pioneers who spent months of their lives traveling to their new homesteads and finally reaching it and getting out of the wagon…having a nice stretch and then looking around at the wilderness thinking “WOW, this looked a lot different on www.realtor.com”.

Peter and I have spent so much time browsing through houses for sale online that I truly think there is a chance we have seen EVERY house for a 20 mile radius of Fayette county. It was fun at first, it was exciting to look and imagine and hope for the bright shiny future home! Now, it’s like doing algebra homework….”Oh no, it’s house browsing time again?”

Seriously, it is a wonderful tool to have at our fingertips, we’ve been able to figure out where we want to live, where the best schools are…we are able to ditch whole groups of houses based on the lousy schools. We have our list of necessities and then we search and we search and we search.

Then Pete and I sit and do the “wild imagination” times….where he looks at houses that are cheap fixer uppers…I look at houses about 350,000$ out of our price range…we consider what we’d do with 13 acres…we play “what if money weren’t an issue”….something to break up the monotony.

It’s been so nice having Pete home the past week. The kids have enjoyed him being here while they’re out of school and we’ve been able to squeeze in some really nice family time. Our home seems whole again, it’s messy, it’s loud, this is how we like it. We’re already anticipating Pete having to pack up and leave on Tuesday, I’m encouraging them with the plan to go up for a visit around Nathaniel’s birthday in late January.

I can confess I’m a little neurotic these days. Peyton’s bruised up right now…her platelet count is great…I KNOW it’s nothing but normal kid playing….the bruises are healing!….but I can’t stop watching them and checking them 20 times a day. It just freaks me out to see her legs all banged up and today she had a new one on her butt cheek….she LOVED me checking that one over and over again today, let me tell you. I keep telling myself not to worry, that I’m letting my imagination get the best of me, especially because I have her counts from Wednesday rattling around perfectly in my head. But it’s that cancer parent paranoia…the need to check for random fevers, the watching every bruise like a hawk, staring at them to make sure their color looks good…I AM CRAZY, but I admit it and I move on.

However, tonight I got the great joy of watching Nathaniel break out in a very mysterious rash. He’s already had the chicken pox, he has NO other symptoms…just a spreading rash on his torso, groin and underarms. **Note, please don’t attempt to self diagnose via Google, I put in his symptoms and got back BUBONIC plague. However, this is also the search engine that we used to look up “Wetus”, a Powhatan Indian house, and got back 4,000,000 sites for porn.

My paranoia came rushing in, the kid went to bed tonight marked in red sharpie…so that I could see where he was currently broken out and if there are new spots in the morning, I’ll know. Because, again, I am CRAZY. How crazy am I?? Before he went to bed, he sighed and asked me “Do I have to stay in my room again until this goes away?”

Considering they’ve been all over each other all through the Christmas break, I think its pointless now…but thanks for offering, Son.

f.r.o.G.
–Anissa

3 Comments on “House hunting”

  1. #1 Alayna
    on Dec 30th, 2007 at 11:18 pm

    Hi Anissa,

    Just checking up on you from Christmas – got lots of good laughs as usual! You are awesome! I'm so glad to hear that Pete is home and you are all enjoying yourselves. Personally, I don't think you're crazy AT ALL! In fact, I loved the sharpie idea, and am going to keep it in my repertoire next time a crazy rash comes up – of course, I really don't think you should judge your sanity by my standards – they're shady at best. I know what you mean about the bruises – Lily-Grace had a huge , unexplained one on her leg and my heart immediately seized up, and she's not even the one with cancer! But really, what do I mean unexplained? The child is an accident waiting to happpen – she trips on her own feet at least twice a day. What can I say? She's got her parents' genes! Thanks for all the laughs and the pictures!

    Love,
    Alayna

  2. #2 Karalyn
    on Jan 1st, 2008 at 9:19 am

    I know I'm a little late on this one but I have been in VA visiting my new baby nephew.(Awww) I have been house hunting for months-UGH! I already have the town picked but finding a house has been impossible.I have a few requirements for my new house and it's not like I am asking for a "West Wing" for the kids to reside in or anything…I just want a laundry room that's not in the basement and a family room, and please would it be asking too much for some closet space? And I know exactly what you mean about the house looking quite different on-line. They never show pictures of the pink and aqua carpet in the living room-they save it for a surprise when you get there. I hope you guys find something that is just perfect for you.
    I also hope Nathaniel(and all the kids) are healthy and mysterious rash-free.
    Happy New Year!

  3. #3 Karen
    on Jan 9th, 2008 at 10:58 am

    Good Morning/Afternoon –

    I have been following your site for awhile now. I am a fellow Fayette Countian(if thats a word) grew up there. Anyway, not sure where you are looking for houses, but the Stars Mill School districted(Peoples Elememtry,Stars Mill Jr & Sr High) is the best!

    Karen