Diana's Writing Blog

So, yesterday was pretty awesome. Mom, Dad, Grandma and my sister (who got back from college on Friday) came up to see me and we cooked dinner and played Wii. And we went to look at that house I wanted to buy. Yeah, past tense. It was baaaad. The wiring was bad and there was water damage and most of the floors were tilted or bowing and the staircase was giving out. So, yeah, not even I, who have been accused at times of being overly naive and optimistic, could justify getting that place.

But the real estate guy wanted to show me a place down the street. Just to give me an idea of what the difference between a $30,000 and a $60,000 house is. And I looooved the other house we saw. It had a great kitchen and a great bathroom and it was the perfect size and I want it sooo bad. But it’s $60,000. More than, actually. I’d have to talk them down to $60,000. And I don’t even have enough to put 10% down so I’d be taking it all in loans.

But I really love it, and it’s in a way better area and I know I wouldn’t have nearly as hard a time selling it when/if I want to. *sigh* So, I’m going to go to my credit union and see what I can get pre-qualified for. Then I’m going to go on my “emergency running lights” budget, which is one step above the full emergency “you’ve been fired” budget, so that I can sock away some big bucks towards a down payment.

Anyway, I’ll see what I can actually get a loan for before I go all crazy on the trimming expenses. I guess it’s not the end of the world to have to stay in my apartment for another year. But I’d really like to start building some equity and have a bigger asset than my freaking car. Plus, you know, I’d like to have the freedom to paint, remodel, and change whatever I want in my place.

Oh, and I managed to make my writing quota for Friday, but I took the weekend off:

Yep, I am 23 today. Know how you know you’re really an adult? The fact that it’s payday excites you more than the fact that it’s your birthday. Oh well, I’m happy that it’s both payday AND my birthday. And I have a hot new Sweeney Todd poster to look at thanks to kitty_bandit 

So, it was just me and Sergey at the office today. The only other girl in the office is pregnant and on bed rest until August, so she’s working from home. And Kreg had to go do an install in North Carolina. Still, it was nice. We had lunch on the company, and Sergey went to go get it. He looked for cupcakes but the store was out, so he bought a bunch of fixin’s and made Russian Salad (he’s Russian). It was actually really good, even though it had avocado and I don’t generally care for avocado. Apparently anything tastes pretty good coated in sour cream. Seriously, it was good and I’m stealing the recipe.

Anyway, the real celebration will come Saturday when my mom and dad and grandma and sister come up and we make dinner and eat cake and go look at the house.

So, I dropped off the face of the planet again. It’s been a busy few weeks.

Anyone who’s seen me in person has heard all about it, I’m sure, but just in case: I’m thinking of buying a house. It’s less than a block from where I work, and a block from the grocery store, so I’d save money by walking everywhere. Plus, even with property tax and added utilities, I’d be paying less than $80 more a month than I pay to live in a one room apartment. And I’d be building equity and I’d have a yard for my dog to run around in. The list goes on and on.

That’s not to say I’m not freaking out at the prospect of making mortgage payments on top of paying off my car loan and student loan. I can afford it thanks to the raise I got at work, but still, if I suddenly lose my job, I can’t get out of a mortgage as easily as I can a lease. So, there are definitely cons.

Then there’s the real estate agent who was hesitant to show the house to a single girl because she (yes, she!) thinks I’ll be scared by the unfinished upstairs. Apparently, the guy who owned the place had started to convert his two walk through bedrooms into closed off bedrooms, but only got so far as framing it off and hadn’t drywalled. I guess she was afraid that I, with my tiny girl brain, couldn’t fathom how it might look with walls. Or how to put the walls up.

I’m not saying I’m a drywall expert, or that drywalling and mudding is particularly fun, but I think I could manage to make it happen. Jeebus! And she’s not the only one who’s raised an eyebrow when I say that I’m thinking of getting a place by myself at the age of (almost) 23. Yeah, things are a bit “old fashioned” up here still.

So, that’s the drama I’ve been sorting out, along with a pretty heavy workload at my job. But I still managed to get book 2 of my “Lori” series edited and had a sample printed at Lulu.com just to make editing and proofreading easier (and avoid the temptation to print 3 copies of a 160 page book at work to save some money. Now I’m working on book 3 in that same series. And it’s actually going a lot better than I expected. I keep expecting it to be like pulling teeth like the other two I wrote this year, but so far I’ve made my 2,000 word goal in an hour or two. Here’s hoping that keeps up.

And, because I know you missed it, I give you the Writing Progress box: