October 24th
Who knew domestic tranquility could be bought for as little as $3.99?
I purchased ten purple earplugs at Walgreen's yesterday and used them for the first time last night, and oh the bliss! I did not even use my fan, the use of which dates back into the early twenty first century, when I was living at home with a basement full of younger brothers and their rowdy friends.
My brother Jesse recently reminded me of this, and of how he and his friends would dread my eventual, haggard appearance on the stairs late at night, white faced and bleary-eyed with exhaustion.
"Do...you...have...any...idea....how late it is?" I would rasp out, hair in my face.
This earned me the affectionate nickname of "Dragon Lady." It did not tend to quiet them down, though and one night, invention being the child of desperation, I got myself a fan, put it inches away from my face, but blowing in the opposite direction and voila, a noise maker was born.
But now I have lovely, silky purple earplugs. I did not hear my husband playing "Grand Theft Auto," even with surround sound so loud it caused a dish to fall off the rack. I don't even hear the sounds I myself make when moving around at night, say to let the dog out. The door opens silently, the dog makes no sound on the wood floor, outside in the dark I hear nothing but the quiet, fluid sound of my own body, echoing around in my head. It's a little eerie.
October 25th
Beware Spider Solitaire; it is the worst time sucker of all
My husband and I are both suffering from the tedious effects of being the grown ups. We have some huge decisions to make that will have significant financial repercussions on our future. We must make them in two weeks. Being the grown ups, we alone must make them. Sometimes I hate being a grown up.
Anxiety over this situation peaked in the last couple days when we learned the VA will not cover loans for mobile homes and the realtor we were working with in Kentucky stopped communicating with us, leaving us with what appeared to be no options.
I believe this whole process is just an exercise in faith and patience; I have been trying to "stay loose" and just trust that God would lead us in the right direction naturally. Well, yesterday I went on line to do some looking of my own and found a whole bunch of extraordinarily affordable homes. The mortgage payment would be hundreds of dollars less than our BAH.
We called the realtor, she got back to us and sent us more info on one house we really like and is finding more like it. It's looking like within a few days of arriving in Kentucky we will be closing on our second house, one of half a dozen solid little brick ranch homes fifteen to twenty minutes from Ft. Knox.
Also, Keith does not think that we would be moving to GA anytime soon, we'd have at least a couple years. That is more than enough time to pay off at least one more vehicle, if not both and to be able to save the six months rent total that we need for the Colorado Rental Fund. If we end up staying in Kentucky longer, we might even be able to pay off the Kentucky house entirely.
We see the light and thank God! This is a scary time to be investing, to be building a future. In the long run we have to give up control and trust that no matter what happens, God has a plan. In my limited experience, God's plan is usually revealed one step at a time. I feel like Indiana Jones in "The Search for the Holy Grail." We are stepping out into the abyss and just trusting that each time we step out, we'll find solid ground underneath.
I think finding this realtor and these properties are yet another piece of evidence that we are stepping out in the right direction; I have to leave the rest of the path up to God. Like finding a renter for this house; two weeks and counting and we have not had a single walk through.
Free fallin', that's us, baby!
