did you miss me?

so today . . . it has been a month since my last post. a whole month.

i hope this never happens again. i love to blog, but the last month of my life has been hectic, stressful, and aggravating. it has not been funny... well, unless you are of the mindset that sometimes your only choices are to laugh or cry... then maybe there have been a few moments of laughter, but only because the situation has been so ridiculous as to almost be unbelievable.

we bought a house. we don't actually get the keys until tomorrow, but the papers are all signed and the money is somewhere on it's way from our bank to the seller's bank. it has not been an easy process. someday, i will write out the whole crazy story. but for now, let me just mention a few of the things we have been dealing with...

--a beautiful house.

--a crime committed on the property.

--an ex-wife and an incarcerated ex-husband.

--a court order forcing ex-husband to accept our offer.

--lovely wood floors.

--convicted felon's parents currently living in the beautiful house.

--very angry sister with power of attorney for jailed brother.

--an unbelievable struggle over a refrigerator.

--a huge master suite with walk-in closet and two sinks in the bathroom.

--icky bedroom carpeting.

--possible court sanctions against 401k of the man behind bars if cooperation continues to be non-existent.

--quiet street lined with messy pine trees.

--disappearing garage storage cabinets.

--a waiver of liability in case of injury during the final walk-thru?!?!?

--a misdirected email which further inflamed the situation.

--an abandoned pool table.

--dead grass?? maybe, maybe not... tomorrow we will see.

--an excellent house inspection report.

--except for termites. (hey, it is southern california. we have bugs.)

--who gets what? a final struggle over furnishings.

--an empty window replacement warehouse.

--a buried inground spa, covered up by a deck (i'm pretty sure there is a dead body under there...)

--$1000 here, $1000 there... sheesh! when will it end?!?!?!

and if that weren't enough, there were all the end-of-the-year school things that had to be done--assessments, report cards, class parties, field trips, final work booklets... i am still not finished. one of my afternoons next week will be spent not getting paid at school, cleaning up for the summer.

and did i mention that i haven't packed any boxes yet? no? well, i haven't. i'm too scared that a cock roach will hitch a ride to the new house. (thanks, mom!)

this is why i took some time off from blogging. i am telling you, if i had been blogging everything that has happened in the last month, some of you would have accused me of making it up--yes, it is that weird!

BUT, school is now over for me until next fall. and whether the family of the guy in the orange jumpsuit likes it or not, the sale has been completed. now all that is left to do is arrange to have it painted. and carpet laid in the two bedrooms. and sprinklers and grass installed in the back yard. and new windows installed upstairs. and window shutters. and the locks rekeyed!

oh, and sitting at the house on monday from 7:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. waiting for the salvation army to come and take away the furniture that neither the ex-wife or the ex-husband's family wanted. yes, it is going to be a loooong day...

it's ok, though, because i have been waiting almost two months to get to sit inside that house. all. by. myself.

:-)