Stuff-

I'm still high from yesterday's phone call...it's a good thing the academic advisor called Ryan and left a voice mail, because if she had actually gotten in touch with me, she would certainly be deaf in one ear.

Yesterday (pre-life changing phone call), I promised to fill everyone in on what's been happening. We're STILL trying to get a hold of the release form for the cancer house (radon). Weekends have been spent in Annapolis, Washington DC, and a Phillies game in Philly. It's funny, when crazy things are happening, I think, "I HAVE to write about this," but after two weeks, I realize how trivial and unimportant those crazy, eye-rolling incidents have become.

Despite not being able to open up the emailed version of the release form, Ryan and I met with the real estate agents last night to look at town homes in Middletown. Now that I'm REALLY going to school at UD, Middletown is truly the best place for us to live...I will drive 25 miles north to go to school, and Ryan will drive 25 miles south for work. Unfortunately, there is just no way we can truly afford to live in a house in Middletown (unless we want to live on the railroad tracks). The nicer homes are all in the mid to upper 300s. Even if we pool together everything and actually get a nice house, than we have to figure out how to heat the house in the winter, keep it cool in the summer, and worry about that other little thing: such as eating & tuition. We could probably do it all, but then what about saving? and trips to the mall? and to DC, Philly, Baltimore, Annapolis, & NYC? I'm not about to buy a large house AND completely change my lifestyle. I already feel guilty about shopping...there's a bonafide H&M at one of the malls in Wilmington and I STILL haven't purchased anything. This is H&M we're talking about...it's already cheap!

So it'll have to be a townhome. IF we get the release paper and IF the sellers accept our offer and IF the inspection goes well (ha). Please send good vibes...much in need...

Holy Crap-I'm a Blue Hen

Yesterday Ryan called while I was talking to my mother. Since I still can't figure out how to use call waiting on a cell phone WITHOUT hanging up on the main party, I ignored the beeps. He left a voice mail. I'm still talking to my mother when he calls AGAIN, so I said to my mom, "HOLD ON!"

here's the conversation:

Rachel: HEY, WHat do you need? I'm talking to my mother.

Ryan: WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING YOUR PHONE? YOU NEED TO CALL PAT D. RIGHT NOW.
(he didn't actually say Pat D...he said the full name)

Rachel: Who?

Ryan: PAT D...YOU Need to call her RIGHT NOW

Rachel: Who? Who are you talking about? Did something happen??? WHAT HAPPENED??

Ryan: YOU GOT INTO SCHOOL...YOU GOT INTO UD...YOU NEED TO CALL UD!

Rachel: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rachel: AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Rachel: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

I think she called Ryan because she originally had our Charleston house phone number, which now forwards the calls to Ryan's cell phone...so anyways, I didn't actually call her back because she left a message saying for me to EMAIL her with my correct mailing address. So I did :)

Let's just compound all this AAAHHH with the recent dream I had of receiving an acceptance letter, only to be accompanied with PUNK cameras. It wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. And just earlier today a friend was saying to me, "You find out about UD in two weeks, right?" How SHE remembered that is beyond me, but she did, and it made me all nervous, and I ended up finding out only 4 hours later....

Sitting on top of a cloud...this is the FIRST DAY I was out of bed BEFORE 8:30 on my own...it was just the good news I needed to push me out the door before 9 for a run...

More updates later...good vibes...Keep them coming!

Good Vibrations

AHHH....so I'm closer to being a Generation-X-er than I thought. Yes, as you can tell, I'm a SLACKER.

I've been meaning to update, really, I have, but this has the been the most stressfull two weeks EVER, and if I've learned ANYTHING during the past two week it's this:

When stressed I freeze.

I think there is a quote from a former president about 'freezing' and 'doing nothing' because of fear. I will find it and post on this blog.

But first, Ryan and I are in need of good vibes. Already, I think, we are out of the house we almost bought. Tonight, we will be looking at maybe 6-8 townhomes in Middletown, a more expensive area of Delaware. Something has to work. There has to be something there that I like. And the entire townhome has to be purchased without a hitch.

So please, send good vibes :)

I will post more tomorrow-I PROMISE to fill you in on our recent adventures. Really.

TheTimeMachine

Our whirl-wind week is pretty much over, and thankfully, the dust is slowly beginning to settle.

Our agents found us a condo we can rent out for the next two months. Very sly, under the table sort of deal, but the place is clean and safe WITHOUT hundreds of acres of surrounding farm land and mouse droppings. It was nice to finally be out a hotel and back in our own bed, even if it isn't home. The best part? Ryan half-heartily plugged in the TV to see if we could get any cable or reception, and sure enough, the cable was never turned off from the last tenant (which I don't really understand...isn't she/he paying the cable bill???)

Saturday the town of Dover celebrated it's annual Olde Dover Days celebration. It's held the first weekend every May. There's a parade (very small...and half of the towns females happen to be "little miss something or others." We missed the first half of the parade, but there was still plenty to see...there were women in hoop skirts, although most were in more colonial-era dress. It reminded me of a family vacation from grade school when we went to Williamsburg. Boys were dressed in three point hats. There was one boy riding a uni-cycle, and his father was riding a penny-farthings.

After we snapped this picture, he hopped off the bike and told Ryan to take a picture of ME on the bike. You can't really tell, but my feet don't reach the peddles (which was noticed by the crowd "Her feet don't reach the peddles!"). Little did I know at one point, the man actually stopped guided me around the street. I had no idea I was actually supposed to be STEERING the bike (really, why should I have to do ALL The work?),AND I later found out that those bikes have no breaks.

After the parade, there were two maypoles set up and kids from the area elementary schools danced around...

Here are some pictures from the day...you can tell that we were a part of the colonial era, mingled with the Native Americans, reveled in some Medieval jousting, AND after a day of driving, finally some good ole-1980s punk in downtown Philly. Dinner was the best part of the day.

yes, it's bigger than my head. Yes, it all fit in my stomach. And yes, it was damn good, too.

Eurkeka!

Yesterday our agents took us to a house that is available for short term rent. Because of our present living situation (currently residing at the Sheraton), cost wasn't much of an issue and we didn't even blink at the $1200 per month price tag.

Driving out towards the rental, I began to realize this house MUST be in a safe neighborhood because there was no neighborhood. Just tons of farm land. Acres and acres of green grass.

We saw a house, that was possibly the rental (directions weren't very clear). While we all knew the rental was an older home, we never imagined it would actually be a farm home (even though the rental description mentioned that the outbuildings were not included in the rent). Turns out, the rental WAS the old farm house. Cute white square box of a house, two stories, a side porch, surrounded by a couple of barns, a silo and ACRES of green grass. Walking through the house, which was ever so tastelessly decked out in 1972 decor, Ryan and I think, "we can handle this for a month, 6 weeks max." (We're talking gold thick carpet complete with design.) I'm asking questions such as, "is there a garbage service?" when I hear Ryan go, "OHHH"

Ryan, aka Mr. Clean, had opened one of the kitchen cabinets to discover hundreds of black pellets. Yes, Mickey Mouse himself lived in that house and Ryan was the lucky one to discover Mickey's very own private outhouse.

Can ANYTHING go smoothly in Delaware???

Home Shopping

Saturday:

We are no longer the Beverly Hillbillies, but Gypsies. I came across some jewelry that I threw into my suitcase, and now use them to dress up.

House shopping....

One house has a fence literally all around it because the neighbors homes & yards belong in a trailer park. We don't even walk into the house.

House number 1: In the same neighborhood as the above house. I'm nervous. We arrive at the house, only to see a MONSTER TRUCK in the front yard. OK, not yard, but driveway. The car is obviously used, as it's blocking in the mini-van that is also parked in the driveway. The family that lives in the home walks out of the home and I watch in awe as the father lift his two daughters into the truck (no steps into the truck). The house isn't so bad actually. Except we see that the backyard butts up against railroad tracks.
The house is a tiny, but cute...Cape style. Downstairs is great. open, airy, lots of windows. We walk up stairs. ha..the entire second floor is basically the attic, and all of the walls/ceilings are sloping. The master bedroom has no bathroom, and while there is enough space for our furniture, you can't put the mirror on the dresser because of the sloping ceilings. The only full bathroom in the house (possibly the only bathroom in the house...I don't remember if there was a 1/2 bath downstairs) HAS a mirror on the wall at the vanity. Except I would have to get on my knees to look at my face. Plus the railroad tracks. House is definitely out.

House #2: 100+ year old Victorian home, complete with National Historic Register for a BARGAIN, especially if you're handy. Checkerboard floor in the foyer, hardwood floors everywhere else, claw foot tub/shower, you get the idea. The second bath has a hole in the shower wall, some of the stair cases are so small and narrow that breaking an ankle or back is a definite, AND you have to check the foundation once a year and reapply some sort of home-made mortar-like cement. In other words, the house is literally sinking in a money pit.

I don't remember the other houses, but there were two we liked, until we realized that one sat on the railroad tracks (same tracks from house number 1) and one house faced a highway.

Base housing isn't an option (15 month waiting list...seriously this is just like South Carolina), and Middletown is obviously waaay too expensive for what we're looking for. We decided to start looking south....

On Monday we looked at about 10 homes in a large development that is out in the middle of nowhere. The nearest grocery store is a 15 minute drive. I'm not even sure if the newspaper can be delivered that far out. We finally found a house, put in an offer, it was countered, but we still accepted.

And naturally, last night I freaked.

Buyer's Remorse and we haven't even closed on the house.

Hi, my name is Eloise...

except I'm not living the high life at The Plaza.

We're at the Sheraton in Dover, DE.

Checking in: we brought in 2 cat boxes, 2 animal carriers (containing cats), a HUGE cooler, boxes, hangers, suitcases and the headboard and footboard to our bed. We are the Beverly Hillbilles.

That was Wednesday. On Thursday, we started looking for apartments, and since we were wanting to buy a house in Middletown, that was the obvious place to start looking. We drove 20 miles north only to discover that there are no apartment complexes in Middletown. There are property managers who rent out Victorian homes that were transformed into apartments, but they will not agree to a short term lease. So we drive 20 miles south to Dover.

Apartment complex number 1: Bills itself as 'luxury living' complete with washer/dryer unit in each unit. Luxury is obviously a broadly defined term in Delaware. The room smelled. The washer could have fit one pillow case and one bath towel. Seriously, I don't think my robe would have fit, much less a sheet set.

Apartment complex number2: The lady running the leasing office is having a really bad day or is a first rate bitch with a nasty personality. She shows a studio apartment, which I could have handeled, but the loiters outside were a bit much.

Apartment complex number3: The place is ok...except again, the loiters...and the hotels on the outside of the complex make me weary of prostitues and the like.

We read the reviews of the apartments online and they say things like, "...bring a gun.....great if you enjoy finding heroin bags on the floor and coming home to the aroma of mariuana....my car was broken into five times."

We call the realtor and plan to look at 8 homes on Saturday.

Wednesday 4/25

Welcome to Delaware!

We woke up just before 6am. I was so tired that after sitting up in bed to get up, I literally fell backwards on to Ryan. We must have stopped 5 times on the way up to Delaware. Traffic wasn't so bad, but the drive was long and boring. I made it over The Bridge (a long, high bridge in Maryland) and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

Right after crossing the Delaware border, we saw a horse and buggy on the road.

Some pics:

Tuesday 4/24

Ahhh, what a week, where should I start? How about with the movers?

Tuesday 4/24, early morning: Ryan and I leave the Charleston on-base hotel to meet the movers at the house. It's 6:45am. I realize that while we have the coffee, coffee filter, and coffee maker, we don't have a mug OR any milk/cream. Remembering that Publix serves complimentary coffee, I decide we should have donuts for breakfast (from Publix).
Publix finally lets me in (they open at 7am) and standing at the bakery, I can't understand why they don't have any plain old chocolate icing donuts. They don't even have glazed donuts. Apparently, the bakery has all the icings to make the donuts, but the don't have the dough needed to make the donuts. Hm.

I end up grabbing the only box of mini cake donuts and make my way to the cashiers, but a box of cinnamon rolls catches my eye and makes me think how happy Ryan would be to have those gooey cinnamon rolls. At this time, as I pick up the box of gooey cinnamon rolls, the box of mini chocolate donuts miraculously grows a pair of wings and FLIES out of my hands, only to immediately crash on the floor. The package somehow opened up and 24 mini donuts were rolling around the floor at Publix. All this, plus Publix didn't even have the complimentary coffee brewing yet.

So there were no free donuts, no more mini choc late donuts, and most horrifying, no coffee.

The day turned slightly better....I realized we had cups. Red Solo cups left over from a recent party. Yes, I drank my coffee black out of a red solo plastic cup. The movers came at noon, left at 8:00pm, damaged two pieces of furniture (chips), and we didn't get back to our Charleston hotel room until well after 11pm. Moving sucks.