End of month update

The past few weeks have been a bit of a blur. Too many things going on and constant changes to plans. Not good or bad - just crazy.

I'll leave out the little stuff and concentrate on the big ticket item. # 1 has decided that she wants to leave her home in paradise and move home. She wants to buy a house and go to school and settle down. Settle down as in stay put, not get married and have kids.

Now, I don't have a problem with any of this but I do know that # 1 changes her mind like normal people change their socks. I'm excited at the prospect of her coming home but my excitement is tempered with prudence. You know, seeing is believing, right?

She's got me looking for houses to separate the wheat from the chaff so that all she has to do is to look at the best of the best and then make a decision. I have a great realtor that I'm working with so things are progressing.

I mentioned that the house across the street - a house that we're very familiar with because we've known and been close to everyone who's ever lived there - is empty and up for sale. I only brought it up as a way to find out prices for houses in this area based on number of bedrooms and bathrooms. I didn't mean to give her the idea of buying it!!!

Well, now she's only interested in THAT house! Forget looking any further, she says to me, that's the house I want!!!! Um...ok...my God, what have I done?

The house was taken back by the bank and turned into a HUD home. It's been empty for months! However, it's not up for sale. Why? Well, it seems that HUD has a hold on all its homes for victims of Katrina.

In the aftermath of the hurricanes, HUD provided interim rental housing to many families in the form of HUD-owned properties in the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. These families will be offered the opportunity to purchase the homes they are currently occupying at a discount of ten percent off the property's fair market value. Additionally, HUD will help current tenants pay for property repairs by funding a repair escrow equal to 15% of the contract price.

I won't even go into my thoughts on that little bit of news! Let's just say that I'm less than thrilled at the prospect of THAT living across the street from me!!!!!! But could this be a gift from the fates?

Here's why I ask...

There have been numerous problems in my dealings with # 1 over the years. Mostly due to HER lack of years and judgement. Husband has also been a contributing factor in my issues with # 1 mainly because he views her as his justification to smoke stuff he ought not be smoking. She's unencumbered with responsibilities - he's not. He doesn't seem to get the distinction.

As I talked about in this post, she also has a tendency to treat me with disdain when she's home. Not to mention bad-mouthing me to # 2 & # 3 and the neighbors (STFBN - who is now out of the picture but still germane to the problem).

I did confront her with all this and expressed my trepidation at her moving in such close proximity to us but she says she wants to be close so we can all get closer. Yeah, it sounds good in theory but we all know how that goes.

I'm in a quandary. On the one hand I would love for her to move across the street in order to strengthen our relationship but on the other, I have a feeling that the distance between the house across the street and ours will be riddled with landmines should she actually buy it and move in. I can see this blowing up in all our faces.

I don't know what to do so I'm just leaving it in God's hands. With any luck, he's tired of playing jokes on me.