157 - Settling like a foundation in the Houston swamps

So we're here finally.

In a case of really bad planning it seems that all the nuts and bolts with which to put our dining room table, bed frame, and a shelving unit were somehow packed in one box and that box is apparently in Austin. Same with the power cords for all of our tv's. Seriously?

We have also realized we have too much stuff for not enough house. We figured as much, but it's blatantly obvious in the schizophrenic furniture arrangement we have going on. It doesn't quite feel like home yet because there is still stuff everywhere, still boxes to unpack but no place to put their contents.

I did manage to find curtains... curtain rods are in Austin, but the Dollar General down the road had $1 rods, so that wasn't bad. Most of the windows are covered and I only had to buy five for the front room. They were cheap but they look really good. Mike did an awesome job hanging them, which is actually saying a lot because we had to get creative.

The basement is damp so no paper, no furniture, nothing that would be destroyed by dampness can go down there. We bought some extensions for the downspouts and Mike is going to clean the gutters tomorrow, hopefully that will help dry it out a bit. Right now the rain just sheets off the roof because the gutters are full of debris, and all that water runs into the ground by the basement wall. We've been getting a lot of torrential rainstorms lately, but we are lucky that we are high on a hill and far enough away from the creek that it shouldn't affect us much. There seems to be a leak somewhere around the chimney, found that out when we had an attic ladder installed (need one for the a/c we're eventually getting, although we are reconsidering and may put it in the basement after all). The former owner sent a crew to tar it up, and that did help a lot, but tomorrow Mike is going to go up there and put some flex seal around it on the underside of the roof because there is still a small leak. I think it is appropriate to say that when it rains, it pours.

There is no level spot for the RV to sit, so we can't open it up and get the rest of our things out. All my cooking utensils are sandwiched between the slides and some of my clothing as well. We've got most of what we need, but there is more to unpack. We are pretty much all hill here. So eventually we will have to level a spot, and Jason and Mike will pour a pad, but that costs money so it will have to wait.

A lot of things have to wait.

Like a/c. My now ex-friend screwed me over big time. She and her fiance found the home buying process too stressful for their delicate dispositions and backed out. We closed on this house on a Friday and I was supposed to go from that closing to another closing where I would sign the documents so that they could be overnighted to their closing on Monday. At 11 am that Friday I called the title company and was told closing may not happen on Monday. I took that to mean we'd close on Tuesday. Then on Sunday I saw a cryptic Facebook post by Beverly talking about how going into business with friends is a bad idea. That's how I found out that things weren't as solid as they seemed. Monday when I called the title company is when I found out that they decided not to close. They were more concerned with the wedding they didn't end up having. They don't know what stress is. We literally had a day or two and the deal would have been done. So I'm assuming he's keeping his options open and wasn't as ready to commit as he wants her to think. In my opinion, that's probably going to be a good thing, I have suspicions about him that I will keep to myself.

So I wrote an email telling them they had five days to get out of my house, because yes, I let them start moving in early. If they weren't out by then I'd have the sheriff put locks on the doors. I said if there was any damage, they would be responsible. If I had to re-key any locks they would pay for that. And if I didn't have the rent they agreed to and had not yet paid, despite me asking about it three times, I would see them in small claims court. I got a long-winded response explaining shit I didn't care to know and it ended with the hope that we could still be friends, but if not, it was on me. Yeah... because I'm the asshole.

Luckily a high school friend happens to be a realtor and she is listing the house for us. She's been a godsend. I owe her big time when we get back on our feet because she's gone above and beyond for us. It's moments like that that restore the faith other people have destroyed.

So other than that, neither of us have jobs. The one I was supposed to have seems to have fallen through. The one Mike was supposed to have had... ditto. I've applied for a few jobs but there's not a lot out here. Mike has done the same. I am toying with the idea of a burger shack. If I can find a cheap rental in a good spot I think I can make it work. I've already blown a few minds with one of my burgers and I have a few more ideas that I think would also be amazing. Burgers are fairly simple to do. Food around here kinda sucks unless you go down the road a few miles. There are a few places here and there that are good, but no burger places at all except for fast food chains. Closest mom and pop is about an hour away, Granville or Cookeville. Problem is the same as ever... no capital and no credit... but that's why I'm hoping there is something out there ready to go that I can rent, and maybe get for cheap. I have a couple of ideas for that too, but nothing I'm sure of.

As far as the house goes, we have a breaker box now instead of fuses. Our water purification system has been installed. Monday or Tuesday the tankless water heater will be hooked up. Thankfully, we have been given a couple of window units to use for a/c... that and the ceiling fans are working fairly well but it still gets hot. I can't wait for central air and heat, but it probably won't happen until August/September since I have to get the money out of the Texas house first.

People used to be trustworthy. Handshakes and promises used to mean something. Hell, friendship used to mean something. It's times like these when I wish I had asked for a much larger earnest deposit. And some other kind of default fee. It just makes me ill because they knew our situation and they still did it. They even painted a few walls, thankfully a neutral color so I really believed they wanted the house. Anyway, enough about that, I already ranted about it on Facebook.

Hopefully our steel building will sell and we can use that money to get a mower and pay some bills, maybe get the a/c before the house sells. There has been some interest in it, but no firm deals yet. I'm ready for shit to start falling into place instead of falling apart. I remember a time when I didn't think about money 24/7. I remember a time when things were much, much easier. We didn't realize how good we had it, and now we know. We still find happiness in things, but moving in wasn't quite the joyful experience I expected. We were ecstatic right after we closed, and then shortly afterward the rug was pulled out from underneath us so that now all we can do is worry about how we're going to manage to keep it. But I'm sure we'll find a way. Surely there is an end to all this bullshit.