And how's YOUR weekend?
2005-05-29, 11:22 p.m.

My take at the yard sale: Five bucks, one free ceiling fan, and the lovely filigree baskets that used to hang from our front porch. Having a yard sale with the former owner of your home can be great fun. I stuffed the baskets today with ferns and red geraniums and blue petunias and ivy, and we�ve got d�j� vu all over again.

Daughter�s take at the yard sale? $12 PLUS two days� worth of babysitting fees. She�s been waving fans of cash at us all day. Little snot.

Hubby decided to pitch in with laundry duty while I pulled weeds and planted planty things. He was trying to show off how quickly HE, KING OF THE LAUNDRY, could get it done, and rub it in the face of the little housewife. We now have a lot of clean laundry, but we also had The Great Wallet Washing Of Ought-Five. It does behoove oneself to remove one�s wallet from one�s pants before shoving them in the washing machine. Most everything has dried nicely, prompting him to make clever-yet-obvious comments about his mad money-laundering skillz.

When the neighbors in back and to the right of us drain their pool, the water goes into our backyard. Just thought you�d like to know. Gave me a bit of a surprise while mowing the grass yesterday; nothing like riding straight into a previously nonexistent lake. They did come over all apologetic and crap and seemed pretty dang happy that we didn�t try to kill them. Once a year, we can deal, and it�s their boys that have been asking Son to come outside and play, with their siren song of plastic swords and light sabers. We�re nice people. See? See?

Our old-old house in town is for sale once again, and I�m all pissy about it. We bought it in 1997 with more intentions than money and more than a few surprises about how many repairs a 20 year old house required (that the inspection failed to note, too). We slaved for six years redoing the electrical wiring, plumbing, siding, roof, deck, fence, landscaping, central heat and air, etc. And what did we get for it? A big fat nothing. When my father�s cancer worsened, time was far more valuable than money, so we sold it to an investment group (NEVER AGAIN) who dragged their feet when the house appraised for $500 more than what we paid for it. Yes, we did $40K worth of work to net five hundred dollars in equity, thanks to the new neighborhood behind it of smaller, squashed-together new homes and a surplus of properties for sale.

The family who bought it from the investment company finished the things that were on our long-term list, knocking out a wall and renovating the kitchen. They also cut down nearly every tree and ripped out all the perennials, shrubs, and bulbs I planted. The yard looks awful. I�ve seen photos of the inside, and although nice, it�s nothing to hold your breath over. It�s plain. But, housing prices have risen since 2003, there are fewer on the market�so they are asking $110,000 more for the house than what they paid for it. A $110K profit in less than 2 years. $@#^&*! Sour grapes. The six repair-free, hassle-free months that being rid of that place gave me with my dad is priceless. We just couldn�t continue working and slaving over a huge yard and huge home, then take care of my father and help my parents with housework and yard work. We rented a little place for two years with no maintenance, easy to clean, easy to mow. Now we have purchased this home, which is fabulous and big yet easy to tend, but I have unfinished business at that other house. It�s like a thousand-piece puzzle where you have to stop at the last 15 pieces, or a really involved novel with the last chapter ripped out. It tasks me.

Hubby just flat-out hates that other house. He swears it was jinxed. It was while living there that our kids and our fathers were diagnosed with Big Heavy Ailments And Conditions, that he endured job from hell, there was marital strife and financial woes, toil and sweat and tears. Once a dishwasher repairman told me he was certain he knew that house, that it was where a good friend of his sister killed herself in the garage. Oh THAT was a delightful little nugget. I was never able to verify that, but the pall over that place was more noticeable than ever.

Before they move, I want to ask the current owners if they�ve had a run of bad luck over the past couple of years. I�ll bet they have.

I�m going to bed to sulk now.

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