Today was an extremely full day for me, plus I've been feeling yucky again. I think that stomach bug is hanging on. I managed OK until the inspection on the house we're trying to buy.
I say "trying" because the sellers and their agents are making it as difficult as they possibly can. Today the sellers' agent babysat us while we had the home inspected. According to our agent, they never do that. But this guy hung out at the house from 1:30pm until 5:30pm... at which time he kicked us out!
We had brought Elli's wheelchair and bath chair and were planning to figure out how we're going to work the ramp in the garage, as well as determine what modifications we need to make to the bathroom.
But no. The sellers' agent said he hadn't planned to be there longer than 4pm and he needed to go. So we needed to leave too.
Excuse me? Isn't that why houses on the market have lock boxes on their front doors? So people can look at houses without the selling agent present? Aren't we all adults here? Haven't we already been in the house twice without the selling agent?
But we were polite and cooperative. We calmly packed our gear, our kids, and ourselves back into our cars and headed home to finish the home inspection paperwork. We didn't ask for anything unreasonable -- like a new furnace (even though the dinosaur is 25 years old and, in the words of the HVAC inspector, "is in poor condition though it still runs").
Evil Joy wants to stick it to them so bad for being so difficult and for treating us like criminal charletans. I'm actually ready to walk away altogether if they refuse all of our requests outright. But if we actually buy the house, my current favorite daydream is me walking into the closing dressed in muddy overalls, acting like a total hick, and saying things like that we're going to rip out the lawn and roses, put down gravel so we can park an old RV or graffiti-adorned Volkswagon bus in the front yard, and how great it will be to hang deerskins out to cure on the clothesline out back.
I am trying very hard to remember what is really important in the grand scheme of things. That this is a great opportunity to represent Christ to them and turn the other cheek and be the bigger person no matter how childish and immature they are. That I can go into that house on September 13 after we get the keys, rip out everything they put in there, and make it ours. That it isn't the poor house's fault it was built and owned and sold by jerks.
If we actually buy the house, we'll definitely need a furnace savings account.
And a wallpaper steamer. Or three.
