Eat, eat, eat all day long (yeah, yeah). Eat, eat, eat while I sing this song...

It's no secret that when I was 17, I loved Justin Timberlake. My best friends-Brittany, Nikki, Sarah and I would spend just about every weekend at Sarah's house watching *NSync and Backstreet Boys videos, interviews, etc in Sarah's spare bedroom, which we'd dubbed the "Teeny Bopping" room. I know it sounds ridiculous, especially since we were probably supposed to be drinking and cruising around town on the weekends like "normal" teenagers, but looking back, I guess we weren't normal teenagers. We all knew that we were total dorks, and most of the time we were just greatful we weren't alone in our enternal dorky-ness. I can say without a doubt that I would not have survived my teen years without these three women. Could. Not. Have. Done. It.

The four of us had something like a secret language, with all the boy band quotes and inside jokes we shared. We still use this language today. I don't remember which MTV interview we were watching, but I remember that the cameras were following Justin around his hotel room, and as he awoke one morning, he said groggily, "Oh, another day." It's obviously not anything profound, or particularly interesting, but I say this to myself some mornings when I'm having trouble waking up, or realize on my way to work that I have more to do that day than I can accomplish.

I said this to myself today.


The only people in the world who would "get it" are those three friends, and I keep our memories close to my heart. It makes the day a little easier to get through. :-)

I think, for the most part, that everything is on the upswing. I'm hoping the stressful days of winter are behind me. Everything seems to be working out for my husband regarding his family issues, and he has a job interview this afternoon. I'm praying, and crossing every finger and toe that I have that he gets the job. It would be nice to be a two income household again. And I think it will be good for my husband to go back to work--he hated his last job, and his boss made him feel worthless. The job he is interviewing for today would be something he might actually enjoy. I really hope he gets the offer.

As many of you know, I've been looking for a house to buy for almost a year. Even though money is tight, we've not given up the dream of owning our own home. Of course, right now, our budget is pretty small, which makes looking kind of un-fun. So far, I've not found anything within our budget that is worth making an offer. But...I am SO TIRED of renting. I'm tired of paying deposits that I'll more than likely never get back, I'm tired of worrying all the time that one little imperfection in the house could cause a lawsuit, and more than anything--I'm tired of writing a check every month (the largest bill I have) for a home that will never be mine. I did the math, and the results were scary. I've been a renter since 2002, and in those 9 years I've paid out over $53,000 in rent. This does not include security deposits, pet deposits, etc. Never once have I been late on my rent, and I even deducted the two times in my life I've had to ask my parents for help. If I had that money to add to our house budget, I could buy almost any home I wanted. I should add--this doesn't include rent that my husband has paid in his 15 years of being a renter.

It's frustrating and disheartening.

With all of this in mind, I've been seeking out alternative options to buying. I've checked out leasing with an option to buy, owner-financing, etc. With the house market the way it is, and people desperate to sell, sometimes you can get more of a house if you come up with a creative alternative. I'm working on one of these creative alternatives right now, and I am interested to see how it works out. I might have found the solution to all my housing woes.

I'll keep you posted.

And now, I have to go teach Composition II. I'll leave you with a snippit of my life story.