A post in pictures

I've managed to accumulate some pics, and thought I'd do a post using the pics as update prompts!

April showers bring....Well, technically that's a late March shower, as viewed from the front step of the apartment.  We've had an up and down spring so far, with some pretty good thunderstorms rolling through.  During house hunting drama we had an entire weekend of rain, then back to cool days and frosty nights, but now were back to sun and heat!

Warm weather earlier in March along with rains brought on spring blooms in a HUGE way around here.  Can't deny it, Blacksburg is BEAUTIFUL in spring!!

(This is right outside my lab building :-)

We're well beyond cherry blossoms and daffodils now.  The trees are really starting to leaf out - you can watch the line of green creeping up the side of the mountains just outside of town.  It's pretty cool, and something I always loved to watch happen on the Blue Ridge back in Crozet.

With the return of warm weather the last two days (as in 80* +  weather) another spring tradition played out:

"The Great Hair Removal Day"

The pictures never do it justice!  Especially on the pups...although the most dramatic effect on them

is a tactile one.  Before clipping, petting them is just like petting a soft, fluffy dog (duh...metaphor fail).  After clipping, petting them is like rubbing a marine's head!  They've been nicknamed the "crew-cut pups" post-clipping.  Both are very happy and were extra-romping on our walk this evening.  Haley has gotten so used to the clipping that she just lays down in the grass now, and I have to drag her around to do each side.  If anyone else has read the Hunger Games (or seen the movie) then you'll know what I mean when I say I feel like her personal prep-team!  Zack is nervous about it like he's nervous about car rides and baths - thinks he's going to die the entire time then is jumping out of his skin with happiness when he realizes he survived.  Sammy took his butchering in stride...not exactly thrilled, but not caring much either as long as we still pet him.  His Pop-eye forearms always crack me up!

And finally, we've got some help on the home front:

Meet the "Happy Home Buddha".  He was sent to me by my wonderful Godmother to "help us find a happy home."  How sweet is that??  It's also a bit hilarious due to the nature of my relationship with my Godmother.  Her purpose as godmother, according to my parents, was to instill in me a love of Sugar Island (the island I grew up on) and....to teach me to drink beer.  I think I'm remembering that second one right.  Yeah, my family isn't so big on religion or spirituality.  Definitely big on family parties and beer.  (Side note- It's no wonder I married a home-brewing man, and that my family loves him!)

 So it tickled my funnybone that at the age of 31, I am receiving the first spiritual guidance from my Godmother in the form of a garage-sale lucky buddha statue.  This is why I love her!!  And to give her full credit, she also listened to me rant for at least 1hr about the house hunting drama explained in the last post.  

Maybe she actually is part saint!!

More updates soon :-)

Yes, still alive

But not exactly happy.

I've dropped off the blogosphere once again, but house shopping had a lot to do with it.  As in, any free time I had on my computer was devoted to searching Trulia, Zillow, MLS, for sale by owner....you get the idea.

I won't bore you with the unexciting process of identifying a house, but the punch line is hubby and I found a great place!  A 2bed, 2 bath modern-ish, efficient green house!  That we can afford!  That we can bike to work from!!  It's actually an earth-bermed home, meaning it's built into a hillside.  Imagine a house with a full walk-out basement, then chop off the top floor and make the front of the house 1/5 stories tall with floor to ceiling windows.  Nice, eh?

Decision made, we made and offer, came to a reasonable agreement, got a ratified contract and applied for a loan.  So far, so good!

Until the "unique" house didn't qualify for the loan.

Seriously, not me and hubby - we're super qualified.  The house didn't qualify, because being so different, it was impossible to find similar comparable properties to determine an accurate market appraisal.  There are specific guidelines laid out by Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac about comparables/appraisal stuff, and if the house doesn't meet them, then you basically can't get any USDA, FHA, etc. mortgage.  There may be other loan types that could still work, but they are way more expensive (as in, like 1.5% higher interest rate).

So we had to cancel the contract today.

We're starting the hunt again and not giving up, but I'm starting to feel like karma is catching up with me.  I've been so lucky with finding nice, unique, affordable places to rent with great landlords.  It's like payback now that we can't manage to snag a nice, unique, affordable place to buy.  Ugh.  I'm totally depressed about it - this place was by far the coolest we'd found.  I honestly don't feel like looking for some place else, but the cramped apartment living is pretty good motivation.

This probably isn't the most exciting update, but I thought you guys deserved something. Off to bed so I'll be bright-eyed for 8am class tomorrow.