Nothing New

Still here, hanging out, waiting...No more showings since those last Monday, and nothing to report from them.  The housing reports came out today and told everyone what we're already experiencing first hand....no one is buying.  It's a vicious cycle we're caught in, isn't it?  The prices have fallen, largely because they were inflated in the first place.  Those buyers that can qualify, a smaller pool than in years past due to the large number of job losses and tighter lending requirements, aren't making any moves but instead are waiting for the prices to drop further.  Which they will if no one buys.  Which then makes it even harder for us homeowners in a tight spot to gain some traction and recover from the job losses and deep losses in equity.  Which then slows down the large scale economic recovery as we continue to live on bread and water and not much else, pinching pennies and waiting for things to improve to give us some more wiggle room in the budget.  So nothing new to report.  Still waiting.....

Showings

This is a record, I think.  We had two showings late last week, and now today I've had two phone calls to schedule showings for today. If they all show (note to real estate agents: if you call and say you're going to show, then call to say that you're not going to show if plans change.  Seriously!), this will be 4 showings in 4 days, but none over the weekend.  I'm really trying not to get my hopes up, though.  I learned pretty early on to expect them to pass;  so much so that I'm not sure how I'll react if and when we actually do get an offer.  We're quickly approaching 90 days on the market.  In all honestly, given the current state of the real estate market, that's not that bad.  However, every day, every week, every month that goes by brings us one day, one week, one month closer to the "f' word: foreclosure.  I'd really like to avoid that scarlet letter......

But Who's Counting?

Stats on the last 48 hours in the Zahn Home:

Diapers changed: About 16... I lost track, though.
Lullabies sang: 6
Stores visited: 8
Stores visited twice: 3
Bags of school clothes, shoes, and supplies emptied on the family room floor for divvying: 5
Returns to be made due to high-maintenance oldest children changing their minds on the the shoes that they "had" to have: 1 (although this is sure to rise, as only 1 child actually got a pair of shoes this weekend....)
Round trips to my mother's: 2
Combined miles driven: 190 (!!!!!)
11th Wedding Anniversary dinner of cheap Chinese takeout...shared with a hot, cranky baby: 1
Loads of laundry washed and dried: 5
Loads of laundry folded: 0
Chapters read from Ramona the Pest: 2
Dried Cheerios scraped from the kitchen floor: only 3, amazingly!
Sweet family dog moved to live with Nana for more nurturing than we can provide: 1
Sad little girls at the realization of above: 2
Degrees in my house at 6 p.m. his evening: 87
Degrees in my house right now at nearly 10 p.m.: 80
Temp reading on my dashboard along I-5 at about 5:00 this afternoon: 100
Temperature difference between today and this day 11 years ago: about 35-40
Number and location of AC units in our house: 1, in my bedroom
Number of children crashed in my bed, relishing in the coolness from said AC unit: 2
Showings on the house: 0
Seconds my blinks are lasting as I try to compose this message: 4.2
Hours until I get to get up and do it all again, plus some: 7

...but who's counting?

Venting

Just had another looker on the house.  It's the 4th weekend in a row that we've had to clear out for a showing, which I suppose is a good thing.  I have no idea what they thought about the place, and the fact that they left the back gate open, letting the dog run the neighborhood, is the only reason we know they even showed.  The agent didn't leave a card, so probably not a good sign.  Part of me wants to start asking every agent that calls if their clients are aware this is a short-sale and if they've fully explained what that means BEFORE they waste our time, interrupting our meals or baby's nap time.  But that would be rude, so I'll keep my mouth shut and be as accommodating as possible.

The past two weeks have been....long.  And hard.  We've both been incredibly busy at work, which is good except that it's leaving us wiped out and grumpy in the evenings.  We're hitting crunch time in deciding on and finalizing our plans for childcare this school year, and the more numbers we crunch the less they add up.  Praying for direction and resolution a lot, and I know we have some great prayer warriors in our corner, too, but a lot of days lately we're just not feeling it.  We're starting to nit-pick at each other of the littlest things, as the stress of our situation continues to wear us out.  And if I have one more person say to me, "It'll all work out.  Don't stress over it," I think I'll have a breakdown right then and there.  Let's please put that on the top of the list of things not to say to someone in a stressful situation, particularly if you yourself have not experienced it.  It's like telling someone that just stubbed their toe that it doesn't hurt.  Show empathy, sympathy, listen, ask what you can do to help, tell me you wish you could help, but don't belittle our feelings or the gravity of our situation by telling us not to worry.  It's not even that we are worried, because I don't think that's the appropriate term for our current emotional state.  We're frustrated.  We're tired.  We're ready to move on, to move our family from this puddle of dry quick-sand that is about to get drenched.  The only thing worse than those words are the people who now avoid us altogether, as if our inability to pay our bills is an infectious disease that they might catch by associating with us.  Grrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

Wow.  Guess I needed to vent a little.  Thanks for reading, and I promise I'll try to be nicer in my next entry.  Maybe.