yikes!

[mickeym]

First, a link about body image, via gweneiriol:

About-Face

About-Face's mission is to equip women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media messages that affect self-esteem and body image.

About-Face aims to combat negative and distorted images of women. And its Gallery of Offenders names names. But the site comes with a caution: 'Extreme sarcasm. Enter at your own risk.


Why bother with that silly 'talking to your child':

From a friend last night, who was dining out. She saw a group at a table near her who had a small child (a year old, or thereabouts, non-verbal, in any case) with them. The adults got out a *portable DVD player* and fired it up, so the baby could watch videos while the adults ate.

*shakes head*


The I-have-no-idea:

There's a house for sale in town, right around the corner from our Sonic. It was up for auction some time ago, and all of a sudden it got a face-lift and is now for sale. This past week it's had a sign in the yard advertising an open house on this coming Sunday. Well, I was curious enough to call the realtor and ask to see it. (Yes, I know I've been talking about moving out of Kentucky. I have no idea why I did this.) Y'all, it is the cutest little house. All new windows and new floors inside -- carpet in the living room and two downstairs bedrooms; hardwood flooring for the kitchen, dining room and hallway, as well as the upstairs bedroom. (It's a 1 1/2 story house; the upstairs bedroom is literally the whole floor - about 11x33.) The kitchen has been repainted and spruced up (and the amount of cupboard and drawer space made me swoon), and all the rooms have new paint. There's a full basement, with a 4th bedroom roughed in, and a half-bath (well, there's a toilet, so--1/4 bath?), as well as a workshop which used to be the coal bin. It also has a small (single car) detached garage.

Here's a link to the listing, if anyone wants to look at it: http://www.realtor.com/realestate/elizabethtown-ky-42701-1101052556/

I'm possibly more than a little in love with this house.

My sister said something to the effect of "this is a horrible time to buy a house, you can't be seriously considering it, you need to talk to Joe, you need to blahblahblahblahblah". Y'know, I never said I was buying a house. I said I looked at it. The realtor offered to have someone call me about financing and I said sure -- because I'm curious if I could even get approved. It's been three years since Doug left me, and I've been at my job for two years of that, and working to improve my credit, etc., so I am honestly curious. I don't even know that I could get out of my lease, for heaven's sake. Why can't my sister ever just...be happy for me, doing something? Seriously. Is it that hard?

Anyway. I think I'm going to go now and see about doing some writing.


ETA: I have no idea if I should pimp this or not, but I keep seeing others doing it, so. dvd_commentary is open again, and my thread is here, if anyone's interested in doing a commentary on any of my stuff :)

Comments

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

sometimes you just want to look around a house to be nosy, and kind of as a 'what if'. That one sounds cute!

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Yes! It is cute -- in fact, it's adorable. And like, the perfect size. The only thing NOT perfect about it, in fact, is that the bathroom is kind of small. But whatever, y'know? It's not like I spend a lot of time in it. :)

[miafeliz.livejournal.com]

It's not really a bad time to buy a house. Generally, it's a bad time to sell a house.

If you do consider this-- make sure you speak to a few good lenders, get good faith estimates and compare them. Try a bank as well as a mortgage broker. Rates are still incredibly low, the process is taking longer because lenders are being a bit more picky about credit, however, you have a steady income, you file taxes and have been stable for quite a while, so you can show that you're a good risk. The people who are struggling to get loans are the self-employed.

If it's something you really want to do, don't give up. There are many programs for first-time home buyers-- get together with a good Realtor who can advise you on all your options. It maybe the listing agent, or speak with people you know and trust to find a good Realtor. You can always holler at me with questions.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

See, that's what confused me. It would suck right now, if I had a house to sell -- I know this. (And I also know if I buy a house here, I'm committing to being here for a while, since I don't see the market getting much better for at least a few years.) But she kind of threw me when she said it was such a suck time to buy a house. Because, weh?

Anyway, here's the listing, if you want to see what it looks like: http://www.realtor.com/realestate/elizabethtown-ky-42701-1101052556/

The realtor who showed the house said he doesn't go for 'showy' or gimicky financing, just your straight-forward "here's what you're getting" type loans. He has a couple of people he said he could refer me to, to talk about financing options, and he said there are always ways to work around things, since I mentioned I'm a single parent, with not a lot of money or savings.

I will definitely holler at you with questions, thank you :)

[beledibabe.livejournal.com]

What is your sister thinking? It's a GREAT time to buy a house (for a first-time buyer)! Srsly, you can negotiate a great price.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Well, as Rainbow pointed out below, and you probably know from reading my journal, my sister has some control issues. I suspect some of her concern comes from the fact that it's only been the last couple of months that I haven't had to have all three of my family (mom, dad, sister) helping me out -- just my dad is helping, now. And I KNOW that buying a house is a huge commitment, and potentially a huge expense (if anything goes wrong, it's me footing the bill, not the apartment complex, meep). But man, I'm tired of renting. I owned my own home for...eight? Nine? years...and loved it. I like my apartment, but I'm limited in what I can do (f'r instance, that whole $300 pet deposit...).

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

Oh, the house sounds adorable!

Your sister is confused. This is a horrible time to SELL a house. For buying? Best time in *years*, because so many folks are trying to sell.

And it's so worth looking into -- Mama Arlene alwasy thought that as a single mother she'd never be able to afford a house and was very surprised in 1983 when the realtor said she could easily afford a modest one.

In a buyers market, mortgages can be cheaper than rent, sometimes by quite a lot -- plus you're building equity when you own. And if the house got not just a facelift (looks nicer) but was fixed up as well...

Your sister has control issues. Reeeelly big ones.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

See, that's the thing: I know if I had a house to sell, I'd be kind of SOL right now. But buying...it's a good time to buy.

I don't know if I truly want to BUY, or if I'm just...exploring options. Because if I do buy a house here, I'm committed to staying here at least until the housing market rebounds some. Probably minimum of 4-5 years, which would see Matthew through middle and high school.

On the other hand, I cannot move anywhere without having a job to move TO, and while mine is occasionally sucky, it's not THAT bad...and I have it. Y'know?

Here's what the house looks like: http://www.realtor.com/realestate/elizabethtown-ky-42701-1101052556/

Your sister has control issues. Reeeelly big ones.

Nah, really? *g* :) I'd never have guessed... :P

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, SO CUTE.

And eep. I had honestly forgotten just how crazy housing prices are on the west coast, cause that price has me all O.O -- especially the estimated payment per month. WOW.

I adore the living room and the windows therein. The kitchen is very cute and OMG the bonus room upstairs!! You could have an awesome office!

ETA: AND a basement?

I love living here, but this house is a little less sqft than that one, 2 bdrms, no basement, and appraised at about 3x the asking price of that one. I am SO ENVIOUS. (But not of your weather *g*)

[gretazreta.livejournal.com]

That is the cutest house EVER.

I don't know that it's such a terrible time to be buying a house. I know that here, the property slump has already happened. Even if we're going into a recession - at least you KNOW that and can plan for it (get income-protection insurance on any mortgage or whatever). And also... I can't think of a time where I'd be more happy to be relying on myself rather than a landlord.

And it looks awesome! Seriously, cute and livable and just... neat.

[geneli4.livejournal.com]

oh, man, your sister. i really want to strangle her! you know what would be nice? if she could fins it in her heart to say something NEUTRAL (i know positive is asking for too much) like, "huh. tell me more..." it would make SUCH a huge difference. she probably doesn't even realize how AWFUL she's being anymore, which is really sad. for both of you.