There's no valid reason to be pissy about all the Mother's Day commercials, but I am anyway. Maybe it's because one day a year where you maybe will get a handmade card from your kids (which was likely a school assignment, let's face it) and a nod toward how hard it can be to be a mom doesn't really cut it. Maybe it's because I often have stupid high hopes (THANKS, you Hallmark assholes) that the day will be magically stress-free; all my kids will be squeaky-clean and loving with each other, nothing will break, and I'll mysteriously be 30 pounds lighter both physically and mentally.

Nope. Never happens. Instead, I'm the one feeling crappy and not a little annoyed that the person most likely to want to make a fuss on someone else's "special day" is left running the dishwasher for the 4th time that weekend and having to share the bathroom with at least one small person while taking a shower.

Frankly, I don't deserve to be so bitchy about this; it's my own fault for expecting other people to be like me. I love trying to come up with ways to surprise other people when I can (nod to the typical limitations of money & time, please and thank you). I adore wrapping gifts, as environmentally irresponsible as it is to be a freak about wrapping paper and ribbons and such. And I'd freak if someone spent tons of money on me, because I'd feel guilty and stuff. So chalk all of this down to my own stupid mental and emotional weaknesses, please.

In the meantime.... the last you heard from your intrepid blogfriend, she was gamely trudging through various homes to find that right balance of squalor and value. We actually came close to buying two homes. The first was in a great location -- two blocks from Jake's school and across from a big park -- and was a historically significant Victorian with some good updates. Cosmetically it wasn't ideal, but we all liked it a lot. And then on the third (yes, third) viewing, my dad discovered all sorts of expensive potential landmines -- dry rot, possible termites (which turned out to be just disintegrating wood, actually), and roof issues. That kind of took the bloom off the rose for us.

Around the corner and down the street was a really cute rehab that I'd initially not pursued because I figured DH would say it was too small. The price was good, the water and electric were good, and the lot size was great. But the furnace was ancient, the rooms were teeny, and there was no garage. However, we figured we could gamble on living tightly for a while and then building out at least the 2nd floor if not both floors; my dad could help me finish the basement easily and cheaply to have a playroom and/or some storage. We did try to go to contract but I guess nobody told the seller that it's currently a buyer's market, because he or she won't really negotiate with us. We went back and forth a bit but finally said "don't bother."

I was pretty depressed; because of the location and financial restrictions, there isn't much to choose from right now. We could get into a decently sized house for a fairly reasonable amount of money -- if we're willing to be in a dangerous neighborhood and send our kids to schools that aren't great. Or, we could be in something really, really decrepit and be where we want, but the one or two houses that are cheap in the area we really want to be are terrifyingly bad -- really the only way to improve them would be to bring in the wrecking ball and start over.

The people in the Victorian lowered their price for the second time recently, and DH wondered if we shouldn't look into it, so that's still in the back of my mind. We know that if we get to the inspection and awful things turn up, we can get out of the contract with no strings attached. But it's intimidating to go forward on something that feels like a gamble; I'd felt much more positively about that house before I started seeing things wrong.

For now, we've renewed our apartment lease and we're going to stick it out here, but DH has promised we can keep looking. It may just take a while. That's not me -- I suck at patience. I felt like we'd made a decision to try this and I was going to lose my chance; but when we started crunching numbers and the housing prices kept rising, I remembered how stressful it was to try to keep our house after we'd both been laid off... and I definitely don't want to go through that.

Hey, check me out -- I might be growing up!!