Fortune Smiles
There's some old adage that its better to be lucky than good or something to that effect. Well, we're lucky. We're very lucky.

Why?

Because P and I are not only expecting our first child in July but we are also now expecting to buy our first house this weekend. Yeah, a house in Santa Cruz county for us.

Without getting too deeply into our financial quagmire, I didn't think we would be able to buy a house for a couple of years at the earliest. But we've been offered an amazingly awesome deal that we would truly be patently stupid to pass on.

I've already done some research into the market and there are a number of houses in our range, in town and the outlying towns and townships, that would work for us. We're not looking for a longterm house to buy, renovate, repair and live in happily ever after but are instead looking for a home that will be home for up to five years and will appreciate nicely in value so that, at the end of the deal, we come away with enough equity to get into another house that we will want to live in for a longer period of time.

Fortune has smiled upon us yet again and I, for one, am incredibly excited about the prospect of house stalking, hunting and killing. It will be a most interesting weekend, that is for sure. But there are plenty of intermediary steps before we can actually sign on the dotted lines. We need to find the domicile first and then take things from there.

But damn! It is good to be alive today!
The best part is that, while we're getting a tremendous hand up, we're also creating a win situation for our benefactor for reasons I'm just not going to get into here.

No more setting fire to our rent money every month, no more "Can we have a dog here? Or a cat?" No more dealing with landlords who don't repair things until they become safety hazards (though, truth be told, I've had no issues with our current landlords at all, they are very responsive and good people). No more wondering if we can tear down a wall to open up some space, no more being prohibited from painting the walls. No more having to deal with an electric range when we both must have gas to cook properly.

This week has been made again and again and now we get to find a home! I can't wait! Oh yeah, we'll also have our first child together in our first home, that's pretty damned cool!