Houses.

I love to look at other people's houses. I think every house has a personality and it's really interesting to see what other people do with the space they inhabit. 

So I watch house buying, decorating, and renovating shows every chance I get.

This time around, though, we were the buyers, and we were looking. So, much less fun and much more stress. Although we did find the house we are buying, which I absolutely love, we found some other stuff, too.

Not good stuff. It was kind of gross.

Our very first house tour was of a place I'd been eyeing on Trulia for ages. Even before we'd decided on the move. It just looked so neat...out in the middle of nowhere with a gorgeous view, solar power (it's free energy FROM THE SUN...don't even try to talk me out of that one, because I love it), and kind of weird and quirky. Well, we drove down this beautiful road with all these ranches and stuff, and I was feeling very excited and then we got to a dirt road that was incredibly bumpy. And we drove. And drove. And drove. For like half an hour. On this horrible road. And then we pulled up to the house and there were some people who looked a teensy bit high sitting on the porch.

Yep. The owners were there. And they'd just finished smoking a whole lot of stuff in the house.

Quick walk-through. Whoever took the online pictures for this one should've won an award, because it was nasty and looked really bad in person. Also, the smell. So much smoke (cigarette and other kinds, too). Also, no one had remembered to flush the toilet after using it, so there was that.

We were gone in five minutes, but we got to enjoy the aromas which clung to our hair and clothes for hours. Sweet!

We drove back into civilization, to the next house. This one looked pretty nice from the outside, but again, the owners were there, so it was awkward. Also, cats.

Did I mention cats? Oh, yeah. SO MANY CATS.

I kid you not, there was a crate full of a mama cat and her brand new babies in one room, and two really old cats in another room who were territorial and hissed at us when we tried to go in, and the lady said they were, "watching their show."

Yeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

And the owners had set up the living room as an office/bar. Great idea. I'd drink and do paperwork all day long, too, if I could. With cats, of course.

Naturally.

Then we saw the house we were going to buy, except there was some kind of issue with the water, and then we went out another time and saw a beautiful tiny house that was very expensive and very lovely, but laid out weird, and another house that was so unloved and sad, but could've been gorgeous...with about ten years and a couple hundred thousand bucks.

Then, we saw our house. I swear, I almost cried because at that point I had given up. I'm not a real intrepid house hunter, after all. I just like to watch that stuff from the comfort of my living room. At any rate, I am so glad we took a shot at it, because the thought of having to look at any more houses makes me want to barf.

And we still have a month to go before we can move into our house. Blergh. Who decided moving was a good idea? Geez. 

Oh, yeah. That was us.