Reality Bites.

What a difference a week makes! A week ago things were going swimmingly. I was on my way to have a weekend away with my husband following a good productive week. Oh the bliss!

We did have a great weekend. The marriage conference was great! We learned so much and our marriage was really strengthened through it. Plus the time away together was just nice. We don't get that very often. It was refreshing. The last session of the conference they warned us that reality was waiting outside and our marriage would be tested as soon as we left. How true, how true.

First came the snow. While we were away in our peaceful little bubble at the hotel, a blizzard was smacking our home. We arrived home to almost a foot of snow. That night we got another 4 inches or so, making about 16 inches of snow to contend with. Reality indeed. Trying to be the good wife and serve my husband, I shoveled out our mailbox. Muscles I forgot I had hurt for the next few days. Oy. Inside the house, I was determined to act on the convictions of the weekend and get things in order. I was doing laundry, cleaning, sorting, etc. By nightfall I was beat.

Tuesday we decided to clean Jade's room. Now, you must understand, her bedroom was buried in clothing, toys, and other junk about 6 inches deep. The whole room. There was no clean floor space. So we went ballistic in there. I did 9 loads of laundry. We picked up and vacuumed and straightened. It looks great now. But have you ever done 9 loads of laundry in one day? Again, I was BEAT by bedtime. Like run over by a mack truck beat.

Also on Tuesday.... The cat came back. We had left him outside while we were gone, not anticipating the blizzard. He's an indoor/outdoor cat and can fend for himself pretty well. So we came home on Sunday and he didn't show up until Tuesday. He arrived at the front door limping and covered in burrs and pickers. We brought him in, cleaned him up, all was well. Wednesday night he came limping downstairs to eat and left a blood trail. Turns out, his hurt leg was infected and had popped open and was oozing all over. We smeared it with garlic oil and threw him outside because we couldn't have him oozing all over the house. Teagan made him a little box bed on the porch to protect him from the weather. We didn't know what else to do. Thursday the swelling was down and the leg wasn't oozy anymore, but he had licked the area into a big sore. So we decided to bandage him up and let him in the house. He was not pleased at the bandaging process, but we thought we would make up for it and let him sleep on our bed. That ungrateful animal promptly went upstairs and peed and pooped on top of our bed. Needless to say, he's not coming back in for a good long time.

So I spent Thursday washing bedding. Ugh. More laundry. Thursday afternoon our landlord calls. He had gotten our letter with offer to purchase and was confused. We made an offer of their asking price minus what we had paid in rent for 2 years, since when we moved in he had said our rent would go toward lowering the purchase price. He was confused, he never said that, it's not what he meant, blah blah blah. He says he can't go more than $2000 below the asking price. I don't believe him. He's playing us. I don't trust him. He should have just counter-offered in writing. But, he doesn't like to put details in writing remember? UGH! I was so mad yesterday. I'm still upset about it. But, we have a plan. We're going to county records to look up this property and see what is on file there. That should be a telling visit. We'll find out if he's telling the truth or just playing us.

Oh, and to round out this lovely week... ANOTHER BLIZZARD! In like a lion indeed. It better be 70 and sunny on March 31.