Birthday Yay!
Yes, it’s my birthday again. It came around so quickly! It seems like only a year ago that I last had one.
Here’s a freaky thing. I opened my Chrome browser (Google’s browser) this morning and clicked on the little animation to “view today’s doodle” (for those of you who don’t know, Google do doodles for famous events, birthdays and so on) and this is what appeared:
Holy crivens! A doodle just for me! I knew signing up to Google+ was giving one of the world’s biggest corporations too much information. Am I supposed to write a thank you note, do you think?
I haven’t been posting much recently, apart from trying to keep up with the Friday Fictioneers challenge, and there’s a good reason (and this time it’s not laziness!).
I’m house hunting. This isn’t taking up a huge amount of actual physical time (“physical time?” – you know what I mean). It’s taking up a huge amount of mental time. Even when I’m not actually looking at house websites or talking to the bank, I’m thinking about it. My little brain doesn’t have room for anything else.
Why am I looking to buy a house (let’s say it like it is – why am I trying to persuade the bank to buy me a house)? I hate change, big time. I like my routine. I hate making phone calls. I hate taking risks. I hate suddenly having no money. This doesn’t sound like the correct mind-set for such an endeavour.
I’m getting older, fast. My pension, as it stands, will barely keep me in cheese and pizzas, let alone pay rent. So I need to get a house and pay it off before I retire. Otherwise I’m going to be living in my car.
So I’m just going to have to suck it up, take it one step at a time and let the cards fall as they may.
I’ve also learned some great estate agent terms!
- cozy – not even enough room to swing a cat
- compact – see cozy
- low maintenance garden – no grass
- green views – if you go upstairs, hang dangerously out of the window and squint a bit you may catch sight of a distant field
- parking for 2 cars – parking for 2 Smart Cars or 1 human-sized car
- 2 bedrooms – house built pre-90s, 2 bedrooms. House built 90s onwards – 1 small bedroom and 1 “bedroom” too small to actually get a bed in
- in need of modernisation – falling to bits
Wish me luck!
Happy Birthday Alastair, good luck with the house hunting.
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Thanks! A mixture of good luck, a cool head and some “creative” accounting is required for this endeavour, I think 🙂
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Happy Birthday Dr Ali! Good luck with the house hunting, I know how daunting that can be, but it can also be fun when you find just what you want.
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Thanks! I’ll let you know if it ever becomes fun 🙂
It’s sort of a mixture between scary and exciting!
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Good luck and happy birthday! I would envy having a house with a “low maintenance garden”….
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I don’t know, there’s nothing quite like accidentally mowing through a pile of cunningly concealed cat droppings to really make my day 🙂
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Good luck and happy birthday!
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Thanks!
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🙂
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Happy birthday, Dr Ali!
Oh the joys of house hunting! Love those term definitions! They sure can get pretty imaginative, don’t they? But good luck and hopefully you’ll find one that is large enough to swing a cat and with a second bedroom that actually can accommodate a bed. Oh, and isn’t a fixer upper (US term for falling apart)
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Thanks!
Fingers crossed – the cat is going to get pretty miffed if he keeps banging his head on the walls when I swing him 🙂
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Happy Birthday! Remember — from the day you buy a house, you’ll have have any spare money again. Houses are money pits. The older they are, the deeper the pit 🙂
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Thanks! Wow, I can hardly wait now – my very own money pit 😦 Like a car only on a larger scale.
Woohoo 🙂
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Happy Birthday Chum! Hoping a fabulous day for you today, may you find your quaint, cozy post 90’s 2 bedroom, in need of modernization, with a lovely view, parking for 2 cars and low maintenance garden home!
funny today is also one of my children’s Birthdays! she is 16 today…. eeeps!!!!
my mom was a realtor for awhile – there is a lot of lingo – all meant to disguise and mislead… 😉
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Thank you! Fingers crossed on the house hunting front. It’s doing my head in.
Happy birthday to your daughter! I don’t even remember being 16 😦
I guess estate agents need lingo. Who’s going to buy a house advertised as “tiny cottage with crumbling walls, outside toilet, views of the local waste incinerator”?
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Happy birthday!
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Thanks BTP!
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Wow Google is cool. What a great way to start your day.
Happy Happy Birthday Doctor Alistar.
I was hoping you would share your house hunting saga. The first house is a emotional roller coaster. My first place I knew was an investment so it was easier.
Looking at and buying houses is my enjoyment. I like the game of buying a property that I know will be worth more money with a little work.
I go location then find a battered up home. Love it.
Please keep sharing your home search, I’m certain the laughs will follow.
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Thanks for the birthday wishes!
I guess it would be fun to find fixer-uppers to do up. With my mortgage I don’t have that option, however (at least not a real fixer-upper). The house has to be “habitable” – the bank has quite a precise definition for that. I suppose they are lending me a whole heap of money!
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😀 Happy Birthday! I got a kick out of the Google doodle. Well, at first… then I was rather paranoid… 😉
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Thanks!
Yeah, me too with the Google doodle. I know they only need my DOB for this, which you have to supply to sign up to many websites, but to see this suddenly appear right there on the Google home page (only for me while signed in via Chrome of course!) had me a bit freaked out for a moment 🙂
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Hope you had a great birthday 🙂
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Yes thanks – very relaxing!
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Happy Belated Birthday! Hope you had a lovely day. Good luck with the house hunting – it is a nightmare!
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Thanks!
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This is an awesome event in your life ~ I’m sure you’ll find the perfect little place to call your own! Congratulations and happy belated birthday!:)
~Andrea<3
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Thanks! I hope so, somewhere nice and quiet in a sleepy little village somewhere. That would be nice 🙂
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Oh man, that sounds lovely! It will happen, keep us posted!! AND keep on dralidoodling!! 🙂
~A<3
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I will. I’ve actually had an offer accepted but the current owner has yet to find somewhere to move to so there’s a possibility she’ll give up and stay where she is so I’m currently in a holding pattern. I’m not one to count my chickens. I’ll post details if and when we get to contracts.
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Ohhhh….this is exciting! 🙂
Good luck ~ I’m a firm believer that things will always work out when they’re meant to!
Also, I’d love the dralidoodle tour of your new place when the time comes! Just a request, putting it out there!
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I’ll give it a go if and when it happens. I’m a pessimist by nature, though I prefer the term “disappointment management” 🙂
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😀 – fair enough!
I like that -> “disappointment management”!
Looking forward to the outcome!
~A<3
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