Here’s a story for ya….

 Robb and I were talking and somehow my first house came up. I ALWAYS call that house “My cracker box house”  I told him a story about how on the front stairs I had a two rod iron railings one on each side. 

Not two long after I moved in, but I can’t remember if I was married yet and I feel like I wasn’t… anyway, the three yr old little boy and his two siblings had come over and…. Nope, wasn’t married…. Chad, Darrin and I were sitting in the porch, we once told them that French fries were made out of cats…. Got a parent at my door for that…When the 3yr old put his head between the bars and was stuck because… EARS aren’t flat on the way back out. 

So Doug came over and removed the bar. 34+ years later and that bar is still missing!! You can see it on Zillow, which is how I showed Robb. I told him that that house has seen a lot! Me moving in with 6yr old son. Parties, roommates  dark depression, laughs, late night dart games or card games, beers after softball, me moving out to get married and me moving back when that went to shit, then, me getting married, our hamster getting CPR from husband (she lived!) two newborn babies coming home, me coping with deaths….But so much fun and and freedom and love and friendship. It felt like a safe place to land, to explore being an adult, and one bar forever missing from the stairs…..By the way, they’ve cut my beautiful trees and have left scuff marks all over the flooring and painted it pastel colors that should be felony for violence against the eyeballs! 

Wanna guess how much it just sold for, it makes my stomach twist!!! It needs a whole renovation from yard to floors to ceiling and I swear it has the same heating system it has when I lived there! I put $10,000 down on that house in 1992. I can’t remember exactly what I bought it for but let’s say… $30,000? It was sold as 900 sq ft. I put in two bedrooms downstairs and windows large enough to get out if there was a fire, I guess that wasn’t required in the 40’s. There is ONE TINY bathroom! So it sells for nearly 1,300 sq ft now, I think… it just sold for Almost $300,000!!!’ For a cracker box house in an old neighborhood!!! With the trees cut down to stumps! With the floors fucked up… I mean, seriously, my jaw dropped! My husband’s partner just bought a two story, four bedroom three bath new build in Anna, Tx for … $400,000. Shit! When we left Arizona our neighbor with our same house sold his for $300,000 right before the crash in 08, 2,400 sq ft, four bedrooms, three baths, a bonus room, a living room and a family room, our bedroom was the entire length of the back of the house, I could not get enough furniture for that thing. My closet was so big we used it as a nursery for a bit. Ps: we paid $119,000 for it because it was in Casa Grande which had just started to buildup. We literally felt like we were stealing it. 

$300,000 for that cracker box house? I’m like, speechless.

But!!! Here’s where the boys were nearly linked to me and that house and it’s a small fucking world! We didn’t know yet that we were going to move and we wanted to do more upgrades if we stayed. I had $30,000 in equity, which back then was a shit ton. So I was talking to this realtor about it and she says… ( Sit Down, smallest world ever coming right up…) 

Her: I work with these two brothers who do appraisals. You should call them to get it appraised to help make up your mind… Here’s their card…. No lie!  Boy and Boy’s brother…. Like, I could feel my brain screeching to a halt. I took the card, obviously, read it, handed it back to her, and 

Me: simply said  “oh God, no thank you.”

Her: looked very very confused…. “ Is there a problem?

Me: uh, I mean like , ummmm…. I just….

Her: “ Is this something that I should know about?”

Me: uh…. Definitely not. 

Her: looking super duper confused… “ seems like I should know”

Me: it’s personal. Obviously I know them. I have zero idea about their business… So, I don’t feel like you need to know anything, or change anything, I just cannot use their services. But tell them I said ‘hi.’ 

Her: still holding out the card! 😂😂 

Me: I don’t need that. I could get ahold of them if I wanted to. 

We did get it appraised though… By a complete stranger.

Now tell me, how weird would that have been?!?! The mind reels. 

Went swimming this week! Oh, I’ve missed it! Was gonna start off slow at an hour or so… went for three hours and my face is pretty red! And full of freckles!! I like my freckles. 

Song: I’ve Told You Now by Sam Smith

Night luvs!

Me ❤️