Hunting for a House

Finding a cute place to rent in Nashville, TN is like hunting down a snipe in the forest.  Of course this is only true if you want to rent for a decent price, want to keep your dogs, and don't want to live in the ghetto (top three requirements on our checklist!).  Master P and I have been planning to move to Nashville since the day I moved into the FML's/Master P's house.  We (and by we I mean he) finally scraped up enough money for us to live on for approximately four months (give or take). 

Anyway, back to the house hunting.  We took our first official house hunting trip about two weeks ago.  It started off pretty rocky, because we decided to do it ourselves.  I hunted for places on criagslist and in the paper, made a list, made calls and off we went completely unaware of what we were about to experience.  Most of the places we found were in the ghetto, which btw, is so much nicer than the Memphis ghetto.  At the end of our first day we found a property manager, which brightened our day a little, I guess.

This first house was in a pretty ok neighborhood and was much bigger than most we saw.  The rent was also very reasonable.

House number one

 



As you can see there were a few cosmetic issues I wasn't willing to overlook.  Every door on the inside of the house had the middle squares painted in whatever the color of the room was.  There were also hideous boarders in every single room.  I'm just wondering what in the world the previous renter was thinking.   I'm sure that the property manager would have fixed most of this stuff, but we just were not sold on this one.   

House number two

 We actually really liked this house.  It had a cute facade, fenced in back yard for the pups, a separate area for Master P office, separate utility room, and a decent sized kitchen.  Some of the cons to this little home were very small rooms, limited closest space, and a really strange bathroom (unusally low counters and toilet ).  Plus this house had a dungeon...I still don't know how I feel about this.

These were the only two that we saw that day that were even worth thinking about.  Sadness.  We went into one house that smelled as if a cat hoarder lived there for 50 years.  We left Nashville a little disheartened.  We went back to Memphis to decide our next plan of action.  This plan included a real estate agent!

The Change Bucket!

Today Master P and I emptied out three months of change that he has acquired.  He never uses change, which is beyond me, because I scramble to find exact change for most purchases.  A few days ago we went out and bought some coin rolls (is that what they're called?).  Much to our surprise they no longer come in a variety pack.  So we only purchased the rolls for the quarters.  We took the quarters to the bank and the nickles, dimes, and pennies went to coinstar.  BTW Coinstar charges 9.8 cents for every dollar--absolutely rediculous.  We ended up with about $130.  It is always nice for a pile of clutter to turn into $130. 

Here are some of the purchases we made with are awesome new wealth!

Yummy Large Fat Tire beer!

For the Children:  Two bully sticks and two peanut butter
 and oat football treats from Three Dog Bakery

Baby George enjoying his tasty treat!

It took Jennifer much longer to eat her treat.  She had to
retreat to "her room" so Baby George wouldn't steal it!

He, me, and the dogs make four...Oh, no! there is one more.

Right now the fiance (we'll call him Master P for now) and I are living with his mother, my future mother-in-law, in her/his house in Eads, TN.  So far, there have only been a few blips in my extended stay here.  Some much worse then others. 

I moved here in June, soon after my graduation from The University of Mississippi.  Master P and I didn't want to live apart from each other, but we didn't have the means to get a place of our own either.  So the decision was made, I and my dog (more like my child), Baby George, would be moving to Eads, a suburb of Memphis, ew.

Mr. P and I in Key west last March taking a hangover cure! 

So the FMIL's house comes with rules.  One is absolutely no drinking allowed.  Even though we are both of age (28 and 23) and Master P is partial owner of the home, she would freak out if alcohol was brought into the house.  Master P and I are not huge drinkers but we do like to indulge in a glass of wine, beer or adult beverage (sometimes two) every now then.  So we semi-respect her wishes and don't openly bring in alcohol.  We sneak it in--high school style.  Lame, I know, but it is much better than the alternative.  I don't want to give my MIL a bad rap, she honestly is a very sweet, caring person.  She is letting her "between opportunities" daughter-in-law crash at her house. 

I end this post with an introduction of the two loves of my life.  Yes, you probably guessed it, my dogs!  Baby George is a 4 year old lab/pyrenees mix.  aka The Hotty Toddy Hound Dog.  He just looks like a Rebel!

This is Baby George's Christmas photo last year.

And then there is Little Jennifer.  She a spunky lab/Shepard/boarder collie mix...we think. 

At a friend's lake house.  She is so wiggly that we just don't have that
 many good pictures of her yet!