Gypsies in the Palace

There's really no good excuse. My sincere apologies for not posting. Being a vagabond with a baby is a lot more stressful than I thought. We are living with a friend's mother. Oh yes, you read right. Not even our parents, nope. We are living with someone else's parents. Awkward, is an understatement. Yet, in this age of instability and uncertainty, humanity has a way of surprising us. Basic human kindnesses are a rarity in this life, therefore to find a family willing to house another (with a baby) that they barely know transcends to near sainthood in my book.

So, while we've been scrambling to find a house and not overstay our welcome, I'm STILL trying to secure a job in one of the so-called 'hottest job markets' in the country.  I think the hype here is highly over-rated. Jobs are scarce wherever you go. The odds are against me, even with a Masters degree and international experience. But, I digress. What is really irking me right now is the Home Loan Process. Foreclosures are decreasing. This is a good thing. Yes, trends show a slow, sluggish shift. Nonetheless, it's a shift towards the housing market pulling itself up.  And, I understand-truly I do-the need for banks not to repeat their mistakes and make sure that buyers can afford a home loan. However, banks and FHA have been hyping up their eagerness to sell homes and help get families back into homes but, that's not the feeling I'm getting. In fact, I have never had such a difficult time buying a home nor had to jump through so many ridiculous hoops just to have a roof over my head. Their actions speak for themselves, which say, "We don't care that you have excellent credit or never missed a payment. We REALLY don't want to sell you this house or give you any money and we will find every reason to deny you. Go away."  Their treatment of us has left me feeling like Dennis the Menace knocking on Mr. Wilson's door. Seriously?! Is it so ANNOYING to you that I might actually want to buy your HUD home? A home YOU can't get off your books and are losing money.

So, to sum up, I apologize for my absence but I've been fighting with Big Money and Uncle Sam. On a different note, does anyone have suggestions on companies or employers that might be hiring in the Greater Houston Area? If so, please forward my profile to them (http://www.linkedin.com/in/caseylaycock).

Okay, enough plugging and onto more exciting prospects. I have to get a Houston Citypass. Instead of paying the full fee to see any of the places listed below, you can get a Citypass and save up to 50% on e-tickets for them.  It's really the only economical and logical way to see Houston on a budget.

Houston Attractions:
Space Center Houston, Downtown Aquarium, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston Zoo, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Children's Museum of Houston, George Ranch Historical Park, The Health Museum 

Looking for farm-fresh, locally grown foods? Check out Canino's Farmer's Market for amazing deals and homemade tortillas that would make your momma cry. No, seriously. She's in tears right now. They're THAT good.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

Reality Bites

Don't get me wrong. I am thrilled to be close to the gulf coast again and closer to family. But, moving is stressful, physically and emotionally exhausting, and the reality of it all (changing addresses, forwarding mail, taking care of bills, finding a new home/selling your old home) just stinks.


And, to top it all off, it is FINALLY hitting home for me! My house is packed up, the movers come tomorrow, and I was doing SO good about moving and uprooting our lives until my awesome neighbor (who has baby-sat Coraline since she was only 2 months old) came over with a beautiful, card (with pictures of her family with Coral and it played her voice singing to Coral) and she and I just cried. It was so simple and sincere a gesture of love and kindness from someone we had only known briefly that it broke my heart. It's bittersweet to realize too late that you are so blessed by the people right in front of you.

Cardio Update

The surgery was a success as far as I can tell. It usually takes 4-6 hours for a cardiac ablation and it actually only took 3 hours for me. We were rocking out to awesome music in the operation room and the amnesic-like state that I was in made the time pass extremely quickly. As most patients will attest, there were moments of being uncomfortable as they DO have to stimulate your heart into tachycardia in order to isolate the 'bad' area that they will be ablating. I got lucky. Within a second (literally) of them hitting the electrodes my heart was off to the races. They clocked me going 300 beats a minute. I'm not really sure how my heart didn't just explode. Human anatomy is a wonder!  So, they were able to identify the faulty wiring, which happened to be far enough from my AV node to allow for heat ablation rather than freezing. Apparently, freezing the area has a significantly decreased chance of success. So, lucky for me they were able to use heat and take care of the problem. I also took some advice from EMT friends and requested pillows under my knees and behind my lumbar to decrease the soreness that always follows after this type of procedure. Lo' and behold, my friends were right and I had no body soreness the following day - only tenderness around the catheter wounds. I didn't even need to use Tylenol for my pain. I was treated really well by a great staff of nurses at Exempla Saint Joseph's Hospital in downtown Denver and my Cardiologist Dr. Ngo was fantastic. I'm healing well, and back to my usual zippy self. Thanks for all the posts, calls, emails and people that dropped by the house. All the well-wishes were deeply appreciated.

A. 31 yrs old., B. Healthy, C. Heart surgery: Which one of these does not belong?

You read right. I've been pretty quiet about this to most people except close family and friends but I am scheduled for a cardiac ablation at the end of this month. Only one week before our move. I feel like telling the cosmos..."Go ahead. No really, throw a little more stress on there. I can take it."

At least I have to be thankful that it is a relatively common procedure with only a 1% risk of complications for someone of my age (though the complications are pretty severe). I can't really complain though. There are so many others in the world that have it much worse than I do, but I'm not ready to put on my 'big girl panties' and deal with this just yet. As a family friend and RN told my mother-in-law, "they do this procedure all the time but, it's nothing to sneeze at."

I'm only 31, I'm the picture of health. So, why do I need to have surgery? I was diagnosed (after 10 yrs. of misdiagnosis, by the way) with Supraventricular Tachycardia. What the heck is that, I asked. Basically, I've got a super-enthusiastic heart that has a short-circuit and gets so excited that it misfires by accident sending my heartbeat racing from 60 beats a minute to 220 beats a minute. Yipee!  It's a heart arrhythmia and it's one of the few (if only) heart disorders with an approximately 97% cure rate. Lucky me.

The plus side, I finally have an explanation for why I've passed out twice for no explainable reason - ending up being medically evacuated from Peace Corps back to the states for the first episode and scaring a bus-load of passengers on their way to work from Union Station in Denver and freaking out my doctor  (and myself) who thought I was having a heart-attack for the second episode.  And, it explains why my heart suddenly races for no reason like getting up from a chair or picking up a box and just as quickly as it comes on... it stops! 

The down-side, I really REALLY don't want surgery. The idea of any surgery especially one that messes with my heart is particularly unnerving, even if it is 'common'. So, my request to you: well-wishes for me and my family who are just as nervous about this as I am.  Thanks!

Selling versus Renting

The time is fast approaching and we are counting down the days till our move. Our ultimatum is out there.  If it doesn't sell by the end of the month we will be renting it out to two very good friends of ours who are looking to buy it after the end of the year.(www.9347flower.isnow4sale.com)  That at least provides me with some peace of mind. I know it will be in good hands, I know the people that would be its future tenants and hopefully, its future owners. It makes me happy to know who will be in there. And, if they can't buy it we'll just put it back on the market in the Spring during prime selling time and see who is interested then. No hard feelings. That's good too.

This has definitely been a lesson in patience and appreciation of others. Never take those you love for granted. I know I have and this is especially true with friends. I have been of the mind that my friends were only being kind in saying they loved our house and trying to reassure us that it would sell. It never crossed my mind that they might actually be interested. How rude is that of me?! This has also been a great lesson in marketing. NEVER assume that friends, family or acquaintances might not be interested in what you're selling. Yes, invariably there are those situations where it doesn't pan out or relationships go sour due to a bad transaction. However, most often than not, your friends and family also are the first to know how much time, effort and money you've put into something to make it shine. And, no random buyer or agent is going to understand or appreciate what you've really done to a place to make it not just livable but a 'home'.

To all my friends and family, readers and fans: THANK YOU!

Holyoke Home: Let's Start At The Very Beginning

I just LOVED the idea of this blog "The Holyoke Home" and it makes me want to start WAY too many home improvement projects. The photos alone are inspirational and definitely make me consider moving to Massachusetts someday.
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Holyoke Home: Let's Start At The Very Beginning: "After many tours of many Holyoke row houses (basically every one that has come on the market in the past three years), we found the one. ..."

The Fam: