This is Not My Beautiful House

Someone asked the other day how I ended up living in a commune. I, of course, don't actually live in one but it sure feels like it some days.

When I met Kevin, he lived in town about three blocks from his parents and five blocks from his parents. It was nearly a dealbreaker for me, his family being so close literally & figuratively.

A year after we'd lived together, he decided that he wanted to buy a house. We started to look around and contacted a realtor. Neither of us had any big ideas of what we wanted in a house or neighborhood.

We looked at one house which was actually quite similar to the duplex we were living in. We were waiting for a walk-through with another realtor when we got the call about the property where we live now. The price was right and it was a sell-by-owner situation so we rushed to check it out.

It was nearly 25 minutes from our town, and north which means more extreme weather and less people. We loved the property, no neighbors to speak of (at the time), and best of all: we could afford it. We bought it and was moving in within a month.

I will admit: it had an old mobile home on it. It was 1970's chic but it didn't slow me down a bit. I told Kevin that I could de-cheeze it fairly easily.

It had green shag carpet, of course. We knew we would have to replace it but we weren't that worried about it. Until the day we moved in.

Our friends & family were supposed to show up at 7:30 am to move but showed up at 7:00 instead. I got into the shower while Kevin got everyone organized. By the time I came out of the shower, the house was empty.

So, I played catch-up. Kevin & his mom were there when I got there and I remember Kevin frowning when I pulled in. "You have to go back to town" he tells me. I remember thinking that the deal had fell through or Kevin had changed his mind about us or any of the hundred things that could go wrong. But I didn't think about had actually happened.

There was a Very Pissed Off cocker spaniel living in our house.

Very. Pissed. Off.

Cocker Spaniel.

The assh*les that sold our house left it there for two days, inside. Animals love Kevin but this one? not so much. It paced from one end of the house to the next until it finally sequestered itself in the laundry room. Kevin, bless his heart, thought about keeping him but the entire family voted a big, fat, NO.

I had to go back into town to call the Humane Society to pick him up. And buy carpet. We couldn't move in until the dog moved out and we replaced his littler box.

A few hours later, the Humane Society picked up the unhappy dog and we had industrial strength blue carpet for the entire house. We had a houseful of people until it was dark then everyone left and we went to bed.

I will remember forever the first time that Kevin turned out the bedroom lights. PITCH DARK. It was the country, no streetlamps, no neighbors, no outside lights yet. PITCH DARK. I bought nightlights the next day so that we could at least get to the bathroom in the middle of the night without loss of limb.

Tune in tomorrow for the next chapter.......