My Dress-up Girl

K. is having a wonderful time modeling all her new clothes. Last night she must have tried on five or six nighties before finally settling on a nice plaid flannel which looked a little more like Christmas Eve in New England than July in Florida, but it made her happy. There were several “princess” gowns in the pile, and she played outside today dressed as Cinderella (but cuter). I’ve instructed her to keep them free of chocolate stains, so that she can use one as a Halloween costume.

Our buyer’s pre-approval letter from the bank finally came through today. I know pre-approval is fairly meaningless, but it is one of the “steps,” and it had bothered me that we hadn’t gotten it. Now if the appraisal tomorrow goes well (and I don’t suppose I will know for a while if it goes well), I will be reasonably confident that this thing is really going to happen. The surveyors were here today.

I talked to a realtor up in Bristol, Virginia today. She is listing a house that looks really neat, but is outside our price range. It is just enough above, though, that we thought it was worth asking if the sellers were, by any chance, desperate. Apparently they aren’t. She did promise to e-mail me some listings for similar (but, naturally, less nice) houses that we might be able to afford. The limitations placed on us by our shortage of filthy lucre take a lot of the fun out of house hunting. Actually, I’ve seen several interesting houses that we could afford, but they lack things like a second bathroom, modern kitchens, and central heating and air conditioning.