In Which We Might Have Found The House

Connor looked quite a bit better this morning, though his tummy apparently does not like Benadryl-- he threw up several meals today. I have to say that I prefer an upset tummy to facial swelling though, so we'll stick with it until he no longer looks like a red and white Dalmatian.

In other news, we think we've found the house. And when I say the house, I mean the house.

In addition to calling every property manager in a thirty mile radius of Puyallup, I've been browsing craigslist ads religiously twice a day. About a dozen properties in the last two weeks have looked or sounded promising enough to tour, all of which have been a disappointment. If it's built after about 1985 in this region, it's usually two story, which won't work for us. If it's built before 1985, the bathrooms and the doors are two small for a wheelchair. If it's advertised as being wheelchair accessible or with no stairs, it's in one of the two 55+ communities around here. On repeated occasions I've gotten all excited about a property for rent with WHEELCHAIR RAMP in the ad, opened it up, and sure enough, it would be in Canyon Meadows or Enchanted Firs. Those darn elitist geriatric tricksters-- always getting my hopes up only to dash them at the last minute!

Anyway, about a week ago I looked at the properties for sale instead of for rent on a whim, and there it was. A three bedroom rambler in the Puyallup school district sitting on over an acre of land, with those golden words, "Wheelchair Accessible" halfway down the page. Not only are large portions of the house tiled instead of carpeted (which means Jer can stop spinning his wheels on turns) but it also has a roll-in shower and, wonder of wonders, an accessible toilet. The refrigerator is placed where he could open it. One of the three bedrooms is tiled and would make a perfect bedroom/therapy room for Connor, and there's a jacuzzi tub in one of the other bathrooms that I could see myself spending significant time getting to know.

True, the house has some features that are rather interesting-- a brick barbecue with chimney built into the kitchen that's currently holding a microwave, the back wall of one bathroom made entirely out of huge chunks of black lava rock, two separate fireplaces that share a chimney-- one of which is electric and the other propane. But the rest of it does more than make up for its quirks.

So we sat down and took a look at our finances, and discovered that since we didn't have to buy the wheelchair accessible van we could afford to purchase the home. We found a real estate agent, toured the house (Well, the agent and I toured it. Jer's seen pictures. This should be corrected after we pick up the van), and first thing tomorrow we'll be putting in an offer. Keep your fingers crossed!

It's certainly not the end of the world if our offer isn't accepted, or it is and then the inspector finds a huge coconut crab infestation in the attic or something; we'd find another place to rent or buy eventually. But it's hard to imagine that we'd find a place quite as perfect as this one-- no bathroom conversions or door widening-- all we'd have to do is put in a ramp. It used to have one, but it was disassembled just before the house went on the market.

Can you imagine the gardening I could do with an acre backyard? My fingers are twitching in anticipation. And the house has a fifty foot high black cherry tree back there. I half suspect this house was built specifically with us in mind.

If we get the house, I will bake you all a pie. You've got until next summer to figure out how I can put three hundred cherry pies in the mail.

Maybe I'll just post a picture.

~Jess