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Joining the Masses …

Usually Wifey™ and I are better about our Christmas shopping. We usually get an earlier start on some of the gifts, so that when November rolls around we aren’t left to do last minute shopping.

So, guess what we are doing this weekend. Erm. Last minute shopping would be the correct answer.

We just haven’t had the money up until now. I mean, we had it earlier in the year, but with her parents coming in October, we were kind of holding onto every dollar we could to make sure we’d have enough for that trip. So now we are playing catch up.

Last weekend, with NO money, we went to the mall and found some good ideas of stuff to buy for people, wrote out a list and are prepared to do some heavy duty shopping this weekend.

The mission is to get it all done. We’ve got our ideas written down and just have to act on them. The worst part about christmas shopping is the wandering around aimlessly trying to find something that will work for a particular person. Ugh.

A few of the gifts are easy. The young cousins are getting AMEX gift cards. It should be cool. Basically, we can order the AMEX cards with a preset dollar amount on them, with the girls names preprinted on the cards, so it will look just like a credit card when they get it. Then they can go out and buy whatever the hell they want. Easy shmeezy. They’re happy, and I’m happy. It all works out for everyone involved.

We’re not really mentioning this to our family yet, because we want to make sure that everything is going to go through, but since no one reads this anyway, I’ll mention it here.

Wifey™ and I are trying to move into the world of home ownership. Ugh. We saw a mortgage broker that my realtor cousin set us up with the other day and she ran our numbers for us and is supposed to get back to us by next Tuesday. Then we’ll know what we qualify for. Right now it’s looking like it’s going to be in the $400,000 range, which should get us a decent condo or townhouse in this area. I know that in most of the country that much money would get us a mini-mansion, but here in the San Francisco Bay Area, you’ll probably get a two bedroom condo or townhouse. At this point, she’s working the numbers for us so that we can get a payment that works for us.

One of the funnier moments was when she brought back our credit reports. For those unfamiliar, your credit report boils down to a number at the top — your credit score. The credit score is based on debts, income, late payments, missed payments, etc. and that number is going to be between 300 and 850. The higher the score the better rates you’ll get on loans and the more packages that banks will offer you. Too low a score and you can pretty much forget about ever owning anything or even getting a credit card. Wifey™ and I have scores in the 700 range. The mortgage lady nearly wet herself when she saw them because, according to her, she hadn’t seen scores that high in a long time. Meaning that we’ll be eligible for the lowest rates and the best packages out there in term of a loan. Should be interesting.

If we do get a loan, then it’s just all about finding a place that we can both agree on. My cousin will be able to help us in the search since he’s got the connections to get the unlisted places and such. Ugh. It’s kind of nerve-wracking to be honest. But since we are already paying so much in rent, we might as well apply that to a mortgage and make something off of it.

And finally a rant. Something that irritates me. When you and someone else are talking to third party and that person you are with monopolizes the conversation to the point where you can’t get a word in. And everytime you try to ask a question or make a comment, the other person starts talking again and works it so that they are asking your question. Ugh. That pisses me off like nothing else. I try to remain calm but at some point I’m just going to snap and start screaming.

Seems to go that way with Wifey™ and I most of the time. Maybe we both have a lot to say, but I tend to not say as much because I was raised to not interupt people when they are talking. I think in Wifey™’s family, at least what I observed when her parent’s were here, is that if you want to be heard you have to start talking over everyone else. So, probably unintentionally, Wifey™ tends to monopolize the conversations when we are talking with other people. And I’ll sit there waiting for an opening so that I can get my two cents in and that opening just never happens. It’s fairly frustrating because I like to talk to people to and have questions and comments for them, but just don’t seem to be able to find the space to voice them. And I know at some point I’m just going to lose it and be like, “JESUS CHRIST, CAN I TALK NOW!” It’s going to be bad and I’m going to look like a freak, but at least I’ll have gotten my words in.

Same goes for anyone, though, that tries to talk over me or finish what I’m saying. I don’t like it.

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