13

7 + 6 = 13
13 +0 =13
13 could be our lucky number.

I'm onto him.

I can't type too long, he's sat behind me.

I ended up throwing a small bitch fit today.

This week, Phil's been all

"I can't search for houses today coz I've rang every one of them online."

"I'm enjoying the weekend It'll keep til Monday".

Well, Monday came and went and I recall him ringing like maybe 5 landlords and I'm sure that at any one time there are more than 5 houses for rent in Devon and I am on to his plan.

Now I'm not saying Phil's a slacker, more.... Too relaxed for his own good. If he can get away with doing the minimum then he will he never used to be like this until he lost his job actually. He is a great husband...Just too relaxed, he'd make a malibu 'seriously easy going' advert look stressed.

I've figured out that as long as he rings at least two houses every day then he thinks he can sit and play assassins creed II all day. The last time I was in tears about him not doing enough because, remember, he doesnt want me to do anything, he suddenly found 15 houses to ring the next day.

Today, I've been upset again. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but this guy from uni moved to Devon and landed a job in Okehampton two months after we'd graduated and about a week after moving back from Korea which didn't work out. I'm still in Wigan, jobless and penniless.

Which got me feeling a bit claustrophobic. I don't want to be a nagging wife, but the more I thought about him doing as little as possible to keep me happy, I was pretty furious.
I told him I don't think he's trying as hard as he could to find a place for us.
Which he protested

"There's no houses online left."

Really.

I ended up looking and found a few places on gum tree [Just for lookings sake] One owner's gone abroad and the other said she was expecting viewers today so she might ring later.

Oh, Oh, Phil then decided he'd have another look to see if there was anything he'd missed....Ahem..

So we rang round about 7 or 8 other places one of which needed employed tenant's to which Phil even applied for a job nearby it.

Things were getting tense and I ended up crying about all the usual shit I cry over when we argue about this.

So we ignored each other for a few hours until

"Right, just found about thirty houses to ring about tomorrow."

I thought there were no more houses online?

I'm not going to throttle him over it. Because if I scream at him asking why hadn't he searched for these earlier then that will likely backfire and he'll just sit on Assasin's Creed II until armageddon.

I'm on to him and his plan and I'm going to hi-jack his ship and take an active roll in house hunting, because clearly nothing is being done without me. He just smiled when I told him and said

"Bare in mind, nearly all the houses you'll look at I've already called about"

The Nerve of that boy.

I don't want to be a nagging wife.

Once again I'm in my skip of emotional turmoil. With waiting to move, every single penny we have is being ploughed into the moving fund we stay in 24/7. We don't go out, not even to the pub for a swift half. It's getting to me.

I want to be taken out, wined and dined enjoy my twenties. But no, we stay in. Day in. Day out. No cinema. No meals out. Nothing. I do not like being skint, I don't like sitting around all day either. I'd do voluntary work but I can't afford to get there that's how tight money is.

Now I don't mind being with my husband 24/7 we have a laugh but I want to go places. Show him the world [he's never been abroad].

I don't want to be a nagging wife, I really don't but I do think that Phil isn't trying hard enough to get us to move.

The only obstacle now is getting a pet friendly place.

When we moved in here 3 years ago, the plan was to live here while I did my masters degree then we were going to buy our flat to get on the property ladder. So, having pets wasn't an issue. Then, last year, I came into a large amount of money.

After the Baby P thing came out, and realising that being a social worker was just pen pushing and not the community saviours I wanted out of a career, I cancelled my interview with that out of the way, it made sense for us to use the money to move as soon as I graduated.

Honestly, I wished we'd never got pets. I wished we'd have waited but we didn't plan for us to move so quickly. But, I'm not one of those people who dumps their pets at shelters to move. They are with me for life. They are family.

We've auctioned off a load of collectibles we own and we got an insane amount of cash for them to stump up more money. I just desperately want to be taken out and buy nice things. I guess it would drive most couples to split but I'm in this for life, I love him and I love being with him 24/7 it's strengthened our marriage so much, I just wish things were different.

On the plus side I brushed out two dreadlocks and now I have a super cute fringe.

Estate agents seems to differ from one to the next

We found a house, but the agency were uncontactable when we finally got in touch they said it had gone. Balls.

Phil's dad relunctantly agreed to give us money for removals. With us not going with a removal company we thought we could get a quote of around £250. WRONG! £500 is what we were quoted. That's a hell of a lot for a man with a van. If Phil acts as a second man to lift they can reduce this to £450.

So now all we have to find is the house. Estate agents seems to differ from one to the next. Some agents are saying that we can't get a place unless we view it, which is out of the question. Some are saying that on top of the six months rent we need a deposit. Others aren't fussed.

The agency we're going with are quite alright. They know that we can't go and view so they said that they'll send us as many photos of properties as we need.

There seems to be a lot of houses on the rent market in our price range which is good. But we're a bit worried about the pets. So we might just say that we have a dog. Phil thinks it's having a German Shepherd Dog which may cause us problems because of the press the breed recieves.

Personally I think it's the amount of pets we have [3]. The dog should be no problem. He's extemely sociable, doesn't bark constantly and is crate trained when we're not home.

Hopefully we can find somewhere in the next couple of weeks then I can start looking for work. Phil still has hopes to find any type of job within two weeks of us being in our new home. I'm still worried that the move might not be the right time with the economic climate still on it's arse. But there are plenty job offers coming in to my inbox, I'm desperate to get a foot in the charity sector. I think I'm also going to set up a print stall on a weekend just to make some extra cash.

Fingers crossed that everything is coming into place!


Edit.

Apparently it is the dog. Fulfords said if he was a small breed there'd be no problem because landlords hate big dogs.

Phil might go down other routes which means that our savings could be open to being stolen by corrupt landlords.

Shameless self promotion

365 days
365 photos

http://tokyobutterfly.deviantart.com/gallery/#Project-365

Will we move, Won't we move?

Made some phone calls today. Estate agents said that if we can get six months rent, we don't need a guarantor or references we can move straight in to a house.

I'm feeling pretty good about this. We already have 6 months rent. So all we need is the removals and pet couriers. I managed to knock a whopping £300 off pet couriers by getting a friend and his van to transport them and Phil's mum knows someone who is basically a 'man and a van' but he does removals.

We used him to move here and it cost £60 and I'm thinking.... He might not be enough to move everything. So I had a wonderful idea getting my friend to move some stuff as well as the pets if his van is good enough.

Now the problem is seeing if Phil's dad can stump up some cash for removals because we don't have money for removals AND six months rent in advance.

All this faffing about and "will we move, won't we move" is doing my head in a bit.

I've spent all day in bed watching the time traveler's wife [made me cry but it isn't as good as the book because the film appears to miss 3/4 of the book] and being served bacon butties, hot chocolate and marshmallows while I nurse my hip. It's much better today.

I keep wanting to get rid of my dreadlocks too. But the ease of having them outweighs cutting them. A wash every Sunday with Lush! Karma Komba [also my favourite fragrance] shampoo and they're good. I'm getting a bit... Tired with the attention they draw. I want to be more invisible.

Everyone always comments on how clean and well kept they look and I find it a bit offensive. I don't tell random strangers with un-dreaded hair "gee your hair looks really clean today".

I don't "maintain" them or do anything special at all, apart from the odd condition with Tesco's own Coconut conditioner. People are all like "ooh you shouldn't use normal shampoo what about all the residues that the shampoo leaves in your hair that normally a brush would get out".

I think the whole residue argument is bullshit. But I still do a deep clean with Apple Cider Vinegar [diluted so I don't smell like a chippy] just in case there is truth in it.

I think I'm going to hit some charity shops this week. See what bargains I can get with the last of my personal savings. I want some skirts and a new Woollen jumper because my favourite jumper shrank in the wash. No idea how, I am very careful with wools.

Thai Soup.

So we had another set back over the holidays. Estate Agents that we talk to all want someone to act as a guarantor or six months rent up front. Phil's asked his sister but she hasn't given us an answer. He's on about asking his dad for some money.

It's all falling apart, down to our ankles. It's gotten to a point where we're looking somewhere more local because we're in a rut. Possibly Liverpool, I really like Liverpool everyone's got such a sense of pride about the city not to mention they're all so friendly.

New Year's Eve was the same as ever. We don't bother celebrating it. I'd rather stay at home instead of forking out triple amounts of money in a club. Besides, there was a blue moon going through an eclipse that I wanted to shoot with my new lens.

Helen never bothered to call for a session on CoD. She can sod off for all I care now.

I'm in love with how much it's snowed last night. Wigan doesn't ever get snow but there's two feet of it:















It was our anniversary of when we became a couple yesterday. 4 years! We decided to spend the day watching films and eating and it was decided that a romantic walk would be on the agenda today.

I took a shit load of photos with my new lens but alas, the cold got into my hip and I was in so much pain. It usually takes us 2 hours to do the walk around Haigh Hall Country park but it took us 4 and a half hours. It was made worse that I was in agony so as of right now I'm sofa bed ridden, with a duvet because I take hours to get warm after a walk. I wonder if it's a condition?

As soon as I'm inside I'm deathly cold. Summer/Winter/Autumn/Spring I cool down too quickly I was dressed moderately warm too. Not too warm or I'll end up being too hot on the walk. I didn't strip off my heavy layers either like I normally do. God knows what's wrong with me.

Phil's making me his hot and sour Thai soup for tea. Hell yes.