December 8th... a day which will live in MY infamy!!!

If this story offends you, you really, REALLY need to get a freakin' LIFE.  :)

So... December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, has always been very special to me. Even as a child, I loved the devotions to the Blessed Mother, and remember having the day off from school but having to go to church.

In my adult life when we were to be married, I went to St. Edmond's (my home parish) to see if the date September 12, 1981 was free.  It was not.  Nor was September 19th, our alternate date.  So, faced with the pressure of having a church before arranging and booking a reception, we went to Lou's home and childhood parish, Immaculate Conception in Germantown.  We were told that September 12th was free, and booked the church that day.  The rest of the arrangements fell into place over the next year or so.

We bought our first house, 5853 Anderson St. in Germantown, and rebuilt it completely from the inside out.  It was a great little house and I liked it, unfortunately, the neighborhood was not getting any better, and we were serenaded many nights by gunfire, police sirens, and ambulances near Awbury Park.

We knew we should leave the city, and began to look at small suburban houses.  Our budget was limited, and we were trying to save some money.  You all know how that goes.  We found a little rancher in Ardsley, close to Lou's brother Gene.  We met Rich Horan, of Felte Real Estate that day.  The house in Ardsley was out of our range (which at the time was no more than $90,000).

Rich took us to the house in which we now live.  It was for sale for $129,900!  I kind of fell in love with the house, which needed NO work at all.  It was in move-in condition, all the appliances were from Sears, where one of the owners worked.  It was a dream, after having already rebuilt a house. We didn't want to do THAT again.  But the PRICE!!  Way out of range.  I tried to push this house out of my mind as being an impossibility.

We looked at dozens and dozens of houses in Montgomery County, old, new, weird and some really nice.  There was one on Veser Lane in Upper Moreland that had a "hatch" covering to go down the basement.  Neither of us would ever fit down it!  And there was an addition on the back of the house, but they never broke the wall though.  WEIRD.

There was one we visited over and over, called "The Orchard" in Montgomeryville.  We fell in love with the little townhouses, one in particular on the end of a row.  New construction - two story living room, three bedrooms, two and a half baths.  $96,000.  Still out of our range.  By now I was eating my fingernails and all the houses were starting to look alike.

But I found myself comparing EVERY house with this one - the first one he showed, which was still for sale.  He took us back here twice more, then to others again, split levels and twins, so many houses.  But I wanted THIS ONE, my "impossibility".

He asked the Carrigans (owners of this house) to drop the price for us.  They dropped it to $126,000. Still out of range.

In the meantime, we put the house on Anderson up for sale.  We got a bid of $35,000.  We accepted, and the guy gave the down payment.  We decided to go for broke (literally) and bid on the Hatboro house.  We bid $123,900.  They hesitated but finally accepted the bid (and I had no idea how we would afford it!  Impossible!)

Settlement for the house on Anderson St. was set for November 19th, and for this house on December 8th.  We began riding around Hatboro (we called it "our little town") and fell in love with it.  We looked forward to moving out of the city, and were excited to have our own SINGLE house, our "impossibility".  We pictured furniture, curtains, the basement, every room.

The word "impossible" crept up many times, starting on November 15th, when the bidder of the house on Anderson St. disappeared.  Didn't answer phone calls, letters or visits.  Disappeared, along with our sale, which meant along with the down payment for THIS house.

We were going to lose this house unless we could get what Rich said was a "swing loan" to make settlement.  However, if the Anderson house didn't sell, we'd be paying 1-mortgage on old house, 2-mortgage on new house, over $1000 a month, and 3-the swing loan.  Rich was doubtful it would work.  We were DEVASTATED.  Our dreams, all those houses looked at, all the time and money, down the drain.  I sat on the floor of Anderson St. and wept, and wept, and wept some more.  Our hearts were broken.

Then I began praying to the Blessed Mother.  I was desperate - made Novenas, said Rosaries, novenas to Sts. Jude and Rita (Saints of the "Impossible").  We were so depressed and sad!

Sometime in the next two weeks, we got a call that somehow, we were miraculously approved for the swing loan.  This was a mixed joy - for we would be able to make settlement on the Round Meadow house, but would have the aforementioned three payments to make if the Anderson house didn't sell before the following April.  The praying continued.

We went to settlement - on the feast of the Immaculate Conception - 1989, with nerves of jelly - we were so uneasy - and yet, the settlement went smoothly.  The Carrigans' new home wasn't ready, so they were renting from us for the next six weeks.  We had no reason to rush since our Anderson house was still ours.

We moved into Round Meadow on January 24, 1990.  The prayers continued - we had to sell the Anderson St. house or go to the POOR house!  We would be paying two mortgages already - if we didn't sell by April 1st it would be THREE.  This would have been "impossible"!

On March 15th, we received *and accepted* a bid on Anderson St., and this time the guy stuck around, in fact he still lives there to this day.  We sold him the house for $35,000, were able to pay off the $16,000 swing loan on March 30th, ONE DAY before Poor House day.

So yes, December 8th is important to me... for so many reasons.  We love our house which is now our home, and has been home to my brother and sister in law for a few months, to an ungrateful ex-boyfriend for a few weeks (another story for another day!) and quite a few of our beloved "chickens" for months here and there.

So yes, I am a true believer that prayer works, and the gospel for today was of the Annunciation and Visitation, at which time Mary would say "Yes" to becoming the Mother of God.  And that even though she was a virgin, and her cousin Elizabeth was six months along after having thought to be barren, we heard the words "For NOTHING will be impossible for God..."

Have a good night, stay warm and be sure your loved ones KNOW you love them.  SAY it, MEAN it, SHOW it.

Florida 2016: The Adventures of Frontier... and ATLANTIS!!!

The Florida trip of 2016: I don't think this one could offend anyone (unless you work for Frontier Airlines). :)

Once again this year, my friend Donna and I traveled to Florida for our third "girls" getaway. We went to the Atlantic side this time, stayed at a lovely condo in New Smyrna Beach. Clean place, wonderful beach, friendly people.

It's so nice to travel, especially with my wonderful partner in crime and friend of 43 years, Donna. It's nice to get home, too. Rehashing the trip in my mind, I have to say the fun and good times way outnumbered the pains of using Frontier Airlines, who did redeem themselves in Orlando by being way better than in PHL, where they were the only airline with NO agents at the ticket counters to check luggage. They weren't open until two hours before flight. Before the TSA lines. NO SIGNS telling you this, no representative available to give information. Thirty people in line to check luggage, no one at the counters. No wonder people want to cram their 200 pounds of shit into the overheads!

When they DID finally show up, they were surly for the most part. Then I guess they're overworked, too, as they were the same three people at the boarding gate. We started to think they were also going to load the luggage and fly the plane. The flight attendants were also pretty grumpy, and bordered on downright nasty. Not good. In Orlando they were much better staffed, though the flight attendants were too loud and a bit grumpy. That being said, I give them credit, I could NOT do what they do - putting up with the asshats who insist trying to powerlift their 200 pounds of shit into the overheads.

However, next time NO FLYING. Not worth the cattle-like way you are treated at airports, the anxiety of not knowing how long you will wait in any particular line, and the TSA. You arrive at the airport ridiculously early only to hurry up and sit. Then you're crowded to the point that you are way too well acquainted with your neighbor. The sleazeball in front of you has to put his seatback in your face. The bitch behind you won't stop her brat from kicking your seat. Homicidal thoughts ensue. Yuck. Not worth the trouble. I will be driving next time. No doubt.

What WAS worth the trouble was to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis up close and personal at Kennedy Space Center. Saw the live launch in July, 2011, and saw it at the Atlantis exhibit. Thrilling to this child of the sixties, and NASA Junkie. I didn't know if my travel companion/ would be all that excited about the Kennedy Space Center, but she was wonderful to come along, and enjoyed learning much about the space program. We would have liked to have lunch with Mark Kelly but... oh well, that didn't happen!

SPOILER ALERT ON THE EXHIBIT, so if you don't want to know, don't read any further!!!

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The Atlantis exhibit has the fuel tank and rocket boosters out front, and the exhibit inside about most aspects of the Shuttle's purpose. What I did NOT know was that it wasn't only an exhibit - it houses the ACTUAL Atlantis - the very one that I watched take flight, in person, in July, 2011. Saw the fire, heard the sounds, felt the rumble. They walk you through the shuttle program in a 360 degree film that makes you feel like you're in motion. Then, the last shot is of the nose of the shuttle. The "doors" open, and there, facing you, is the nose of the Atlantis itself! I don't know how excited everyone else was, but to me, it was absolutely breathtaking to see it, right there, in front of my face, after traveling almost 126 MILLION miles. I got the chills, laughed, hopped up and down a few times like a giddy little kid, and I know I had the biggest grin on my face and tears in my eyes. I couldn't STOP smiling. It is certainly a fitting place for it to rest after such a well traveled career!

So, if you ever get the chance, and were/are a fan of the Space Program, GO SEE THE ATLANTIS. Take the Kennedy Space Center tour - it's not cheap but it's worth every penny, and it beats buying fastpasses and standing in lines at Disney *and it's cheaper!* Sorry, I love Disney, but... ATLANTIS!!!

Remember, the Space Program gave you MRIs, space blankets, Teflon, and the technology you're using to read this blog, which may be your desktop, laptop, or your ever present, ever important cellphone. Oh, not to mention your satellite radio, and cable TV, weather satellites, and that GPS that talks back to you in the car. Don't forget firefighting equipment, solar cells, and Velcro.

Oh well so much for another trip... thanks for reading. If this blog offended anyone, you need another hobby, and/or a real life.

:)