What a Week

Last Saturday, the first night of Passover, my little red fish died. He'd been struggling with fin rot for months and despite all my attempts to save him with meds, he passed on. I've been taking it particularly hard since he was my office buddy and we spent all day every day together. Some have said I spent more time with him than the Hubbie. Sad state of affairs, I know. Anyway, we buried him in my parents' backyard next to Mokey and Buzzie- our two deceased cats. Kind of twisted to bury a fish between two cats, but I'm pretty sure they're getting along fine. As I sit here at my desk, I'm looking at his little empty tank and I miss him terribly. As I've said before, he was hands down the most charismatic fish I've ever seen. He would actually swim up to me when I approached the tank and do a little dance. I'm thinking about getting another one but for now, I just need to mourn the passing of Mr. Foosh.

As if that wasn't enough, we got news that my grandma had a "mini" stroke a few weeks ago. This "mini" stroke has left her for the most part ok, except she gets confused easily and forgets simple things. Truthfully, I was worried that she drove herself to our Passover seder and I'm wondering how to approach the subject of her possibly giving up her license. She told the Hubbie that while driving over, she found herself in the oncoming traffic lane on Sunset Blvd and had to quickly move over to avoid an accident. Frightening. But, she is so bull-headed and stubborn, if I even bring up my fear of her driving she'll just stop telling us the truth of her situation.

She'll be 87 years old in June but just refuses to slow down. I took her to see the Young at Heart choir last Thursday and she thoroughly enjoyed it. I was a bit unsure since the choir, being octogenarians and all, aren't the best vocalists and they would be singing songs unfamiliar to her. But the show was unbelievably good and even my Bubbie knew most of the songs. They opened with the Rolling Stones classic You Can't Always Get What You Want and continued with songs by artists like Nirvana, Queen and Sonic Youth. Just fabulous and do I even have to say it brought me to tears?

Things with the house purchase have been a constant struggle. Our Realtor put it perfect. "You picked a great time to buy a house and a horrible time to get a loan." We originally wanted to put down 5%, (which in the Los Angeles market is A LOT,) but clearly, we're not the only ones who can only afford 5% down. And since the virtual collapse of the mortgage industry, who were busy writing (and forging,) loans to people who couldn't afford them, it has left only a few banks who will allow just 5% down to be buried in paperwork with those like us trying to get their loans. Loans that were underwritten last year in 3 days are now taking up to 4 weeks.

Long story short, when faced with possibly losing the house we decided to up the anti and put 10% down. Not only as a show of good faith to the banks and to get the process moving faster, but also to have more equity in the house and a lower monthly payment. This Friday will be 30 days since our accepted offer so we have to have something in place by then. God willing it will all be done by tomorrow and I can go back to fixating on packing and couch fabric.

This weekend I'm helping throw a baby shower for my friend Susan. My oldest friend Shari is due any minute now and another friend Lisa is due in a month. It is definitely the year of the baby. In keeping with my goals for this year, (new car, new house, get pregnant,) that's the last thing to check off my list. I'm petrified of getting pregnant and petrified of not being able to. I'm literally a ball of stress. Not exactly conducive to getting pregnant. So, I'm starting to track my ovulation and that way I think I'll feel a little more in control. The Hubbie has finally quit smoking for good and that was a big factor for me. So for now, I'm just taking it day by day and once we get settled in the house I think we'll start trying.

R.I.P Mr. Feesh.