Tim and I are trying to get into the housing market. More specifically, we’re looking to buy our first home. This home could either be a house, or a townhouse, but we’re not really looking into units or apartments (it’d just be like moving out of one shoebox into another, with the difference being we would be allowed to put picture hooks in the walls).

On Saturday, Tim and I went to look at a couple of townhouses in Morningside. We only ended up looking at one, because the other one seemed not to be an open house (dumb agents not keeping realestate.com.au updated!). It wasn’t too much of a problem, the one townhouse we did see was gorgeous. It had ducted airconditioning, two bathrooms plus a third toilet downstairs, separate laundry, new quality appliances in the kitchen, and a beautiful courtyard full of baby trees and plants and one big grown-up tree, and a covered paved area perfect for a bbq and outdoor setting.

Far from wearing rose-coloured lenses, I will also note that the kitchen was small, there wasn’t much cupboard space, and the second bedroom was quite small too.

Still, it’s hard enough getting into the housing market, let alone being picky about little things that we would be able to live with without too much trouble.

Unfortunately, there was another couple there who felt the same way. In the end, they were waiting for their parents to show up to tell them how much they could offer for the place. The asking price was $375,000.00, and it was a competition between us and them – the winner being who could make the most attractive deal to the seller. We both had one chance to make an offer, and were encouraged to offer the very most we were willing to pay.

In the end, we lost out to the other couple, which was a bit disappointing. We’ll never know how much we lost by either. It could have been as little as $500, but that’s not really likely.

Anyway, we’re looking at a few more places in different areas now. What we’re aiming at doing is buying something a little bit smaller, and a bit cheaper (hence looking at townhouses as well), pay down the mortgage with extra repayments and keeping all our money in an offset account, and then in a few short years, using the equity in our house to get a new place that would probably be bigger and a more ideal “home”. Maybe something we’d stay in for quite a while. Then we can rent out the old place and use it as an investment property.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed we find a place soon – the housing market is a real cut-throat industry right now, and it’s difficult for first-home buyers to get their foot in the door.

I’d really prefer not having to go all the way out to Darra to find a place…

Tim gets back from New Zealand tonight. I’m looking forward to seeing him, because even though he’s only been gone for one night (two days), I still miss him.

I was a little apprehensive about Tim going to New Zealand in the first place, as the last two times he’s gone something bad has happened. First time was when I was assaulted by a cab driver (incidentally, QLD Police actually literally suck when it comes to protecting females from predatory males. Seriously, they don’t give a fuck). The second time he went away was when this pain from the prolapsed discs all began. So I thought it might be “third time’s the charm”, or something like that. But so far nothing too bad has happened. I did wake up last night unable to breathe from the stomach acid in my throat (caused by one of the painkillers I am on), and had to stand in the bathroom, coughing into the sink for about half an hour, but that’s happened at least three times before anyway. Granted, it was a little worse this time, but I dealt with it okay.

So anyway, it is our (Tim&Me) six-month anniversary on Tuesday 25th September – next week. Because I don’t have much money, I’m making something for him. It’s going to be a surprise so I won’t give away any details here as I know that he does read my blog sometimes. I’m sure he’s pondering the problem of what to get me, but I can’t give him any suggestions because he doesn’t want them – he wants to give me something he’s thought of himself. And fair enough, too. I would prefer it that way.

Since Tim is not here at the moment, it’s just been me & Napoleon in the apartment. When Tim is here, Napoleon doesn’t do too many naughty things. He’s quickly learned since moving in that he is not allowed up on the bench, or the dining table, or near any cords. Also, he is not allowed to walk on the beside tables. This is more just because he has a habit of batting things around with his paws, and pushing things off edges and onto the ground.

However, when Tim isn’t here (such as during workdays), Napoleon seems to slip back into his old bad-habity ways. I sleep much more soundly than Tim does – hardly anything can wake me up – so if Napoleon is out in the living room pushing things off tables and knocking things over while I am asleep, I generally won’t know about it until I wake up. This morning I came out to find that Napoleon had knocked over the glass of water in the kitchen which we have some flowers sitting in. The water spread over the bench, but thankfully didn’t drip over the edges onto the floor. It also, thankfully, didn’t touch any of Tim’s things, which were further up the other end of the bench. However, Napoleon had batted Tim’s train ticket onto the ground… I don’t think this is a huge deal because he didn’t ruin it, and it’s almost time for a new train ticket anyway.

It’s just like in a real family, where the dad is the disciplinarian, and the mother is the mild one. Good cop/bad cop type thing. I’m not trying to be weak and let Po walk all over me, but he’s just so cute and I hate shouting at him. Lucky that Tim is there to pick up the slack, and Napoleon doesn’t seem to love him any less.

Maybe it’s a boy thing.

This is one of my new favourite sites: Strapya. They specialise in mobile phone charms and straps, but there are a few other cool Japanese gadgets there. A couple of my favourites are the things for summer: -40 degree aircon in a spraycan, and a little personal fan that has a function where you can program a message to be displayed when the fan is on. Awesome!