The Arkansas house is indeed off my hands. I've cancelled the insurance, put all utilities in somebody else's name, and sent my last mortgage payment on it. It cost me over $4000 to get rid of it but it's gone, some 9+ months after putting it up for sale. It's been gone for about a week now. YAY. At this house, a tree in our backyard fell last weekend...and I didn't hear it. Baby news: the bad news is Beth miscarried last week, but the good news is that means we know that everyone's plumbing does work. We didn't even know she was pregnant. We have also finished decorating the future nursery here, done the same way we did the room in Arkansas...see 3-16-2001. We went to Michigan last weekend but only stayed Saturday afternoon since it started out raining, then heavy rain, then hail, then sleet, then driving snow by 6 pm. And again it is time for my favorite time of year...March Madness! My Spartans are only a 10 seed this time but I have them beating NC State and UConn to go as far as sweet 16. Long shot, yes, but worth taking. I picked Duke to win it all, and picked a few upsets, which I'm never right on, but here goes: Pepperdine, Tulsa, and Kent State to win opening round games and Kentucky to beat Kansas in elite 8. Final Four: Duke, Maryland, Kentucky, Cincinnati. We'll see.

We finally have some good news about the house. A couple weeks ago we got our first offer on it. It was a crummy offer, but an offer nonetheless. They offered $70,000 but they wanted $2000 for "any necessary repairs." Where did that come from? It seems someone "just looked under the house and thought there was structural damage." An actual inspection by an actual inspector? NO. Just some redneck trying to rip me off. Anyway, we countered with $71500 and $1500, which I thought MORE than fair, and they counter-countered $70,000 and $1000. I was ready to tell them to take their crummy offer and shove it but decided to make a final offer of $70,000 AS IS, again which I thought more than fair. My agent tried to get me to give them something for repairs but I said absolutely not. So, they took the offer anyway, and all the inspections they subsequently had done showed nothing wrong anywhere, and the house will be off my hands for good within the next week. About freakin time. The only good news is that there should be a tax write off or something for selling a $85000 house for $70000. I have joined the local grotto of the National Speleological Society. It meets in Elkhart, and someone goes caving about every weekend. I'm going to get back into a cave for the first time in 10 years as soon as I can swing it. Next week there's a grotto trip to Kentucky for a Mammoth cave clean-up weekend; I'm going to try to go. In baby news, nothing new, except I found out this week that my company no longer has an adoption assistance program (I think it used to be a $5000 grant). I can't believe how expensive it is to adopt! There's got to be a way to put the cash together but I don't know it now. Anyone know anything about adopting? Beth had her best series of bowling ever tonight, a 98-130-128. I had a 122-150-127 tonight, so no, I'm not getting any better. We've been playing cards with friends a lot lately. Funny how when we lived outside of Indiana, nobody had ever heard of Euchre, and now, everyone wants to play it. I have killed two mice in the past two days: one we caught on the kitchen counter and one in the garage. The one in the kitchen was only caught by the back leg in the trap so it was still alive (presumably in some serious pain) when I came into the kitchen Thursday morning. I just picked it up by the trap and tied it into a plastic bag and threw it into the garage until I was ready to leave, then stomped on it until the tail stopped thrashing. Cold hearted me, I guess, but if he wants to poop on my counter he's going to pay a price. The one in the garage was caught by the neck and very dead when I found it. And finally, I bought Beth her anniversary present last night but she can't have it until June. A nice diamond anniversary band (She can't have it until June so I have time to pay for it).