These little guys are my new best friends. I picked them up at Epcot about a month ago. I've been meaning to get a maneki neko (lucky cat) for years now, but never did. And the daruma is pretty wonderful, too.
For those who don't know, the cat isn't waving- he's beckoning, inviting in the good stuff. In this case, because he's holding a coin, he's leaning towards cash. His gold color helps with that, too. The daruma, as you can see, has only one eye. When you buy a daruma, they have no eyes at all. You make your wish, and concentrate on it while drawing in one of his pupils- I filled in the wrong one, but he still seems to be working. You fill in the other eye when your wish comes true. I hope the wrong eye thing doesn't, like, come back to haunt me.
Anyway, they're sitting on the china cabinet facing the front door. You want your neko to beckon out the front door.
So what's made me write about them tonight? Well, a couple of days ago, my acceptance to FSU became "actually" real when my file became complete. I now have an FSU email account, and access to student services online. When I go down to find a place to live, I can even pick up my student ID. Which leads to the next thing- living arrangements. I should have a contract to sell my house in TN tomorrow or Monday, all ready for me to sign. Marjorie and Harry are quite happy with the notion of closing ASAP and letting me "rent" from them til August 1. That means I'll be able to get the money I get from the sale BEFORE I actually have to leave- which is very good because of the next wondrous event. I got a call from the loan officer at my bank today, and he's pretty darn positive I can get an FHA mortgage to buy a house in Florida. This is great on a number of levels. First, rent in Tallahassee would be more than my current mortgage payment. Second, an FHA loan will have a much lower interest rate than my current mortgage. I mean a LOT lower. Third, because I'll have a more sizable downpayment than FHA requires, and with the lower interest rate, I'll be able to buy a house a third more expensive than my current house was AND I'll pay less each month.
I tell you what, this internet thing is pretty fantastic. A whole lot of what I've been able to do- and the unexpected rewards that are coming from what I've been able to do- has been based on information from the internet. You have to sift through a lot of crap, but I swear, if there's something you want to do, you can probably find a way to do it on the internet. Especially if you want to improve your credit and do something like buy a house. For instance, did you know that USDA Rural Development has a program for low-ish income people to buy homes in "rural" areas? And I mean for people who make, like, poverty line money. As a matter of fact, they offer the program in the town I'm looking at in FL, and if the bank doesn't make me a good enough offer tomorrow, I'm going to see what USDA can do for me. Oh, and if there's anyone reading this on limited income who lives in Cookeville, the program is available for pretty much ALL of Putnam county outside the Cookeville/Algood city limits. You can probably buy a house through this program, and it'll be less per month than renting. They'll even make the downpayment FOR you. The USDA Rural Development office in Cookeville is in that little strip mall near KMart, Fountain Square. ;)
So that's the news from here. If I get my selling-the-house contract over the weekend, and if they have good news for me tomorrow, I will probably go to Tallahassee on Tuesday to try to find a place to live. I might actually stay for a while. Mom wants to come help, and she can come down on Friday and stay all week. She'll bring my nephew, and she told me she'll pay for the hotel and for food while we're there, so I may stay in Tally a week or more. So that's good- and I can work my normal schedule from the hotel, and we'll take a day to go to Busch Gardens. Once I've got my student ID, I can go ahead and get my Florida Residents Annual Pass- which is the same price as a regular single day admission! Whoo hoo!
I swear, y'all. I don't mean to gloat. And I'm really not gloating. I'm just amazed and shocked at how well things are going, and I have to share it. And, well, I do have to pat myself on the back a bit- I've worked really hard for it. I'm just... surprised. Surprised that it's paying off. I've always had a tinge of pessimism (it won't work out!) but I went ahead and tried anyway- and it worked. Life is good!
I hope all is going well for all of you. If it isn't going well- hang in there. Work hard. You'll be OK. :)
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