One of my favourite people -I would say friend, but that doesn't quite cover the relationship- was the acting coach when I was in high school. T was an actor, and a mime, and a director, and I found out recently that she had a degree in educational theatre. If I had known that back in high school, I might have actually gotten a Theatre for Youth emphasis.
Anyway, when buying my grandparent's house had become a super serious contemplation, I e-mailed her a sort of, "uhhh, this is what I'm trying to do and am I totally nuts?" e-mail. And she said, "Breathe. Do what you want to do, and hey, I'm trying to get this started in town, would you want to help?" Um, yes!
And then I found out about substitute teaching, which requires only a BA, and a 15 hour class, and a license fee. Since I'll be living literally two blocks from the high school, and six blocks from the middle school, this sounds like a good deal.
My current job has also agreed to transfer me. I've got three jobs lined up. I feel good about this.
The Boy has applied for a job at the university in the next town north. It's not exactly what he was looking for, but it's very, very close. And since no one else he has applied for has had an interest in him, I don't feel too bad about him potentially being "stuck" in the town we're moving to. (Back where I came from originally.)
Honestly, it probably isn't going to cost too much more than our living here, it's just going to include house work, and higher utilities. Well, excepting the actual money involved with actually buying the house, which we totally don't have. But I don't even know what that is yet.
As far as the house itself is concerned, it would be nice if we could get a bank to call us back. Originally my uncle thought he could sell it to us on contract- which is a bit like rent to own. (Putting it very, very simply.) But the nursing home sorta wants their chunk of money and we have to get a mortgage. My uncle's willing to sell much less than the actual value. My grandmother's taken care of regardless of how much money they get out of the house, so he doesn't care how much he lets it go for.
Anyway, we went in and talked to Local Bank, because we have a bank here, and a bank in city of future residence. They were pretty dang rude, and said, "Well, fill out these preapplication forms and drop them back off and then we'll talk." They didn't want to even tell us what sort of options were available without that. I said to my mother, "Umm, doing that is the equivalent of entering into contract with them, right?" Yeah. So, I'm going to keep shopping around for a bank.
I contacted my Credit Union, and said, "Hey, I'd sure like a mortgage from you guys." And a month later, after playing phone and e-mail tag, they said, "Well, if the property is at Normal or Above Normal condition, give us a call." The fact of the matter is, it probably is, but it isn't assessed that way.
So, we went to Nice Bank the last time we were up in home state. And Nice Bank said, "Oh, how wonderful, oh we'd love to help you, oh fantastic! Here, this woman will get in touch with you sometime this week, or give me a call back."
It's Friday. I called Wednesday and told a voice mail system I hadn't heard yet and was just checking? I haven't heard back yet. My guess is that the jerks are waiting for the interest rates to go up again, never mind that for the relatively minuscule amount we're asking for (Your lowest guess? It's lower than that, I pretty much guarantee you) the interest rate is actually higher anyway.
What I'm hoping we can get, though, is this nifty kind of home improvement loan/mortgage thing they offer. The barn that served as the garage is gone now, and needs a barn, we'd like to put in a dryer and dishwasher, put a floor into the basement, fix the plumbing, re-do the bathrooms and paint nearly everything. If we did that, we'd be borrowing nearly the value of the house and maybe make the bank happy, but I dunno how it all works.
Our lease here is up in August. (Oh, and I'm volunteering at the Ren Fest in September!) TB is going to be in New York (Glimmerglass Opera) for two weeks, and then here the rest of the summer. I would really like to go up and get started on the house- the things that need to be done before winter... but I'm waiting on the freaking banks.
Oh, and my in-laws are ticked about it. She keeps going on about how TB is "giving up his dreams," and "why did you even go to school?" and crap like that. I'm sure if we announced that we were moving to their city and getting janitorial jobs at the local factory, she'd be thrilled.
The fact of the matter is, he might actually get the university job that's a 40 minute drive north. (He's currently much more qualified than the girl who has it now, who he actually knows from somewhere else.) He hasn't heard back from any of the other half dozen places he's applied to, and the reason is because the economy is such that a lot of people seem to be getting out of the business and going into education, so they've got more experience, which trumps him at the level he's looking at. The job in university town is a step down, but he's overqualified enough that I figure he has a chance.
He would almost certainly be able to work a few weekends at the roadhouse he worked at while in undergrad (they're starting a new alumni weekends thing, where people who used to work come back in and get paid for a weekend of load-ins). It's a bit of a drive, but it's a good experience and would pay well. There are also two roadhouses in town (one for rock shows, one for touring Broadway, etc), and another in university town.
There are buttloads of little theatres in the area, and all he'd have to do is say, "Hey, this is what I do, do you need me? Keep me in mind."
And like I've been trying to tell him, he's thinking of theatre as a 9-5 plus some evenings and weekends sort of job, and it just isn't. If he wants to do that, go work construction. I think that's why he picked education- he likes to educate, but I think he prefers the idea of a relatively cushy education job with summers off. You can educate without working in a college.
Anyway, that's where we are right now. I've got job opportunities out the wazoo that don't feel like jobs, he's got nothing right now, and we're trying to buy a house with no money! Whee. But I feel better about it.