Housing Stress

So when we arrived at Wright-Patterson, they gave us a four bedroom house that had a lot of square feet.  They had warned me that it was "older, but updated".  Um... yeah.  We stayed there for the weekend before we could get into the housing office to tell them that we weren't going to live there. 

It was so stressful thinking about living there.  My stomach dropped when I walked around the house for the first time.

And, well, here are some pictures:

The rusted kitchen sink drain.

A coil coming loose from the socket.

One side of a shelf held up by a screw (that was painted over)

The other side of the shelf was held up by a nail.

This was the door in one of the boys' rooms. Seriously? 

More rust.

Wall paper pulling off of the border in one of the bathrooms.

Gross tub drain.

Another drain rusted.

This was the shelf in the coat closet downstairs that was falling apart.

 Maybe I'm just picky, but everything just screamed out to me that I didn't like this place.  There were a couple of other little things, like the horrid paint job over the entire house, a detached garage that we couldn't fit the minivan in, a crowded parking lot, the 2 pronged outlets and the very, very outdated appliances. 

We went to the housing office on Monday morning to do our lease paperwork, and we told them straight up that the house wasn't okay.  It was really thanks to my mother-in-law (who I am more and more grateful came out to help with us), that we shouldn't just accept the house.  I was saying that our Fort Meade house was a little nicer, but if we could survive that we would be fine.  Lanelle pointed out to me that we were junior enlisted at the time, and now we're junior officer--we shouldn't settle for less.  (Rick's dad was enlisted for a time in the late 80s, early 90s, so she's familiar with the different types of housing).  I kind of feel the same way.  Maybe I'm elitist, but I swear that Rick has worked really hard to move from enlisted to officer, and I feel like he deserves it. 

The housing office was really good about it.  They took us to two townhomes that were much smaller, with attached garages, driveways and just a newer construction.  We lost about 700 square feet with the townhomes though.  One of the townhomes was on a cul-de-sac and the backyard was actually fenced.  (unlike most of the other houses!)  So soon as I entered the house, it was like my heart completely lifted.  I felt so much better, and it felt like a home that we could live in for at least a couple of years.  It's a beautiful home, and I am so glad that we stood up for ourselves and got a new house that suited our needs better.  No pictures of the new place yet.  I promise that it's much better (3 pronged outlets!)