House Hunting

I looked at another house yesterday.  It was in a wonderful neighborhood, but the house itself had a weird layout - it's 4 bedrooms, with the master bedroom downstairs, right off the back porch.  It's a house that has a detached garage, and in order to get into the house from the garage, you have to enter through the master bedroom.  Who designs a home like that and thinks it's a good idea?

The owners have the master set up as a den, as it's right next to the open room that's the dining room, living room and kitchen.  Only each part of that room is fairly small - I think if you take out the bedroom/den, the downstairs living area is actually smaller than what I have right now.

Still, there's more tons more storage (there's actually room to put my dishes in the kitchen cabinets!) and it's a great neighborhood with a nice, fenced in backyard and just a short walk to the pool and a playground.  I was considering it, until I found out that the the owners would want a 2 year lease, 2 months rent up front, plus a $500 non-refundable pet deposit, because they're highly allergic to cats (which explains the elderly cat they have wandering around the house).  Well, at least they made that decision easy for me.

I've been looking at homes for sale in the first neighborhood I looked at last weekend.  I love them all (they're all the same builder, a builder I've loved for ages).  It makes me so sad to know that if I could sell my condo for what I paid for it 6 years ago, I could easily afford to buy one that would fit me perfectly.  Stupid economy.  Why doesn't somebody fix it, already?

There are times that it's better not to know what's ahead, but in this case, I really wish someone had told me not to buy a place in 2005.  I would have missed out on the tax benefits from writing off the interest, but in retrospect, that would have been just fine.

Aside from continued house hunting, we've had a nice weekend so far.  Finn's suddenly developed a bit of a temper.  When I take something away from him, it used to make him cry.  Now he looks at me and actually lets out a yell with a look of outrage on his face.  He looks so indignant, it's hard not to laugh.

Frustrated Baby

He's not crawling, but he is rolling to move around, especially when we're in bed.  When he wants something that's just out of his reach, I can see him thinking about how he can get it.  He tries to get into crawling position, but never quite makes it, or gets frustrated when he gets there and can't figure out what to do.  Yet.  I'm definitely enjoying my last few weeks or so of a non-baby proofed house.