Wednesday - January 7th

I got up early not because I had to get Bink ready for school, but because we were going to go and look at a house in P-City. P-City is a realllllly small town that I was raised in from the day I came home from the hospital 'til I was thirty-seven years old. It's a place where everyone knows everyone and you couldn't do shit as a kid because if you did, your mom knew before you stepped into the house because one of the other moms would call them and tell them what you did. It's a place to raise kids. It's small, it's quiet, it has a great school system, that even though it's public, it's more like you go to a private school.

Don't get me wrong, I like where I live, I don't like the school system. Only the high school passed the recent scores that the state gives. And I've heard too many bad things from other parents about the system to know that it isn't where I want my daughter to go. If we don't move, we pay the extra money to send her out of the town we live in. If we move to a school system we like, we pay a higher mortgage.

Back to the house. (Pic number 2, the white house) It's an 89 year old victorian. It has three large downstairs rooms, a large kitchen with room for a table by a large airy window. All the appliances come with the home. The kitchen and both bathrooms have been remodeled, and it's all hardwood floors. The yard is nice, the neighbors are nice. It has a large attic for storage and a detached garage with a work room. The thing is I'm a little wary about placing a bid on it for the mere fact that this place has been on the market for while. I'm wondering what's wrong with it. We need to get a home inspection done before anything else.

I'm also waiting on a call about a house next door to my brother and sister-in-law. I loved that house when I first tried to buy it years ago (it was cheap then, only $85,000), but alas the company I worked for was sold and I lost my job. No job meant we couldn't afford to get it at the time. It sucked losing the chance to have that place. It was another big, roomy victorian, but it was set up nicer than the one we're looking at and it was right next door to my brother. The only problem is the people were asking $245,000.00 the last time they put it on the market. Um...NO! Not when I know it cost them $85,000.00 or less and they haven't added anything to it and it needs a new roof.

I have so many family and friends in this little town. I loved living there and I miss it. I hope we can get a place there sooner or later. Hopefully sooner. There's also another house (pic 1 - the green house) on the market that was totally gutted and redone from top to bottom. I'd like to do a walk through of it, even though I don't like the location as much. It's next to the old grade school which might become an office complex. Or an old folks home. I'd rather it be an old folks home.

I'll post later what happens. If we don't get one of the houses now, we're going to refinance and fix up our current little house. At least if we do that, we'll have the room we want and need. And I'll have a bathroom that doesn't look like crap even after I scrub it with Ajax! :-/