New Computer

I broke down today and bought a new computer with a fancy 23" LED screen. I love it. I feel a little sick about spending the money, but I went to Costco so it was less expensive than it could have been and I really NEEDED the computer. I do all of my banking, bill paying etc online and trying to manage that stuff on a little tiny phone screen just wasn't cutting it anymore. Plus I went to look at another house yesterday, and almost made an offer just because every time I go to look at a house I put on these "I wanna buy a house TODAY" goggles and then the house looks so lovely, even when its not. So.. I looked at this house and remembered what my sister said before I left which was essentially take the darn happy happy lets buy a house no matter what goggles off and consider actually living there. Then consider living there in five years and how that ishy layout is going to really irritate you after five years and how not actually having a backyard with a big dog is going to drive you nuts because sometimes it would be so convenient to just let her out to go potty instead of taking her for a walk. So I looked at the house, was both in love and deeply disappointed at the same time and said "F-this!" I'm going to go buy a computer that works, that comes with a warranty and I'm going to go find a super high paying job so that I can build the house of my dreams, or at least afford to buy the house of my dreams in the town of my dreams. One of the most frustrating parts of this whole home buying process is the fact that if I were willing to move out of the town I live in now I could easily, I mean really really really easily buy a gorgeous huge house for cheap. Like less than 200K cheap. Oh well, there is a reason I'm willing to spend a lot more than that to stay right here. Caitlin is established here, her friends, her school, her church, her Tae Kwon Do. And I'm established here, my friends, my church, my Tae Kwon Do, my library, my checker at the grocery store... And it's close to the river so Ryan can put his boat in the water easily. I really do like it here, in fact I LOVE living in this town where we feel safe and comfortable, where we've lived since Caitlin was only 5 months old. I've walked almost every street (it's a pretty small town), they recognize us instantly when we walk into the local pet store, the principal of Caitlin's school knows our names and not because we've gotten in trouble :) but because she cares enough to get to know her students and their parents.  I love living in a small town where I can pretty much walk everywhere, or bicycle ride everywhere, or if it's "super far" and we have to drive it takes 5-10 minutes maximum. I like that we're just off the freeway so if we want to get outta dodge that's convenient too. I just love my little town and I don't want to move out of it. Which brings me back to the super frustrating house buying process. Everyone loves living in this sweet little community, so the home prices are through the roof! The housing crisis that is wracking our country seems to have missed my community. That's not to say that there aren't homes for sale, it's just that when homes one town North or South are selling for 175-190K an equivalent home in my town is selling for 230-245K. In my price range there are exactly 5 "single family" homes on the market right now. I have looked at all five. One has black mold, two I actually made an offer on even though it needs a new roof, three looks nice but the next door neighbor parks his "monster truck" in his front yard, four backs up to the freeway- literally, you walk out to the back patio and watch the cars drive by, and five (yesterday's viewing) has a chopped up bottom floor with a long skinny living room/dining room combo area and no back yard. I still want house number two, but the owners chose not to even look at our offer and let it go into foreclosure instead. The bank put it up for auction on the court house steps last month, but it didn't sell. So now we wait, to see if someone else lists their home for less than 250K (ok ok for really 230K or less because while I'm willing to go into debt to buy a house, I still want to be able to eat), to see if the bank evicts the people from house number two and lists it as "bank owned", to see if I win the lottery. I don't like waiting all that much- hence the new computer. The good news is that I can easily blog whenever the mood strikes now cause I didn't go into debt to buy the computer.