NOOOOO-vember

Not looking forward to winter. Hence the title. Also because Declan has learned to shake his head "no." He can't say it yet, thank goodness, but he's pretty clear about shaking his head.

Okay but the main purpose of this blog post is to sort out my feelings about house hunting. You know, when you're car shopping, there are obvious things everyone wants - the safest, nicest looking, best gas mileage, newest car for the lowest price. I'm sure I forgot something there, but you know what I mean.

Anyway with houses, everyone wants different things. Even Aaron and I, looking for a house for the same family with the same stuff, want different things.

So I decided that the best way to do this would be to make a list of the things that would be in/at our dream house (for right now, and for our budget, not our real Dream House) and then when looking at places, we just get as close as we can to this list.

Our dream house would actually be a ground floor apartment (to lessen heating / cooling bills).

It would have a little fenced area outside the back door, just a patio and a small grass area for Bruce to pee in.

Inside, it would have hardwood floors throughout (or at least in the main areas), modern appliances (including a dishwasher!), and quality countertops.

Central heat & air is a must.

It would have two bedrooms and one or one and a half baths.

It would have lots of big, nice windows that shut properly.

It would come with good blinds / curtains!

There would be good water pressure and no stains on the bathroom fixtures.

It would have modern, non-flourescent lighting.

It would accept big dogs, without a huge pet deposit.

Utilities (electricity, gas, water, sewage, garbage) would be pain by landlord.

We would have a one or two car garage, with room for some storage (out-of-season clothes, strollers, baby items to save).

Rent would be less than $800 / month.

Of course there's lots more that I would love to have, but then we start getting into the realm of wishful thinking. Aaron wants to go look at an apartment this week that's in a great location (just east of downtown, closer to my work, the elementary school, the park, Lindsey, etc.) and is 2 bed, 1 bath, but I highly doubt that it has a fenced area (that was probably wishful thinking, too) and it's probably carpeted and a little outdated - every apartment around here is.

Oh well, we'll keep searching! It's so much easier in a big city, there are *always* apartments available, all over the place. Here, it's like no one rents. No one at all. Except us.

Boo hoo.

Okay, see ya! Off to bed, finally.