House on the Water

Welcome to our new house to be. I emailed the landlady this afternoon and told her we wanted the house. Yeah.

It was a bright and cold day, great for pictures, not so great for being outside.

This is the front of the house. It is a long thin house. The front door and entry can be sealed from the rest of the house. So you come in, take off your boots, coats, and other outerwear and put it up in the closet before opening the inside door.

When you drive into the driveway, you turn to the left and there is parking. There is a lot more parking than we realized from our previous drive by. I took two pictures and pieced them together so you can get the feeling of the parking (yeah, there are a lot of cars there today-they have three, we had ours and the parents of the owner had theirs) The garage is big. You go in the door on the left and there is a lot of storage. You drive in on the other side. It is long enough to put two cars (one in front of the other). Yeah, there is a garage door opener.

You walk in the front door. This is the view across from the front door. Closet for coats. To the right is the window overlooking the right side yard. Very sunny and bright. The entry is bigger than it looks, I didn't step all the way back to the door when I took the pictures.

Beside the closet is built in shelves and storage. The door to the left goes into the kitchen.

The view of the entry from the kitchen.

The kitchen is a pretty good size. I was expecting something pretty small. There is a little bit more counter to the left of the cooking lady and then the fridge. On the right of the photo is half of Larry. There is more counter space which is used as a little breakfast bar. (And yeah, I felt strange taking pictures when the renters were in the house-I asked if it was ok) Yep, there is a dishwasher.

This is the hallway looking from the bedroom/office toward the kitchen. So, if you walk in the door and turn left, you walk down this hall. I am standing close to the bedroom door, looking toward the breakfast bar.

I am standing in the kitchen looking toward the hallway and entry. Yeah, I do believe that is a hockey stick in the corner near the front door.

The downstairs bathroom is small. They have the washer/dryer in there. A small shower (ah, this is will be an adjustment), sink and toilet.

This is the downstairs bedroom/office. The renters are using it for their bedroom. It's not terribly small. The reason they are using this for their bedroom is their king sized bed will not fit up the stairs. Uh oh. Yeah, we have a king sized bed. (and triple dresser that will not in any way make it up the curved staircase)

The dining room is off the kitchen on the right (past the entry way area toward the back of the house). It is a pretty good size. This is a big square table. No problems with the table fitting. There will be plenty of room.

This is a close up of the window in the dining room.

Walking out of the dining room, this is the living room. I promise I haven't been drinking when I took this picture. Not too sure what happened there. Straight ahead is the door to the back porch (solarium).

Here I have walked more into the room and turned left. The main part of the living room. There are doorways to the kitchen and to the dining room. Beside the door to the kitchen is the spiral staircase going upstairs.

Going upstairs (which is a SMALL curved staircase) is a landing and three bedrooms. This is the smallest of the three. It is small, but bigger than this picture suggest. The renters are using it for storage.

The second bedroom is bigger. This is a queen bed.

The master bedroom is at the back of the house. The windows overlook the lake.

The renters are using it for their office. You can't tell the size of the room with the pictures, but it is a bit on the small size. Not terribly small. Closet is the length of one wall, so there is plenty of room for clothes.

Ah, the bathroom. As I stood there, I thought to myself, "Gee, I have never cleaned under a tub before." No shower. The sink and storage is on your left in this picture.

Back downstairs and out the back door. This is the solarium. Ok, its a sun room. It is carpeted. The renters have just put a few things out there for storage. It needs pretty table and chairs and some plants and it will rock. It will rock cold in the winter, but it will rock.

Another picture of the solarium

The view of the back of the house. The lake is behind me.

I am halfway from the house to the water. When I looked at this picture I realized you really can't tell where the water begins and land ends.

So, to help you see, I drew a line where the water is.

There is a floating dock that the father will put out in the summer. The water isn't very deep as this is an inlet. Maybe 3 feet. Deep enough to look nice, not so deep that I will drown if I fall off the dock. (Hey, did I hear giggles out there? Hush!)

This is another shot of the backyard. The floating dock is on the very left of the picture. The stairs on the left go up to the back porch.

Now, this is going to be a lifestyle change for us. But, the house is bright and airy, but I do see issues with our furniture. I will have to sit down and draw out a floor plan. I wish I had dimensions, but I felt weird enough taking pictures, taking out the tape measure . . . well, besides the fact I didn't have it with me, I don't think I would have the nerve.

So, friends and bloggies . . . what do you think?

Just for fun, here is a picture taken from the backyard, looking a bit to the right. Yes, that is a car on the ice.

It's a Go!

Saw the house, its small but cute. We are going to lease it. Pictures to follow later today (but I knew at least one of my 3.75 readers was waiting to find out).

Gonna go see the house today

To my 3.75 readers of this blog (since I read my own blog, I figure I should count for something, so I am the .75), today is the day we look at the house on the water (ice).

Not sure why I am nervous. I want to like the house. It would be great to be so close to Larry's office. Great to be on the water-its what I wanted . . . at least its what I think I want. It will make me trim down all the junk we have since there isn't a basement. It's hard to downsize-I am a pat rat.

And its so cold out, that we has a flash freeze last night. It was in the 40s and now it is 4.

Yeah, that's like way cold. And it also means all the nice water and puddles from two days of above freezing are now very frozen, slippery ice.

Watch Wikky slide, watch Wikky hopefully not fall. LOL

Wish me luck!

The Roof: Part Million and a half

Remember, the roof was replaced. Isn't that nice. I mean, it leaked, and it was a mess. They made a mess of my pretty snow (ok, fine, it snowed again and it was pretty again, but I am at the beginning of a rant so bear with me here). The roof was replaced LAST week. A new roof. Getting where I may be going here?

Yeah, it leaks. More than before. It leaks when its below freezing (guess the sun warms up the roof and melts the snow and ice). It just ****ing leaks. Gggrrrrrr.

I called the landlady. She called the roofing guy. He was supposed to come out. She thought he did. He didn't. Besides, I was at the dentist. So, I email her again this morning. She calls me. She is pretty much tired of the roofing guy. She calls him and he says he and the inspector will be out TODAY at 1. Sigh. Ok, that's fine. I will make sure I am home cause I KNOW they will want to see the ceiling even tho they told her they wouldn't need to see the ceiling or bother me. I am learning. The roofer guys are training me.

So, I run to the bank, go shopping at Costco and drive up at home at 12:30. Whew, I made it in time. Then I see there is a car in the driveway. Ok, so they are a little early. The guy is at the front door. Hi, there Mr. Roofer guy. Oh, you were here an hour ago? And I wasn't home? And you want to see the ceiling? And you want the other guys to come over and see the ceiling inside? NOT a problem, let me park in the garage and get the children to unload the van.

So, inside he comes. Inside the other guy comes 10 minutes later. Guess what? The roof leaks. Reallllllllllllllllly? (LOL and it was dripping very nicely for the men, thank you Mr. Ceiling)

They are coming back on Monday to replace the back roof. And then he said, to give him a call when the snow melts and he will come clean up more and remove the nails from the yard. He said I will give you my card. He "forgot" to give me his card, but to be honest, who can blame the guy?

Oh, and I was able to return the microwave the roofer guys left in the garage last week. Yeah, I inherited a microwave. I don't need one. And besides, I know they must be missing it-its how they had hot lunches on the job. I think hot lunches would be a big plus in this weather.

I will spare you the picture of the 3 big plastic storage bins on the floor, or the dipping drips of the ceiling. Just let's say . . . moving day can't come fast enough.

But I will put a picture of an invitation I am working on. I bought a graphic and then did my "take" on it. Whatcha think?

Another Day, another moment with Cooking with Wikky

Just a couple items for your consideration:

Chili Powder, Worcestershire Sauce and Gravy Browning.

Well actually, they are for MY consideration. Being one who likes to flip through a book from the back towards the front, I will start with the gravy Browning. I happen to love this product. I found it years ago when MainMan and I lived in Toronto. Ok, we lived in Oakville, but do you know where that is? Probably not, so since Oakville is the Burbs for Toronto, I will say Toronto. Anyway, this little bottle will last you about . . . umm 15 years or so. Seriously. I ran out and then tried to find it in the states. Not happening. Its a British product. All the gravy browning I could find in the states added flavor. This stuff doesn't. All it does is take that sickly white looking gravy and gives it a gentle brown color (if and only IF you use two drops, any more and you get dark brown, almost scary black looking gravy). It's a great product. Once when I visited M and D on the island (that would be Vancouver Island-which is very very far from here), I made M drive me all over the place looking for it. And we couldn't find it. Oh, dear. Finally, I ordered it from England and had it shipped to me in St. Louis. Yeah, I like it that much. Guess, what? I found it here. Now, I don't need any, and won't until I am in my 70's or 80's but at least I now know I can get it.

How did I find it here? Well that leads to me the second item. I was looking for Worcestershire sauce. I made a sandwich that calls for half a cup of that. HALF a cup! Well, it is a good sandwich but I have never gone through so much Worcestershire sauce in my life. So, I ran out. Off I go to find some more. Notice the size and bottle shape. Remind you of anything? Like maybe gravy browning?

And finally. The chili powder. I made chili a while back. Ran out of chili powder (I mean, really, how often do you use chili powder, I was amazed I ran out). Since MainMan and one of the ManChildren offered to go shopping, I asked them to pick up some Chili Powder. This is what I got. Ummmmmmm . . . I think I am set for LIFE and the lives of my great great grandchildren for chili powder. Or, maybe we will have chili every day for two years-I haven't decided.

(and, for those of you who were worried about #2, he made it home from the dentist just fine. I am so proud. He didn't get lost at all. See, there is hope.)

Hey, I don't need my wisdom teeth out!

I went to the dentist yesterday. I was impressed. Very nice office. Great hygienist. Nice doctor.

Guess what? No cavities and my teeth are in good condition.

They took a cool panoramic xray. And their xrays are digital so you only get half the radiation. It was a neat xray.

So, Manchild is off and driving to the dentist this morning to get his filling. I hope he finds his way back. It's NOT hard to get there, but as I have said before, the kid gets lost. But to be fair, all the street signs are up and readable where he needs to go. NOT something that can be said for other areas . . . I think snow plows must take out street signs-or snow buries the signs. Yeah, really, in some places the snow is that deep! If there were street signs, on and off ramps that weren't closed, I wouldn't get lost here. But, why take away from the fun of saying . . . "hmmmm, I think this is the street I want, sure wish I knew the name of this street"

Play a Game, Anyone?

Manchild and I went to Canadian Tire tonight. We wanted to check out snow boots for him that were half price. We didn't find any for him. But, all the toys are on sale. They only have toys at Christmas time and clearance them out to make way for gardening stuff. So, we decide to go for a Monopoly game. Its cold and wintry outside, what better time to play Monopoly?

As we walk to the check out, we notice that its in French. At first I thought, oh darn and was going to put it back. But the #2 and I decided to go for it. Well, it was more him going for it than me, but I am a good follower (at times).

The only problem was we are not sure how to play the "fast" version. It has dice to roll and rules about making it a faster game, but its all in French.

Oh, well, we played the regular game. And I knew what all the Chance and Community Chests said (I mean, don't we all know what those cards say)

BTW, I won. :)

"Hey Mom" . . . The Rain Boots Continue

I am putting dinner on the table and I hear a call from the kitchen:

Hey, Mom
Yes?
Can I have that $24 for your boots?
Huh? I paid $24 for the boots, hon.
So, can I have the $24 you got for your boots?
No, I paidd forrrr . . . Ohhhhhh . . .


#1 is standing there smiling. Yeah, I get it. Very funny. The boots are so ugly that the store would have to pay ME to take em. Yeah, yeah, I get it.

I had bought some rain boots at the store. When I put them in the cart, a mother and daughter walked around the corner and the teenager said to her mother, "I would rather die than wear rain boots". I had to giggle. I said, "oooooh, you mean like the ones I just put in my cart"? That got a lot of laughs at the store. Now, these boots are not all that great, but obnoxious enough to drive a child or two over the edge. I mean, they aren't LadyBug boots or anything (now THOSE are boots to really send a kid into orbit!). When MainMan took my boots out of the bag, he dumped them (and I mean dump) by the back door. Hey, I know they are rubber and ugly . . . but be nice to em.




Then the child makes fun of em. Geeessshhhh. I haven't even worn them yet. I come down the next day and I find my boots. Yeah, they are covered with a brown paper bag. #1 doesn't say a word, but waits until I see em. LOL, I think my kids have figured out how to fish for Moms.



They aren't THAT bad, are they? Never mind, don't answer that.

Well, Darn!

Yesterday was a fun day. MainMan and I went driving around, looked inside one house and drove by another. I am still hoping I will like the house on the water (uummm, ice). We actually went out to lunch at a restaurant near Larry's office.

When we drove home, we were stopped at the end of the street, near the school. There were 6 BIG trucks down the street. One ripping up the road, one putting the road in a truck, one truck getting road chunks put into it, one that had like a super power washer trying to find the turn off for the water (I think) and several all use type trucks. No, we were not going to drive down to our house. So we parked at the school

Now, the school isn't that far from the house. Short walk. No big deal. But-and there is always a but-I didn't wear boots (cause I knew I was only getting out at the one house), and no gloves (yeah, ditto), or a hat or my ninja scarf/hat thing. NOTE to self-always wear ninja hat thing. I use it mostly as a scarf, but it does keep my ears from falling off as frozen icicles. As we walked home, we noticed how the sun was melting the ice and snow on the road. It was only 23 degrees out, but with the black top, the road was clearing up. How nice.

We get home. No water. Well, that really wasn't a surprise. So, later, we had water, but when you turned it on-there was air in the lines (I hate that sound). And the water was dirty! Yuck. So we turned on the water and let it run clear. Each faucet had to run a bit. Then I thought, hmmm, I bet I need to run the hot water to make sure the water in the hot water tank cleans out. Our water runs clear (at least I think it does).

So, the day was full, but not terribly. Just a few cliches. But I was tired. Finally, I walked upstairs to get ready for bed. The TV is blaring on some sort of movie that MainMan and a ManChild are watching. Another ManChild is IMing his sweetheart and playing online. Ahhhhh. My life.

At the top of the dark stairs, C (aka Crazy Canadian Cat, Caesar, Hey YOU) was sitting and staring at the loft area. Hmmm. What is he looking at. Hopefully, its not a mouse or anything. I don't turn on a light as I walk over (the carpet is still loosely rolled up from Tuesday's water incident) and I step in something wet. Ohhhhh, kitty, what have you done?

I step off the wet and into more wet. Oh. OHHHH, this is more than a cat can do. Besides cats don't pee in the middle of the floor-that's a dog type thing. Yep, the ceiling is leaking. And the floor is WET. Well, crap.

I am not sure how long it was wet. Not sure if the water seeped into the floor to warp the wood later down the road. But I am sure I am tired of this. I cleaned it up. I guess it is either the roof still leaks, or there was ice under part of the roof when they replaced it. I guess it was warm enough to melt some ice on the roof.

Guess what, I get to email the owners and tell them the roof still leaks. I am guessing they are going to love that email!

And for those of you that are in the lower 48 (or anywhere that is slightly warmer than here): yep, it's snowing today. 5 inches. :)

Houses houses houses

We drove around a bit today. Looking at houses.

We had an appointment to see the inside of the house in the boonies. Yep, it's still out there in the boonies. I was hoping that it was closer to -well, shopping, restaurants, life-than what I remembered. There isn't a traffic light downtown. But there are several stop signs (does that count?). I did see a Pizza restaurant in the shopping center that has the ONE grocery store. It's a nice grocery store. There are two pharmacies. One sort of like Walgreens.


In a nutshell, it's a beautiful house. Nice all around. I didn't take pictures, but you guys know sort of what it looks like. Three bedrooms, living room/dining room, family room, and unfinished (but working on it) basement. It costs a little more than what we are paying right now for rent.

Then we drove by a house that I am very curious about. (hmm, what has happened to my sentence structure-can you end a sentence with "about"?) A lady who works at the same place as Larry is the mother of the owner. The owner is living in Texas for a few more years (or maybe forever, or maybe not). The house is within walking distance of Larry's work (ok, walking distance for HIM but not for ME). It is on the water (or maybe I should call it the house on the ice for now).


Here are a few things about the house.

It's on the water.
Small yard-so not a lot of cutting of lawn, etc
Long and thin-think townhouse without neighboring walls.
The houses are close together
OLD house, maybe built 1913
Three bedrooms upstairs
One bedroom downstairs or an office
Living Room
Dining Room
Solarium
Screened in porch
Separate entry so you don't open the whole house to cold when you open the door.
Separate garage and small storage shed for yard stuff and wood for fireplace
Upstairs bathroom only has tub, no shower (tub is old type with feet)
Downstairs bathroom has tub/shower
washer/dryer included
it is all electric heating (so far, not one house has natural gas-wonder why)
not great insulation (hhhhhhhmmmmmmmmm)
no A/C (however most houses don't have a/c here)
next door neighbor has a big dog that doesn't like cats
dog doesn't bark much, except when someone is in the dog's driveway
wood floors mostly with a few rooms with carpet
no basement (but the garage is big)
Overlooks the water (yeah, I know, I already said that, but that's a big plus)
New roof as of last fall
upgraded in the 80's
close to the "ice bridge"
Think of the savings on gas for Larry's drive to work.


We have an appointment to see it next Saturday. I think it will be a challenge getting used to a smaller house (the pictures make it look bigger than it is). Plus, that's an OLD house. No shower upstairs. I think I could get used to that. Sometimes, I have to admit, I am a spoiled American. Most people don't live in really big houses here with lots of bathrooms. I happen to like bathrooms (that's plural). I understand the smaller house issue with heating it.


I really want to want this house. Larry really wants me to want this house. Send positive thoughts this way-"like house, like house, like house"

Most of these pictures were taken from the driveway/parking area (except the left side view of the house picture)

Vicky's Flashback for the day.

Vicky's flashback for the day. Georgia . . . 1963 (or so)

Yeah, no shoes. That's me. LOL

When I was in first grade,my mother raised German Sheppard Puppies. It was great-like my own living stuffed animals. The one in my lap was "Teddy Bear". I wanted to keep him so badly, but the owner (our local vet) of the stud picked him. But then again, I wanted to keep them ALL!

Missy was the mom dog. And a pretty dog. She two very big litters-like 12 puppies each time. And I wonder where I get my love of animals from?

Yeah, it's someone's birthday today.

(hint: she likes to read)

Teeth, Appointments, Boots and fun

It was dentist time here the other day. Yep, the manchildren had dentist appointments for cleaning and check ups. #1 thought he had a cavity so I figured it was time to take the plunge and find someone to scrap and polish as well as grind and drill.

The dentist didn't have two appointments close together on time. So, #2 went first-in the morning. Off we go to find it. Yep, 30 minutes later was are walking up the the office. It was on the second floor. As we walked up, I stopped cold. There was a big sign "Please remove your boots before entering". Hmmm. And walk around in my socks?

The door was open, and I look in and ask-since our boots are dry (it was a clean, dry day), do we have to remove our boots? She said, oh, well, you can put those little booties over your boots. Hmmmm. Okies. We ended up taking our boots off. I have to admit I felt a little strange sitting there in my socks. This is a custom that will take some time to get used to. I remember when we lived in Canada before, it was a shock to have people take shoes off at my door. I guess the key here is to always wear clean socks.

So, the youngest had a cavity. Yep, and he needed to brush and floss more. Yep. And he needs his wisdom teeth out . . . pretty soon. Sigh. Ok.

#1 had an afternoon appointment. I learned. Wear shoes (they don't make you take your shoes off, just your boots, but they prefer you to take off your shoes too).

So, the oldest had a cavity. Yep and he needed to brush and floss more. Yep. And he needs his wisdom teeth out . . . pretty soon. Siiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhh. Ok.

My appointment is next week. Guess I should consider myself lucky that I had my wisdom teeth out when I was a teenager. :)

I wonder if they can rip (or I mean extract) all those teeth at the same time. If I am going to have pathetic young men around, I might as well get it over with all at once. We will see-once we get to see the oral surgeon.

Sheila reads. She reads lots and lots. See Sheila read. See Sheila read lots and lots.



Dawn emails. Dawn emails lots and lots with changes. See Dawn send emails.



This has been your homeschool reading assignment for the day.







And finally, things that I tell myself to remember:



I love my children

My children are almost men

Men are . . . well, men

I love my children

Wednesday Whines about the Roof

The roofers have been here for two days-starting at 7 am each day. Nothing says Good Morning than a bunch of men jumping and hammering and basically making noise on your roof first thing in the morning.

Now, the idea was-they were not suppose to bother me. Just do the roof and go away. They have bothered me enough these last few months. Let's just say, on average, the doorbell rang once a hour. But, if I had socks on this morning, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. Yeah, it's cold to open the door barefoot.

So, today, they were doing the back of the house. This is where the major leak is. Trying to ignore the noise, suddenly I hear water running. Hmmmm-what is that? I walk into the kitchen thinking maybe a man child was doing the dishes (snicker . . . one can dream, can't one?) No, no child doing dishes. But I hear water. Well, manchild must be taking a shower, with the bathroom door open. Strange. (Oh, in case you are wondering, noise travels in this house-no carpet . . . just hard wood floors and open concept floor plan). I start to walk upstairs to shut the door and notice manchild is in the living room. This isn't good. I start to walk faster.

OH S#&T!!! The ceiling is leaking. NO, the ceiling is raining! When the roofers removed the shingles, they found more shingles and water. When they started on those shingles, the water went down. Down into the roof, into the ceiling and on the floor. It was gallons! Everything was wet. So, I call Manchild #2 and we move furniture, rug, place big buckets and clean the floor. It slowed down to a drip soon. So, my rug is WET, the floor was pretty wet and hopefully I got the water off in time. Yeah, it was that much water.

I am beginning to hate this roof-or maybe I should say, the roof is beginning to hate me. But, it's finished. All they need to do is a little bit of clean up and remove the dumpster. They said they would do it today. It's supposed to snow today. Anyone want to take bets on this?

And, just for Sheila*, who likes pictures but hates reading . . . Here are the cats on my chairs. Better than the roof, or the mess around the outside of the house.

Just whose chairs are these anyway??

* Sheila likes to read normal stuff like books, magazines, etc. She likes to read the fine print on all software products, ebay rules, and web stuff. She is a reader. Much more than I am (or ever will be). However, she does have a small problem in terms of reading-she gets bored with pages and pages of kitty details. Oh well, no one is perfect. :)

He Won!

Last month, Manchild #2 and MainMan went to a open house at a University in Montreal. They enjoyed the day and both came home with tons of papers and information. Ahhh, paper-just what I needed. :)

While visiting the science area, #2 signed up for a drawing for a little gift basket. He didn't think about it after he came home.

Now, #2 doesn't check his emails often. I guess he figures people will IM him if they want him . . . and those who don't know his IM don't really matter. Well, guess what?!? He won. Yep. And they emailed him, which he didn't read. And they emailed him again. Finally he opened the email.

The next day, #2 and the other directionally challenged person in the house (ummm, that would be me) went off to Montreal to pick up his little prize. Amazingly, we didn't get lost (it's winter-no closures of on and off ramps . . . you know, getting off where you need to get off and no back tracking makes a difference).

We probably spent more in gas than the gift. But it was fun. And #2 now has all sorts of colors in pen/highlighter combos. Fun!

KC is home

For all my friends who were scared to death of me whining for a few months, KC-who ran away this morning when the roofers came, is home. Late in the morning, he was standing on the other side of the far back fence. Matthew saw him and tried to call him. I went outside (yeah, barefoot) and called him. He hesitated for about a minute and then came running meowing all the way.

So, he has been right next to me for the last hour, demanding food twice, laying on my papers right beside my keyboard, purring and basically, making a big nuisance of himself.

Caesar is behind the dryer. The roofers came in to go into the attic. Unfortunately, the access to the attic was in the closet that C picked to hide in. He ran out and went behind the dryer. Been there ever since. I figure he will come out in a week or so. LOL

The roofers are here

The roofers came EARLY this morning. It would have been nice if they had warned us, but why differ from their usual path.

There is a big problem. KC was outside sitting happily when the roofers came and he took off. He hasn't come back and we have called and called. But, really, what self respecting cat would come home to monsters eating the house?

I will be very unhappy if we lose KC. Very, very. Just a warning to my friends . . . if KC doesn't come home, you will hear me whine about it for a long time.

But, he is a Maine Coon Cat. He has pretty long hair on most of his body, he has fur between his toes. He is made for this type of weather, he just doesn't know it.

What to do? Which to pick?

The owner of the house out in the boonies (umm, I mean in the small town), emailed me and said he had decided to rent the house for 4-5 years if we were still interested. Now, there are positives to that house. It is newer (only about 7 years old), it has a finished basement (or will by the time we move), it has a GARAGE for two rather small cars or one van, and it has a really cool master suite bathtub. Oh, have I told you that I am into bubble baths lately? De-stress and bubble out.

But the house locally is close to shopping and life. The mail is delivered to the door instead of a group type mailbox down the street. It will have a garage but it doesn't have a basement. And it has a lawn service and snow removal service. But, it may have a lot of spiders like this house. Too close to the water and lots of trees. But, I think the biggest advantage to the newer house in MainMan's eyes is that it is a long way away from Costco. Yeah, Costco is a thorn in the man's side.

Of course, we don't have to pick either. We can still look around.