Well, we looked at about six houses today...most really crappy, but two that have jumped to the top two of our list. One is the very first house we looked at on our own, in our "ideal" neighborhood, but our Realtor had not seen it. He actually walked out saying that if we could afford the place, we should buy it. It would need color and only minor cosmetic changes--basically the only negative is the price. After crunching the numbers, Gina and I could afford it, and we would not be living on Mac & Cheese (which I wouldn't mind, as I love Mac & Cheese) if we bought the house. However, we'd have to keep spending in check quite a bit, at least for a while until we leveled our savings back up again. So, the price is a negative not because we couldn't afford it, but because it's a lot of money, and honestly, that's freakin' scary. It really, really is.

The second house is in our price range, but it's in a not-as-good neighborhood (but still good). The negatives: I absolutely wretch when I look at the front of the house. It is a bungalow, but man, it's about the weirdest looking bungalow (in a bad way) I've ever seen. As I told Gina, it reminds me of a fat man with a tiny head. The porch also has "issues" in not following Chicago bungalow "style." The interior is more or less stripped of all Chicago bungalow character. HOWEVER, it's soooooooooo beautiful inside and comes with some major, major upgrades, a big deck and a good-sized yard with it. Basically, I left telling Gina that, even though the front makes me sick to my stomach almost, I can't deny that if we were on the market, I would have to buy the place. It's a little smaller, but it could easily have an addition built onto the back and you'd still have a yard worth mentioning. I will be SHOCKED if this place is still on the market in three weeks, when our condo is put up.

Tomorrow, I'm sacrificing the first portion of the Bears game to go, by myself, to two open houses for houses we are really fond of based on the pictures online. One is due north of here, and has unbelievably beautiful period woodwork inside, at least according to the pictures. The other is the most beautiful exterior we've seen so far, but there are no interior pictures, so it makes me wonder how disappointing it might be inside. Both are in our price range, of course.

Hopefully, I'll be able to zip through and then catch as much of the Bears game as possible. Go Bears!

You know, I thought about this post, and man, has it been that long? You'll understand in a minute...as Ferris Bueller says, "Life moves pretty fast..."

The Internet completely, totally sucks. It really, really does. It's not nearly like it used to be when I was a fresh-faced college boy getting the information I needed EASILY, and finding it EASILY and FOR FREE.

I'm just pissed because I want to freakin know, just in a freakin RANGE, how much it costs to build a garage, from scratch, for the love of God. But no, the only way I can find that out is to get a quote. Well, great, Einsteins, except that what I'm looking for is a range, so that I can decide if a house would be worth even considering buying, even though it has no garage currently, but has plenty of room for one to be built. All I get, of course, are ads and "free" (my ass) quick quotes. Fuck that.

I miss when the Internet was simple, easy and actually USEFUL. Now, it's a business mess.

Well, Tuesday, "D e s i g n e d t o S e l l" comes to "scout" our place...however, we don't do any shoots or anything until the end of the month. That's going to be the crazy time. That and the week after the Super Bowl, which is "workweek." I'm taking the week off to help them here, which will be awesome.

So I just spent a good hour or so trying to get as much dog hair up because apparently someone there is seriously allergic to dogs. Hey, I'm happy to be a nice guy and help out, no doubt about it. I went out and got a Shop Vac for the occasion...plus, I figured it would be a whole lot better than anything we currently had. And it was.

But, what I want to know is, how/why do they suffer through working for a company that does this kind of thing, knowing they're going to likely cross paths with dog-owner homes? Just seems like a lot of stress and silliness to me...especially for us, the dog owners. And, as many of you other dog owners know, no matter how much you move furniture and vaccuum and everything, there's always pet dander somewhere hanging out. It's nearly impossible to get rid of ALL of it. So, we did our best work to get as much of the stuff out of here as we could...now it'll be interesting to see who is allergic, because I'm sure they'll be feeling it, at least a little bit.

The Open House, by the way, is Feb. 10 from 1-3pm. If you're in the market for a 2 bed, 1.5 bath condo in Old Irving, come on by. You could get the condo of your dreams AND be on TV. :)