We’re ready to move.

We’ve talked about it and talked about it, and I finally got tired of talking and called a mortgage company on Thursday. They approved us for a larger house than I was willing to believe we’d get, which opens the door to all sorts of interesting decisions.

Just for the hell of it, I went by some new construction that’s near my office at lunch today. There are numerous reasons I wouldn’t actually live in the area, first and foremost being that the area is suffering from Urban Creep, but secondly the lack of highways anywhere near the area would make getting around St. Louis decidedly difficult.

It was fun to see the houses, though. They were all gorgeous. Two stories, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths - exactly what we need. The square footage boggled my mind as well - upwards of 3,000. I’ve never given serious consideration to having a house built, since I’ve always lived in well-developed areas that were built up over thirty or forty years ago.

I never go on the house tours my mom fancies because I get envious. Yes, I’ll admit it. Visiting the “beautiful homes” of the Beautiful People drives me crazy, even if the homes are truly historical and the tour guides give fun details about St. Louis’ history. The vaulted ceilings, the oak trim, the rounded staircases - it all makes me hate what I come home to. That’s not a good way to live, especially considering that I have a very nice house. It’s not gigantic, but it’s a nice, solid ranch, with three bedrooms and 1.5 baths upstairs, and a finished basement with a bedroom and full bath there as well. It has two levels of decks in the backyard, with an above-ground 21′ pool and a huge fort for the boys to play on. The back yard is bohemoth and is nearly 1/2 an acre. We aren’t hurting for a nice, solid house. Is it classy? Um, no. But is it practical? Yes. (For now.)

So, Stupid Me goes and looks at these newly-constructed homes and starts jonesing for a house that I’ve created from the ground up. Big huge rooms and lots of windows and so much space that we could all be all over the house and not see each other. Jones, jones, jones. Tomorrow S. and I will go back and visit the homes so he can have an idea as to what I was looking at (and why I’m bitching about our house right now.) Some day we’ll get outta here.

Green,
michelle