(This is a repeat of my September 10 "Yet Another Journal" entry with some corrections.)

After we finished errands today, we went following house signs again. Again, it was difficult to find the $200,000 and under places as opposed to the groves of $300,000 and up places. One of the developments had houses for $800,000. There are some signs that say $150,000 to $170,000 but these are condos, not houses.

We tracked all the way out on Dallas Highway out to Paulding County (for those in the know, behind the Hardy Chevrolet dealership) and there was a very nice development out there with mostly brick homes with bay windows, but we didn't stop. Heck, it takes me 45 minutes to get to work now; this would add an extra half hour to my commute (at least).

A little further down on Macland Road (to friends: just before the turn for Ron and Lin's house) we found another promising development; we went through one house that actually had a partial basement and another that for some reason had a two-car garage and then another one car garage at a 90 degree angle from it. This one was more finished and we were looking around with a bit of interest until we saw the kitchen. Electric stove! We hightailed it out of there without another word. Ewwww. Apparently the entire place was all electric. Holy cow, think of the bills.

We ended up back at Trellis Oaks. The place is so darn convenient. And I would love to live in Smyrna again. In addition to being able to use the Cobb County library you can also use the Smyrna library and there is an indoor walking track and gym at the community complex free to all residents of the city.

Today we went into a house we had not gone into last time (across the street from the "Springfield C"). I think we like this one almost as well or even better. Its layout name is "the Dubois" (which tickles me because that is the married name of my cousin Linda) and it actually has a tiny bit of a front porch; well, maybe two people could sit out there in small chairs. But it has an entryway where you could actually do something novel like leave coats, hats, boots, umbrellas and walking sticks rather than having them hung up in the corner of your den because there's no other place for them to go (what a novelty). You go downstairs, where there's a nice size hallway leading to the door to the garage. (It's a two car garage with a room in the back for the water heater—the HVAC unit is in the attic—and a little bit of storage as well.) Also off this hall is a laundry room, a big closet, a small coat closet, a nice size room with a small walk in closet ("For my unbuilt models," said James instantly), a little full bath, and a "bonus" room with no closet. ("For the books!" I said, equally instantly.)

Upstairs it's a combo living-dining (with fireplace) and a compact kitchen with a nice-size pantry closet. (Note: there's enough room downstairs in the laundry room that we might also have a small freezer we could stock with meat on sale.) Door from the dining room leads out to a nice size deck. Master bedroom has a walk in closet and the master bath has double sinks, a separate shower, and a "garden tub" (which my perpetually aching right shoulder would love to replace with a jacuzzi tub, thank you). Then there are two other bedrooms as well (guest room and craft room for me).

But they expect that one to be finished by the end of October and certainly someone will claim it soon. It is already scheduled to be "finished" anyway, so even if we had the money for it now, it wouldn't be the way we wanted it. They're putting wall-to-wall carpet in it. Pale beige. Ugh. If we can do this, I want to do it right and I don't want a speck of freaking, dusty, dirty carpeting in the house. When I want to clean the floor I just want to pull out the dustmop and do it. No dragging a heavy vacuum cleaner everywhere. It can be hardwood or it can be Pergo (and vinyl in the kitchen and baths), but carpet...pffft!

And the %@#!$#@$!!$! fluorescent light in the kitchen would have to go. Not to mention the big, heavy, awkward black iron chandelier they've seen fit to weigh down the dining area with. Yuck. We want ceiling fans in all the bedrooms, too; little ones with "schoolhouse light" fixtures.

The agent there did have some hopeful news: there are still some empty lots that the construction company hasn't decided what model will go on which. The county inspector apparently has to approve it based on how much room there is. There is a good chance that another Dubois will go up on another lot. If things would just work out...

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. . . . . Linda at 11:28:00 PM

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