Damn. I hate it when people get to continue to be assholes because doing anything about it is so expensive, whether in money or hassle.

See also: getting rear-ended by someone who had no car insurance.

See also: getting rear-ended by someone who had no car insurance.

Oh, that REALLY sucks!

I'm working on a bunch of periodicals about pre-stressed concrete. Oooh, exciting. And the thought goes through my mind, "Forget concrete, I'm so pre-stressed you could make a bridge out of me."

And it's really hard for me to believe that there's no bubble in the Seattle area because it still seems outrageously expensive compared to where I've lived before.

Surrounding areas are more bubble-prone. It's in-city proper that's been historically safe from them, even in times of economic badness it just tends to flatten. Again, it's our combination of geography, zoning laws, and all that keeping the prices fairly stable. (Short form: there's not a lot of land to build new housing, and the demand exceeds the supply nine times out of ten.)

I hate this whole process, I really do. It's not like we're all that poor. It shouldn't be this hard to find acceptable housing for a family of three.

Have you seen what you can prequalify for and looked into the differences in your end of year taxes with owning vs. renting?

Skipping way ahead, temporarily, to say a) I made it safely to Cincinnati, and b) Cashmere, there are some construction delays along 71 that may lengthen your trip here tomorrow, if you come that way.

Have you seen what you can prequalify for and looked into the differences in your end of year taxes with owning vs. renting?

Not yet. I think the issue for me is that I freak out at the thought of a monthly payment much higher than our rent (and unless and until we get the credit card debt down to near $0, I can't see myself not freaking out about it), and I've gotten used to an artificially low rent. Our landlord has never bothered to actually raise our rent, and we've been here since 1999--this is the only rental property he owns, and I think he's just happy to have reliable tenants who mail the check every month and don't create trouble.

Thanks, Perkins. That was the way I'm planning on taking (since 71 is less than 2 miles from my house) and it's a straight shot. What kind of delays and how long shall I add to the travel time? I was giving myself a nice comfortable cushion of two hours drive time.

And right now I'm feeling ridiculously stressed because I'm here with Annabel in the closest thing to a childproofed room we have, and I just banished her to the exersaucer because I got so sick of pulling her away from the various areas that aren't quite childproof. Kid has toys all over the place. Why she can't play with them instead of alternating between trying to pull down the standing lamp by the TV, trying to take the laptop from me, and trying to pull all the cookbooks off the microwave stand, I have no idea.

Maybe I just need someone to help me figure out how to make this space more workable, but I keep thinking, "If only we had one more room, that would be Annabel's exclusive space that wouldn't have anything she's not allowed to get into, and I wouldn't feel like I'm leaving her in the playpen and exersaucer too often just to spare my sanity."

Perkins! Yay! I'm actually home now, b/c I slipped out early. I need to get some tomatoes at the grocery (and some more Oreos, b/c I ate a lot of them last night), but we can just run by there when I come over to collect you.

We're 2 blocks apart right now!!!!!

Do you want to chill for a bit? Or should I come over now now now? (I've never been in that B&B, and I want to see it.) And you can chill here?

Whatever you want is fine by me, because I am a mere 2 BLOCKS AWAY!!!

We have one of these:

[link]

It no longer works on Leif (who now can defeat all gates in the house), but it was useful for awhile.