An Episcopalian church desided to send copies of it's current fiancial balance to the entire congregation via email. Unfortunately they forgot to change Quickbooks default message in the header - so every congregation member got the balance sheet accompanied by the statement: "Dear Customer. You have an outsdanding bill. Please remit."

Having worked in an Episcopalian church office, I am not at all surprised at this.

Job ~ma to Anne and Jilli (YAY job interviews) and Astarte (+ extra deep dark chocolate)

much ~ma to Susan, in every way. I'm thinking of you and yours. I hope you all get through this week OK. I'm so sorry.

Quite seriously, to anyone considering house buying (single family homes--I think condos get a pass on this, on account of dues covering a lot of this shit) soon, if you live anywhere close to paycheck to paycheck, even if your mortgage is about the same as your rent, save your pennies and keep renting.

This is our theory at the moment. Even if we could find a mortgage we could afford (which, as far as I can tell, means either living an hour from the city, or living across the street from drug dealers, neither of which appeals in the first place), there are still maintenance costs and property taxes and all of that.

Ours, too. We live in a fantastic neighborhood, have lovely landlords, and our apartment is huge and has its own entrance. Yeah, there's the issue of living in a basement, but for the rent we're paying, we couldn't find anywhere to buy that's remotely near the quality of this place.

Still, there's that feeling I occasionally get when we go visit another friend's new house (and more often than not, new baby) - the feeling of being left behind/not growing up/whatever. Does anyone else who rents (not in SF or NY, for lo, your housing market is screwy) feel that way? It's getting worse for me with all of the condos going up around here.

Raq, backflung of your insent.

And rallied.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs question: Which of their scents might I like if my favorite perfume ever is Lush's Karma?

I second this question.

Aww, billytea! Well-wishes for your AS.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs question: Which of their scents might I like if my favorite perfume ever is Lush's Karma?

They have a message board that has a whole section devoted to "If I like X-Y-Z from Lush, what BPAL scent would I like?" On this page: [link] check out the very first thread.

Does anyone else who rents (not in SF or NY, for lo, your housing market is screwy) feel that way?

There's a building down the street from me that going condo right now, and it's driving me nuts. It's in the sort of range where I could probably just barely afford it - no idea what taxes would do to that calculation - but it would mean living a lot more frugally than I do now. Even assuming anyone anywhere would give me a mortgage. But every time I go past it (40% sold! 70% sold!), I feel like I'm letting something - profit, homeownership, maturity - pass me by.

I'd like to make a counter statement pulling for home ownership.

See, now, I grew up in a home with a mortgage, and bills, and problems, and yardwork and hard times, and good times. My taxes are taken out of an escrow account built into my mortgage payment.

Renting and not having anything to say about repairs or upkeep is more scary to me than my mortgage. With renting you give and you give and you give and unless you have an extrordinary owner/manager you are ending up with nothing at the end.

By growing up poor in a house I learned the basics I needed to maintain a house. But then my parents were instrumental in this. My dad showed me how to maintain plumbing and electrical, and how to replace a nail on a shingle with the right type, for instance. My mom taught me how to improvise when there wasn't time or money to run somewhere for a part. (One time we plugged a leaky pipe with a circle of plastic cut form an ice cream bucket and many winds of electrical tape.)

With home ownership,you don't have to wait for the super, nor do you have to worry they will be in your apartment when you are away, or show it to people while you sleep.

I guess I'm saying is that home ownership? Scarey, yes, but I like it's type of freedom. The only freedom I find appealing with rentals is that you can generally pick up and leave quickly. Some people juggle geese.

Either way you have somene to pay each month or you're in deep doodoo.

Just my 2 cents.

Peeling off some job~ma from the stash for the A.S. A woman of such good taste deserves every boost she can get.

Scarfing the dark choc though. Mmmmmmmmm.

Laura is wise, and Annabel should give Mommy a break. Sleeeeeeeeeeep. Sleeeeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppppppp....

juliana, I was an apartment dweller until I was 46, mainly because it was affordable. But I knew if I wanted to own, I was going to have to do it and just get it over with. So, I'm starting with this condo and under my 5-year plan (which has 3 more years to go), I will sell it and buy better. I did some funky things to finance, which I don't recommend to everyone, but it's working for me. I took a loan against my 401k for part of the down payment, plus borrowed some money from my father. But, with the downpayment that gave me (18k) it meant when I sell up I'll have quite a bit of equity in it, even at 5 years. The downside is that my total loan payments, taxes and condo fees is much more than I could rent for. However, the 401k loan is paid up within that 5 years (at which time my car is paid off, too), which will give me over $250 a month more income. With the equity and profit from the condo and the extra dough in the paycheck, I should be able to move upward to a much nicer domicile. I'm pinching pennies massively right now, but it will be worth it in the long run. Also on the upside, though, is that I get much nicer tax breaks being a home owner.

I didn't buy a house until last year, when I was 44. Just didn't feel stable enough (or have good enough credit for a decent place and interest rate) until then.

That said, I take great comfort from knowing that every payment is a little piece of my home. I just did my taxes, and I'm getting the largest refund ever, largely because I can now itemize.

And that that said, my main concern in the immediate is making sure there's an income here at Casa Astarte for taxes to be refunded from...

They have a message board that has a whole section devoted to "If I like X-Y-Z from Lush, what BPAL scent would I like?"

Ooh, shiny. Thank you.

For Raq and anyone else who is interested, it looks like answers are Vixen, Masquerade and Obeah. Seraglio apparently compliments Karma but does not smell the same.

Still, there's that feeling I occasionally get when we go visit another friend's new house (and more often than not, new baby) - the feeling of being left behind/not growing up/whatever

Yes. And also, I want a yard to grow things in, a basement for storage, and a room for our theoretical future child. In every other way, the apartment is perfect for us, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry when we move.