Wow, j, I read you with my obssession goggles...cause I read "Marinara" as "marijuana". It was a John Munch moment. I thought "Wow, SF really is different" I am a dumbass.

So what kind of sauce do YOU put on your marijuana?

Marijuana sauce could make today better.

I thought people just laced bananas with it.

I have never used it with sour cream...suspect it of being white- girl like a grilled-cheese sandwich.

I'm skimming past the banana bread talk as I try to ignore the carrot cake calling my name from kitchen.

FWIW, if you're paying off a mortgage, it's really building equity, so in a sense a lot of that 50% is going into your net worth.

AND, don't you get a tax deduction on the payments? So the net cost to you is actually less than the check you write?

YAY! Jesse also making me feel better.

I am starting to slide down mood hill into grumpy valley.

Mmm. Carrot cake.

I'm trying to ignore the upsetting rent/mortgage discussion, as I pay more than 50% of my salary on rent, and that's with taking a raise upon moving. And I'm trying to get into buying land and building and creating equity, but I just heard from my realtor today that in order to put in a septic system on perked land, I need to buy at least an acre. Which is what I wanted all that time ago, but gave up on as too expensive. I cannot understand for the life of me why property values in this area are so completely out of whack. They're priced like lots in freaking Hawaii for heaven's sake.

I love where I live. It's very pretty. But I'll be damned if I'm going to spend a half a million dollars on a small in-city lot and *not be in Hawaii*.

AND, don't you get a tax deduction on the payments? So the net cost to you is actually less than the check you write?

You get a tax deduction on the interest you pay. But it is only a benefit if you itemize deductions. For me, the standard deduction is barely less than itemized so it isn't a very big factor. For those with more expensive houses or high income the deduction is a big deal.

Crap. Got an email that our credit union is merging with the bank owned by DH's company. Somehow, I doubt this merger is going to benefit the membership.

Can they merge and still be a credit union? I thought that there were strict rules about what you could and couldn't do, and that's why some entities were credit unions and some were banks.