later being blindsided by a tree falling on it or the plumbing exploding.

Or the basement flooding! Again and again and again and a...

My parents have both had so much house trouble over the past couple of years, I'm not sure I ever want to buy at all. But good on you, sarameg. I think it's a very grown-up and difficult thing to do.

Much like getting a millipede out of one's bathtub.

Seymour Hersh claims that the Bush Administration had adopted a policy authorizing the use of summary executions of adversaries as one of its tools, and that the operation reported to Dick Cheney.

Did Cheney Run a Murder-on-demand Program?

I will so totally cry if it slips away. And spend the next freaking YEAR finding its equiv.

This is sort of what Nora was saying but I don't think it will take you a year to find another house you love if this one doesn't work out. Maybe a couple of months but not a year. And the house probably will work out. I wouldn't be able to help getting emotionally invested either. But it would be good to know what will be show stoppers when you get the inspection done. Needing to get a new roof, when you have the money to do that, really shouldn't be one. Or cosmetic changes (like the old medicine cabinet).

I think your idea of sending letters to the adjacent homes is great. I'd love to get one of those! (haha, of course!) I did talk to my neighbor for a while when she was looking at the house she then bought.

The only potential flaw with this plan is insuring the monkeys against any attack of customers might prove to be too expensive.

Yes. That is the only possible flaw in this plan.

That's why I'm forming the Bernard Madoff Monkey Attack Insurance Ponzi Scheme Monkey Insurance Co. - "Where you will always be insured against your monkeys attacking your customers - as long as we can keep paying claims by enlarging the pool of insured monkeys."

Problem SOLVED!

From Salon's Broadsheet: The end of Levi and Bristol?

I love these comments from their roundtable discussion:

Tracy Clark-Flory: Parents, this is a teachable moment: Engagement tattoo rings are never a good idea.

Vincent Rossmeier: I for one, have lost my faith in love. I'm thinking about calling off my wedding.

When I open my steampunk corkscrew wine bar, all customers will be required to arrive via sail wagon.

Amazingly, I was not scared off home ownership for life by the house I grew up in. But then, I think my parents conned us kids into helping by making it an adventure we "got" to participate in when: the water heater emptied itself into the hall; the plumbing in the wall had to be replaced; we tore out the wall heaters;the back fence collapsed; the routine yanking of the heating element from the water heater to clean off the mineral build up and scooping out of lime in the bottom of the tank; mom got really sick of the faux brick wall in the kitchen and the red shag in my bedroom; we broke yet another window; jackhammering the back patio to replace it with brick (that was FUN!).... And that's just the stuff I remember. A lot of DIY because honestly, they couldn't afford to hire someone.

I've committed Zappos this morning.

Seymour Hersh claims that the Bush Administration had adopted a policy authorizing the use of summary executions of adversaries as one of its tools, and that the operation reported to Dick Cheney.

Disturbing, but not surprising.

I also came from a tiny, rural school district with a barely-there gifted & talented program. I was encouraged to move ahead of the class on my own, when possible and there was some instances where they tried to provide advanced learning opportunities for small groups. Once I moved up to the consolidated middle school and high school, there were lots of choices for high performing kids in English, Math and Science--my high school physics teacher was a PhD. I count myself especially lucky in my education experience.

To complicate matters, I was small for my age until I was about 15 and one of the youngest kids in my class because I just made the cut-off. To complicate matters, I was socially awkward. So when the school wanted to move me up two grades (from 1st to 3rd), my parents refused to allow it.

This is so similar to Leif. In the discussion of moving him up another grade, a big factor was that he was already small for his age. Another big factor was that his handwriting skills are on par for a six year old which isn't good for skipping grades.

As I was driving this morning I noticed my odometer and realized that I was coming to an important moment for all Civic owners when we have to make a certain commitment. The time for a timing belt and water pump change is approaching rapidly. At this point in our owner-car relationship I'm ready to make the commitment even though it will be painful.