One thing to consider in buying. Expectations are that housing prices will continue to drop for some time, and that when they stop dropping they will level off, not rise. So don't be in a hurry to buy anything you are not thrilled about living in. (Buying a house you love is different cause it is not just a matter of economics.)

Lord, that's a hideous living room, Kathy.

I don't have a down payment and my credit rating is definitely not up to the scrutiny of a standard 20% down mortgage, so I'm not going to be buying for a few years at the earliest. I figure by then, the market should be at a reasonable level--even at these lower prices, housing expenses would still more than 30% of my monthly pay, and I don't want to go too far above that level.

Isn't it, ita?! I admire tacky interior decorating at a certain level (not to live in, but it's fun to see), but if I stepped into that place, I think I'd go blind.

My living room is an orange -- terra cotta or pumpkin - take you pick. But now that the matching carpet is gone -- and none of the furniture matches -- it is tolerable. And oddly other people love it.

So can someone explain this swine flu thing to me. I get the WHO and CDC -- their job is to stop disease from spreading everywhere. But why are schools closing with just one or two kids sick? I may have missed something , but I haven't seen anything that says it jumps quickly, it looks like it behaves like a normal flu. Am I under reacting?

Kathy, is that Wheeling, West Virginia?

No, Wheeling, Illinois. We're in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, near Northbrook and Deerfield, and not too far east of Schaumburg. It's a nice bedroom community that grew out of the corn fields after WWII, so a lot of the tinier tract houses date to the 1950s. There are also lots of more recent subdivisions if I were to increase my maximum to $300K, but that ain't gonna happen.

Yay for babytea! Welcome and congrats to his wonderful parents!

Kat, I am so with you! I swear, as the kids get older I feel like my already tenuous grip on the time/space continuum is starting to slip.

I had no idea sea dragons existed, and after that piece I'm not convinced. They'e so surreal...

eta: So are snow rollers.

I've been at home the last two days with a bad cold and my boss just told me that, because people are panicking about swine flu, I should stay home until all my symptoms disappear. I guess she doesn't remember that my coughs often last for weeks. Um, yay?