The Ugly Green Monster

Sadly, the green monster has raised his ugly head.  Yes, I admit I have been tempted by a little jealousy.  He has tapped me on the shoulder, invited me out to coffee, and it was a bit of a struggle to turn him down.  (Why is he a "he"?  I don't know.  Just seems to fit, don't you think?)

You see, a good friend of mine is looking at houses.  And not only she is looking at houses, she's looking at the kind of houses I've always wanted.  In fact, she's looking at THE HOUSE I've always wanted.  It's a large, two-story Tudor not far from Washburn campus.  I used to drive down this street every day on my way to Washburn just to admire the homes, and this one in particular.  I would drive by it with a sigh and an occasional indulgence in imagining it to be mine.

Will my friend buy said house?  Who knows!  It's a possibility, given certain circumstances.  If she does, I'll be incredibly happy for her.  She's a great gal with a great husband and a wonderful family.  They've been wise in their finances, they work hard, and I think they certainly deserve such a lovely home.  The ugly greenness comes to tempt me when I realize how far away we are from something like that.  I'd love to have a large, lovely home built in the earlier portions of the last century.  I'd love something with brick and climbing ivy and maybe a study/den area, maybe a fireplace...  But that's just not where Nick and I are at.

Granted, we are hoping to buy a home this summer (if the financial crisis has abated by then, which, the Lord willing, it will!).  We have our eye on a home that won't be available for sell until this summer, anyway.  It's footprint is fractional compared to the homes my friend is looking at, but that's okay.  What it does provide is a house that will require our loving TLC, which we can make into the kind of house we'd like to have.  It's got great bones, just needs some work.  And this will allow us to cut our teeth, so to speak, on home rennovation, as any home we buy will likely be needing "some work."  It's just the way we want to do things.  And, hopefully, that will allow us to buy a beautiful, historic, charmer sooner, a diamond in the rough that we can bring back to glory.  That's my dream, anyway. 

And so with that in mind, I tell Green Ugly to take a hike: he has my permission to go pester someone else, because I don't want his coffee or his commiseration, thank you very much.  I'd much rather have coffee with my friend, and if she gets THAT HOUSE, then I'll be glad to go have it in her kitchen!