The Loo in the Basement

I actually started to write a decently thoughtful post last night, but of course, it was the first time that our internet was doing fluky things, so no posting last night . . .

As usual, our weekend was busy. Saturday I went to the movies and saw “Art School Confidential.” I wasn’t very fond of the ending and I thought that the story could have followed a different thread and had a much more satisfying ending. However, any day that ends with eating at iHop is a great day . . .

Sunday, Mr. Random and I went to a bunch of open houses in the Del Ray area of Alexandria. There was one house which always looked really cool on the outside, but the inside was incredibly cramped and poorly laid out. And the basement . . . if you could call it that . . . a flight of steep steps leading to a very low basement – so low that even my very short self had to stoop to walk down there. Besides being way too low, the basement had a toilet sitting in the middle of the room, sitting next to the washer and dryer. Just sitting. Out in the open. Not even a screen in front of it. Not even a sink down there. Just a lonely, grimy toilet sitting in the middle of this dark, low, cluttered basement. There was only one other bathroom in the house, on the second floor, and it was tiny. The owners had redone the small kitchen rather nicely, but if it were me, I would wall off the basement and find a way to bring the washer and dryer upstairs. Of course, it was the most expensive house we saw, listed at that time at $749K . . . yes, you heard me right. For three tiny bedrooms, one and “one-quarter” bath, and a death trap basement, almost 750 thousand dollars . . .

We then walked to what looked like a rather small and unassuming bungalow down the street. A friend of mine said that we should really come out and look, since he thought it would be perfect for us, just from how it looked from the outside. When we walked in, my expectations were really low, but I was so, so surprised! The owner had ripped the house down to the studs and started each room from scratch and added on in the back a family room/master bedroom suite w/huge walk-in closet/screened porch and deck. There were wonderful hardwood floors, and gorgeously updated kitchen, a mudroom, two other nice sized bedrooms and a bath, all the rooms on one floor. It was as much my dream house as it could possibly be. It was full of light and shiny new. AND it was 30K less than the first house! If that house isn’t snapped up in the next week, I don’t know what’s wrong with people.

Now I can’t afford any of these houses, and I don’t believe that Mr. Random and I will ever be able to. After leaving that bungalow, I felt really depressed. I do love looking at open houses though. I love seeing how they are designed, how they are decorated, how people LIVE in them. So daydreaming is going to have to hold me over for quite a few years more.

. . . gee, that writing didn’t end the way I though it would, but I’m much too tired to fix it. I hope everyone’s week is going well. I’ll try to do better later . . .