Yes, it's official. Billy Atha now lives in our neighborhood. Yes, that was the one who bullied Micah last year. Yes, him and his girlfriend, his buddies...walking around looking like eminem wannabies...so anyway...


Steve and I are still not in total agreement about when to buy a house, but we are in that we will at least next summer.

I have found houses I like in South Fairfield and Wyoming.

South Fairfield is really nice- rolling hills, regular folks, successful without being presumptuous, good school, pretty youthful, and I like the house I found there. I have looked at 4. The one I like has an awesome view. Close to my work. Trees are nice but not super old, and lots of sky. But Steve says it's too far from his work. And the transformer that's close to it is an eyesore. I didn't even notice it until the third time I was there. Then it was like, there's a transformer in the middle of the trees...

Wyoming is an old, stately neighborhood, old Victorian homes, most (but not the ones I'm looking at) very expensive, small yards with huge mature trees, many homes on the historic register, a place of old money. Think sorority suites and L.L. Bean. Closer to Steve's work. Negative? I want to see more sky. But I loooove the gardens, trees, parks. Will see 3 houses there Saturday.

Both are fairly close to where we live now, in different directions.

Other possibilities: Mason, Kings Mills, maybe even Hyde Park. I haven't mentioned HP to Steve. I'm not really even considering it because it's way expensive and it's Cincinnati. Only if Micah goes to Walnut Hills. But I'm just not keen on the city at all. But the houses are spectacular and old like Wyoming, well kept, stately. Kings is close to Steve's work, far from mine.
I hate to even consider work at all in this as a first factor. Workplaces change and for us they have a lot. I hope I stay at mine for a long time but one never knows. I know Steve would consider another opportunity if it looked at HIM seriously. He could be going to Eastern Europe a lot if Barr's acquisition takes place (they are currently in a bidding war with their competition for a generic drug co in Europe.). But if another opportunity pops up-I pray it does. In another post I will explain what I don't like about Barr right now and what I do.
I looked at houses in Ross -lots of acreage, sky, but too far from work. Ross is OK now that Fernald is cleaned up. Had seen a nice one in Harrison but that's way too far. One in Colerain I toured was so nice but I wasn't so great on Colerain schools right now. Toured one in another neighborhood nearby during an open house in which I liked the house but was sure Steve wouldn't, and I wasn't keen on the schools.
Work going well. Nathanael tried out for a play today. Micah fixes bikes for hours on end. Needless to say we have about 7 or 8 bikes here and usually 2 or 3 are in decent working condition. But Micah does a good job with them. He keeps buying these bikes for $5 and fixing them, including an old tandem (daisy, daisy...).
Steve gets on my nerves a lot and I suppose I do to his. He needs to shave. I don't understand his aversion to shaving. He gets on my nerves and during this time I contemplate just getting my own little condo. :)