Split-levels and bi-levels and two-stories, oh my!

This week has been one gigantic blur of houses. I get up in the morning, drive Paul to work, do a little work of my own, and then I head out with Gale, our real estate agent. I've wandered through so many houses in the last week that they all start to look alike. In fact, I got home yesterday and proceeded to upload my pictures from the digital camera, and by that time, I had already forgotten which master bedroom went with which house. Then last night I picked Paul up from work and we rushed right out to meet with Gale again (the poor woman must be so sick of me by now), so I could show Paul the Top Four. Currently, the list is down to two, but it's going to be insanely difficult to get it down to one. We may have to buy two houses.

Here's the breakdown:

House #1 is a bi-level with three bedrooms and (drum roll, please) two and a half baths. It's totally been redone, complete with gorgeous neutral paint and carpet throughout and things like marble sinks and granite counters and fabulous brushed nickel fixtures (fixtures that I would never, ever be allowed to buy on my own) everywhere. The problems? There are a few strange things about it. It's got a small kitchen, and the fridge (which isn't currently included) goes in a strange place. The bedrooms are a bit small, and there isn't a ton of storage space (though a few shelves in the garage and a storage shed out back will help with that).

House #2 is a two-story with three bedrooms and, much to my dismay, only a bath and a half (which is a pain for a) guests and b) the simple convenience of being able to get ready at the same time instead of, for instance, me having to wait until he's off to work before I can take a shower and get ready to start my own work day). (Do any of you know a plumber in Ohio who's willing to work for nothing more than the satisfaction of making me really happy?) It's got a finished basement that adds living space (though that means more living space to clean) and storage. But the place needs some work. There are walls that need to be repainted and things that need to be fixed. And the kitchen just doesn't make me excited to cook -- it's got ugly tile that definitely doesn't fit in my desired color palette. And the space that was once a formal dining room has been turned into a play area for the owner's day care. While that will make a good office for me, it's just...awkward. And #2 is asking $11,000 more than #1.

Unfortunately, in the millions of houses that I've looked at, I haven't been able to find The Perfect House -- one that's pretty and spacious and doesn't *need* a lot of work and has two showers. So now we've got to decide what we want to sacrifice.

We haven't spent a lot of time in our room this week -- by the time we got back from dinner last night, it was 10. But I've still managed to cheer the Sox on to defeat while working on a new knitted project that I can't talk about because then it wouldn't be a surprise for someone who's most likely reading this...