No Way, José

I went to see the potential new house and was surprised to see that it is an absolute dead-wringer to my first house. It's been decorated differently, but the layout of the main floor is almost identical to the first house that I bought, gutted and fixed up. The only difference is that my first house didn't have a basement.

As I told my friend who is selling it, there's no doubt that I like the layout because I already bought one just like it. But. It's a starter home. The rooms are teeny, tiny, the ceilings are really low (I don't think that they're even 8' high) and the basement has next to no light. The yard, while quite large, is monopolized by a large parking pad and a garage that's turned sideways (therefore taking up more space.) Both the front and back yard would need to be completely regraded and landscaped.

In comparison, I like to think of my current house as a step above a starter home. The main floor has higher ceilings, lots of light and bigger bedrooms. Also, the basement has more potential. The basement in the house I looked at today would have to be gutted and redone entirely.... and it'd still be too dark. My basement is unfinished, but the windows are quite large. I think I could finish it down the road for the same amount of money that I'd pay to do it in that other house, and the outcome would be a lot better.

I'll think about it for a few days, but my gut instinct is that I'd be happier here.

Also, I should mention that the evil neighbour put a for sale sign up in front of his house today.

On a whole other topic, Miss Tallulah Belle Poodle has a new BFF. Meet José the rat.

Last winter, Tallulah took it upon herself to start carrying my gloves around when we went on our walks. Since it was (mostly) warmed up to the point that I don't need gloves, she's been at a bit of a loss. She's been nibbling my fingers, and grabbing hold of her leash, and clearly looking for something to carry.

Last week when I was Ikea, I picked up the rat for Tula and she fell instantly in love. She's been carrying him around the house all the time. A few days ago, Tallulah grabbed José as we left for our nightly walk and I let her keep him. She's been bringing him along on our walks with us ever since.

No doubt that this has cemented my reputation as the neighbourhood weirdo. As if it's not bad enough that my poodle carries a stuffed rat in her mouth, I got some great looks last night when I turned around in front of the playground last night and told Tula that I was going to take José away from her if she didn't hurry up. In the end, though, Tallulah's happy so I'll probably just go with the flow.