It was mid-1997. I was renting my grandmother's house from her as she had grown tired of upkeep but couldn't turn loose of her home yet. So she went to the swinging seniors complex [where she still lives] and I keep up her house.

SheWhoMustBeObeyed and I were married in the front yard in 1992.

But the house was old [1948ish, two wire electrical, small] and we were pregnant. So it was time to go.

Atlanta is surrounded by the I-285 beltway. And we wanted to stay ITP - inside the Perimeter.

But all the houses ITP in our price range were basically what we were trying to leave - small, old.

So we start slowly creeping OTP - outside the Perimeter.

We were on our third weekend of househunting having seen nothing worth making an offer on. And we thought we'd look at one more.

So we get to the open house [2-5!] at 3:30 and no one's here?!?! So back home. But as we are leaving the subdivision we see a Caddie with a realtor front plate so we decide to turn around. Sure enough, the guy is just getting to the house?!?!?

[The punchline is coming - Be patient ]

The 'real' realtor had some emergency and this guy was called in to pinch-hit. The house had been vacated by an older couple and it had been on the market numerous months. It had been the builder's house and so had an 'odd' floor plan compared to the rest of the neighborhood. So Mr. Pinch-hit was in no rush.

But odd was good - instead of making 3 little bedrooms it had two bigger ones. And a huge Master suite instead of two bedrooms upstairs. Everything was BIG! I got the biggest laundry room on the PLANET!

So SheWhoMustBeObeyed falls in love and I'm really pleased myself [I wanted a one story - this has stairs].

And we're ready to go and we say to Pinch-hit that we really like the house so what should we do next [cause we're total amateurs - this is the first house I've ever bought]

And he says - I kid you not - and I quote:

"Oh you don't want this house'

Such a salesman!

Anyway we bought it and I plan on never leaving. Moving is too big a hassle.

Now it hasn't always been peaches and cream. I have determined that the builder's subcontractors [remember - this was the builder's house] must have hated him. Because every time someone comes to do work on the house there is a moment where one of the workmen goes "Why the h311 would anyone do that?" and some odd piece of workaround turns up. Plumbing, electrical, roofing - doesn't matter.

But we're appreciating rapidly [or so we are led to believe] and we like our neighbors and so we sure do love the 'Oh you dont want this house' house.

-MF