Some of you know we have been looking for about 2 years for a new house. We have finally given up on that, and have decided to stay where we are.

Our reasons for looking: with 3 kids and a dog we could use a bigger back yard. Right now we have almost none, but there is a decent amount of ground in front of the house. Also we'd like the killer basement where we would roller blade around its perimeter, have room for a jazz band kind of area, home theater, poker room, the works. It would have been too cool.

Our reasons for not moving: great house already (except for back yard and basement), and great neighborhood. The people here, especially at our end, are amazing. Kids around all the time, kickball/baseball games in front yards: it's really great.

Our reason for giving up: we can't find anything as good as what we have + bigger yard and better basement for any price we can afford (we have to stay in the same school district, forgot to mention that). The housing market is really nuts now, and there was an article in the local paper written nationally about how people are paying too much for houses and it's likely to come crashing down eventually (the situation was comopared with the .com boom).

So we're staying put. We're putting in an "invisible" fence for KoKo the wonder dog; we're getting a grand piano and rearranging things so it can fit in our great room. We're cleaning up a lot of the junk that's piled up over the years and giving most of it away.