Choosing Happiness - House

My husband drives by this newish log home on his way home from work, and he noticed recently that there was a "For Sale" sign in front of it. So he looked it up on the realty site. And then he showed it to me. And now I'm dreaming (as in, I dreamed about it last night) about this 4 bedroom beauty with the hardwood floors and the real wood paneled walls and the big kitchen with the island and the huge master bath and the loft and the walkout basement and the four acres and the ridiculously low (for this house) asking price that is still about $70K more than we could reasonably afford.

*Sigh*

See, he does this to me...finds homes that are obviously superior to our own in one way or another and then shows them to me on the internet and asks me if I want to go see them. Not that we are in the market or anything. Just for curiosity's sake. And then I obsess about them and compare spaces for DAYS.

I have been wanting to sell this house and move pretty much since we moved in. It's a nice little house, but there is NO STORAGE. That's rough. But over the years, it has become obvious to me that the best financial decision we could make would be to stay put unless/until we HAD to move because of a job change or an issue of too few bedrooms. Well, my husband did change jobs, but within the same company, and we are still working on expanding our family beyond ONE child, so we really don't NEED to go anywhere yet.

So, I've decided to choose happiness with this house. We recently made some decisions that made this easier. We rid ourselves of the stained and dirty carpet in our living spaces and put in laminate flooring. It's prettier and makes the house feel, well, less dirty. We are going to repaint too, just to give the living spaces a fresh feel (and to match the oriental rug which had to relocate from our bedroom to the living room to keep down the echo).

And, whenever I start feeling like I want to move, I look at my favorite features of this house and imagine how I'd miss them. The screened porch is so nice, especially in weather like this. We can eat out there and enjoy the sounds of nature from the wooded lots around us. And my backyard, complete with playset. I'm very happy with our backyard.

Plus, the landscaping is so nice. Don't you think so?