The price of a house, variable; house hunting, priceless

Well, Amber the price of houses varies from place to place, from neighborhood to neighborhood, suburb to suburb. In the area that we are looking there are houses that range from 80,00 to however much we would like to pay, so there is a good spread. The houses we are looking at in Oak Forest are older houses, built in the fifties (i think the earliest i've seen was built in '48) which means that the bathrooms are generally smaller and located in the hallways rather than attached to any one bedroom. The idea of a 'master bath' simply doesn't exist unless the previous owners have updated it (and with updates come price increases).

For this reason alone, am i even remotely considering living a little further out so that i can get the larger bathroom that exists in more modern homes. I like big bathrooms, i hate small sinks. I hate having to wash my hands 'in sections, cause i can't fit my entire hand under the stream of water. I hate having to stretch un-naturally to reach the toilet paper while stiting down. I have lived in apartments too long.

Carol is adamant about living in the city. She hates the drive. I hate the drive myself but find my head spinning whenever she begins talking about the houses we've seen. Most conversations go like this:

Carol:"This kitchen is nice and big. There's plenty of room for us to put an island right here, and it's facing south so i can put an herb garden here (motions towards the windows)...

Killy (thoughts): What are islands made of? Wood? I guess i would have to somehow stick it to the floor, huh? I would have to change out the tile in the kitchen too. What kind of tile --- oh, i like that ceramic tile. How many sq ft is this kitchen? I wonder how much ceramic tile is per sq ft? How long would it take me to change out the tile? oh yeah, the island, would that have to be built? or could you just buy an island? I guess she would want drawers in the island to hold stuff. Jeez, this sounds like a lot of work, i wonder how long it would take me. Would i have to design the island, or can you just buy a pattern like those patterns you can buy at craft stores for clothes? I wonder if Wes would know how to build an island in a kitchen. Adolph's dad has an island in his kitchen. Was that there when they first bought their house? Did they build it? ------ What?

Carol: This oven is so cool! It doesn't work? Oh man, i would get this oven fixed. It's so beautiful.

Killy (thoughts): Who fixes ovens? How much would that be? Lessee, one island plus, changing the tile in the kitchen plus one fixed oven (so far) ---- huh?

Carol: This part could be a dining room....

and on and on and on it goes ... for every single part of the house. The bedrooms are too small, so what's the answer? "...we can just knock out this wall!"

Killy (thoughts): What does it take to knock out a wall? What if that part of the wall is holding up the ceiling? What about wiring? What about plumbing? Do any of my friends know how to do sheetrock? Ryan is in construction, but how often do i see him? Knocking down a wall seems pretty serious. Is it easy to do? I don't know how to knock down a wall.

and then the bathroom:

Carol: We can extend the bathroom in to this closet.

Killy (increasingly frustrated thoughs): Knock down another wall? Jeez, why don't we just knock down the whole fucking house and start over? That showerhead is way too low. Who lived here before we did? Were they oriental or what? pigmies? Why is the tile in the back corner crumbling? I guess that'll have to be taken care of too? I see a dead roach.

All of my thoughts are represented by a single grunt-like, "...eh..."