One of the houses has a huge 1/2 acre backyard with lots of open space and trees. I was telling dh, we could make that backyard an inviting obvious spot to congregate and maybe that would minimize what's going on across the street and answer family and friends unavoidable questions of "why on earth would they buy a house here?!" 🤣

Jealous! I love your kitchen, too! 😄 ❤️

That's wild that a payphone would attract so much attention! Dh wants to voice our concerns to our real estate agent and get her perspective. See if she thinks its worth waiting a little longer to see what comes on the market or if we should try to snatch one of these houses for a song.

😨 Yikes! I don't want to be that person! Lol! I looked up the zoning map for our city and it doesn't look like we'd be able to change anything. The house is in a subdivision, its just on the outer edge of it, which happens to be right across from Wal-Mart. We would actually be looking at the parking lot, side entry/exit, and side wall of Wal-Mart, if that makes sense. So we wouldn't pull in and out of the driveway onto a 5 lane road. Its just a regular city street. But man, its RIGHT THERE, lol.

I know, right? I'm milling around my house now, tidying up and as I look out the windows on one wall of the house, I can see a bright street light and a sprinkling of little porch lights from neighbors along our street. The boys do need blackout curtains to get to sleep. But the windows on the other three walls? Fields, cow pastures, dark, and quiet. I will miss that very much.

It was listed 5 days before Christmas so while its been on the market longer than houses usually last here, it has an unfair time frame because nobody is looking between December 20th and New Years, lol.

To the bold: You are my people! I agree with all of this! Dh thinks I'm crazy for actually liking any kind of noise. To the italics: that is hilarious! Not to your friend, I am sure, but I doubt very many people would think of crickets when considering an apartment above an aquarium. 😂 The more I read responses here, the more I think it really will depend on the type of commercial activity. Dh and I are leaning toward "no" on the house that's across from Wal-Mart. Which is a shame because its beautiful. The other two are still strong contenders but I do want to see what its like at night. Fortunately, they are both empty so I could probably park right in the driveway for a few minutes. Who knows, we might not end up buying any of these houses and waiting for a later spring market inventory. Like I said, early stages but, when your realtor takes you to three different homes all right up against the business district, you start thinking, "well if this is the only option I can afford, how could I make it work?"

Hopefully, with the new occupant, the weirdos and trash dumping will stop. Its so sad people behave that way.

Yes, that would be a huge change for us. We live on the very edge of town in a quiet cul-de-sac subdivision where the space between houses is big and other than our one subdivision neighbor, we are surrounded by fields and farmland. The cows get loud seasonally but that's a different kind of loud, haha! 😁

Okay, it dawned on me that a friend of mine lives across the street from a big grocery store so I chatted with her for a minute and she said the two things she's doesn't like are the parking lot lights and the constant grocery bags and other trash blowing into their yard. She loves her house though. Huge living room, home office, play room, garage. So, basically, she was no help! Lol! 🙃 You guys are right, I need to lurk at night and on the weekend to see what goes on at various times.

I didn't even think about vermin! Ick! Ick! Ick! 😱 I did think about random people hanging around. The house with the metal building and parking lot across the street definitely attracts teens with skateboards and the like. We are over there weekly for one of the kids extracurriculars so I'm very familiar with that area. The house has FOUR bedrooms though! 😩 And a huge back yard... and a basement... and a garage... and beautiful real hardwood floors! 😫

Yes, and as the tiny deer frolicked, the blue birds circled them and sang Disney songs. 😂 🤣❤️

We are in the early stages of house hunting. Hoping to buy some time this year. Anyway, a few of the houses we like and can afford are right next to the business district. As in, out the front door and front windows is a huge metal building and parking lot across the street, or a Wal-Mart Supercenter, or a mega church. I'm thinking that's the main reason they are so affordable because they are otherwise lovely homes. Would you ever buy a home with such a location? If you have bought a home with this type of location, was there anything you were able to do to minimize the unattractive view, give privacy, or block the lights at night?

Its just for the annoying sites that make you "register" to access whatever. A lot of educational games the kids like to play. That sort of thing. Nothing with our credit card info or any other identifying or private information.

Oh bummer! I want to keep it on my computer and add it to my phone and tablet. Off to figure this out...

It sounds a lot like Evernote. I do love that grouping feature.

I have android but I think I can get One Note free. I'll look more closely at it, thank you. 😊

I use Google docs for actual documents and I also have Google Drive so I think I'm good there. What I need it for is that I have a ton of notes on the note app that comes with the phone. Medical notes for the multiple chronic illnesses in our household, curriculum lists, food staples, menus, info for a couple of things I volunteer for, financial notes, school things for school on the go, gobs of book lists for library trips, website logins and password hints, and more. My phone is on the fritz and I don't want to loose everything so I want to switch to an app rather than saving all these notes to the phone. I also would like to be able to use these lists from my tablet.

That's what I'd do!

So apparently, yesterday's plan to "hit the basics" with regard to schoolwork meant "only do one math lesson with ds." 😰 We did make it to the library so they've gotten a bunch of really good books and are learning a lot there. Ds learned what reluctant means and dd has been compiling info about sights to see in various states. She wants a vacation as badly as I do! We are getting ice right now and it's supposed to snow the majority of the day. So I guess we're not going anywhere. I definitely want to do memory work, Spelling, Math, handwriting, and read alouds with ds. Dd needs to do memory work, spelling, writing, math, and handwriting. It seems weird to do school lessons one day and then have the weekend free but I actually think it will be a good way to ease back into it. Maybe I'll have the kids do some snow day arts and crafts this afternoon. Have a good weekend everyone!

A couple of things that at least diffused dd's panic about writing were the Thinking Tree Journals, Listography, and Wreck This Journal. Posters here suggested them. She loves those and it really showed her that writing and expressing herself could be fun. Writing is still a challenge for her but its much less of a battle than it used to be.

Reading: shoring up reading skills with a bunch of links from ElizabethB. I haven't mapped it all out yet. Spelling: Spelling Workout C Grammar/Writing: EIW level 3 Handwriting: McRuffy 3rd grade cursive Math: Math U See Gamma or Math Mammoth 3a and 3b if I decide not to spend the $. History: interest led. I'm finally not deluding myself thinking we will stick with a curriculum. Science: interest led. We have lots of kits and books. We love playing around with science. Other: piano at home, monthly field trip, monthly playdate. Swimming lessons. He really wants to do Homeschool PE again, so we'll try to make that happen.

I needed this! Thanks!

Ha! No! I wish! I bought grade 3 and grade 4, waving them under her nose each year but she said she hated it and wanted to do Brave Writer. It was like a lawn mower that won't start. We made very little progress in 2 years with Brave Writer. So we are going through the grade 3 EIW level. Without the DVDs so we can get through it faster. We do all the lessons on one grammar topic in a day. So if there are 4 pages on adjectives, she can whip all that out in a day. On the writing lessons, we do have to slow down and do it one step at a time. We plan to just keep going through the summer into the 4th grade book. I will probably have her watch the videos for the writing assignments in the 4th grade book. When I was showing her where we've gone wrong with LA, I pulled out my box of school work from when I was in 5th grade. Pages and pages and pages of full sentences and huge topic paragraphs all single spaced handwritten in cursive circa 1995. 😊 She hasn't complained since and thanks me for adjusting my expectations to her abilities. 😂

Good luck on your potential auto sales, HSL! I am currently listening to hold music. On the phone with health insurance. A dreaded task for all, I am sure. 😰 The kids are building forts and getting along nicely. We'll do some schoolwork at some point. Just hit the basics. I'm feeling better, just extremely weak. (I didn't make it to the store yesterday, I fell asleep on the couch.) I will venture out today because ds has 5 holds ready at the library. But that should be fine. I can just sit and rest while the kids play and gather books. 😊