moving

Thanks for all the great advice. You have given me a lot to think about. I am surprised by how many of you said not to worry about the flooding. I am totally creeped out by the thought of living in a house that had been underwater, all that yucky toxic waste floodwater coursing through the walls and in the soil of the yard that my child plays in or that I grow veggies in. Disgusting. The more I think about it the more important it seems to me that I don't live in a house that was under water during Katrina or during any other hurricane. My understanding is they get a lot of bad storms in the fall.

Our plan is to buy, there are a lot of great reasons not to buy, and buying may not be the wisest thing we have ever done, still we are determined. Unless we absolutely cannot find a livable house, we plan to buy. There is great brand new base housing, because it was all completely leveled by the hurricane. There are a lot of really great houses to rent. Still we are going to buy. Hopefully it will turn out to be an good investment and help us save for our future home in Roanoke. But, even if it turns out to not be a moneymaker, at least we will be able to live in our own home, paint the walls, rip out the carpet, etc. With all of our animals and kids we want to be able to get off the plane and drive to our house. That is the goal. Hopefully we can make it come true. If not we have other options, so it isn't life and death. Still we are going to try to realize our dream.

My parents totally agree with y'all about renting for awhile. So everyone can tell us a great big I told you so when we end up making a poor decision. But, remember I have animals and kids who are not easy on rental properties. Plus, the lovely military moves all of our belongings, one time - If I decide to move say from a rental to a house in a year we would have to pay for that move ourselves. Who is to say the perfect house wont come up for sale while I am looking and we will find it and it will be ready right when we need it? It is possible. So we are going to try to do everything in our power to make it happen. If not, we will live on base or something.

About the traffic, many of the bridges and major highways were destroyed by Katrina so the traffic is bad right now. This is the reason that living on the outskirts of town is such a long commute. With everyone on the same road at the same time it is a cluster. Maybe someday the roads and bridges will get repaired and living in the country will be less of a commute.

I still think y'all are crazy to say not to worry about flooding, I don't think I could live in a house that was soaked in 10 feet of sludge, no matter how much bleach was used to clean it. Yucky! And what about my veggie garden? I was hoping to save some money by growing veggies as that is pretty much all Lily eats, we pay a fortune in potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, bell peppers. I was hoping to grow all that.