Stress has been getting to me lately. The imminent engagement is a happy sort of stress, but still a looming change. I've been able to accept that I don't need to plan an entire wedding ASAP, but it's still in the back of my head. School is busy to the point where it's time to start counting down to spring break (March 3). And we're house shopping, which had me very angst-y yesterday.

We went to 4 open houses, bringing our total of houses looked at to a dozen or so. Basically, we found the perfect house for us at an unbelievably reasonable price. I know, it just sounds awful, doesn't it? 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, big recently remodeled kitchen, recently remodeled bathrooms, spacious rooms, new roof, new central air and heat, new driveway, nice looking exterior, decent sized yard, relatively close to the train, and all for the price of a fixer-upper. (Dan, what's the inside scoop on Magnolia?) Both Ryan and I agree that it seems too good to pass up, but we really hadn't seriously considering buying soon until we saw the house.

The main obstacles in our way are our lease (not up until end of August, up to $4000 lost if the complex isn't able to find replacement tenants), and inexperience with the big, scary house-buying process. With the amazing house deal and likelihood that tenants would be found within a couple months, the lease doesn't seem major enough to pass. For the scary process, we're going to find ourselves a buyers' real estate agent soon (next 2 weeks) who can help guide us through the process and probably identify if there's a sketchy reason why the house is so cheap. So I'm hoping that the house isn't sold in the next couple weeks, after which we can return with our brilliant agent and possibly make an offer.

I have a real problem getting emotionally invested in things like wedding locations and houses. That's the main source of my stress, I think. I would not be a good businessperson.