Reason #276 on why the layout of your house matters.

I love living in North Carolina. I don't love all facets of it...like the way mother nature is out to get me...but that's a post for another time. I grew up in the high desert of California. We did not have 4 seasons there; it was simply winter or summer. Technically, we probably did have fall and spring, but we just don't recall them because they last a matter of hours instead of days. Summers are extremely hot (100+ degrees, but no humidity), and the winters are cold enough for the occasional snow - proof of that at Christmas last year:


Summer in Southern California can easily continue well into October...and then it starts to cool down suddenly gets very cold.

Anyway, back to my point.

I get so excited out here in NC when we turn the calendar to September, and the weather really does start to cool down and feel like fall! The leaves are changing and, well, it's just the real thing, and I may be retarded, but I am giddy over it. Yes, I just used the word giddy.

So of course, I want to take as many evening walks as possible. Even if it means dragging my son who is coming down with a cold (I justified it with the whole "fresh air will do him good" thing).

Our little family of four was happily walking down the street trying to get Zach to stop screaming over the fact that we chose to walk down a different street than he wanted. So I'm stopped in the middle of the street with the stroller, looking back at Zach and telling him to catch up and stop crying. The house I have stopped in front of is a house that we looked at when it was on the market. It was a nice house, but the layout was strange to us: the front porch has the front door and two windows on either side. One of those windows looks into the dining room (normal). The other window is actually in the master walk-in closet, that you can only get to by walking through the master bathroom (not normal). That was one of the main reasons that we passed over that house.

So picture it with me...I'm stopped in front of this house, trying to get Zach to catch up. While I'm waiting, I'm just looking around. It's 7:30-ish in the evening, it's getting dark, so there are lights on in the house, but the blinds are still open. I just glance at the window in the master closet, and I see a man there, walking toward the closet (in the master bathroom).

Hmm. He has no shirt on, and no....OH!

I quickly look away and start walking. I can't help but laugh and I tell Tyler that I think I just saw a naked guy in that house. So, Tyler looks back just in time to see a terrified face peer out of the corner of the closet window, and then the blinds snap shut. We laughed about it the rest of the way home, and had never been so happy that we decided against the unusual layout of that house.

So if you are looking for a new house, or will be in the future, picture yourself naked in your bathroom. Can you get to your clothes without the neighborhood getting a show they didn't pay for?

These are the life issues that matter, my friends.