Llama-llama-ding-dong

My husband and I have been thinking about buying a house. We've been thinking about this for awhile. Our parents have been thinking about it too. Like, ever since he moved in with Bean and I they have said "You really should just buy a house" and "Have you looked at any houses lately?" about every five minutes. His parents even drove around on weekends going to open houses looking for "our" house. (blink, blink). I promise you that what I think makes a perfect house and what my mother in law thinks makes a perfect house are sooooooooo different. It's not that we are against owning a home, it's just such a big step! On the one hand, renting sucks and Bean wants a dog. On the other hand, if the heater stops working in a rental, we don't have to replace it. And there's the whole scary grown-up home-owner thing. I want it, but it's scary... But we're 30 and it's time already.
I don't know why it is that I can be on the fence about something for a long time but as soon as I see someone else I know doing it I'm suddenly ready. My friend Kerri decided she was ready to take the home ownership plunge and now I've got the urge again... and I'm thinking I just MIGHT be able to convince my husband that a Llama is just a big, expensive dog.
Anyway, in the mean time I've been looking at middle school possibilities for Bean. If we stay where we are and she goes to the neighborhood school she'll go to the same middle school my husband and I went to (weird, eh?) and I don't know if I'm happy about that. There are several magnet schools and I've been looking at what they have to offer. It's a little early - she'll be in fourth grade this year - but there are some programs that have an application process and I want to make sure we don't miss any deadlines. ANYWAY...
So there's a house I saw online that isn't any big whoop from the outside - basic boxy starter house - but on the inside (whoop whoop) there are new kitchen cabinets and the fridge, stove and dishwasher (!!!!!) stay. It has 3 bedrooms and a big back yard and a covered front porch. I know that even if we are approved someone else will probably beat us to this house but it's peaked my interest again. Bean and I went to scope out the neighborhood this afternoon and the neighborhood is nice - quiet looking street, clean yards, no cars on blocks or crumbly-looking apartments anywhere in sight. And there is a middle school less than a block from the house.
I came home and looked at the school's website and the first picture I saw on the first page was a kid with a Llama. Swear to god. It's fate.