I have actually been wondering, as we've been having these discussions of expense and budget, what exactly these houses would be in your neck of the woods, since if I live in one of the least expensive markets in the country, you live in one of the most expensive. That's a pretty astounding difference, I have to say, and it makes me all the more willing to stay in this part of the world for a while. If, you know, staying in this part of the world means that I have a shot at getting a house I could never in a million years hope to get in another part of the country.

I've seen houses with service porches--actually, now that I think of it, I've lived in a house that had one of each! It was my first apartment in NO, and it was tres swank, much more swank, in retrospect, than we should ever have rented in the first place.