That is a fantastic house--I can't see why you would hesitate, unless you plan on changing a lot of those great features! I'd wager the rot in the soffits is a relatively easy fix, and the 'rafters' are also easy as they are most likely decorative bracketing. The only thing I would do to the interior is make the kitchen more period with proper craftsman cabinets. You will likely want a newer, more efficient furnace; are you sure there are no upstairs heat registers? Cold air returns are separate (my house has two, a huge one in the dining room, and smaller in the downstairs hall). The 1890s house I missed out on, had no heating ducts to the upstairs, only grilles set into the floors to allow the heat from its downstairs vents to rise. When I had seen the house in early December, it was nice and warm--it had one of those 'octopus' furnaces too. Wish I could afford to move to Seattle!

I am in the same situation. It’s New Years Day and I am lying here depressed. My adult son came to temporarily live with me and my new husband of 2 years about 7 months ago. He asked and my husband said yes. My husband decided not to charge him rent or anything, even told him he can eat what we eat, wash clothes, basically our home is his home. We have a written agreement which we all signed. My son takes out the garbage and cuts grass, clean his room & bathroom. He’s making plans to move back out as agreed. He has savings. Is my son perfect? No, but he is not disrespectful. Other than not walking around the house naked, nothing else has changed in our marital relationship. My husband took it upon himself to step in as a father to my son and even asked my son if that was ok. His biological father…didnt do his job and has no real relationship with him. My husband and son get along fine. However i know my husband is faking it. If my son makes one mistake or forget something, my husband is very critical and judgemental. He complains to me telling lies about my son and says hateful things about my son. i love my husband but this is unacceptable to me. i am beyond hurt and angry. My son doesnt even know how my husband really feels. What brought to this post…my husband thought my son had left and left the door unlocked at 2am. My son was actually outside. Anyway all i literally said was to tell him and immediately he accused me of coming to my son’s defense and starts going off. I am confused. If someone does something wrong or forgot something, isnt the natural thing to do is tell them? What did I say wrong? There is so much more I could say to paint the picture of everything that has gone on. I dont want a divorce but this is too crazy!

"...He goes on and on...." You are in control. "oops, that's my oven timer. Gotta go!" and hang up. Nothing wrong with answering the phone, but you are under no obligation to stay on the phone. ..."he's out of control" YEAH....NOT GOING TO HIS HOUSE FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!!! We all have a "crazy uncle frank" who drinks too much or a "slutty aunt sylvia", but the thing is, they're actually related to us. And mostly, they're harmless. The thing is, you don't know if he is or not. Do you want to find out? Holidays are laden with obligations. The thing is, when we are adults, we are not obligated to do ANYTHING we don't want to do in this regard. Your mother is old enough to make her own choices. If that choice is to "laugh off" your concerns, I'd say you have the choice to "blow her off" and say it's an immediate family only holiday for you. I don't trust him. He is not a decent man. Your husband knows it. Listen to him.

He wants sex but you're never in the mood? If you're looking for a bunch of women to sit here and tell you you're right and he doesn't appreciate what he has, don't read my post. What I will say might make you mad.... but then if you give any attempt at following my advice it will save your relationship. Go pick up a copy of "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura. There are comments after comments from men who were unhappy in their marriages. The comment is there, over and over - "My wife won't sleep with me, I think she doesn't love me." You gave an example of how HE started a fight earlier in the day.... looks to me like YOU started the fight. I'll repost here: "We were walking out of Walmart and he was carrying four 12 packs of soda. I asked if he wanted them in the trunk or the backseat, he said he didn't care. I asked again for him to just pick one, and an argument broke out. I told him all I wanted was for him to answer the question, he said he did, I said I just wanted him to pick one of the choices I gave him. He told me to get over it, and get over myself. Told me it didn't matter, I should just accept his answer, make the decision myself, and get over it. I told him that at the moment I was over him. He said he didn't care." So.... he didn't care if you put some soda in the trunk or the back seat, and you demanded that he give you an answer? What a controlling thing to do. "Just pick one," you said.... wow, that's rude. Why does he have to pick one? Why did you demand he pick one instead of just accepting that he really didn't give a flying woohoo if the pop went in the back seat or trunk? I'll break down the psychology on what happened there. You asked him to pick something. He gave an honest answer - it made no difference to him. You took that as him not caring about you in some way, and you made a power grab. "Just pick one." You were trying to control him. You started the fight because it bothered you that he didn't care. You said, "I just wanted him to pick one of the choices I gave him." Why did he have to do what you wanted him to do? Why were you so demanding? Because you wanted the control. By now, you have either matured a lot and realized you don't need to demand an answer from him or you have split. By now, you have hopefully realized that whether you like it or not, sex, and enjoying sex, is part of your duties in your marriage, just like sleeping in the same bed with you is part of your husband's duty. Now, just so you have some background on me.... I have taken a chunk out of my day to write this to you because I was once in your position. I felt like my husband didn't love me. He also didn't want to hang out with me. After a huge fight, he told me he wasn't happy with me. So I got pissed. I felt abandoned. I didn't feel like sleeping with him so he didn't get any. I also started petty little fights with him all the time. (By the way, I know why you did that, it's because there's so much hurt and resentment lying just under the surface boiling and wanting to come out). I don't know what causes it... but I felt like I had the right to demand that my husband answer stupid questions like "where should I put the pop," too. And all it did was make me miserable. So, here's how I fixed it. I read that stupid book by Dr. Laura (whom I really don't like anyway). I learned about what my husband thought about me. I learned about how he thinks. I learned that when I say "I'm not in the mood" he hears "I don't love you." If you want to keep your man, you'll figure out how to get in the mood. You'll actually eventually enjoy and need it, too. Next, I promised myself I was going to let the little arguments go. I was going to work on being extra nice, even when I didn't think he was being nice to me or I thought he was being rude. Please understand, we used to scream at each other and break up. Neighbors once complained about our fighting. Our kid was involved. It wasn't an easy mess to fix, but I promise it was MY mess to fix. I'm so glad I did. By putting my guard down and just putting love out there toward him (AND SEX), I found my best friend. And he knows how lucky he is to have me, and I can't imagine life without him, even for a minute. I wish you the best of luck in your journey :)