a really blah day

Today it is cold and overcast and the air stinks! It isn't too bad at our house, but at our shop it is horrible. There have been forest fires in the area (the county over from us) and now the air is really nasty. I don't know how people in California and other areas where they seem to get seasonal fires deal with it. We went out to the shop to help customers while Jeff ran to the bank, but what was suppose to be 30 minutes turned into 3 hours, but it wasn't like we had anything else really to do and with the weather so cold and no relief in sight I enjoyed being out of the house for the morning. That reminds me, (because I thought we would stay at home tomorrow) I have a haircut scheduled for tomorrow morning- what to get done, I have been trying to grow my hair out, but it is really annoying me and I don't know what to do, I want longer hair, but I don't know if it looks better though short.
Yesterday while running a few errands I followed some signs to a house that was for sale by owner, it was really cute and in a neighborhood similar to ours. I fell in love with it right away. It was a cape cod like ours, but it was brick and had a full dormer in the back (so I hoped it had more bedrooms upstairs then just two like ours). The yard was beautifully landscaped and it was on the corner so it wasn't too close to any other houses. I was sold on it until I saw the price. It didn't look a lot bigger than ours and though I haven't seen the inside the description didn't seem like it was anything too fancy, but the owners were asking $239,500, which seemed like a lot for a small house. Me being the detective that I am went to the city website to look up the tax assessed value for it and saw it was tax assessed for $190,000 which is closer to the price I thought it would be worth (I thought the owners would be asking 200 or 215). I was quite disappointed. It did have 2000 square feet, but it was an older home which means work always needs to be done and it had steam heat which is not the best heating then paired with an older home (1942) equates to freezing in the winter. And for not that much more there is a brand new house a few streets over. Maybe I am totally clueless, but 240 seemed like a whole heck of a lot for an older smaller home and a lot for that neighborhood (according to the tax data it is worth more than all the others on the street). The other day Lance and I looked at a house in our neighborhood that someone was flipping, it is really cute on the outside and though the inside isn't complete it was nice, but it won't work for us. The master bedroom was far, far away from the upstairs bedrooms which may be nice if you have older children, but not for babies. The master bedroom was downstairs in the back of the house and the stairs leading to the upstairs bedrooms were in the front of the house, not what I want if I am going to have to get up in the middle of the night to get a crying baby or toddler. Though we aren't actively looking, able to afford a new one, or have the time or energy to fix the one we have in order to sell it, I enjoy looking around at what's out there so when the time does come I know what I want and won't just settle on whatever. Looking at houses also helps me to watch my spending, when I am tempted to go shopping for something that I want instead of need I remember that I want a new house one day and that I need to be smart with money so we can get our "dream" house. I like having goals it makes being thrifty a whole lot easier.