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Every so often, I visit one of those real estate sites and think about buying a house. This doesn't make any sense for a number of reasons.

I want an old house that I can rework and make my own. It's not that there are no horses of that color on realtor.com, sure there are. It's just that this is the least practical kind of house to have. It's the kind of thing in which my parents kept--and keep, in my mother's case--getting bogged down.

But... but... it's my dream. Old wood floors, glass doorknobs, wireless for the future, central air, really good bathrooms, big closets, a yard where Lola can sun herself in peace.

The impediments to this dream are pretty simple and not at all insurmountable. One, I have no furniture. I'm serious. I have four folding chairs from the 1930s, drawers from Rubbermaid, maybe some shelves. There's a huge antique steamer trunk downstairs that's sort of mine, but it would need to be refinished. I guess I could claim the armchair, since I'm the one who saved it from being tossed out on the curb, but it needs work, too. Furniture can be bought and acquired, of course that's not the only thing holding me up.

Two, I'd be on my own on this project. I know I would be better off in new construction like Ellen has. She likes her house and it doesn't give her problems. If I had lots of cash on hand, I could hire people to fix the fixer-upper. Where's the fun in that? I suppose I could try the Tom Sawyer route and convince my friends that it would be fun to come work on the fixer-upper. Maybe I could have an Urban Pioneer Seminar, in which people would come for the weekend and work on my house.

Three is part two of two, I guess. Where's the sense in a big house that you've slaved over if there's nobody to share it with? Am I supposed to rattle around 3,000 square feet alone for the rest of my life? Why, that's plenty of room for stacks of newspapers and multiple pets!

I guess I'm not ready to be the eccentric woman in a house by herself. Not yet, anyway. But I keep looking...

before - after