WARNING! Watch what you blog about!

Warning to everyone. Watch what you blog about. For the last Thursday Thirteen I compaired DH's family to mine...showing how different they are and showing my strong bias toward DH's family and how I was thankful that my family lives in another state.... Well guess what? My Mother called. No. She didn't read my blog. She doesn't even have working internet right now...whew! Nah, she called me because she is SERIOUSLY considering moving to my state!!!! Currently Mom lives in FL...land of huricanes and great big old sink holes. Not that she lives in an area that actually gets affected by either of these phenomena, but her homeowner's insurance company has raised her rates because of them. Originally when she first bought the insurance she bought just enough to cover her mortgage (gambling on the highly likely possiblity that she would NEVER have to file a claim and so far she's been right.) However, the insurance company decided that they didn't like this and made her change her policy to cover replacement cost of the house which increased her payment. And now they want to increase her payment again. This will add an extra $500 per month to her mortgage (they're payed together). So Mom wants to get "outta Dodge!" And move to lovely Colorado that doesn't have huricanes or sink holes. Mom was thinking that since we had all those mountain fires a few years back that possibly that land might be for sale cheap... (I explained to her that the insurance companies are doing to mountain homes what they're doing to huricane homes in FL... oh...) She longs for a home in the mountains with a fire place... (I don't think she's thinking of the logistics of mountain living and proximity to grocery stores and employment.) She can afford a home that costs $120,000... She needs to keep dreaming! So my task appointed to me by her is to help her locate a house in Colorado. So I have a question to ask myself. 1) how close do I want my mother living to me? I saw a "Everybody Loves Raymond" episode once where Raymond and Deborah are discussing where they should move (this was a flash back to when Deborah was pregnant with the twins.) Raymond pulls out a Map of New York and marks where his parents live. Then he draws a circle that encloses about a 5 mile radius (maybe further). He calls this the HOT ZONE. The HOT ZONE is too close to live to his parents because it would mean that they could visit EVERYDAY! This is NO GOOD! Then he draws a bigger circle that is to show the outer edge of the next zone. Any point past the edge of this circle is too far away because that would mean the OVERNIGHT VISIT which is also no good. So the ideal location would be inbetween the hot zone and the overnight visit zone. I'm thinking the overnight visit zone wouldn't be too bad either because that would mean visits spread out further... See, currently MIL lives in the good zone. Too far away for everyday visits but too close for the overnight. However she lives close enough that having her come to watch Darly when we go out of town is very possible (of course MIL travels to NC to babysit BIL's kids all the time, so any distance would be okay for that.) So the ideal location for Mom to move to would be about 30 minutes and further away. Then we have to consider... her price range of $120K her need for employment (and that of my step-dad) her proximity to supplies her desire to live in the mountains and her desire to have a fireplace (which is really a non-issue because most homes come with fireplaces here...although the closer to Denver, the more likely that they must be gas or you can't ever use them.) BTW: she has and uses a fireplace in FL! Oh yeah, I forgot that she is not at all willing to consider a townhome, even though stepdad would prefer a yard that is easy to take care of. Anyone ever wonder why I'm so stubborn? I know that this isn't really a Monday Memory...but it took a long time and it's all true. If you leave me your link, I'll visit you and comment too. :D