I would love to have a larger house, preferably all on one floor at this stage of our lives. What I really miss from the Midwest is that every house had a full basement. Out here in California, they don't. Houses accumulate Stuff and it busts out from every seam, in spite of my building usable attics in the house and garage. My office is in the garage. It would be nice not to have to walk through the rain to get to it. Both kids are in college, but their rooms are still basically theirs. We have taken some of the space for our own use, though. My son's room has my wife's romance paperback library now organized on new shelves I built in there. I hope he doesn't mind.

My daughter's room is now outfitted with a king-size bed, which was moved down there when my wife and I got a new bed upstairs. For the first time, we have a fully functional guest room. It would be great to have real guest facilities with private baths and such.

Around here, most new houses are little places packed dozens to the lot, often replacing a large old home with a big yard. Have I mentioned that my own yard is about the size of a large living room? These row houses and condos have a lot of luxuries, but not a lot of square footage. Up in the hills, they're still building big places, and more power to them.