#We Buy Houses In Illinois

[landcentury]

Cheap house for sale in Illinois for $15,000.

[theglamorousferal]

Just found out about the Enough Stuff Non-Profit in Illinois and it got me thinking about Crime Alley and about if there was a place like that, they’d work hard to keep it going.

Now I’m imagining Danny, ghost king with its coffers, things at relative peace, but not having to actively work. He’d want to still be able to give back I think even if it’s not actively fighting. What if Danny started an Enough Stuff shop. Everything there is free. Everything is donated. It runs on donations. (The first few months it runs on his savings; ghost money translates thankfully).

Danny lives in the apartment above the store and the store has two floors. Sam moves in next door and runs an apothecary and plant store. She ends up running a vegan bakery and coffee shop too. If you perform or write a poem, you get a free coffee and scone. If she has the chance, she’ll teach you about basic herbal remedies and also some basic first aid because while honey is an antibiotic, it doesn’t do shit for something needing stitches. Jazz moves in and opens a free pediatric clinic. Tucker can be found running the business side of the non-profits and pushing Sam to “just get an EMT certification already, you’re more than qualified, and you know you want to.” Val travels a lot, she’s an Olympic martial artist, but when she settles someplace to train it’s usually with the trio in their Frankenstein apartment made up of the top two floors of three connected buildings. Between Danny finding he enjoyed training from his years as a hero and Sam wanting to always be in top form there’s a gym there she can train in and Danny’s usually free. She helps with whoever needs it when she has free time so she doesn’t feel like a mooch for living there only part-time. She ends up saving some kid from a thug and deciding to train him up. This leads to the kid bringing more kids to learn from her. She ends up buying a building on the block and renovating it to be a gym and training facility for her and it gets added to the list of non-profits Tucker is running. (He only leaves his corner office, he insisted, during working hours for lunch or meetings and the occasional lunch meeting).

Tim losing his mind trying to find anything about them. Him constantly hitting firewalls of binary, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Esperanto and some other language he could only describe as auditory Zalgo text. Tim desperately wanting to investigate in person but he promised Jason he’d stay out of it until he asked.

Jason coming back from a long mission with the Outlaws seeing the “cute little trust fund kid’s experiment” not only flourishing, but growing. He goes to research them only to find they’re mostly squeaky clean. There’s some stuff about disturbance of the peace and minor property damage when a teenager, but that doesn’t mean anything for someone setting up in Crime Alley. He watches them for a while, listened to what his guys said about them and the general opinion. He decides they’re above board, but he’d still watch them.

Then he got shot. More accurately, a shot grazed just under his armpit where there was a gap in his armor. He ended up stumbling out of an alleyway and directly into the pathway of one red headed doctor.

Kinda want to add more Amity Parker’s at some point. Debating having Paulina run a fashion house in the fashion district because she couldn’t convince her dad to let her move to a place known as Crime Alley, and just spend a bunch of time at Danny’s shop and maybe drop off ‘fits she made there. Star and Wes running a local radio station. Dash becoming a mechanic (after freaking out about not making it in football). Kwan opens a vet clinic. Eventually the Amity Parker’s own a full two blocks of housing and businesses.

[axolotlbottle]

❝Like father, like son❞

Art done by my bestie @jester0jpeg !! We both made our own versions / lore of the postal dudes & postal series!!

Postal dude 1 with his son (little kid-postal dude 2! Who we call "the postal kid!").

We actually gave them names, too! (Sorry, they're not P names, but I could care less. Feel free to call them Postal dude and Postal kid if it bothers you that much).

PD1's name is Michael Toddhunter, and his son's (PD2) name is Aster Toddhunter (hehe get it? As in "disaster").

Preface: This takes place AFTER the first postal game. This is an AU of sorts, so just erase the ending of the game + a bunch of other things, and have Michael fuck off somewhere, nobody ever knowing his identity so he gets away with everything. That was a "TLDR" explanation of it. We could maybe explain this better on a different post in the future.

Anyways! Here's some lore we have about them:

Michael is the Command Sergeant Major for U.S army's RI Arsenal. Yes, he did serve in the army before going postal in the first game. Don't ask how he got up to that rank because god knows I don't know either.

He and Aster live in the Quad cities, Illinois, aka some fuck ass midwestern region of cities that only gets some attention from the John deere company that hogs the area. Fuck john deere.

Michael is a single dad. He somehow managed to win all custody over Aster. He doesn't talk about his ex-gf.

They live in a house that's next to a trailer park, so they're not exactly dirt fuckin' poor but they ain't buying branded food either. They're still trailer park trash without living directly in the trailer park though.

Michael has tried to give Aster some sense of normality (sorta) but Aster clearly is not cut out to be a normal child. He's very rowdy, violent, and bullies the neighborhood kids (if you get the reference, you're cool).

Michael calls Aster "My little wild thing" (reference to Aster's favorite book; where the wild things are).

When Aster was 5, for Christmas, Michael gifted him a black cat he bought for $10 at the pet store ( he didn't question it). Michael cruelly didn't think the cat would last long, but that cat might as well outlive him. Aster named the cat "Kostroma" and has shoved his dad's guns up it's ass and used it as a silencer to shoot at beer bottles in their backyard. Kostroma hasn't died (nor appears to be scarred or traumatized), no matter what Aster has put him through. He's like some weird immortal cat (who surprisedly loves Aster as much as Aster loves him). Michael and Aster don't question it.

Aster loves uncrustables. His addiction literaly is grape jelly uncrustables. He has to have one once a day or else he'll start wreaking havoc in the neighborhood.

Michael brings Aster to work sometimes (usually when Aster gets kicked out of school or is being too insufferable for the neighborhood). He can't help it, and it's not like anybody can give him shit for it.

That's all we'll share for now!! Hopefully we'll post more in the future!! Me and my bestie have been working on this since like late May, and we plan to continue to work on it >;). I'll leave ya'll with this doodle I did of Kostroma cat.

[spnscripthunt-inactive]

In Their Own Words: What is the most difficult sacrifice you’ve made to pay down your medical debt?“

“Had to move into rental place from home and not able to buy a house. Cut in some household or good food for kids.” -35 year old woman with $5,000-$10,000 in medical debt, Texas

“Quality of life. We’ve never been able to ‘get ahead’ because we have a 35 year old disabled daughter. We’ve had medical debt for 35 years varying from 30k down to $500.” -60 year old woman with $2,500-$5,000 in medical debt, Tennessee

“Not paying bills on time, creating larger bills due to late fees. Depleted savings.” -38 year old man with $2,500-$5,000 in medical debt, North Carolina

“Cutting out any expenses/services I can. No job, fixed income and chemo. Even with insurance, no one can afford cancer.” -67 year old woman with more than $25,000 in medical debt, Nebraska

“Limiting birthday/Christmas gifts for children and grandchildren.” -83 year old woman with $1,000-$2,500 in medical debt, New Jersey

“Getting a second job. I’m exhausted and I don’t see a way out.” -44 year old woman with $1,000-$2,500 in medical debt, Ohio

“I can’t do anything; I literally stay at home. Never taken my kids on vacation. I’m a single mother and all my money supports the household. So, there are not a lot of extras in my house.” -55 year old woman, with $2,500-$5,000 in medical debt, Missouri

“Strain on relationship with [my] father due to asking for help to pay medical expenses; negative impact on mental health issues (e.g., significant increase in anxiety symptoms).” -35 year old woman with $10,000-$25,000 in medical debt, New York

“This was medical debt for my (now deceased) husband — my credit cards are maxed-out, savings is gone, I will need to relocate to afford rent and pay down bills.” -67 year old woman with $10,000-$25,000 in medical debt, Illinois

Source: Lopes L, Kearney A, Montero A, Hamel L, Brodie M. Health care debt in the U.S.: the broad consequences of medical and dental bills [Internet]. San Francisco (CA): Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; 2022 Jun 16 [cited 2023 Oct 11]. Available from: https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-health-care-debt-survey-main-findings/

—

So far we've raised $3,196.20 [2:11 PM Eastern; Sun Oct 15] for RIP Medical Debt toward our $5,000 goal.

With what we've raised so far RIP can wipe out over $300,000 in medical debt (nationwide).

Our goal is to wipe out $500,000 in medical debt (nationwide) and, as an incentive for donating $10+ we're doing an (optional) raffle of the last of our server (group) purchased scripts.

Key raffle scripts:

$1000 - signed Walker & Gotham Knights pilots

$2000 - Wayward Sisters (by Kim, Briana, Kathryn)

$3000 - The Winchesters (signed by so many)

$4000 - Stranger in a Strange Land (Jensen & Danneel)

$5000 - Lebanon (JDM, Sam Smith, J2, Misha)

Our fundraising page:

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I have never seen a home w/so many different styles as this 1997 mansion in Olympia Fields, Illinois. 7bds, 12.5ba, $3.499M. Clearly, they couldn't settle on one house design. The once-decaying property was brought back to life by the late Rudolph Isley of the The Isley Brothers, and his wife, Elaine. Check it out.

They've tried to mix rustic lodge with very contemporary and provincial styles- looks like maybe the couple's tastes clashed and this is the architectural compromise that resulted.

It begins with a modern rustic look great room with contemporary decor. I do like the idea of a red & white color scheme. Look, even the black keys on the piano are red. (I guess money can buy anything.)

Modern office with a Baroque style desk.

This is different. The modern kitchen has a HUGE fancy French dining set for 20. Look at the size of the chandelier. The coffered ceiling is rustic. These compromises are way too much.

Log cabin style sunroom.

These rooms are too plain for such fancy furniture. It doesn't look right. Put up some wainscoting, a fireplace, something.

The primary bedroom is disappointing. Rustic fireplace, red carpet and gray furniture.

The en-suite has a modern stone / log cabin feature wall. It has such conflicting styles with starkly plain walls and floors.

This Pirates of the Caribbean pool room is amazing, though.

Look at the little shack, waterfall, and treehouse.

Love this so much. Look at the lighting, too. I would buy it for this, alone.

And, then we go to a huge brick man cave with a fireplace and kitchen area.

Then, we go to an octagonal log cabin room. They have the same Bose stereo I have, on the fireplace (haven't used it in ages b/c it plays CDs).

This is the huge bedroom of a Bulls fan with an en-suite behind an open wall.

And, here's a bedroom with a giraffe theme, but the only indication of that is some wallpaper.

And, another family room.

The home gym walled in glass.

This home disturbs me. A room that looks like a basement- no windows. One fancy bed and carpet, plus a modern side table and armoire in sterile & stark white room.

And, then it switches to retro diner in the 2nd kitchen. I do love these appliances, though. At least put up some Coca Cola signs, neon, or some retro decor.

The home theater needs some dark wallpaper and a black ceiling w/at least a popcorn machine. This home is too minimalist. I hope that a new buyer will spruce up the decor.

The carpeted garage.

Basketball court.

The lot is 3.7 acres and includes a private pond.

[frances-baby-houseman]

Hello we live in Illinois and are currently in North Carolina and we are BUYING A HOUSE FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY. I am sick with anxiety! I’ve been inside this house one time!! Gahhhhhh!!!

[copperbadge]

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

A note before we begin: I understand that sometimes people look askance at some of the fundraisers. I do attempt to vet people, but I also attempt to practice a radical level of acceptance and compassion for people who are in need, who may not always be people everyone likes. It is up to my readers to determine where and if they want to give; I have only ever declined to publicize fundraisers twice, both by people with extensive and visible histories of scamming fandom. If you know of someone who has a history of scamming, it is helpful for me to be made aware, but unless there are receipts to go with it, I'm afraid I can't take that into account. Simply telling me "so-and-so is a bad person" does not help. (Lest I start more drama, this is not isolated to this week's post, it's just a particularly unhelpful comment this week which spurred me to write this.)

And now on to more helpful things!

Ways to Give:

maryellencarter linked to a fundraiser for johnhawkens, who is about to lose his temporary housing and needs assistance with food and transportation. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

just_juniper_joy is raising $350 to get through a lapse in emergency assistance; they are currently waiting for disability paperwork to go through and in the process of renewing the emergency aid in the meantime, but their county office is moving slowly, and they need to pay for medication, phone, and internet, as well as rent. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

aurorlaura linked to a fundraiser for Alchemia and Bugland, who have urgent financial needs after the loss of their home, and are also looking for advocacy and legal support in Illinois, particularly support for people with disabilities, autism, blindness, and/or who are LGBTQ+. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

nightwhite13 is raising funds to help seal a hole in their home through which a rat is entering; you can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

Beck is raising funds for top surgery; you can read more and support the fundraiser here.

just-a-zesty-lil-rat is raising funds to cover a medical deductible so they can get top surgery; you can read more and support the fundraiser here.

catlineyemaker linked to a fundraiser for gallusrostromegalus, who recently rented a home to a friend who ended up doing serious damage to the home and required legal action to evict; they can't sell the house as-is and can't afford the repairs needed to make the house salable. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

Buy Stuff, Help Out:

have-a-hygge is an artist selling her work to raise funds to open her own gallery, a task complicated by being a fulltime caregiver to a parent with dementia. You can read more and find purchase and giving information here.

Help For Free:

Maggie is a graduate student at American University, doing research on fanfic and the way people learn about sex and sexuality as teenagers. They have a survey available about experiences reading or writing fanfic and how it impacted their sexuality and understanding of sex, which may lead to interviews if the person is agreeable; all interviews are anonymized. You can learn more and take the survey here.

Recurring Needs:

rusty-chevy's workplace is in a slow period, and management has been cutting hours; she is raising funds to cover at least part of the shortfall from reduced paychecks, and was just denied rent assistance. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

alirhi linked to a fundraiser to get herself, her mother, and her sister stable housing; they are currently staying in their cars in a a dangerous parking lot. They have a friend who will let them park a camper in her yard, but the camper there currently is unlivable. With two of the family on disability it is difficult for them to keep up with bills and also save for housing. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here including a few new ways to give.

gwydion linked to a fundraiser for a friend, whose dog Rosie needs medical care, dental work, and special food; you can read more and give here at gofundme.

rilee16 is raising funds after having to use rent money to pay their electric bill; their roommate, with whom they have had a number of issues, has been an ongoing issue and is also costing them money, and they are now facing a late fee for October rent after the check didn't clear. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

[chaoticarson16]

May we please have Loui, NY, and TX hc’s? 👁️👁️

*not forcing*

Of course you may!

Louisiana:

• He’s a literal sweetheart that gets along with everyone. Like, he knows everyone and everyone knows him

• He will drop whatever he’s doing to help one of his friends. Doing the dishes? Not anymore. Eating lunch? He says he ate enough. Self care? You need it more than I do! Therapy? He’ll be your therapist.

• He very rarely cusses. Every now and then he’ll cuss in French but he rarely cusses in English. When he does this everyone goes quiet cause he’s either in a lot of pain, very upset, or MAJORLY pissed.

• Him and California are the only two not allowed to be ANYWHERE near guns. (With the Wild West and the Black Panther group, please don’t quote me on this, California would be able to shoot guns frighteningly well. I also believe Loui would be extremely good at shooting guns, like, completely incapacitate someone but still keep them alive. Everyone believes they’d be way too dangerous with a gun. Even Florida won’t give them a gun….sometimes)

• Him and Florida have a pet alligator that they’ve named Kitten. She’s around 8 feet and is the biggest softie ever. When the others hear they’ve got a pet named Kitten, they assume they have a cat and weren’t very creative with the name. They are wrong. Florida and Loui laugh every time they agree to meet Kitten and she’s a big ass gator. Govs the only one who got used to her (surprisingly) cause when they got married (pushing my Flouigov agenda) Kitten would constantly follow Florida or Loui and she eventually started following Gov too since he was there more then the other states and she now sees his as a family member.

New York:

• He LOVES to draw. Like, this man always has a sketchbook on him. Any chance he gets he buys a new one (literally me tho) but they don’t last cause he’s always drawing.

• He’s got hella tattoos. Him and California have the most tattoos out of anyone else in the statehouse. Most of the states believed New York had the most tattoos until there was a pool party at the statehouse and they saw Californias.

• Him and Colorado are surprisingly friends. They’re hiking buddies and like to go exploring together. New York likes hiking with Colorado cause he’s allowed to climb pretty much everything. Colorado likes hiking with York cause he’s one of the only people who can keep up with him.

• Him and Jersey like to act like they hate each other, but they’re actually twins and they’re really close. They created different signals (hand placement, facial expressions, pencil/pen placement) to have silent conversations in the middle of a meeting. They’ve started randomly laughing while Gov or one of the other states were talking and had to leave the room to stop. Everyone was very confused.

• Begged Illinois to go see the Chicago rat hole and when Illinois finally agreed he was super excited. He took so many pictures and even left some money there. He cried when he found out someone filled it.

• Him and California have a black oriental cat that they’ve named Gremlin. He’s so stupid and they love him very much.

Texas:

• Him, Jersey, and North Dakota all garden and they love to go to one of their houses and plant new plants that they bought while shopping alone cause they have no self control- (Jersey is the garden state and North Dakota is the peace garden state)

• He has a red dun quarter horse with white blaze and sock markings (yes I looked it up cause I had a very specific image in my head) named Janie. He likes go horseback riding a lot since it calms it down.

• He’s also got an Australian shepherd named Buck (I know so original) but the funny part is she’s a girl. She learned to nip at people’s feet when they call her a he and Texas finds that hilarious. When he says she has an attitude, he means it. She’s also like an emotional support dog for him which honestly he needs. This boy got hella trauma-

• This man is deathly terrified of big crowds. If he can’t easily get to an exit he starts to panic. And when I say panic I mean p a n i c. He started crying and having a panic attack after a meeting cause he was too tired to teleport and everyone kinda crowded around the door to talk. It was made even worse when they started crowding him to make sure he was ok. Buck ended up not leaving his side for a while after that, even going to meetings. If she saw people crowding the door she’d go up to them and bark till they left.

Sorry this is a bit late! My teacher threw a random test at us and I still haven’t finish it💀

[terriwriting]

Possible locations for Gotham, Metropolis, & Smallville

A non-exhaustive list of places to put Gotham, Metropolis, or any other fictional city.

Notes:

Cities need reliable fresh water, transportation, and food.

Wonder Woman doesn't need a city. She already has Paradise Island.

Gotham

I'm more of a Superman fan, so my notes on Gotham are relatively short. Plus Metropolis comes in two variations, while Gotham just needs to be a city that is old enough to have old infrastructure and deep-rooted generational wealth.

Illinois/Indiana:

The Chicago-Gary area is the easiest place to put Gotham if you want to move it away from the East Coast. Hello Kitty Unpretty's Gotham is a Great Lakes city.

New Jersey:

The classic. There are two good places for a fictional city, but the one in the southern area of the state will be noticeably different from canon-Gotham.

The Camden-Rehoboth Bay corridor could be unified by an old canal system. Place Gotham one one end of the canal and Bluehaven (Bludhaven to cynical locals) on the other, according to your preference. Note that the Rehoboth Bay end is mostly mud and silt layered over more mud and silt, so you're probably better off placing Bludhaven here as a smaller city with few major towers. Either end will need extensive drainage (canals, storm drains, aqueducts, and reservoirs), so that's great for the crumbling infrastructure. Remember that if you place Gotham here, Batman's costume needs to be light, not armoured, or he'll be dead in a week from heat stroke.

The New Brunswick-Newark metropolitan area fits the climate we usually see in comics. Maybe throw in Staten Island as a little treat for New jersey.

In either case, the rest of the Justice League calls Batman Tony Soprano behind his back.

New York:

The NYC metro region with no city unification. Gotham is probably Manhattan, plus maybe Staten Island for rich people like Bruce.

Ohio:

A unified Cleveland-Akron-Canton metropolitan area with a higher population, maybe?

Rhode Island

My preferred headcanon: The Newport-Providence metropolitan area as a unified city. Bruce Wayne is old old money, some of the Wayne cousins were involved in the witch trials, and this fits the map published by Mayfair games.

Metropolis

Metropolis comes in two flavours: The more common one where Metropolis is a stand-in for an old East Coast US city, or; The Superman: TAS version where Metropolis is a new city, built under the influence of tech billionaire Lex Luthor. I like both.

If you like Clark and Lex as high school friends, that's not really compatible with a New Metro built by Lex Luthor. There's just not enough time for Lex to build anything more than a small suburb. But Lex could be manoeuvring to take control of Metropolis from his family, or from some other DCU billionaire like Simon Stagg.

Connecticut:

There are two good regions in Connecticut to place a fictional city: The Bridgeport-New Haven region, or; The area between the Connecticut River and Thames River.

The Bridgeport-New Haven version better fits the Old Metropolis version, but can also be used for the New Metro version. If you're going for Old Metro, in reality this area did industrialize before the NYC area (Which was dominated by shipping before it picked up light manufacturing), but the early industrialists didn't invest enough in the trade schools or financial institutions that would have let them keep that early advantage. Have a few mill owners and canal companies invest in engineering schools, have later industrial barons invest in office equipment manufacturing and chemical engineering, and you have your Old Metro. For your New Metro, genius tech billionaire Lex Luthor plants a few factories in the major population centres, buys up golf courses to turn them into company towns with inexpensive mid-density housing, and then uses his political and economic influence to pressure the municipalities to merge into his new Metropolis. This version of the New Metro will have more old architecture, but that's not a bad thing.

The Connecticut River-Thames River region fits either version. For an Old Metro, just have the area invest in trades and technical schools as with the Bridgeport-New Haven region. There are old whaling towns in this area so the region could move into shipbuilding, marine alloys engineering, and later railcars and elevators and escalators. This is an easy place to plant a fictional new city, with a low urban population and lots of farms, golf course, and camp/resort sites to buy out. An ambitious billionaire or group of wealthy investors could start a new urban centre with relative ease.

Delaware:

Most of the Delmarva region is mud. You're not going to build many skyscrapers here. But you could fit some in along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

A Metropolis on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal would probably be smaller than Metropolis is usually shown as, with maybe two million inhabitants instead of six-eight million. But this is comic books, so go with what feels right to your heart.

This works equally well for New or Old Metro.

New Jersey:

Have Bayonne & Newark industrialize early, deliver Staten Island unto New Jersey, invest heavily in education and financial institutions, unify Bayonne-Newark-Staten Island, and bada-bing bada-boom Lois Lane sounds like Carmela Soprano.

Staten Island isn't necessary, but you gotta put the fancy houses and big parks somewhere.

Works best with the Old Metro approach, but you could also have investors take over the urban area and push a lot of redevelopment.

New York:

There are a couple of good places in New York state for Metropolis.

For a New Metro, try the Chaumont Bay-Guffin Bay region. Access to rail, road, air, and sea shipping, and lots of tradespeople and professionals in nearby cities who are desperate for inexpensive housing.

For an Old Metro, you can't go wrong with a thinly-disguised NYC. Just file off the serial numbers, maybe some new rims, and drive it like you stole it.

Smallville

Generic East Coast:

If you're like me and prefer the feel of Bronze Age Smallville, you might want to keep Smallville as an East Coast town. This is easy. There's no reason for Smallville to be in the same state as Metropolis, so it can be anywhere from Maryland to Massachusetts. Towards the end of the Bronze Age it was generally described as vaguely New Jersey or Pennsylvania. East Coasters can entertain themselves imagining Clark Kent, MetU freshman, trying to order a pork roll and water ice in the Metropolis version of Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop.

Kansas:

The Flint Hills region matches modern continuity and the look of both the Smallville series and Bronze Age comics. Lawrence is a good model.

Special Mention: Susquehanna River

BludBluehaven: Great place for Nightwing to relocate to, regardless of where your Gotham is.

Gotham: Replaces Baltimore and/or Philadelphia as a rail and sea hub.

Metropolis: Great for the New Metro.

Opal City: Gotta go somewhere, and this matches the map DC published.

Smallville: Depends on what version you prefer.

What About The Teen Titans?

Fuck Marv Wolfman, that's what.

[atomicwinnerdreamland]

Heyyyyyy I saw you were taking requests :)

Can we please have some NY and Louisiana hc’s?

Hii! Yes of course :D

New York:

-He likes to paint and read. His favorite things to paint are sunsets/sunrises, architecture (CA's Golden Gate, FL's Disney World, his own buildings, etc), and plants. His favorite types of books to read are psychological thriller, fantasy, and coming of age classics (occasionally romance as well, though he'd never admit it)

-He and California have little arguments where they talk about how similar they are to each other. "I have the Brooklyn Bridge!" "Well I have the Golden Gate!" "I have the New York Times, you copycat!" "No you're the copycat, I have the Los Angeles Times!" They're not really arguments though since these conversations usually end in laughter.

-Speaking of the NYT, he likes to journal. Whenever he can't resort to violence to let out emotions, he writes his feelings out on the nearest piece of paper he can find. Sometimes he burns them, other times he keeps them in a special drawer to read for later. He also likes to write little moments that occur in his life that he finds interesting; like eating good food, making a snowman, discovering a new song he knows he'll hyperfixate on for months, etc. He also likes to write books, though most of the time they're just little picture books you could read to kids because that's all he has time for

-I've mentioned this before, but New York plays board games with California. He wins against Cal in Monopoly but loses against him in Uno. New York also plays games (board games and party games) against his northeastern besties and he's very competitive when doing so.

-He's a fashion icon. The other states ask him for fashion advice and he delivers since fashion is a passion for him 💅 He's been told he could be a model, but he never actively pursued a modeling career bc of his statehouse responsibilities

-I feel like he'd be a huge fan of Taylor Swift, especially 1989 TV. Evermore's another one of her albums that he vibes with since a song called coney island's on it and bc it's a calming album for him :)

-He's friendly to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. All three states are kind and don't annoy him, and New York appreciates that. They also all play in the snow at times. He also has a soft spot for Indiana, Wyoming, and Alaska.

-This one's a popular one, but my baby over here has insomnia. The only way he can get a true night's rest is if somebody's there to cuddle him ane calm his mind down, like *coughs* California. This fic by @alaskashigh is a great example of this if you want to read one :)

-Him and Illinois get along well. They buy each other coats for the winter and argue a lot about pizza and sports teams. Through this, New York managed to get along with Indiana and Minnesota, and now all three of them like to grocery shop together lol

-When that whole fiasco of the skies turning orange occured in the Northeast, the first person New York turned to was California, and rightfully so. California helped patch New York up and gave him advice on how to deal with stuff like that. New York told the rest of the NE what Cal told him so that they also know what to do.

-He shows he cares through gifts and actions. He doesn't say "I love you" very often, but he'd hurt anyone who hurts his loved ones, give you his coat when you're cold, make you some food, or plants specific flowers when he finds out what flowers you like. New Jersey usually helps New York with the planting part, and that's one of the rare times those 2 get along.

Louisiana:

-Louisiana hangs out in the woods with Florida and Texas just to get away from the Statehouse and to gossip.

-One of his favorite songs ever is House of the Rising Sun, and he never misses an opportunity to sing it. You can hear him sing it while he cooks, cleans, or when he does really anything. The states aren't annoyed about it though because his voice is captivating.

-He's a very comforting person. The states go to him whenever they need somebody to talk to because Loui can do it all: he can listen, cook, and make jokes.. whatever you need to feel better.

-He enjoys learning about old folk tales, urban legends, and superstitions in the US and around the world. The states often catch him watching paranormal true crime documentaries with a grin on his face, and the only state that's not unsettled by this is Florida.

-Speaking of Florida, he and Florida go on dates by doing the most dangerous stuff. Skydiving without parachutes, doing hit and runs, armed robbery in important government buildings just to make Gov mad, whatever crazy things these goons can think of. But on other times where they're feeling relaxed, their dates are just them cuddling or eating. They enjoy both bc they have each other :)

-(TW: suicide, death) If he was a normal person, he'd be dead a long time ago. He's been stabbed, shot at, beat up, hanged, basically killed, but since he's a personification he just sustained the injuries and went on about his day. When he found out he was a personification, he killed himself just to see what'd happen. Would he clearly see the paranormal stuff he likes so much? Would he see an afterlife? Imagine his surprise when nothing happened to him.

-He can read, but he just doesn't want to. He just likes to read his Mama's recipes and children's books. When New York makes a new children's book, Loui usually asks him if he can read it, and New York lets him.

-He was a nice kid in high school. Respectful to his Mama, probably indulged in some sports, escaped to the woods once in a while, and had a decent group of friends that were just as wild as him. He's the type of guy to not make any enemies, and he was one of those rare ones who were good looking in high school (I wish that were me lmao)

-He and Texas are buddies and cook together a lot. When Louisiana needs help with anything, especially natural disasters, Texas is the first one to make sure he's okay and vice versa. When Florida's off doing... something that definitely is a threat to his life and/or someone else's (aka being himself), Loui and Texas go to parties together. Loui gets drunk and usually almost blacks out whereas Texas only takes a couple drinks to make sure he and Loui get back home safe. They got each other's backs, basically.

-He and South Dakota get along most of the time, and the only time they don't is when SD talks about Pierre and pronounces it "peer". Loui doesn't take it too seriously, but they like to jokingly argue about it.

-He has a big heart and it's obvious. He likes to show love through his words and his actions. Like New York, he wouldn't hesitate to throw a punch to someone who has hurt you, but he also would stop whatever he's doing to make sure you feel loved and taken care of. He's almost burned the statehouse down once because he was comforting his buddy Arkansas, but California was around to stop this potential fire. He also likes to say he cares about you, you can occasionally hear him say je t'aime mon amour/mon ami(e) & tu es magnifique. (I love you, my love/my friend & you are beautiful).

That's all I have for now, thank you for the ask :D

[glorious-spoon]

9 and any Stranger Things ship for the wrapped meme

Thank you! Number 9 this year was Limelight, by Rush. Here's a bit of pre-relationship Steddie featuring Eddie's complicated feelings about his hometown - I hope you enjoy!

-

title: get on with the fascination [on AO3]

word count: ~1900

-

Fifteen years after the world doesn't end, Eddie Munson returns to Hawkins.

It's a dramatic phrasing, even in his own head; for one thing, this is far from the first time he's been back since the summer of 1986, although the last time was almost a decade ago. He doesn't call it going home. Home is New York, and sometimes Chicago these days, which is as close to Roane County as he usually wants to get. Home, as far as it ever existed for him in Hawkins, was a trailer that got dropped into an alternate dimension along with a good chunk of the town the same night Eddie almost died. Home is the little house over the Illinois border where Wayne has lived since '91. Home sure as shit isn't here.

"You planning on brooding this whole time, or what?" Steve asks from across the booth. The bar they're currently sitting in is no longer called The Hideout; at some point in the last fifteen years, it's been rebranded to On The Rocks Bar And Grill. There's a fresh coat of paint on the walls and a layer of new laminate flooring over the old asbestos tile. Draft taps and an honest-to-god raised stage instead of the grimy corner where the old band used to play. At the turn of the millennium, Hawkins is finally gentrifying.

"I'm not brooding."

"Yeah, man, you totally are. Could we get a couple of refills? Thanks so much," he adds to the waitress who pauses by their table to ask if they need anything. She doesn't seem to recognize Eddie. Too young to remember him from his illustrious youth here, and apparently not into the metal scene, thank fucking Christ. For the most part, he kind of likes it when strangers come up to him in public—two platinum records in and it still hasn't lost its novelty—but not here. Not in Hawkins. This place still feels fucking cursed.

"Are you buying me beer now, Harrington?"

"You're the big-shot rockstar," Steve points out with a shit-eating grin. "You're buying."

"Ugh," Eddie groans, and puts his head down on the table, which doesn't even have the decency to be sticky. "Remind me again why I agreed to this?"

"I don't know. Closure?"

"Next time I decide to do something this shit-stupid, can you do me a favor and just, like, duct tape me to a chair or something?"

"Kinky," Steve says dryly, but he's still smiling when Eddie lifts his head to glare at him. Eddie should probably be less of a dick about this, given that Steve is only here for moral support; he doesn't live in Hawkins either these days. He's up in Chicago with Robin, who would also probably be here if she weren't mired in stacks of midterm papers on film theory from her earnest little freshman ducklings. Steve makes his own hours, so it's not that much of a surprise that he closed up shop and drove down here and didn't bother to call until he'd already crossed the county line, at which point Eddie was winding himself up into a dangerous head of steam and was grateful for any distraction that offered itself.

And Steve is the best kind of distraction. Always has been. Even now, kicked back in a bar booth in all his yuppie glory, sipping the last of his beer and scanning the bar every now and then with a wariness that Eddie hasn't seen from him in a while. Because Eddie isn't the only one who left a headful of ghosts behind in Hawkins, Indiana. He forgets that sometimes.

"Thank you, by the way," he says. "Did I say that yet?"

"Nah. Mostly you've just been, like, bemoaning your life."

"Bemoaning," Eddie repeats, delighted. "We'll make a poet of you yet, Stevie."

"In your dreams," Steve says mildly.

"Oh, every night, baby."

That gets him a scoff, but it's a fond one. The waitress comes back with their drinks, and he leans back out of her way to let her set them down and clear away their empty glasses. Steve thanks her again, and this time Eddie does too, because there's only so much wallowing that Steve will let him get away with and he's probably closing in on that limit quickly. Still, all Steve actually says once she leaves is, "So what's the plan, then? You're meeting the interviewers at, what, three?"

"Yeah," Eddie sighs. "I don't fucking know. They wanted me to, like, walk them around and show them the old sights, which sounded like a great idea when Marleen pitched it, but now it's like, what old sights? Oh, here's where the basketball team tried to kick my skull in. Here's where the football team tried to kick my skull in. Here's the picnic table where I used to sell weed out of my lunch box. Here's where my trailer was before a girl died there and it got sucked into the shadow dimension, except—oops!—can't tell you shit about that because I signed a stack of confidentiality agreements almost as tall as me. But they're still gonna ask." He lets out a long sigh and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes. "They're gonna want me to talk about Chrissy."

"So you tell them to go to hell."

He barks a laugh. "Easy as that, huh?"

"You've never had trouble with it before," Steve says with a shrug.

That's true enough. Eddie sighs again and reaches for his beer. "This place is fucking me up. No, there is actually a plan. We're gonna stop by the high school after it's cleared out and do the interview there, it's all set up. You know they put up a plaque with my name on it outside the drama room?"

Steve laughs. "No shit?"

"Yeah, apparently there was a vicious battle about it on the school board. Real fire and brimstone shit, went on for months. Henderson's mom led the charge on my behalf, I got the whole story from him."

"Jesus," Steve says. And then, "Shit, we should go see her while we're in town."

"You're just hoping she'll feed you."

"Well, yeah," Steve says. "I've been living on my own cooking since…" he waves a hand and makes a face. "You know. Since everything went south with Jerry."

Jerry was the latest in a series of attractive people of varying genders that Steve has dated over the last ten years, since he moved to Chicago and figured his shit out. Eddie kind of hated the guy, but it wasn't personal. He was objectively probably a perfectly fine person, and it wasn't his fault that Eddie fell head over heels for a hot monster-slaying jock in the spring of 1986 and never entirely recovered. Though, as he's now reminded, it's been a long time since he and Steve were both single at the same time, and the last time that happened, he still thought Steve was straight.

He tries to swallow that thought down with a mouthful of beer, but it lingers like a strange spiky shape in the back of his throat. "So, how's all that going, anyway?"

Steve groans dramatically.

"An encouraging response."

"No, it's fine. I'm, like, totally over him at this point. I just… I don't know, I figured I'd be past all this shit by now, you know? Thought I'd settle down, get my life together, find somebody who…" he trails off.

"Who…?" Eddie repeats leadingly.

"I don't know. Somebody who gets it. Somebody I don't have to, like, lie to."

"That's a tall order, my friend."

"Yeah, I guess," Steve mutters. He's looking at his beer, rubbing a thumb against the wedge-shaped scar bisecting his lower lip. He's got a lot of scars, and Eddie knows the story to most of them, even the ones he wasn't personally present for. But he supposes that he can see how it would wear on Steve, inventing explanations for them that aren't about being tortured by Russian spies or eaten alive by interdimensional monsters. Steve's not much of a liar, when it comes down to it. Eddie doesn't mind spinning fantastical stories to obscure the ugly truth, but they're wired differently that way.

"Hey," Eddie says. He taps his fingernails against Steve's glass and waits for him to look up. "Listen, I'm sorry I brought it up."

Steve smiles a little. "It's fine. Seriously. Robin says I'm being a sad sack, and she's probably right."

"Mm. Probably, but I am not the sensible Professor Doctor Buckley, am I?"

"God, you know she hates it when you call her that."

"She's the one who decided to get a PhD. Masochism, in my strong opinion."

"Oh, we all know," Steve says. He glances over Eddie's shoulder at the clock, then says, "Probably ought to get going if you want to make your interview on time."

"And Marleen has promised to string me up by my metaphorical balls if I show up late for another one," Eddie sighs. He drains the last of his beer and stands, digging his wallet out.

After they pay and head outside, Steve lingers by the side of the brick building, facing the road. It's a sunny day, breezy and crisp, pale wisps of clouds moving fast across the blue sky, and something about it makes Eddie's chest pinch with a strange nostalgia. Something about the way Steve looks right now, in his stylish yet dorky windbreaker with his hair tossed by the breeze. It's shorter now than he used to wear it but he really doesn't look that different at thirty-four than he did at nineteen. Older, sure, but it suits him.

"After I'm done with all this shit," Eddie says. "You wanna go get high at the quarry? You know, for old times' sake?"

Steve laughs softly, eyes crinkling. "Does it really count if we're not smoking in the back of your van?"

"True. Pretty sure I wouldn't get the deposit back on my rental if I turn it in smelling like grass, either."

"We can take my car," Steve says.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. If you want."

"You wanna crash with me after? So you don't have to drive all the way back home tonight, I mean? The room they booked me is, like, palatial. I didn't even know they had places that nice around here."

Steve glances at him again, rubbing his jaw. It wouldn't be the first time they've shared a hotel room, but there's a different context now. For one thing, they can both afford separate rooms these days. For another, Eddie's got that itch that means he's probably gonna do something reckless, and he's not even sure he wants to try to stop it.

If he and Steve go smoke up by the quarry where they spent the last summer of Eddie's teens, he's going to confess something, he's pretty sure of it. Lay it all on the line for Steve, after all this time. He's starting to think that might not even be the worst idea he's ever had. Steve is here, after all.

"Yeah, okay," Steve says, finally. He bumps his shoulder against Eddie's, and Eddie leans back into the solid warmth of him, and takes a deep breath of cool spring air, and watches the Hawkins traffic pass them by.

Tomorrow, he'll be gone. Maybe, if this doesn't all blow up in his face, he'll go back to Chicago with Steve. Hawkins is a place he's outgrown years ago, and whatever story comes out of this interview is never going to be anything other than a media-crafted shadow of the truth, but honestly, that's never been what mattered in the end.

"It's a date, then," he says, and when he glances over at Steve, he finds him already smiling back.

[kaz-playz]

Tell a friend to tell a friend, she's baaaack!

~~~~

New York: When was the last time you cried?

California: Uh 15 minutes ago, why??

New York: really? That recent?

California: Yeah *voice crack* is that a issue? *starts crying again*

~~~~

Alaska, to Texas: If you see California, give them this message *makes a neutral face*

Alaska: They'll know what it means.

*later*

Texas: oh, and Alaska said to give you a message.

Texas: *makes a neutral face*

California: Oh no. The neutral face of displeasure.

~~~~

Texas/Florida: Hold on! I’m having one of those things... a headache with pictures.

California: What the fuck?

New York: They’re having an idea.

~~~~

California: *walks into the kitchen, ignoring everyone*

Alaska: Hey, California, how was your day?

California: *picks up an onion and bites into it, staring at Alaska* Hell.

Texas, watching this unfold: *whispers* Who hurt you?

~~~~

Illinois: *Takes a sip of milk and gags*

Illinois: Oh my god, is this expired?

Illinois: *Takes another sip of milk*

~~~~

California: Can we go to a haunted house?

New York: What’s wrong with the one we live in?

California: Wh-what?

New York: Goodnight, California.

~~~~

California: There. How do I look?

Alaska: Like a cheap French harlot.

California: French?!

~~~~

California: I’m going to hell.

New York: Probably.

California: I'll pick you up?

New York: *nodding* Carpool.

~~~~

California: Sometimes I get so caught up on being gay that I forget I’m actually bi.

~~~~

(Trick question, they're both the disaster couple.)

Alaska: Ah, yes. Here we have a beautiful couple...

Texas: I really care about your feelings!

California: I really care about YOUR feelings!

Alaska, turning their head: ...and then there's the disaster couple...

New York: YOU NEED TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO ME INSTEAD OF BEING AT THE HOSPITAL!

Illinois: I WOULDN'T HAVE TO SPEND SO MUCH TIME AT THE HOSPITAL IF YOU STOPPED INSISTING ON FIGHTING EVERYONE WHO COMES WITHIN A FIVE FOOT RADIUS OF YOU!

~~~~

*New York is talking about their past*

New York: I guess it was that day I came home to a cold, empty house, devoid of light and love, and I knew then that my sorrows would only grow.

Texas: New York, this is the saddest life story I have ever heard! And you haven't even covered the teen years!

California: Oh, I'm sure it gets better!

New York: Ha! No, at eleven, things really took a turn for the worst.

~~~~

Alaska: I need life advice.

California, sipping Gatorade and eating cookie dough: You came to the right person.

~~~~

California: I can't believe you've done this.....

New York: I'm sorry I didn't know-!

California, on the verge of tears: YOU CAN'T JUST BUY ME A GIFT OUT OF NOWHERE NOW I FEEL LIKE A HUGE ASSHOLE!

~~~~

Police Officer: You have the right to remain silent.

Florida: I choose to waive that right!

Florida: *screaming*

~~~~

California: You’d be stupid to lay a hand on me.

Texas: Oh, you’d be surprised how much stupid shit I do.

~~~~

California: New York! This soup is flaccid!

New York: LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS MEAN?!

~~~~

Alaska: How do you do that?

Texas: I'm fearless.

Illinois: I saw you run from bees yesterday. You flailed around and tripped over a chair. It was both hysterical and sad.

Texas: I'm mostly fearless.

[razorsadness]

We start, heading north from the Prairie State into the Dairy State. As we cross the border, Illinois State Route 137 becomes Wisconsin State Highway 32. We drive, past bars and auto mechanics, parks and cemeteries, family restaurants that no longer exist, parking lots where I once loitered. Between 58th and 50th streets lies what is, for me, the nexus of the Kenosha stretch; one of my homes, though I’ve never lived there. To the east, my best friend’s apartment, as well as the diners I wasted so many nights at in my teens and early twenties, and the bars I wasted my nights at after turning 21 (before heading back to the diners to sober up over fries and coffee). There’s Lou Perrine’s, where I’ve stopped a hundred, a thousand times to buy snacks and water, to gas up on my way north. And to the west, the Metra Union Pacific North Line station, that train I so often rode to and from Chicago.

Just past the city, right next to Carthage College, there’s a beach along Lake Michigan. One night, long ago, leaving a lover’s house too late, I parked my car there. I sat gazing at the moon reflected on the ink-dark water, and then saw these shapes—a scattering of Great Blue herons. Most of them rested atop the gentle waves near the shore, their heads tucked beneath their wings. One stood guard in the shallows, and when I got out of my car to get a closer look, he flapped his wings at me, a strange angel in the dark.

Highway 32 was a main thoroughfare, before the advent of the freeways and interstates, and in many places along it you can still see the remnants of that past. On the stretch between Kenosha and Racine there are several lakeside motels. Their names read like a poem: Beach Aire, Red Oaks, White Bricks, Bluebird. Their signs still boast of weekly rates, color TV, A/C. Some of them even have individual cottage-style rooms to let, and for years I have longed to stay in one of those rooms and write for a night or two, just me and my typewriter and a view of the lake.

—Jessie Lynn McMains, from "I Dream a Highway"

[rustbeltjessie]

7 Snippets 7 People

Thanks to @blind-the-winds for tagging me!

The idea for this is to share seven out-of-context snippets of your own writing, and tag seven other people to do the same. Unfortunately, my brain is fried right now, and I can't even think of seven writer-mutuals (even though I'm positive I have many, many more than seven) to tag. So just know that if you're seeing this, and you're a writer and want to share, please consider yourself tagged; and tag me when you share, because I'd love to read it!

Since I'm not supposed to give context, I won't. All I'll say is there's some poetry and some prose (and some prose poetry!), some fiction and some non.

I ask if I can flip through the 45s and pick the next tune. "Sure," she says, and I do, slow and casual, like I don't know what I'm looking for, until I find it. Tobi Legend—"Time Will Pass You By." I want to tell you everything about this song and where I first heard it. About Wigan Casino in the early '70s, the "3 before 8," those songs they played every morning after we'd danced all night. How it was my inside joke with myself, doing the soul glide—slide one foot, swivel the other, I wish I could show you those moves right now—to those songs about time passing. Tobi's was my favorite. The passion rending her voice. The jumping beat paired with the swell of the strings. The lyrics—those bleary mornings, I always wondered if they meant as much to anyone else in the club as they did to me. But I can't tell you any of that.

—

You are a fried egg sandwich. On a winter day in Philadelphia when I'm down to my last three dollars & I'm hungry & cold. I mean you are, specifically, the sandwich I ate that day, just before Christmas, when I'd been wandering the wet streets of Philadelphia for hours, that day I watched the lights sparkle off tinsel & wrapping in store windows, displays of presents & mistletoe,

—

Lento, I say now. Lento, though the music of those years was fast and harsh. Slow it down. Keep us here, just a while longer.

Here, this pause between everything which came before and everything that would come after. Here, saying our last goodbyes to the star-doomed lovers; here, in a blood-red car, on a Baltimore-bound highway. My rock’n’roll sister and I in that burning room, where we slammed like boys, then batted girl-lashes to tempt the boys into buying us beer. The gold foam of it, the distorted fuzz of amplifiers. The night’s black eye.

—

It was weird, right. The five of us had been friends since we were babies, practically; we were inseparable as sisters and hung around at each other's houses so much you could hardly say who lived where. But I guess even sisters have their quarrels. I guess we've all got some ugly shit in us and we're most likely to take it out on the people we're closest to. And of course, it was summer, and the sticky heat made us mean. It was summer, and we were 12, and we were bored, and there was fuck-all to do in Mound City, Illinois.

—

Q: What do you call it when dead girls fuck? A: Two coffins bangin' together.

—

Blue as the churchbells ringing six times in the blue hour. Blue as an hour’s three twilights: civil, nautical, astronomical. Blue as sex, as sin. Blue, also, as the astronomical heavenblue of the Virgin’s robes. Blue as Mater Dolorosa; her punctured, burning heart, her seven sacred sorrows. Blue as a claddagh ring worn on a right hand with the heart’s point facing out towards the fingertips; blue as a claddagh that will never be turned in. Blue as a pigeon, dead in the gutter. Blue as the gutter we lay in, drunk, and the nightblue heaven of stars we wished on. Blue as a wish that can’t come true.

—

And thank you hum of nighttime, my sleepless lullaby—the air filter in the hallway, the nearby airport's machinations, and the trains (always the trains). And (thank you) the voice of a favorite singer, the whiskeyed gravel, the Midwest desperation, the loneliness, the smoke. And thank you the rain bringing toadstools to my garden, and the autumn.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

It’s dark, and it needs work. But, it’s got some great features, and the real estate ad says it can possibly be used for a business (noooooo, not an office!). This 1900 Victorian is located in Macomb, Illinois, has 3bd. 2.5ba, and is listed for only $107K. Give it a look. 

The first thing we see as we enter is beautiful original wood & floors. I would like to see what’s under that carpet and the wood wall looks like it’s been stripped and re-stained, so it needs some sealer.

You can just see a glimpse of the beautiful ceiling millwork.

Wow, gorgeous fireplace. Also, the carpet really matches the wallpaper. It could stay awhile.

Look at the fabulous floors. Love that. 

Windows w/original wood- look at that dental crown molding! I don’t think that the tiny corbels are original, though.

Gold ceiling, medallion and beautiful chandelier. Love the door and columns. It’s dark, but there’s some lovely millwork on the right.

Another original door, ceiling beams, and a cool light fixture. Love the walls, too. Must be the dining room.

You can see that gorgeous fireplace from here and look at the size of the crown molding.

Wow, the windows in the turret out front. Look at the beautifully detailed crown molding. 

Hmmm...looks like a picnic bench up there. Don’t like the kitchen, it’s a dated reno, but it’s not urgent. It’s still a useable kitchen for now. Plus, the appliances are new.

This bathroom has been painted over, and it would look great with reproduction Victorian plumbing fixtures.

There’s a lot of wallpaper in this house. Some of it should be removed, which is a lot of work.

The hall to the bedrooms still has the original gas light fixture on the wall. 

Not lovin’ the shower, but the pedestal sink is cool. 

This bd. needs some sprucing up.

Bd. set up as a family room. Loving all the original doors.

Why do they keep it so dark? Open the shades. Looks like a nice new floor in here.

Is that a grapevine? I LOVE grapevines. My grandparents had one and I couldn’t get enough of those sweet Concord grapes. 

Nice little porch on the back.

Large yard with a garage.

Oh, how can you resist this? Look at how pretty she is. I hope an office doesn’t buy it, it needs to stay a house.

https://www.century21.com/property/501-n-lafayette-street-macomb-il-61455-C2182973690

[frances-baby-houseman]

I do not know if you need a lawyer to buy a house in other states! My mom in georgia says you don't and my dad who has houses in ga and nc says you do. So I don't know! I have only bought houses here in illinois where we have had between 1 and 7000 attorneys involved.