I'll call the landlord in the morning.

Last night our oven door broke. Actually, that's putting it mildly. It shattered into a million pieces. I keep the latch on the lock position now that Luke is mobile, and lately it's been getting stuck. I turned the oven on to broil some sweet potato fries, and then when the oven was hot, I couldn't open the door. I had unlocked it, but it was stuck. I wiggled the door handle until the oven was rocking slightly, so I stopped, turned it off, and sauted the fries on the stove top. When Zach got home, he pulled on the door once, twice and then a third time, wherein the handle ended up in his hands and no longer connected to the door, and we watched the shards of glass cascade onto the floor. Luke started crying, and Zach and I stood there in awe. Finally he said "I'll clean it up". So this is one perk of renting and not owning a home. I called the landlord this morning and told them we needed a new stove door, and they said "Okay. We'll send someone out to take a look". Despite this and other small benefits of renting, we would still really like to own a home. The problem is that the North Shore is expensive, and we are living off of one income for the time being. We've been looking at real estate for a few months now, Zach's gone to a seminar for first-time homebuyers, and we've been preapproved by our credit union. The whole process stresses me out beyond belief, so I'm trying to keep any emotions out of it. I think the thought of owning a home really just scares me, because that means we're "tied down". We can't just pick up and go. We would have to sell the house first. I know it's important to build equity, and it really does make sense for us to own, especially since the cost of rent isn't much less than a mortgage. It just feels like such an adult thing to own a home, more so to me than having a baby.