Dear Amy: There is a home in our neighborhood that sat empty for several years due to a foreclosure.
New buyers purchased the property and began extensive renovations.
Last month, postcards were sent to many of us in the neighborhood.
The postcard is a photo of the home’s exterior with a caption that reads, “We know you’re curious.”
The text on the back states that food and beverages will be served at the home, and stresses that everyone should “come see what we’ve done with the house.”
Word through the grapevine is that only a handful of people even bothered to RSVP. I suspect these newcomers are simply clueless, so for other readers who may have been fortunate enough to invest in a fixer-upper, here are some things to keep in mind:
Your house dragged down the value of ours over those long months. It’s nice that you can afford all new things for your home. We’d like to do some of that ourselves, but we either have no equity or had our equity line of credit reduced. Some of us were recently laid off and are struggling just to make mortgage payments.
Please excuse us for not wanting to come over to be escorted around the newly manicured grounds. — Suburban Party Pooper
Dear Pooper: Well, that’s one way to look at it.
Another way is to realize that the people who bought the house weren’t the ones who dragged down the value along the street — they’re not the problem but a possible solution.
They are also possibly clueless and grasping strivers who will soon be educated on the depths of suburban schadenfreude and envy.
Dear Amy: My wife and I recently returned from a 1,700-mile driving vacation. We traveled dirt roads, back roads, paved roads and freeways. One constant through the trip was that female drivers follow too closely!
More than 20 times I pulled off the road to let a female driver pass me because I was afraid of a rear-end accident. Not one time was it a man driving.
I am convinced that women do not understand the physics, the dynamics or the technologies related to automobile operations and all the things that can go wrong to a vehicle while driving. Deer, an accident ahead, a sudden stop or a look away — and there is no time left to react. My wife drove for 50 miles, and I was afraid for my life.
After 50 years of marriage, this is the only thing we argue about. Why won’t she change? She is quite intelligent in most other matters. I know this sounds chauvinistic, but I don’t mean to be. I need your help. — Worried
Dear Worried: There is no question that following too closely to the vehicle in front of you doesn’t leave a driver enough time to react, but in terms of your gender- based observations, national highway accident statistics show that male drivers are more than twice as likely to die in an auto crash than female drivers. Women are catching up, however.
You and your wife could both benefit from taking a safe driving course. You can check for details.
Dear Amy: You were right on target in your response to “Jessica,” who wanted to restrict her children’s official grandparents only to the four biological ones. I am a stepmother of three. My eldest recently married and thereupon became a stepmother herself to a 5-year-old.
This little girl has a total of eight loving, doting grandparents! What could possibly be wrong with that?
Of course, we may be unusual. After all, when my husband and I were married, the priest who officiated was his ex-wife (we’re Episcopalian).
Rock on, Amy! — “Stepping” Happily
Dear Stepping: You obviously are rocking on.
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