I'm such a whiner

Lately, I'm becoming increasingly aware of how sad and creepy our neighborhood is. The other day, we were driving home in silence and I was scanning the tagged concrete walls along the freeway and sighed, "I wouldn't mind moving to a nicer city." I've always known that we don't live in the best area of Sacramento, and I also know it's not the worst. Our street itself is quiet (if you can drown out the incessant barking from the neighbor's dogs) and relatively clean. Even the streets in our immediate vicinity are decent (when there aren't GIANT piles of garbage sitting in the gutters). Once you venture out beyond a 200-yard radius, it starts to look rundown and sketchy. Mind you, I don't feel like I'll get shot if I wander outside, but you definitely won't find me walking the dog after dark. I don't think it's too much to ask to feel safe in my own surroundings. Yes, I know crime can happen anywhere, and if that's the case, shouldn't common sense and decency happen anywhere? The prime example I can think of is the grocery store. I don't even know how many times have I walked into my local-to-remain-nameless-grocery store to find that wife-beaters and pajama pants were the unofficial uniform of the day. Really people? Is there no pride or sense of decency in the world? And that pile of garbage in front of your house? Are you planning on taking it anywhere or is a magical Garbage Elf going to whisk it away for you? And if so, why didn't anyone tell me about such elves (I could really use an extra pair of tiny hands around the house)? And really, are we still spray painting gang affiliations on walls along the freeways?

Ghettoness aside, I do like our house. It's new-ish and we haven't had any major problems. That said, I do daydream about an adorable Spanish style home with a terra cotta roof and archways everywhere, inside and out. And you know what? Those homes don't exist in our price range in this city. And I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but any decent house in a decent neighborhood is way beyond what we want to spend.

We have toyed with the idea of moving out of the area someday but no plans are in the works yet. We both have pretty stable jobs here and both of our families are close by. I guess if there isn't any definitive push to leave (i.e. job relocation or something similar), I have a hard time justifying a move. I guess untill that happens, I'll continue to have this itch.