From Yahoo! Homes' ever-busy What the ... Department (of which I am executive director, treasurer and receptionist), here is perhaps the most bizarre property listing you'll ever come across:

Barbie's Dreamhouse is listed on Trulia for $25 million.

That's right. The pink plastic one. The one that isn't real*.

Stories like this are always tricky to report. It's a naked gambit by Mattel for publicity, of course, which probably ought to make it an automatic "ignore." (And darn it, the listing isn't on the Yahoo!-Zillow Real Estate Network, either. Boooo.) But at the same time it's a little, well, irresistible ... right? We're assuming some part of you must agree if you're reading this.

So we're succumbing to temptation.

The story goes that Barbie has lived in Malibu, Calif., for more than 40 years, but she's ready for a change. She says she's open to "all seven continents" and is eager to try out her skills with "over 37 languages" she's picked up in her lifetime. And she doesn't require

(Portable power generator | Thinkstock)

We take it on faith that more Super Bowl watchers were dismayed by the 34-minute football-viewing interruption than were alarmed by the implications of the instantly infamous power outage. Those who do stress about such matters, particularly New Orleans city officials along with Entergy, the utility company, haven’t officially identified the root cause, leading many to speculate that the power grid was overtaxed.

Yet, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and other major storms that have struck the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in recent years, it’s evident that many homeowners are waking up to the fact that once power is knocked out, it’s unlikely to be rekindled in a half hour. At what point does being prepared with a backup power supply such as a home generator begin to make sense? Has the Super Bowl blackout convinced you to invest in a portable power generator?

The case for it is clear: Anyone displaced by a storm for more than a few days knows that expenses can add up quickly and

Well, who knew: Turns out there's quite the cottage industry in real estate infographics based on "The Simpsons." Just last week, we published one that put a price tag on Homer and Marge's house in Springfield, Ore.; today, we received an email from Dimespring pointing out its equally fun graphic taking a look at values for "Simpsons"-like houses in various Springfields across the U.S.

We debated briefly about whether this was too much Simpsons fun for one blog, then collapsed in laughter at what a dumb question that was. You can never have too much "Simpsons"!

You'll see evidence that the graphic is a little dated. Still, we think it's a nice bit of whimsy to share during a workweek that has all too many business days left before the weekend. Hope you agree:

(Credit: Ryan Smith, Dimespring)

More infographics on Yahoo! Homes:

• How much is the "Simpsons" house worth?
• Decorating your home on a budget
• Rental costs, city vs. suburbs
• What color to paint your rooms, and why

Like everything else, mortgage interest rates fluctuate based on supply, demand and inflation. But it's not just how many loans borrowers want that matters – interest rates are perhaps most affected by what's happening in the secondary mortgage market.

The secondary mortgage market is where loans and servicing rights are sold by market leaders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bought by investors such as mutual fund companies, banks, hedge funds, and teacher and municipal pension funds.

Short-term loans. One- to five-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) and other short-term loans generally track the Federal Reserve's Federal Funds interest rate. In some instances, ARMs are tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), London's Fed Funds equivalent. (In that case, it's called the LIBOR rate, not the Fed Funds rate, and it directly affects interest rates in Europe as well as in the U.S.)

The Fed Funds rate and LIBOR are the interest rates that banks charge each other to lend money

It's not often we get to write about home listings that break the nine-figure barrier. Oh, sure, maybe there's a $90 million Woolworth Mansion or a twin mansion package or Yuri Milner's $100 million boondoggle of a house (which the county assessor said was worth half the price). Gianni Versace's Miami villa was listed at $125 million, but it's languishing on the market after a price cut to $100 million. The Spelling Manor was asking for $150 million, but ultimately sold for $85 million.

Now there's a new contender in the neighborhood -- and the neighborhood isn't California, or New York, or any coast at all.

The Crespi-Hicks estate, on 25 bucolic acres just five minutes from downtown Dallas, recently became the most expensive single-family home for sale in the nation, at $135 million. It has more than 40,000 square feet of living space, including a five-story main house, two guesthouses and a pool house, according to Forbes, and was built for the magnificently named Italian Count Pio

We've already admitted to a special weakness for infographics here at Yahoo! Homes -- and we have to say, Movoto Real Estate has really cornered the market on infographics in what they call "novelty real estate." (Their blog tagline: "The lighter side of real estate.") So when they sent along this infographic, attempting to put a price tag on Homer and Marge Simpsons' house, naturally we were unable to resist.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. And now, we'll let Movoto do the talking to explain how they come up with this crazy stuff the intellectual rigor that underpins the numbers. Everything that follows is written by Movoto:

Now in its 24th season, “The Simpsons” is among the country’s most well-loved television shows. Since airing in 1989, the show has garnered both rave reviews and legions of fans. Being diehard fans of the show ourselves, the Movoto Real Estate team combined our love for animation and housing to discover the real-life cost of the Simpsons’ house.

After we

(Photo: Greg Keraghosian)If you’re sold on the health benefits of working with a standing desk but not sold on spending hundreds of dollars for one, there is a way to save money and flex your DIY muscles: create your own adjustable desk.

The possibilities are limited only by your imagination -- we’ve seen Flickr photos of standing desks built with Coke cans (finally, Coke is healthy!), cinder blocks and shelves. But one popular, dirt-cheap idea centers around an IKEA side table that you can put atop your sitting desk. I thought I’d give it a test drive at my home office, and I’ve been using it for a month.

The $22 standing desk was invented by Colin Nederkoorn last year, and it’s as simple as it is cheap. Here are the components, all from IKEA (not including the screws):

• A Lack side table ($7.99 for the black version, a couple bucks more for other colors)
• Viktor shelf ($5.99)
• Two Ekby brackets ($4 each)

I stacked the 18-inch-tall table on top of my 30-inch desk, and I’ve been using it for a month with mostly