My Two Moms

Hello there.

So not only have I been overly busy the past few days with house stuff and work stress, but I've had a major case of writer's block.  There has been so much going on lately that it's like a traffic jam occurred in my brain. All the little cars are honking at each other, but no ones moving...

...I sincerely hope they all stopped for coffee this morning...

It doesn't help that not many new and exciting happenings have been going on around the Farmhouse.  It's been a lot of heating and air duct work and gutter installation, which, I'm sorry, but not even the comedy Greats can make that funny or interesting.

Well, maybe Carol Burnett...she's pretty awesome.

One exciting thing did happen though...the Farmhouse got painted!

....no...not by me....

  It took three weeks for me to come to the realization that I am not as talented as I had previously thought, so I made peace with my mediocrity, and then broke down and hired a painter...

 I know it's not a very budgety thing to do, but the amount of time it was taking me was
RE-DONK-U-LOUS and the babysitter costs were adding up, so I figured it was a justifiable expense....

Oh, did I mention my moms paid for it?

Yes, my moms. I have one biological mom, Sally, and one "common law" mom, Bonnie. 

No, it's not what you're thinking.

I'll take a minute to explain...

 Sally and Bonnie have been best friends since before any of us kids were born.  Both moms were married, both moms had kids, both moms got divorced.  Both moms, and all us whacky kids were always together, and I mean ALWAYS.  We essentially grew up as a family unit and we later decided to call ourselves, "the Nerd Family".  We hung out on week nights, we went out to dinner, we even went on vacations and spent Christmases together. All of us kids eventually grew up and moved out, and Bonnie, wanting to make a change, moved to California.  She didn't know anyone out there in sunny California, and the separation from her friend was tough, so when Sally retired a few years later, she moved out to California with Bonnie, and they have been living together as roomies ever since. They garden, do projects, do puzzles, take care of their many animals including two horses, and they always have a giant bag of Peanut M&M's on the coffee table, so yeah, they are pretty awesome.

Sure, they bicker like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men at times, but they are true best friends, like Idgie and Ruth in Fried Green Tomatoes....

...in fact, I'm pretty sure they would in deed BBQ a man in their backyard if it came down to it.... 

So, after talking with my mom on the phone and expressing my distress regarding the painting situation I'd gotten myself into, she and Bonnie decided to take action and help out, covering the cost for the painting as their housewarming gift to us. 

Talk about a HUUUGGGEEE weight off my shoulders. Yes, I still have to paint the porch spindles, the porch ceiling, the shutters and all the doors, but at least I can reach those areas without climbing up onto a 3 story death ladder...

So, if you are reading this moms, thank you for being so awesome.  And no, not just because you pay for stuff, but because you never want your children to be stressed or sad.  You have always given us everything we needed, made sure our childhoods were full of great memories, and stepped in when you knew we needed a little help.  Just know it hasn't gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

Love you both. 

Appreciate your mothers people.  You wouldn't be here without them.

Ok, that's enough of the sap.

 Now, I may not be able to lay claim to the beautiful paint job that was done, but I will take credit for finding an awesome painting crew who came out the DAY AFTER I called them,  had the most affordable quote, and they did a beautiful job...all in one day....

Seriously, there were people crawling all over the house in order to get it done quickly before the rain came....11 at one point to be exact...

...it kind of looked like ants on a giant marshmallow...

It looks awesome!

So I can officially now cross painting the main part of the house, OFF MY LIST!

Thank you Sean Ross Painting.
Thank you K & S Gutters.

Thank you Moms.  You're awesome.

:) Ashley





Picking a Home Plan:101

Hello.

We are not rich.

We aren't upper middle class.
 

 It has, however, been brought to my attention, that there are some folks out there who think otherwise.  They seem to think that because we own a little land, and are building our beautiful dream home, that this whole "building on the cheap" blog I've got going must all be a front aimed at concealing the fact that we keep our funds in Swiss bank accounts or we were lottery winners who escaped the media.

 Bless you all for thinking that, really, it is flattering, but it's just not true. 

We are two, self-employed, hard working people who work long hours, spend very little money on ourselves, bargain shop, drink Walmart wine, and create 4 different email addresses just to sign up for the same "10% off first purchase" coupon... it's true, and I'm not ashamed.

Anyways, I just wanted to address the few misconceptions, and tell you...

Sorry folks.
No extra cash here.
The only reason this Farmhouse is happening is because of a whole lotta patience and a boatload of hard work.
And wine.
And free Mad Men episodes on Netflix.

So, on to my topic of the day!

Picking a Home Plan: 101

(First, a little refresher back story for those of you who missed it several posts back)
 

This building process has been 4 years in the making...about the same time my nervous twitch and my issue with thinning hair started.

1.The Back Story

 First I stumbled upon our perfect little piece of deer carcass covered foreclosed land, and after a small bidding war that caused me to start chewing on my hair again, we won. We had finally found our perfect piece of land for a price we could afford. 
Then two years went by...Two years of dreaming about a house to put on the land. Two years of figuring out a budget that was comfortable for us. Two years of cleaning up piles of scrap metal, digging up thousands of pounds of concrete, and dismantling old shop buildings and tool sheds.  Two years of searching for the perfect home plan that fit our needs, but wouldn't require me to sell my kidney on the black market in order to pay for it.  Two years of being excited, but then feeling hopeless when we were convinced we wouldn't be able to make it work.  Two years of buying Walmart wine just to save a buck.

 It was two years of madness....but now we are finally underway. 

Lets just say, it was a lot of stress and worry and concern all packed into those two years.  I'm honestly surprised I still have any hair on top of my head and haven't been force fed mood stabilizers.
 

 

I'm not sure if I ever told you, but we had actually purchased two other sets of home plans as well as designed our own on a CAD program, before I changed my mind a FOURTH time...

....I just now realized why my husband came home with a shovel, a large tarp and a case of bleach that one night...

2.Make sure your House Plan will fit your growing family

  Our first plan was another farmhouse style, but it was a much smaller, more cost friendly plan.  I had loved it from the beginning, but I was always a little worried that we would feel a bit cramped as the days went on and the girls got bigger.  I love them, but I do need to escape them once in a while.  I didn't want to regret not picking a plan with more room, after all, we planned on dying in this house, so I figured it better be exactly what we wanted from the start.  So we decided that maybe that plan wasn't the right one after all, we ate the money we had spent on the plans, and started the search over again.

3. Don't Compromise

 The second set of plans was more geared towards my husband.  He had always wanted a ranch style home. Easier to build, better utilities and when we got old and our bones began crumbling, we wouldn't have to concern ourselves with stairs. So after MONTHS of hearing his arguments behind NOT wanting a two story, I went and dug a hole and found the shovel, tarp and bleach I finally decided that I couldn't stand to hear it one more time, and I settled on a lovely ranch style.  After we paid extra to have those plans tweaked to our liking, they were complete. We had estimates done to determine the foundation costs along with a few other materials lists, and we were set in motion....and then I had an awakening.  One day I went to my husband and expressed to him that I just wasn't sure this was right house for us. I did love the house, and it was beautiful with lots of space, but it didn't give me that "I'm home" warm and cozy feeling I was looking for.  He could finally tell that I wasn't going to be truly happy until I had my two story, classic farmhouse with the separated rooms, all bedrooms upstairs and full wrap around porch, so he decided to let me have this one, and we got to searching again.

4. Don't pretend to be Frank Lloyd Wright

We searched and searched and searched, but couldn't find the right house. So, I had the genius idea to design our own.  I went out and bought a Home Design program that allowed you to design everything from the ground up and even allowed you to print your own blueprints...

...lets just say, the amount of arguing over how to design this house was more than most could take, so we decided that it wasn't worth the stress and trashed that idea.

5. Take a Break

We took a break from the home plan madness and allowed a little time for my hair to grow back in and for my husbands drinking problem to subside.  After a month or so, we started back up.  As before, we searched and searched and searched....

...then FINALLY!!!

6. You'll know it when you see it!

I found it. I loved it. It had the space. It had the look. It had the layout. It was perfect.

It was my home.

We decided on this plan...

*When we first saw this photo they hadn't added the two dormers on either side of the roof peak yet*

 

It was perfect. I could picture it at Christmas time. I could picture the front porch covered in pumpkins and spider webs for Halloween.  I could picture drinking coffee on that porch in the early mornings.... sigh...
 

Oh... did I mention that this was the FIRST plan we ever looked at?
EVER?!
Even before the first, smaller farmhouse and the big beautiful ranch, and the CAD program nightmare... this was the house that made my heart flutter.  I didn't give it a second thought when I had first seen two years prior because at that time we were still stuck on finding a smaller, budget friendly house and therefore this big beauty was out of the question.

But she came back to me. And after two years of working numbers and saving up, now it was possible.

5. Be patient. Save your pennies. Don't settle.

 

 

We purchased the plan, had them tweak only a few things, like making the ceilings 9 foot and expanding the family room a few feet, and it was complete. The plans were in hand....

...and now we are here...



 

 

We couldn't be more thrilled.  Our dream home is underway and the end is finally in sight.

 

Front porch coffee breaks, here I come!

 

The Moral of the Story

 

Take the time to find what you are really looking for, because it IS out there.  Take it easy on the shopping sprees and martini nights and save your pennies, because it will come in handy once you start building.  Don't settle on a house you don't TRULY love because you will regret it.  And most important... if your spouse is making you crazy, and you find yourself looking at expensive home plans behind their back because you know the life insurance money will cover it, then it may be a good time to take a break.

 

Happy Home Plan hunting!

 

 

:) Ashley