Just a happy day
I was looking back over my last few posts, and they're all so blue and depressing, I thought I'd send some good thoughts out there into the ether.
Although the issues with my husband's company are still issues, we're rocking along alright for the moment, and I have no doubt a resolution will present itself in the fullness of time. In the interim, my husband has very sensibly been occupying himself with projects and new interests -- he's taken up the violin, built me a greenhouse, and discovered horticulture in a big way. And (as if that wasn't enough) he's also been working on plans for our retirement home (not that it's likely we can retire anytime soon).
A few years ago, we lucked into a little house on the east coast at a very affordable price, and although we thought at the time that the house itself would be a teardown, it proved to be about 140 years old, quite a snug little place, built with 12 x 12 timbers pegged together, so we couldn't bear to part with it. It was too small a house to retire in, though, so we have been scratching our heads, trying to decide how to make it larger without sacrificing its charm and character (and incidentally without mortgaging ourselves into oblivion). My sweetie sat down with a sketchpad and has restored the wing of the house that was sacrificed when it was moved to its present location 50 years ago (dragged there by heavy horses, we're told), added a Queen Anne wraparound porch and tower, and made it the perfect place to spend our retirement. An architect friend looked over the sketch plan and pronounced it good, and the local authorities have expressed enthusiasm for the plan. More to the point, my husband has been calculating the costs of building, and it looks like significantly less than I would have expected, though we're being very conservative in our estimates, and doubling and tripling our costs, so any surprises we get will be pleasant ones. One obvious saving is that half the house is already built, though of course there will be exterior and interior work to be done there.
And we're spending our long weekend planting things and doing home improvements, so life is good. And I hope it's good for anyone reading this, as well.
Although the issues with my husband's company are still issues, we're rocking along alright for the moment, and I have no doubt a resolution will present itself in the fullness of time. In the interim, my husband has very sensibly been occupying himself with projects and new interests -- he's taken up the violin, built me a greenhouse, and discovered horticulture in a big way. And (as if that wasn't enough) he's also been working on plans for our retirement home (not that it's likely we can retire anytime soon).
A few years ago, we lucked into a little house on the east coast at a very affordable price, and although we thought at the time that the house itself would be a teardown, it proved to be about 140 years old, quite a snug little place, built with 12 x 12 timbers pegged together, so we couldn't bear to part with it. It was too small a house to retire in, though, so we have been scratching our heads, trying to decide how to make it larger without sacrificing its charm and character (and incidentally without mortgaging ourselves into oblivion). My sweetie sat down with a sketchpad and has restored the wing of the house that was sacrificed when it was moved to its present location 50 years ago (dragged there by heavy horses, we're told), added a Queen Anne wraparound porch and tower, and made it the perfect place to spend our retirement. An architect friend looked over the sketch plan and pronounced it good, and the local authorities have expressed enthusiasm for the plan. More to the point, my husband has been calculating the costs of building, and it looks like significantly less than I would have expected, though we're being very conservative in our estimates, and doubling and tripling our costs, so any surprises we get will be pleasant ones. One obvious saving is that half the house is already built, though of course there will be exterior and interior work to be done there.
And we're spending our long weekend planting things and doing home improvements, so life is good. And I hope it's good for anyone reading this, as well.