Wow. Where does the time go? Hard to believe I started this blog in 2008! Life has seriously gotten in the way, but it is entirely possible that we have a handle on things now. Oh, how I've missed you!
Quick update: We bought our home August 31, 2012. We spent our last rental year in the inner city of Schenectady, NY. It was beyond miserable, and I'm not quite sure how we managed to get through it. I've never been so homesick in my life. But now we're in our sweet little white and green foursquare on a quarter acre in a tiny town on the Hudson River. Back to the mountains and homegrown crunchy hippie land. WE ARE HOME! Insert big smiles here.
The Tall Guy continues his battle against chronic Lyme disease and related co-infections. He's been on antibiotics almost non-stop, and had a PICC line in 2011/2012. Like I said a hundred weeks ago, I won't go into his illness in great detail here. It has eaten our lives and I want this blog to be a safe place where I don't have to think about it. That said, if you are struggling with vector-borne disease, or want any information, please feel free to message me. I would be more than happy to help you locate resources. And my heart is with you.
I have a grandson! We call him Mander, and he may just be the most perfect child in the history of humanity. Grandmotherhood has completed me in ways that single-motherhood often fell short. Love him this much.
Oh, and one more big piece of news: I quit my day job! Yes I did. I opened my own business. Actually a few different lines of business. I have a jewelry/craft thing that soothes my spirit, a home-inspection gig suits my need to ramble, and a construction-consultancy that actually pays the bills.
We continue to take baby steps on our path to off-grid self sustainability. Gardening was impossible this year, we're working on getting the house together, and it's a challenge with The Tall Guy's health. But we are fortunate to live in an area loaded to the ears with local farms, markets and CSAs. More pickles this year!
So now you're all caught up :) I have pics of a recent knitting machine rehab that I want to post, since info is scarce for my particular model (Singer LK-100). I'll also put up some pics of my jewelry and crafts. I promise to stop by more often with tutorials, tips and tricks for living simply in a complex world. Blessed be, my friends.
Showing posts with label A home of our own. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A home of our own. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Springtime meditations
The Tall Guy started some yardwork this past week, which is our benchmark for the return of spring. Woo. Hoo. We've been having a lot of conversation about what direction to head in when we're ready to buy a house - both ideologically and geographically. Do we want to stay in this area near family and keep my horrendous daily commute of over an hour each way? (Add in the mileage I rack up during the day and I'm putting over 800 miles on my new-ish car each week) OR do we want to say goodbye to the people that we rarely see anyway, and who will NEVER come visit us and move closer to any of my four field offices? I'm leaning toward the latter.
Other than that, we're keeping our options wide open. As long as there are a few acres and a livable structure that we can afford, we'll turn it into what we want over time. I can't wait to NOT SHARE A WALL WITH ANOTHER FAMILY. It will be so nice. I still hold onto my dream of a yurt, or quonset or reclaimed home (renovated church or firehouse or warehouse space), but when the right thing comes along, we'll know it. Just like we did with each other.
My mother and I have talked about her moving down here after she sells her house. I don't know when/if that would be, or if she would possibly choose us over Florida, but I remain hopeful. I can picture her in the garden with The Tall Guy, planning and digging, bonding in the dirt. I miss my mom. We're planning a trip to NYC for Mother's Day/my birthday, so at least I'll get a few days with her. But how wonderful it would be to have her here every single day.
Not much else going on. Food, of course. Always food around here - as evidenced by the continually expanding width of my butt and The Tall Guy's Buddha belly. I spent six hours in the kitchen yesterday making cannelloni al forno for the first time. It came out perfectly, although I'll make some adjustments to the recipe next time around. It's massively time-intensive and worth every minute, even if my feet do hurt today :)
Till next time.
Other than that, we're keeping our options wide open. As long as there are a few acres and a livable structure that we can afford, we'll turn it into what we want over time. I can't wait to NOT SHARE A WALL WITH ANOTHER FAMILY. It will be so nice. I still hold onto my dream of a yurt, or quonset or reclaimed home (renovated church or firehouse or warehouse space), but when the right thing comes along, we'll know it. Just like we did with each other.
My mother and I have talked about her moving down here after she sells her house. I don't know when/if that would be, or if she would possibly choose us over Florida, but I remain hopeful. I can picture her in the garden with The Tall Guy, planning and digging, bonding in the dirt. I miss my mom. We're planning a trip to NYC for Mother's Day/my birthday, so at least I'll get a few days with her. But how wonderful it would be to have her here every single day.
Not much else going on. Food, of course. Always food around here - as evidenced by the continually expanding width of my butt and The Tall Guy's Buddha belly. I spent six hours in the kitchen yesterday making cannelloni al forno for the first time. It came out perfectly, although I'll make some adjustments to the recipe next time around. It's massively time-intensive and worth every minute, even if my feet do hurt today :)
Till next time.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
We're on our way!
Much has happened since my last post, although very little of it interesting enough to share. Everyone is well, The Tall Guy is improving since discovering his medical issues are NOT urological but neurological. He has a herniated disc and has weekly appointments with a physical therapist. He's feeling much better and looking forward to productive landscaping season this summer. We decided not to do a garden this year for a number of reasons, so he's off the hook there. We'll join a CSA or support our local farmers instead. If you're interested in where you can buy local produce, check out Local Harvest.
The next biggest thing is very exciting for us. We have "officially" begun saving for our homestead!! That deserves several more exclamation points: !!!!!!!!!!!! We went to our credit union during my holiday vacation to meet with a mortgage counselor. Turns out my credit isn't nearly as dismal as I feared since I've worked the last three years to bring it out of the pits. The Tall Guy, bless his heart, has gone from zero credit to a terrific score after investing in a secured card last year. Since they take the average of ours scores, Mr. Counselor told us to raise mine by another 50 points and he'll give us a mortgage at 51/4%! Well thank you very much, that's one down.
Mr. Counselor turned us onto a program through the local housing authority (kind of a private/public partnership deal) that offers homebuying classes and a savings program. They teach us all about mortgage contracts, taxes, points, insurance and other mystifying stuff. PLUS - and here's the really amazing thing - they match every dollar we save with FOUR DOLLARS of their own up to $7,000!! And this is grant money, free and clear, to be used for down payment and closing costs! We're still overwhelmed by this. It's just enough to make everything possible within our time frame. Add the fact that housing prices are falling falling, and it's a great time to be a first-time homebuyer.
Please don't find me insensitive to the millions of people who have lost their homes, at least the ones who got caught in a bait & switch of early reset ARMs. But the truth is, we would have been hard pressed to purchase a decent place last year or two years ago before prices took a nosedive. All the economic hoopla aside (and I'm trying NOT to get polictical in this blog), some people really can benefit from this market mess. We'd be crazy not to.
We're not looking for much. We're pretty simple folks. We want a decent house, around 1,000 sf that we can move into right away. We're willing to do some work, but let's face it, we need a place to live while we're doing it. So major rehab is out of the question. Although my dream is to live in repurposed housing such as a firehouse or barn, I could be very happy with a small Craftsman bungalow on an acre or two of good land for gardening, pasture and Petanq - what bliss! We want a large bedroom, but don't require the "Master Suite" that so many people seem to need these days. When did we lose the ability to walk down the hall to the bathroom? The Tall Guy wants a game room and I've been promised a library/music room. To have my own piano again would be wonderful. And an entire room covered with shelves from floor to ceiling, and all those shelves filled with BOOKS, BOOKS and MORE BOOKS. I'm hyperventilating just thinking about it! Those two rooms will double as guest space thanks to convertible sofas. We'll have a garage & workshop with a pen in the back for goat & chickens. That's it. That's all we need and everything we want in life.
Sure, there's a wish list. Depending on where we end up, we'll be looking at different sources of renewable energy. Wind should be very productive in this area. I want to put in a labyrinth. We're planning to build a patio area with a quincho, which is kind of an enclosed barbecue pit that I first encountered in Argentina. Here are some terrific examples:
Can't you just picture yourself sitting there on a summer evening with a glass of something and a good friend or two?
So to wrap up, we're feeling very positive about the whole thing. Pinching pennies and saving like Scrooge, we'll find our home by next fall. Cross your fingers and wish us luck!
The next biggest thing is very exciting for us. We have "officially" begun saving for our homestead!! That deserves several more exclamation points: !!!!!!!!!!!! We went to our credit union during my holiday vacation to meet with a mortgage counselor. Turns out my credit isn't nearly as dismal as I feared since I've worked the last three years to bring it out of the pits. The Tall Guy, bless his heart, has gone from zero credit to a terrific score after investing in a secured card last year. Since they take the average of ours scores, Mr. Counselor told us to raise mine by another 50 points and he'll give us a mortgage at 51/4%! Well thank you very much, that's one down.
Mr. Counselor turned us onto a program through the local housing authority (kind of a private/public partnership deal) that offers homebuying classes and a savings program. They teach us all about mortgage contracts, taxes, points, insurance and other mystifying stuff. PLUS - and here's the really amazing thing - they match every dollar we save with FOUR DOLLARS of their own up to $7,000!! And this is grant money, free and clear, to be used for down payment and closing costs! We're still overwhelmed by this. It's just enough to make everything possible within our time frame. Add the fact that housing prices are falling falling, and it's a great time to be a first-time homebuyer.
Please don't find me insensitive to the millions of people who have lost their homes, at least the ones who got caught in a bait & switch of early reset ARMs. But the truth is, we would have been hard pressed to purchase a decent place last year or two years ago before prices took a nosedive. All the economic hoopla aside (and I'm trying NOT to get polictical in this blog), some people really can benefit from this market mess. We'd be crazy not to.
We're not looking for much. We're pretty simple folks. We want a decent house, around 1,000 sf that we can move into right away. We're willing to do some work, but let's face it, we need a place to live while we're doing it. So major rehab is out of the question. Although my dream is to live in repurposed housing such as a firehouse or barn, I could be very happy with a small Craftsman bungalow on an acre or two of good land for gardening, pasture and Petanq - what bliss! We want a large bedroom, but don't require the "Master Suite" that so many people seem to need these days. When did we lose the ability to walk down the hall to the bathroom? The Tall Guy wants a game room and I've been promised a library/music room. To have my own piano again would be wonderful. And an entire room covered with shelves from floor to ceiling, and all those shelves filled with BOOKS, BOOKS and MORE BOOKS. I'm hyperventilating just thinking about it! Those two rooms will double as guest space thanks to convertible sofas. We'll have a garage & workshop with a pen in the back for goat & chickens. That's it. That's all we need and everything we want in life.
Sure, there's a wish list. Depending on where we end up, we'll be looking at different sources of renewable energy. Wind should be very productive in this area. I want to put in a labyrinth. We're planning to build a patio area with a quincho, which is kind of an enclosed barbecue pit that I first encountered in Argentina. Here are some terrific examples:
Can't you just picture yourself sitting there on a summer evening with a glass of something and a good friend or two?
So to wrap up, we're feeling very positive about the whole thing. Pinching pennies and saving like Scrooge, we'll find our home by next fall. Cross your fingers and wish us luck!
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