# 548 - Country House Closing Date Scheduled!

A miracle has occurred! We have a closing date set for this Friday, which will be April 24, 2015 and the construction can then BEGIN! This means we have about three days to close the deal!

The past few weeks, Sgt. Dave and I have been looking for construction supplies and building materials...lately we were on the prowl for solid wood interior doors. I was disappointed in discovering major home improvement stores mostly sell hollow core interior doors with solid interior doors being a "specialty" item you often had to order. Plus, I wanted a door design that would go with the Texas theme of our house.

The top left are the interior doors, solid pine. Any size is $125.
The double full-glass panel front doors (exterior) with the Texas design
are also ready to be stained and cost $1,000. After comparing prices at
many places, these doors are a steal.

Our builder has great networking contacts and through one of his recommendations we found the interior doors...solid pine pre-hung doors that have an awesome design that goes perfectly with our Texas theme. These doors are just $125. a piece...all sizes, still $125. and they will be the pantry, laundry, bedroom, hall, bathroom and closet doors. They are stain ready. With the raw country style trim we prefer instead of baseboards and crown molding, the trim will be left in its most natural state with a light stain or polyurethane coating to bring out the wood grain warmth. So, the wood doors and trim throughout the house should warm things up. We've always had white doors and white trim...this is the first time we've taken a more natural finish thru the entire house. No doubt, we will have lots of wood finishes.

Then, we also found the double front doors that met three requirements...full glass design, they can be stained to match the wood-grain finish and both doors have the Texas star. The stained/beveled glass panes are protected by being wedged between two protective sheets of glass.

Even the residential door to the garage has half the glass with the Texas design.

Also ready for stain.

We have other areas throughout the house that will incorporate the Texas theme design and some of the lighting will be interesting, both indoor and outdoor.

I feel at peace about the house being built...it should be a beauty, at least in our eyes. But, the truth is, since we have not seen a house exactly like the custom one we are building, you will have to watch it come into existence with us. I hope it will really be similar to what I am expecting! There is only so much you can do on paper. I can't wait to walk through our own designed home.

This week, we also selected our kitchen appliances and I learned a great deal about getting the best prices and sales. I will try to make a post about those appliances next. I can tell you that after living in an RV for almost two years, I literally daydream about cooking in my custom kitchen and enjoying all the appliances we selected.

I am such a happy, contented woman, but I cannot wait until our house is finished and we can again enjoy and share our home with loved ones and friends. We often feel stir-crazy.

Being in an RV has rather stifled my social life and highly restricted my basic ability to move around since everything is within an arm's reach, so it feels great to get out of our tiny space and enjoy the day looking for supplies for our new house.

We get out of here for a little bit and you would think we have lost it. We have too much fun during our days of running around town. But, I have laughed about the "tiny house" movement and suggested to those who think they might like that life to go get an RV and try it out. Until you have tried it, you can't say whether or not you would "love" living "tiny." We have now lived in a "tiny house" for nearly two years and it is getting really old.

Well, let us hope our closing happens this Friday without anything holding us back. We are ready to get this house BUILT!

# 547 - ME...HOUSE...EXCITED!

I feel like a caveman with my language because I am SO EXCITED about us inching close to our closing for our house! This month, hopefully within the next 10-15 days, we will be sitting at the bank and signing for our construction loan.

Of course, we are building a larger house than we originally intended because we did come to terms with the fact that long-term, having more room is important for numerous reasons...

1. Since we live a significant distance from our grown children and other family, most traveling to see us will be staying at least one night, so we need the room for them to be able to stay over, and we normally have a LOT of gatherings at our house.
2. Additions are more costly than adding ample square footage upfront. Additions often require more extensive roof issues. We decided to price the difference in the upfront cost of the extra square footage compared with potential costs down the road...upfront definitely won.
3. Having more room is better than not having enough. We can actually block off half of the second story so we don't have to fully heat and/or cool it, but the space is readily available.
4. Closet space is important and as the square footage goes down, the closet space takes a major hit. Also, I wanted to make sure our laundry room has ample room to store extra items, such as bulk items that can bring an overall savings for the budget.

I am also diligently working toward giving our house unique character. I am so excited because I found three stained glass windows that will go into our Master Bathroom.

I had been concerned about our wrap-around porch being too intrusive into private spaces, such as bathrooms, even with privacy glass. It felt like privacy glass was an UGLY option to have facing the porch. So, having these stained glass windows solves a lot of issues. The glass is mottled, so there is no clear visibility through it, yet it is beautiful.

While working with the local antiques dealer, I also decided to get this child's rocker to have in the living room for our grandbabies.

Then, I let this chair capture my attention because it is very similar to another antique chair I already own.

It almost time to celebrate!

# 546 - Man-Weather and Food

After weeks of rain, rain, rain that made the ground a sopping, mushy mess, we finally are enjoying gorgeous weather! This "living in between" on the acreage as we ready to build our country home has been difficult to endure during rainy days because of being stuck in an RV.

I can handle RV living on the decent days that allow us to get outside into wide, open spaces, but being here during days and days of rain that turns into weeks brings about a special kind of stir-crazy.

If I didn't love the outdoors so deeply, it wouldn't be so bad, but being cut off from being able to go on walks because the ground is a sponge becomes a challenge after three consecutive days.

Sgt. Dave has been BBQing just about every meal. It has been Heavenly!

The old pit is hanging in there!

The other day, he was in a mood to make brisket. Since our long-time favorite local BBQ restaurant closed down recently, I was thrilled. Lately, I have been craving chopped beef sandwiches, sliced beef and loaded beef spuds.

Sgt. Dave made this brisket PERFECT. I am a pure Texan and this brisket was the best I have ever eaten, in my life. The slices of beef were so tender that it began to fall apart in your hand. The bark on the brisket is the most flavorful I have ever tasted with the taste a perfect level of sweetness, with no bitterness.

For 3-4 days, I have eaten this brisket for at least one meal a day, and I still can't get enough of it. There is enough to put in the freezer tomorrow, but I am already mourning the fact that some of it will need to go into the freezer!

I have raved about this brisket, but Sgt. Dave told me, "What do you expect? This is the time for lots of BBQ because we have MAN-WEATHER!"

Yes, I love "Man-Weather." If it means I get a brisket every 2-4 weeks such as this, then I hope this "Man-Weather" lasts for an eternity.

I sure hope Heaven has "Man-Weather."