Happy Thoughts

...you'd think that the head/lung infection stuff would've happened when I was smoking. It was a bronchitis-free winter. sheesh. Anyway, so it's just a severe sinus infection. Cool thing is that the Doc said my lungs sounded crystal clear. This is cool. I was afraid it was bronchitis. I woke up yesterday almost crying because my face just... hurt. Everything hurt. Doug went out and got me meds before he even went to work.

As for the previous post and the scope of horrors... I don't feel like getting into it now. I'm distracted. I'll let the cobwebs hang out with the dust rhinos in that corner of my brain. Avoidance should be a marketable skill (hold on, I think the other word for that is 'politics')

So since I'm home, I've been put to work doing reseach on the internet and making phone calls. I am so fed up with out mortgage company at this point. We started early with them, since I know the broker and because we knew there'd be first time homebuyer hurdles. Anyway... long story short, it got pushed to the backburner until crunch time (we're supposed to go to settlement in three weeks) and the underwriter decided that she didn't like the appraisal and stuff needed to be done to the house before they'd agree to the mortgage but couldn't say exactly what and dicked around with that for a while (and I have issues with the appraisal in the first place) and finally the broker who is trying to work it out for us comes up with the idea that the loan can be one where they include renovation money.

So here' s how I understand it to work. We have the mortgage for the selling price of the house. On top of that we have estimate for various items they'd like to see done (windows, siding, and kitchen). They add that money to the mortgate amount and put it in escrow. When we make the repair, they give us the money. If we HAVE the money for the repair, we can turn around and pay off that much of the mortgage, since after it leaves the escrow, that amount gets added to the total cost of the home. If we don't have it, then we use it to pay the contractor.

So -- good thing is that some of the stuff we were going to put off a bit are going to get done faster. Bad thing is that we're going to be mortgaged up to our eyeballs. Fortunately my income is not being taken into account for these decisions (everything is in Doug's name) so that means that what I earn is like a secret weapon of sorts.

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I really hope this all works out. So the research I've been doing has been on kitchen design. I love to cook and feed people and stuff. My hub is the kitchen. Currently the house has a functioning kitchen upstairs in what used to be a hallway -- the "new kitchen" is an unfinished room on the first floor, that's been built as an addition onto the house.

So at least there will be no teardown for the contractor, and everything really will be starting fresh. I just have to find one. Right now we have a refferral that's enough to get an estimate in. He's a friend of the current owner. What cool is when speaking to him he said that he'd be stopping by on Sunday to visit so he'd get the measurements then. I'm hoping that the company is flexible enough to work with us (okay, me.) For example I'm really into Marmoleum which is a more environmentally friendly approach to linoleum than vinyl. I don't know if they'll be able to do that, I hope so. I'd also like to cut costs by doing the stuff that I can do myself -- painting for example, why pay someone to paint? I'd also really like the kitchen to be as eco-friendly as possible without being too expensive. Efficient appliances are a big part of that, paints that don't off-gas too much -- I have an article about paints made from non-toxic material and processes somewhere, sustainable wood cabinets -- that kind of thing.

I'm rambling. But with all the work we have to do, eventually this operation will be up and running.



This is my happy thought...............

This is a baby nubian goat right about the size of the one that I got to play with on Sunday. I love the floppy ears.
Doug and I are going to raise goats. Hopefully I'll be able to use the milk to make cheese, yogurt, and maybe even lotions or soaps (goats milk is the new thing in moisturizers and stuff) We met with a friend of a friend who breeds goats for an overview. He was so interesting! But I learned a lot -- got to try my hand at milking -- and he even offered me a truckload of compost if I wanted it when I started my garden at the new place (really good, rich stuff). So I think he's cool with me.

Now we just have to get the house so all this can happen. Goats won't happen until after the wedding most likely, since we'll be on honeymoon for a month and I don't want to bother any of my friends into caring for them. We'll already need someone to visit the chickens every day, and take care of the cats. I was hoping to get my friend Mike to house-sit, but I dont' know how likely that will be if he's in school or something.

So..... who wants to house, cats, and chicken sit? Any suggestions on the house stuff would be greatly welcome too....