The House On The Hill

Building a house has never been on my "bucket list". We've done our share of construction work in the almost 14 years we've been married - gutted and remodeled a double wide in AR and pretty much did the same to Chris' old shop building to create the 'Shack by the Road' where we live now - but we've never built a house from the ground up. If I had any dream of the place I would choose to live, it would be an old, well established house with a lovely yard full of spreading trees and tangled flower beds begging to be cleaned up and tended to.

Alas, I married a builder. Which is not really such a bad thing after all, it's just that he doesn't share my choice of dwelling. You see, it is so much more economical to buy land and build one's own house. In the first place, land with nothing built on it is cheaper. In the second place, by the time you fix all the things that need to be fixed on an old house and pay the horrific heating and cooling bill, you may as well have built a house exactly the way you liked it in the first place and cut your heating bill in half to boot! And, third, when you can do most of the work yourself, it is definitely the way to go.

He is right, and I know it. But building a house has still never been on my bucket list! All that aside, we ARE building a house, and excitement is beginning to seep in around the edges as the reality of it emerges before our eyes. We will be taking our time, working on it gradually with no pressing deadlines or schedules. Chris is in his element - comparing prices, ordering material, lining up equipment, organizing details - I love to watch him! If things progress as we hope, just maybe this time next year we'll be residing in The House On The Hill!