Gas Price$

Now gas hasn't really shot up much in a few weeks, believe it or not! But it is still expensive, and there are still complaints. People have skipped out on going on vacation supposedly because of gas prices as a main cause. However, people are still going out all the time. In fact, if anything, they are going out MORE than ever! I don't get it... people are stupid.

People are stupid, and they like to complain A LOT! ~original quote by Rayanna

-Rayanna-

The Great Escape!!!

Marianne and I got back from our anniversary weekend celebration, both very tired and just generally worn out. As a rule, with several exceptions, I would rather have the windows open than run the air conditioning, so I proceeded to turn off the a/c and open all of the windows in the house. I figure we only get about 3 months of weather in Upstate NY that we can open the windows, so I am going to take advantage of every day that I can.

Marianne decided to go upstairs and lie down for a while. I planned to do the same after posting my morning golf score and checking the latest batch of humorous emails from my father.

Well, here I sit, in the front window, merrily clicking away at emails and golf-handicap sites. All of a sudden, I realize the house is too quiet. Then I hear the all-too-familiar jingle-jingle of Pete's collar and dog tags. He's outside the front of the townhouse!! He's merrily sniffing and marking his way across the neighborhood. My thoughts immediately run to, "How in the heck did he get out? Did he tear through a screen?" I then noticed exactly how he got out. Apparently, when I opened the sliding glass door off the dining room, I failed to close the screen door. (Boy, I must be tired!)

I headed to the dining room to rectify my error. When I looked outside, I saw this calico colored fur ball looking up at me from the edge of the patio. Great! It's a mass escape! I was just beginning to assess how I was going to corral Pixie into the house when I see a chubby gray fuzz ball come trotting up behind her. Piper! She pranced past Pixie and up the stairs into the house. Well, that's a good start: one down, two to go.

The look on Pixie's face was one of pure terror. I don't know if she was terrified by the fact that she was outside or if she thought she was in trouble. Either way, the look was priceless. I called her, gently, and she apparently realized that the best plan of action was to get inside and pronto! I guess I just reaped the benefits of having indoor cats. They really don't want to be outside...at least not for any length of time. That was easy: two down and the most difficult one to go.

I followed the cats back in the house and closed the screen door securely this time. I put on my shoes and proceeded to chase Pete around the neighborhood. I really think he likes this game. That makes one of us. Usually, when I get close to catching Pete, I try to grab him by the collar. That usually results in several near-misses. (Shouldn't they be called 'near-hits'? I don't know.) I was tired and didn't want to play this game any longer, so I was playing No More Mr. Nice Dad. He stopped a little too long at one of his favorite lamp posts, so I seized the opportunity to grab his big, fluffy tail. That worked! He tried to pull away once, but didn't like that very much. He decided to sit still while I got a grip on his collar. The walk home was, thankfully, uneventful.

Once everyone was safely back inside, I sat down and assessed the situation. The best I can come up with is this: Pete realized he had a path of escape, so decided to follow it. The cats tend to hang out by the back door (that's where the litter boxes are...and not too far from food and water) so they saw him leave. The cats really love their dog, though they won't admit it, so I think they decided to follow him and see what he was up to. I really don't know if this was a joint decision, or Pixie decided to follow him and Piper figured she'd follow along out of curiosity. I guess we'll never know. As Pete headed around the west end of the townhouses, I think it entered the cat's minds that they were no longer in familiar territory and decided to head back.

It's kind of funny how life teaches you little lessons. Sometimes, life stomps you real good when you screw up. Other times, it just throws a minor inconvenience at you at an inopportune time. I would rate this incident as one of the latter. Okay, I get it. From now on, I need to make sure that I have all of the screens in place if I am going to open up the house for ventilation.

Upgrades

Rayanna was very patient while we sat at Ryan homes for three hours. She never ceases to amaze me. She was definitely more patient than I. John did most of the preliminary work. Man, am I thankful for that! I more or less got to sit there and cringe. I believe I now have a few more wrinkles.

We now will have nine foot ceilings, taller cupbaords, a two foot wider garage with an external garage door, ceiling fan in the master bedroom, an egress window in the basement, an 8x4 front porch with columns, laundry room on the second floor, an extra window so I can see the woods better, a couple more outlets, full bath rough-in for the basement, upgraded master shower, and a white vanity for the kids bath. It doesn't sound like much. After reading Rayanna's post, I smiled. The window was one of the cheapest things. We are at $10,000 in upgrades...just like that.

To add insult to injury, the security system guy called while we were there. Believe it or not, that was reasonable. If we owe you money, you should have called Saturday. Apparently, we were handing it out.

At the end of our meeting, she tells us we need to meet with the woman for flooring and picking out cabinets. At this point, I am thinking we get slippers so we don't get slivers and skip all the flooring. Of course, Ryan homes in their ultimate wisdom on upgrade pricing and not passing their "bulk pricing" on to the customers would probably gives us $20 back. Well I guess that won't even cover the cost of the slippers.

The Saga of Building a House (cont.)

Today was the day. Today we had to make up exactly what we wanted in our house NOW to be set in stone (not literally). It was the first time I realized that everything costs money nowadays! Holy Gs! I mean really, if we put a window in, won't that save YOU money? You spend money on the tons of hours in labor, wood for the structure, the insulation, the siding, and the possible fixtures(electric sockets, lights, etc.), but instead, for you to just pay for the labor, the wood, and the glass for that section of the house and WE have to pay you $500 per window?!? I don't get it, I really don't and that's just the beginning of it! This is why there are so many homeless people out on the street! PLUS they buy everything in bulk, so really they probably spent a total of $100 on the glass and wood. Then there are the complaints about the housing market going up, telling you that it's harder to sell your home then to buy one! I don't get it!
~Rayanna~

Movie Review *Not a Spoiler*

This past weekend I went out with one of my best girlfriends to see the new movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth. This was one of the best movies I have seen in the theaters in a long time. I thought that it was a cross of Jurassic Park, Bridge to Terabithia, with a Zathura: A Space Adventure twist. I give this movie a 5 star rating.

Journey to the Center of the Earth, was written by Jules Verne in the late 19th century. This novel, and latter screenplay is written about a man beleiving every word Verne wrote in the novel, and that there was a "world within the world." Ten year after his brother's disappearence, Trevor's sister-in-law drops off the last bit of her husband's belongings. Then, Trevor and his nephew set off on a journey to find thier brother and father. On the journey, Trevor's teenage nephew learns what the father he had never met was really like when they find his belongings in "the world within the world" and uncle and nephew become closer than ever.

This movie is an excellent one for the whole family to fall in love with especially at it's PG rating.

-Rayanna-

Where to begin!?

We started by looking at the possibility of never, ever moving again. After moving 10 times with John, I had come to a conclusion: Moving is cute when you are 20-something. Moving with 2 kids, 2 cats, a dog, a 55 gallon aquarium, and a husband? Not so much. The realization begins before the move: I have too much crap! Crap I don't even know that I have. I need someplace bigger to keep this crap. Apparently, so I can display the crap. Why? I don't know. I guess so people can come over to see my crap, tell me I have nice crap, eventually encouraging me to buy new crap.

The trials and tribulations on building a house start with the floor plan. Why has the housing market been saturated with house plans with such a ridiculous notion on how today's families live? Speaking of crap why are there only half baths on the first floor? If I want to retire in this house, I want a full bath. Our friend Leon says "Hey! There is a toilet in your closet." Quite frankly, the closets in this house are bigger. I am sure for some people washing their hands while still sitting down may be intriguing. I believe it to be claustrophobic and outhouse like. There is not even room for toilet paper storage. I think I need to install an intercom system. I am the finder of the empty roll.

I know I can't afford a custom builder. Therefore, I get a dining room. I want a huge, eat-in kitchen where my friends and family can congregate, drink wine, and celebrate life. I guess I sound like I need a commune, not a kitchen. Family and friends are very important to me; mostly because they tell me I have nice crap! Really, everyone ends up in the kitchen. That is where they keep the food.

Where does this formal dining room come in? I don't think I know anyone that wants to be formal. I had a doll house when I was a kid. The table was set with cute dishes all the time. Barbie had almost everything! Barbie did not have two kids, two cats, a dog and a husband. I hate to break it to you: Ken was not her husband. He was her gay friend that went shoe shopping with her. I wish I had one of those.

I seriously question if Ryan Homes has been to a home show since 1970? Until just recently, they were still using brass fixtures. If you sell your home, one of the things a realtor tells you is UPDATE your lighting. Ryan also gives you mirrored closet doors. I wanted to ask if they offered (as an $ upgrade $ of course) the mirrors over the bed.

Family room, living room? The Family/Living rooms are very small. I wonder whose family is that small. Certainly not mine. Not in quantity or stature. I guess it is a good thing we are close and if not we will be. The formal living room. I think the parents are supposed to go there to entertain guests and get away from the children. It is supposed to have the nice furniture in it. It is where your friends can see, apparently, your nicest crap. I just taught my kids to not act like animals and refused to buy red kool-aid. I want to enjoy the nice furniture and enjoy my family in a decent sized living room without the formal I-am-trying-to-impress-you, you-can't- put-your-feet-on-the-coffee-table atmosphere. That is not where the word home comes from.

In the master baths, they constantly offer the jacuzzi tub. The jets are horribly placed for any kind of relief. Really, how many adults take out that much time to sit in a tub with water that gets cold because there is no heater in it? I want one of those kicking jacuzzi showers. Now that would be an $ upgrade $ worth getting. Of course this is not an option.

The last comment I have on the plans for this house is... why do the locks on the kids rooms go on the inside?

It may not start off being everything we hoped but, as everyone knows, I have a lot of paint brushes, friends, and crap and it will be eventually!

Join Tree House Club!

Join the Tree House Club!

We are planning on making a tree house in our trees once we are settled. Therefore, we need ideas. We would like the fort to have an attached shed on the bottom. We also want it to be at least 10' by 10'. We are hoping to collect building materials such as siding, roofing tiles, etc. from when we build our house. If you find spare building materials (like an old door), we would gladly accept them once we are into the house. Buddy wants a rock climbing wall to get up into the tree house. Keep your eyes out for donations in the mean time. We will have a tree house building party- bring friends and family. If anyone is interested, or has ideas, please e-mail us or respond to this post.

-Rayanna-

First pics of our new "home"

Well, it's not really our "home" yet, but this is one of the versions available of the house we will be building. It is called the Bainbridge, hence the name of this blog. We have chosen Elevation A, which is a flat front version of this house. When we come across a more accurate picture of the style we have selected, this post will be updated. One other change: our garage will be on the left side of the house. Grand total, the house is just over 2,100 sq. ft. with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

This is where we will be building. It is currently known only as Auburn Meadows Lot 205, but it will soon be known as XXX Spartan Drive. Right now, we only know the street name. The house address hasn't been assigned yet, but I'm sure we will know soon enough.

There are 2 little specs at each edge of the picture. Those are the kids standing on what we think will be our property lines. The tire tracks behind the car (across the street) are about where our driveway will be. The tree line you see is about 1/2 way back on our property. All together, we will have 0.829 acres, over half of that will be trees. The great thing about our trees is that they are not in a conservation area. In other words, if we decided we wanted to clear-cut our whole lot from front to back, we could. The only repercussions we might suffer would be picketing by Greenpeace or any of the other assorted environmentalist whackos out there today. Note to environmentalist wackos: We have absolutely NO intention of clear-cutting our lot. The above example was given for illustrative purposes only.

We are the first people to buy a lot in this development. They have only graded the roads so far and marked the approximate lot locations, but on a drive by this evening, we saw the beginnings of the infrastructure (I suspect they were manholes for sewer and water lines, but I'm no expert). Because we bought before they have even laid the roads, sewer, water, gas, phone, and cable lines, this should take an unusually long time to build. We hope to move in somewhere around April 2009.


Just for kicks, I thought I'd throw in a picture of the current view from what will be our front door. I sure hope the view improves.....

Marianne says she likes this view the best and that we have the most beautiful dirt she's ever seen (and a lot of it).

Well, here we are!

This is our very first attempt at a blog. Some of our friends have blogs and, since we are in the process of building a new house, we thought, "What better reason to create our presence on the web?" If this blog survives the building of the house, we will probably include documentation of our efforts to customize our new house. In fact, as an added bonus, Marianne has even offered to add golf tips. :-)