In the Beginning...
I'm not sure when we first began talking about buying The Farm. I do know we never intended to buy the house, just the land. At the time, my father was the executor of his parent's estate,The Farm, including a tiny farmhouse sitting on approximately 99 acres adjoining his own farm. Caine and I dreamt aloud for months about where we would build, what kind of home we wanted, how big etc. We even met with several log home builders and began discussing the nitty gritty budget details. And always thinking, "wouldn't it be nice..."
We dreamed and we planned and we eventually realized we needed to make a number of concessions for the dream to be attainable. We conceded we could never afford to buy the land and build something new, which meant we conceded to living in the old farmhouse. We conceded that we could only afford the farm if Caine stayed in the Marine Corps (another decision deserving of its own blog!). Caine conceded to stay in the Marine Corps only if he could get stationed in Newburgh (just over an hour from said farm) when our orders were up in April 2011.
AND THEN the stars began to align...
We got orders to Newburgh!
Caine took a flight bonus and we committed to retiring from the Marine Corps!!
We got financing and bought the farm!!!
We painstakingly reworked the entire floor plan of the tiny house to fit our family of four (+ 2 dogs).
Caine took one week off to do the upstairs renovations..
Reality began to set in...
AND "bought the farm" began taking on an entirely different meaning!
The Mansion on the Hill...
When I realized we were actually going to purchase the farm (about the day after we signed the mortgage paperwork), I began joking with the kids about "the mansion on the hill." All 1200 square feet of it. With no usable basement, Or attic, OR bedrooms... AND a well used bath....kitchen.... I was a little concerned. Well not concerned. No. More like TERRIFIED!
The house was about as far from a dream home as I had ever lived in and that includes two awful apartments and three tasteless houses all courtesy of the Marine Corps. And I didn't own those houses, I only had to tolerate them for a short time!
Caine assured me that the house would be beautiful when he was done. (Most of the time I believe him). He's taken a total of four weeks off so far, and works nights and weekends tirelessly trying to get the house to a livable state. Progress is slower than his optimism allotted for, but admittedly quicker then my pessimism dictated.
But as it turns out, nearly 3 months post-purchase, we still haven't moved in! Our family is living some warped version of the American Dream. We own two (2!) houses, one too far from Caine's work, the other that makes camping look like fun and where do we live? We live with my parents. That's right people. We are 30 somethings with two kids, two dogs, two homes, living with my folks. Laugh. It's funny.
