What I got for Valentine's Day (dial-up warning)

[AirmensMom]

A beautiful piece of land -- 7.91 acres in Tennessee. We found it in January and the deal was done on Valentine's Day. :bounce:

This will be the view from our front windows ... after the house is built.


That's the neighbor's house. The grey car in the middle of the picture is where our driveway will be.


We have our very own woods, at the east end. :loveya:


Here they are close-up. A few of those oak trees will be good for swings. :woohoo:


These are the woods at the west end. Some of them are ours, too. We saw wild turkeys coming out of them. :bounce:


Now we need some good thoughts and prayers so we can sell our house and start building. We've had lots of lookers, but no buyers yet.

So, what do you think? :bounce:

[nofurylike]

1. fickle 'is place, ah, dis lounge. take one GD GDer to appreciate the

work you put into sharing this delightful news with us all?

CONGRATULATIONS, AIRMENSMOM!!!!

what a gorgeous view you'll be living with!!

sending lots and lots of good thoughts and prayers!!

thank you for showing this to us, AM!


peace!

[AirmensMom]

10. Thanks, nofurylike.

That was pretty funny. :rofl:

[nofurylike]

40. ta!

:blush:

[nofurylike]

2. kick so can see what they were missing. eom

[Robeson]

3. From one Tennessean, to a new one, Welcome!....

...what area of Tennessee is it in? East, Middle, or West?

[AirmensMom]

11. Thanks, Robeson.

It's northeast, about an hour away from Bristol, in a little place called Chuckey. We're looking forward to coming up. Where are you?

[Heidi]

4. Beautiful, girlfriend!

Congratulations, and good vibes for a fast sale of your current home. :hug:

What a wonderful place for your kitties to roam! :thumbsup: Will you allow them outdoors at the new place? :bounce:

[AirmensMom]

12. Heidi!

Good to see you! :hug: :loveya:

The house will have a screened porch on it. My kitties have never been the roaming kind ... but they're content to watch through the screen.

Thanks for the good vibes. I read yesterday that I should consider burying a statue of St. Joseph to help sell the house. That's a new one on me, but I'm willing to try just about everything. :D

[nofurylike]

5. kick before going offline. good morning, AM!

:hi:

:hug:


peace!

[nofurylike]

6. and chants, too. kick. eom

[LaurenG]

7. Wow, I love it

What a wonderful place to live! Good vibes coming to sell your house and start a new one.:hi: :hug:

[AirmensMom]

13. Thanks, OhioBlues.

We fell in love at first sight. Thank you for the good vibes! We need lots of them. This house is great, but buyers have a lot to choose from.:hug:

[In_The_Wind]

8. Good thoughts, vibes and prayers are on the way!

I think it's heavenly. Congratulations and Good Luck with your new home!

[AirmensMom]

14. Hey, Joani!

I look at the pics to keep me encouraged. Can't wait to hang a swing from one of those trees. :loveya:

Love your toasting glasses! :bounce:

[Callalily]

9. I suspect that

this will come down as the best Valentine's Day ever! Just beautiful! I'm sure you'll have many a happy days living there.

[AirmensMom]

16. You got that right!

We hope this is the last move we'll ever make.

That's a great smiley! Thanks! :applause:

[MissHoneychurch]

15. That looks beautiful

just imagine it in spring when everything turns green :wow:

[AirmensMom]

17. Thanks, MissHoneychurch.

:hi: Good to see you. How are ya? :hug:

The realtor told us that if we loved it in January, we would REALLY LOVE it the rest of the year. I think I'll have to visit every day while they're building ... once we get up there, that is. :) I'll have to take new pics then. :bounce:

[MissHoneychurch]

18. I am doing fine

and I am looking forward of the new pics when you start building.

Are the neighbors alright?

And good luck with selling your house. Good vibes on its way. Please excuse the delay :)

[AirmensMom]

19. Glad to hear it.

:)

The neighbors weren't home when we went ... any of the three times. The people down the road are really nice, though.

Thanks for the good vibes. :)

[laheina]

20. Absolutely gorgeous!! nt

[AirmensMom]

21. Thanks.

:loveya: The top pic makes me want to have a picnic. We did that when we were up there. :)

[lizziegrace]

22. I'm in love!

What a beautiful site. I hope your house sells quickly and you can get moving. It will be gorgeous out there no matter what the season.

Wow.

[AirmensMom]

25. Thanks, lizzie.

We could use all the good vibes. Let's get this show on the road. :bounce:

:hi:

[Left Is Write]

23. How lovely!

Good luck to you!

[AirmensMom]

26. Hey, Left Is Write!

We can't miss with all the good wishes. :loveya: :hug: Thanks!

[Lochloosa]

24. So, when is the housewarming party?

I'll bring my tent. I saw lots of good spots to setup.

:party: :toast:

[AirmensMom]

27. Wouldn't that be fun?

A DU camping meet-up in TN. :rofl: There's some wood already down that we can use for a campfire, too! :bounce:

:toast: I'll let you know. First, we must sell this house.

[Lochloosa]

32. Do that. I make one hell of a campfire.

December this year.

[AirmensMom]

33. December?

Brrrr! We'll need one hell of a campfire then. Just don't burn down the woods, OK? :rofl:

[Debbi801]

28. Absolutely beautiful! Congrats!!!...

Sending "sell quick" wishes your way.

[AirmensMom]

29. Thanks, Deb!

I ordered a St. Joseph statue today ... maybe that will help. Your "sell quick" wishes are very welcome. Thanks! :D

[bridgit]

30. i like it, good job...

:bounce:

[AirmensMom]

31. Thanks, bridgit!

:bounce:

[MadHound]

34. Nice place, nice plot of land

If you haven't already signed the papers for the house building loan, see if you can include the price of a wind turbine in there. It will make life easier for you in these days of high energy prices, add value to your house and land, and will pay for itself in fifteen years. Also think about installing an exterior wood furnace for the same reasons.

Congratulations on the nice piece of land. I've got twenty acres myself, with about eight in forest land. I love having the room to do what I want, and the privacy not to be bothered by neighbors.

Good luck on the building process. I suggest that if you have the room to store it, buy all of your building supplies now and store them. Building materials are high dollar since Katrina, and will really go through the roof if we have another hurricane hit this year.

[AirmensMom]

36. We've considered that.

The house is a passive solar design, which is why it was important to find a piece of land that had an unobstructed southern exposure. And the architect is going to provide custom energy specifications. The floors in the front will be tile over a concrete slab (over a daylight basement), which will act as the thermal mass, and there will be a fireplace w/insert in the interior of the house. We're also considering a solar water heater, included in the plans.

I would like very much to get a wind turbine. And I think I remember reading somewhere that TVA will give a rebate of some sort. We need to talk to the builder in more detail. Do you have a wind turbine?

The builder can lock in all the prices with his suppliers now. So, even if the prices do go up, ours should be stable once we sign the contract.

Oh, 20 acres sounds great! I used to think I wanted to live in a neighborhood, but it's like being alone in a crowd. Can't wait for the privacy!

[MadHound]

38. Don't have a wind turbine yet, but will here in a couple of years

The place we bought already had house and outbuildings on it, so we really didn't include much in the way of extras on the mortage. But since last fall I've been riding a Bajaj scooter for my 52 mile round trip commute, and saving lots of money. It gets 100mpg while going 55-60mph. We're taking the money I'm saving on gas and buying an external woodstove this summer. After a couple of years of adding gasoline, food(we're growing out own) and heating savings together, I've figured that we'll be close to having enough for a wind turbine. A 3Kw turbine cost around $12,000 complete with batteries and setup.

I hear you about the privacy. I'm an ex city boy who just got sick and tired of the noise, the smell, the crime, the hustle and bustle, and not having enough elbow room so to speak. So we moved out into the wilds of Mid Missouri a couple of years ago and absolutely love it. I've started an orchard, and will be growing vegetables and mushrooms to bring in some money. I figure I'm not going to stop working in my life, but at least I'll be able to work around on my own property with my own business.

Good luck, and have fun!

[AirmensMom]

39. Do you know anything about bio-intensive gardening?

I want to try to do that for vegetables. Your orchard sounds great! I want apples and pears, and a berry patch. And I'm thinking of turning the basement bay window into a sort of greenhouse for growing vegetables in the winter.

Sounds like you really have a handle on this. We'll have to compare notes down the line. It's encouraging that you're so happy with your decision to move out into the country.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

35. You have almost 8 acres?!!!

WOW! Way to go, AirmensMom......

It just looks wonderful! Be sure to give your architect your wish lists, and your don't wish lists too! S/he needs to hear both sides of what you want or don't!

Building is stressful, but FUN! We built our house four years ago, and have NEVER regretted it!

And take lots and lots of pics during construction.....because it is fun to remember all the good things that went on then.....

I took over 1000 pics of our construction, and my children have been instructed that those albums stay with the house when it is sold, after we're gone....

So the new owners will know how things were done!

Enjoy! And good luck selling your current home!


:toast:

[AirmensMom]

37. Yes, ma'am, Peggy!

:bounce:

We just sent our wish list to the builder. We built our current house 11 years ago ... you're right about the stressful part! We learned a lot of lessons that time around (like -- get the kitchen you WANT).

Oh, yes, I always take pictures. I even have pics of the pool going in here, every step of the way. It's fun to look at how young the landscaping looked back then. We planted a 2' tall hedge and now we have to work hard to keep it below 8'.

Perhaps we should bring our album out for the prospective buyers to look at when they walk through the house. It sure would make the improvements more obvious!

Thanks. We hope the house sells quickly for our asking price. We need every dime to put into the new one. :) Stay tuned for updated pics from time to time. :D

:toast:

[nofurylike]

41. please post as it's built. gorgeous views you have there! eom

[AirmensMom]

42. I'll do that, nofurylike.

:hi: Might be a few months before there's any progress on it.

[nofurylike]

43. thanks! and we'll still be here and wanting to hear

and see, AM!


:hi:


peace!