Friday Favorites

We've started to collect bids for the work on the roof and also some other things (what we technically want to do is tear down the entire north part of our house, scour the site with bleach, and start over. Due to earthly realities, like funding, we'll fall somewhere short of this). And by "collecting bids," I mean "talk with various builders and contractors about all the wonderful possibilities and also make lots of little drawings on pieces of scrap paper." That is to say, we haven't actually seen any pricetags, although here and there we'll get a figure thrown out--"oh, THAT will cost five thousand dollars" or "probably in the realm of fifteen hundred." So we're still in the dreamy phase. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a window here by the fireplace? Wouldn't it be nice if we had space for a study down here where the bathroom is now? Wouldn't it be great to have the stairs over here?

At some point, we'll get some numbers, and cold, bitter reality will set in. That will be painful. But in the meantime, just the idea that we can make this thing anything we want it to be is kind of liberating. Also, the idea that we are People Who Work On Our House, as opposed to what we've always been, which is People Who Think A Lot About Various Problems But Never Get Around to Actually Doing Anything About Them, is kind of liberating. It will liberate our money, too, from its cozy place in our bank/ equity/ future paycheck. But even that is a state of mind, and states of mind can change.

Well, I'm not sure how exactly I'm going to move from this to a list of favorite things, either. I suppose I could list my favorite things about construction, which are:

1. The smell of fresh lumber
2. Getting to pick through tile samples at Home Depot
3. That feeling, after it's all done, that we can live in a place that is not filled with noise and drywall dust and Toxic Attic smell is WONDERFUL, and feels like some kind of miracle.
4. The feeling that we're finally getting something done.
5. Yeah, that's it. House construction is basically miserable, and on top of it all the expense is staggering. However, unlike lots of expensive things (having open-heart surgery, say) at the end of it all everything is much, much nicer.