Our first post...

Outside Our Kitchen Window

Welcome to Margaret and Darcy's first blog!  We decided to start this blog to keep friends and family updated on how our little piece of paradise in the country is progressing.   Since building a house is a slow endeavour (extra slow in our case), we will update this blog as noticeable changes worth sharing occur;  Please feel free to send comments or suggestions.

  It's been over five years since we decided we needed a bit more space between us and the neighbors and it seems our building dreams are finally starting to materialize.  Before purchasing the piece of property we are building on we had patiently waited almost a year for our last house to be built, only to find that while we loved the house, we really didn't care for the neighborhood.  Six feet between houses and streets lined with cars just wasn't our thing.  After staying in the new house for about six months, a ten acre property in the McConnell Creek area of Hatzic Valley came available and we didn't think twice about jumping in with both feet.  The property had an old mobile home which we figured we could live in while we built and the presence of a new septic system, well, and power made the deal very attractive.  We quickly began to appreciate our mountain valley and the locals inhabitants which include black bears, coyotes, deer, beaver and a whole gamut of amphibians.  We also realized how much we hated our new mobile home... the mice were the only ones taking comfort in the mediocre insulation during the cold winters and even Trouble seemed to wonder why we were living in this tin can. Our one year plan slowly turned into a five year plan for a number of reasons including rising building costs and the fact we didn't want to build something we would tire of in a few years.  

  After toying with a number of housing ideas ranging from building a log house (doing the log work ourselves) to modular homes, we did a complete 180 and put our beloved homestead up for sale.  Our plan was to move in a little closer to family and friends and back into a residential neighborhood.  This idea was met with constant, unruly outbursts from myself (Darcy) and moments of sheer frustration from Margaret (mostly due to my bad mood).  I eventually resigned myself to the fact it was probably for the best and we began the search for a new home.   After looking at several potential neighborhoods, my misery took on epic new proportions... not sure anyone thought that to be possible... but the idea of trading my daily, scenic walks to the mailbox for an overcrowded  cul-de-saq wasn't sitting well.  After dealing with three good offers on our property over a six month period and having all three fall through due to financing we both decided enough was enough we were staying and building and that was that.

  Now that the decision was made, there was no turning back and no waiting... except the three and a half months for having plans drawn, the month to find a builder, the six weeks to get financing, and the eight weeks to get a building permit (which we are still waiting for as of today).  Other than those minor inconveniences things are moving along smoothly... the rainy season has started and winter is just around the corner... what could possibly go wrong?

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