4.5 years and counting...

My husband and I purchased our dream land in 2004. At the time we didn't have the money to build our dream home on that land but one step at a time I guess... so we build a 1400 square foot home on the front 3 acres and left the back 14 acres to be leased out to the neighbor for field corn production.

The other week my mom who lives in PA called and told me about her plans to retire in 4.5 years. We'd like her to move back to NY - my sister and I have been trying for years to get her back up here with no avail... anyway - she called and told me about her plans and I convinced her to move back up to NY with one stipulation... she (and her dog Sandy) will be moving in with my husband, 2 daughters, 2 dogs and our cat. The taxes in NY are ridiculous for a middle income family - and this move would be impossible for my mother if we didn't offer this since NY is one of those lovely states that decided to tax retirement income... don't get me going on taxes in NY though - we'd be here all day...

So basically my mom has offered to either build an additional MIL suite to our existing house OR help up build another house with a finished apartment style suite for her. The 3rd possibility is to help purchase an existing house with a MIL suite already built in. All this talk about the possibilities of a new house has got me thinking that hubby and I should try to get all our finances in order to try to build the "dream house"... so what is our dream house...

well.. that would be a dream now wouldn't it... although the following is more realistic...

We plan (hope) on building a 1500 square foot log home with a finished basement for mom. This gives us the opportunity to really think about ways to build environmentally both in structure and in the landscape... on the back acreage we have picked a great spot that will be perfect for a wall of south-facing windows.

Thanks LogHomeLiving.com for the pictures - a magazine that I have faithfully subscribed for almost 10 years now!