MOVE ON! MOVE ON! DON'T LET ANY THING STOP YOU. GO ON AND MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.
Unknown
Things are beginning to roll on the Woodbridge Haven (WBH) project. I've never built anything brand new. My house was a tiny two bedroom many, many years ago when we moved in. Since then, we have expanded by renovating, but never, never have we taken on the task of something new from start to finish. Until now.
On HGTV you've seen how the contractor stars are redoing some old crappy place for a fresh-faced twenty-something couple who only have three or four hundred thousand to spend. (I'm being sarcastic there), and after the renovation begins, the contractors find out that the whole foundation needs to be replaced, or the wiring is totally shot and they are going to need a boatload of money to finish the project. I always found that so do-able on those shows, because it was always someone else's money and after all, that show is for entertainment. Right? But when you are on a strict budget, and you think everything has been tallied up, and the list of things you are getting in the building is written in stone you think you pretty much know how much cash is going to flow out. No changes are expected, no extra goodies are being included, just the basic final plan. X number of dollars. Think again.
A call from our builder informed us that we need to put frost footings around the big concrete pad along the front of the building, because the doors will swing out (building code calls for that), and if the frost heaves the pad, we won't be able to get the doors open. The original plan was to have the doors swing in. Okay. Sounds reasonable. Cha ching. Extra moolah. Then the building engineer says we need to have a side door off one of our special rooms, to allow for an additional exit. So we revised the plans, and made a window into a door. Cha ching! I don't know about you, but these two somewhat small changes that are costing a lot more than I thought, are a little disturbing. And I'm sure there will be more things that come up. Sigh. So be it. This building needs to be built. This building is going to be the headquarters for something important. It may be small, but who knows? This could be the beginning of something bigger than we ever dreamed. I refuse to think otherwise.
Anyway, I now feel more sympathetic toward those twenty-something fresh-faced couples who are finding out that their dream houses are gonna cost them a bunch more than they thought. All I can say is "Hang tough" and work hard to pay the mortgage!
NOTE: Did any of you notice that at the beginning of this post, I wrote the abbreviation for Woodbridge Have as WBH? Yup, that's us. I brought this odd fact up to my fellow board members. We had put a neat logo on our business cards and had WBH prominently displayed on it. I mentioned that I thought our name should be Wood Bridge Haven in order to have those initials make sense. I got voted down. It is our own little secret odd way of doing things. That's fine.
Okay. So I've tried to keep my mouth shut about all the political stuff that's been going on. I know if I say too much, I will offend half of you out there. But, again, things are getting really wonky in this country. Scary stuff. Every stinking day there is some major uproar. It seems like nothing is getting done in our government, except investigative committees being formed to check on almost everybody in the White House. And don't get me started on Mr. Trump's overseas visits. Oy Vey!!!! I cringed when I watched what was going on during these excursions. You can't make up this kind of stuff.
WARNING: Little J presents a little political cartoon. If you are worried that it will offend you, stop NOW! If you are sensitive about politics, remember I warned you.
Let's hope that this doesn't happen.
Unknown
Things are beginning to roll on the Woodbridge Haven (WBH) project. I've never built anything brand new. My house was a tiny two bedroom many, many years ago when we moved in. Since then, we have expanded by renovating, but never, never have we taken on the task of something new from start to finish. Until now.
On HGTV you've seen how the contractor stars are redoing some old crappy place for a fresh-faced twenty-something couple who only have three or four hundred thousand to spend. (I'm being sarcastic there), and after the renovation begins, the contractors find out that the whole foundation needs to be replaced, or the wiring is totally shot and they are going to need a boatload of money to finish the project. I always found that so do-able on those shows, because it was always someone else's money and after all, that show is for entertainment. Right? But when you are on a strict budget, and you think everything has been tallied up, and the list of things you are getting in the building is written in stone you think you pretty much know how much cash is going to flow out. No changes are expected, no extra goodies are being included, just the basic final plan. X number of dollars. Think again.
A call from our builder informed us that we need to put frost footings around the big concrete pad along the front of the building, because the doors will swing out (building code calls for that), and if the frost heaves the pad, we won't be able to get the doors open. The original plan was to have the doors swing in. Okay. Sounds reasonable. Cha ching. Extra moolah. Then the building engineer says we need to have a side door off one of our special rooms, to allow for an additional exit. So we revised the plans, and made a window into a door. Cha ching! I don't know about you, but these two somewhat small changes that are costing a lot more than I thought, are a little disturbing. And I'm sure there will be more things that come up. Sigh. So be it. This building needs to be built. This building is going to be the headquarters for something important. It may be small, but who knows? This could be the beginning of something bigger than we ever dreamed. I refuse to think otherwise.
Anyway, I now feel more sympathetic toward those twenty-something fresh-faced couples who are finding out that their dream houses are gonna cost them a bunch more than they thought. All I can say is "Hang tough" and work hard to pay the mortgage!
NOTE: Did any of you notice that at the beginning of this post, I wrote the abbreviation for Woodbridge Have as WBH? Yup, that's us. I brought this odd fact up to my fellow board members. We had put a neat logo on our business cards and had WBH prominently displayed on it. I mentioned that I thought our name should be Wood Bridge Haven in order to have those initials make sense. I got voted down. It is our own little secret odd way of doing things. That's fine.
Okay. So I've tried to keep my mouth shut about all the political stuff that's been going on. I know if I say too much, I will offend half of you out there. But, again, things are getting really wonky in this country. Scary stuff. Every stinking day there is some major uproar. It seems like nothing is getting done in our government, except investigative committees being formed to check on almost everybody in the White House. And don't get me started on Mr. Trump's overseas visits. Oy Vey!!!! I cringed when I watched what was going on during these excursions. You can't make up this kind of stuff.
WARNING: Little J presents a little political cartoon. If you are worried that it will offend you, stop NOW! If you are sensitive about politics, remember I warned you.
Let's hope that this doesn't happen.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
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