Happy Earth Day!

Wanna Green Home?

(yeah, that is a roof of a house)

pics from weburbanist.com

Those are great, but you could win this one: HGTV is giving away their GREEN HOME 2010 "eco-friendly cottage." The winner also gets a GMC Terrain and $100,000. I entered, maybe you should too. http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-green-home-2010-giveaway/package/index.html

Oh, before I go here are a few tips I've been given here and there:

1) Use low energy fluorescent light bulbs

2) Turn down or up (depending on the weather) the thermostat

3) Buy Energy Star appliances

4) Conserve water (especially if you live somewhere like here where we use cisterns and don't like buying water)- Don't let the faucet run while you are brushing and lathering up and flush for number two, but not for number one. Buy low flow shower heads and water conserving toilets.

5) Use used/recycled materials when building whenever practical

6) Use a power strip and turn it off when you leave the house or aren't using the electrical appliances

7) Put your outdoor lights and water heater on a timer

Do you have any tips you can share?

Driveways, Yards and Walkways

When we break ground, the first thing that we are gonna do is clear the land to make room for the house, a driveway and clear out a yard. So, I've been thinking about driveways and yards. I found some "I want one of those, but know I can't aforrd one" driveways, yards and walkways on the St. Thomas Multiple Listing Service (MLS). And just in case you don't know much about St. Thomas, a flat or grassy yard is a big deal, you don't find them very often. Take a look at some of my finds:

MLS # 09-484

MLS # 10-493

MLS # 08-1477

MLS # 09-2246

MLS # 10-486

MLS # 09-691

MLS # 09-2135

MLS # 10-97

What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back soon.

What's new? Status Report

Where are we now? Waiting of course.

1-Our plans are being reviewed by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. They say we should have a building permit in 30 days, but its carnival time, so I suspect it may take a little longer.

2-Waiting for an updated estimate from our contractor so we can go to the bank and apply for a construction loan.

Goals for the next two weeks:

1-We can access our land from two directions on a private road, but there is a boulder in the middle of one of the access roads, so we need to get rid of it.

2-Mark the trees on our land that we really want to keep, if we can.

I mailed my camera to the repair shop this week. I can't wait to get it back so I can start taking pictures and sharing them with you.

A Second Attempt at Getting Our Plans Reviewed

Our draftsman said that the person he gave our plans to at the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) kept them on her desk and never turned them in. Hmmm. Whatever! It sucks that it set us back at least 3 weeks. So Paul is going to pick up the most revised plans tomorrow and drop them off at DPNR and make sure they get to the permit division for review. I will be so relieved when I know the plans are actually being reviewed.

Today Paul met with the contractor and his architectual engineer and they checked out our land. They seem to agree with the draftsman on the placement of the house on the land.