To Build or Not to Build....

So to break up Andrew’s posts I thought I’d throw in one of my own. As you might have noticed, Andrew is the brains behind the engineering of the house. Mine is the position of consultant, laborer, organizer, and mover alonger. For example, I’ve been working out at the gym to beef up for our summer exertions (laborer). This means doing some workouts that Andrew has affectionately labeled “the nail gun” or “the sheet rock.” I was able to test “the nail gun” on an actual nail gun yesterday at a hardware store. It wasn’t as bad as I thought but I can see how sore my arm will be after days straight of lifting that gun.

As some of my dorkier friends will appreciate I was wandering around looking at various items in the hardware store (I was supposed to be seriously considering each for our house project) but I suddenly began to imagine each tool as a zombie invasion weapon. If there’s a zombie infestation run to AIH because almost every item could brain a zombie decently. You see, this is why Andrew is doing the basic design of the house. Otherwise I’d be saying stuff like “Hey Honey, shouldn’t we put a bunker in here! What if there’s an economic break down, we don’t want to be caught with our pants down now do we.”

So back to what this post was originally supposed to be about. Why did I decide that I wanted to build a house? Many of you know that for a while there I wanted to go to graduate school out of state. I was getting pretty ancy to move away from Fairbanks. So how did I go from the concept of moving out of state to building a house in Fairbanks? That’s pretty simple. The first reason was that I realized I would need a bundle of prerequisite classes to even qualify for an Occupational Therapist graduate program. What better place to acquire these then through my job which provides me with 12 free credits a year. Getting prereq’s meant at least another 3 years in Fairbanks. I also need to be at my job for 5 years to be vested in my retirement. That also means another 3 years in Fairbanks. So there it is, wanting to go to grad school meant staying in Fairbanks longer.

Andrew had wanted to buy land and build a house for quite some time. Since I couldn’t complete one of my life goals for another 3-4 years, why not complete one of his. Plus, it would be the challenge I was looking for. I was becoming pretty complacent at work and home, I just wanted a change. I think this is going to be all the change I need for a while.

Lastly, and some of you may think most importantly, I want a freakin’ dog. That’s right, I’m spending 160,000$ on a house to get a poochy! Seriously though, we looked at many rentals in Fairbanks and they were all mediocre. The ones that did allow dogs said “no puppies.” I know the merits of getting older pound dogs but for my first animal I would like a puppy that I can train and grow with. That way I’ll love it even when it poops big poops in the yard when it grows up (this ones for you Mom). Don’t think I’m the only one with this obsession, Andrew also wants a dog. He just isn’t as vocal about it. So this is my outlook on the house building adventure so far, not nearly as technical but just as invested as Andrew “the hammer” Johnson.

To throw in some interactivity: What kind of dog do you think Andrew and I should get? give specifics about why