Building Beach Cottages & Other Wild Ideas

The good news is that I met a contractor.


He gave me estimates for the beach shack, so now I have a good idea of what I'm facing. Progress!

Sebastarosa House Plan

I do not have nearly enough money. boo hisss

beach wallpaper!

I think it's going to take me a year to be ready to start building.  Maybe less, if I get lucky. (bwahaha)

As much as I want to start on it RIGHTTHISSECOND, there's no sense in building a foundation and then having it sit there for a while.

I don't know, kittens. Sometimes I regret doing this, when instead I should be paying off my house, you know? And then I think: No, I'm just bummed because I have to wait. I'm still glad I did it.

I keep swinging between the two. It's not doing anything for my anxiety and fear issues, I'll tell you that.

And do you know that beach real estate is doing really awful right now? Nobody's buying vacation property. Everyone is broke, unemployed, trying to sell their beach property, and here I am doing the opposite!

And right after I have all these thoughts and start considering having another one of my anxiety attacks (I wonder if the makers of Paxil or Xanax would sponsor this blog??), I go surfing on Trulia and find some more island property that's ripe with possibility:

See these trees? They are right across the street from the lot I purchased. Right behind those trees is a really big old house that is being crushed by the oak that fell on it last year. The house is just sitting there, condemned, with an oak lying on it, and the price is dropping dropping dropping. The old woman who lived there desperately needs to sell it. The lot is big enough to divide and build two cottages.

The price is getting ludicrous....

and I want to buy it.

I pray that I don't get a wild impulse and use all my savings to buy another lot before I've even built the first house.

Another thought: I am but one hurricane away from having everything destroyed. Once it's built of course.

I wish I had someone to talk to who could give me advice and rein me in when I'm about to do something crazycrazycrazy. I keep thinking how much fun it would be to own a whole village of beach rentals, and then my friends and family could just go anytime they wanted...not to mention the fact that I now have two nieces with Cystic Fibrosis, and swimming in the ocean really helps their lungs. (justification, I love this game!)

readers? anyone? Please stop me.

{Last week I told my kids we should sell our house, move to the country, and get a flock of sheep. Because lambs are so awesome! My 7 yr old son shot that down immediately but me & my daughter were ready to start packing. Poor kid}