<Insert Bacon Here> One fat (guy's) primal journal page 466

[drssgchic]

Heh- I mentioned something about putting something in the barn to my roommate the other day. She gave me a funny look. Oh, right, town house. She doesn't park her car in a converted bank-barn. My bad.

[canio6]

Well, not everyone is barn-folk yanno. Dang, now I need to find that video clip about being born in a barn.

"Don't close that door! You were born in a barn. We're proud barn folk!"

[Saoirse]

oh yes, my castle would have a kickass kitchen, and some "help" to do all of the little things i don't want to. but that would come after i turned our lottery winnings into a family empire (mwhahahahaha!!!)

[Crabbcakes]

See, you show up and already I feel badly about myself. You'll fit in perfectly

I'm sorry. Thank You!

[canio6]

I'm sorry. Thank You!

I was kidding. There are no apologies in this journal Say what you like.

[Crabbcakes]

I was kidding. There are no apologies in this journal Say what you like.

Well, dang, I just may take you up on that. First and Second (I have four daughters, and they are quickly becoming First, Second, Third... in my posts) went to Arizona for the first time ever this past Feb. with hubby. They went to Taliesin West (I like architecture), and Sedona, and Scottsdale, and Phoenix to visit friends, and to the Grand Canyon, and Four Corners. They loved it. I have never seen AZ - I let them go ahead of me. Hubby goes semi-often for business, and tells me that with my hatred for intense heat, winter would be the time to do it. I just don't get desert folk. I love four-seasons, green, and wet. My time at Ft. Hood TX was enough to disabuse me of anything farther south than the Ohio River.

Hopefully you like it out there. Pop said the desert silence was incredible and he liked it.

[canio6]

Hopefully you like it out there. Pop said the desert silence was incredible and he liked it.

It has it's moments. Your family's trip sounds nice. Northern AZ gets a bit more seasonal than down here. We were up in Sedona and Flagstaff in April/May of last year and got snow flurries....hmm...perhaps it was March, eh, my memory stinks. Down this way we have some mountains that are nice but it's pretty brown except for a few weeks after monsoon season. I can definitely see why you would prefer green. That said, I get to see the sun rise every day and that is beautiful over the desert.

[naiadknight]

The Knight house, upon lottery winnage, would have a kitchen a restaurant would dream of. We'd start with twice what we have now and go from there with the design work. We would have every tool known to man, and a few more, like a permanent version of Alton Brown's drill pepper grinder. The garage would be detached and house an Alfa Romeo, our two currently existing cars, and maybe a couple more. The attached workshop would have every tool known to man plus a few more, all in a few built-in floor to ceiling toolchests. We'd have multiple work benches and a rolling tote of common tools that would wheel into the house. Directly off the living room would be the TV room (more closely related to a home theatre) and then, with waffling and heavy sound insulation, off the other side of the living room would be the library. The library alone would likely be the size of the house we have now, with a fire place, wet bar, and comfy chairs, along with a desk or 3. The master suite would essentially be it's own one bedroom apartment connected to the rest of the house. Each lab would live up to it's namesake with plenty of equipment and workspace. his'd likely have an insulated floor with 6 or 7 designated grounding rods and a grounding space on the floor. Mine'd likely be wood floored with rugs. Both would have a walk in closet of equipment, toys, materials, and hobby pieces.
And that's just the first floor.

[Crabbcakes]

Lottery Dreams:

First port of call: lawyers, accountants, tax advisors, bankers... to set up educational accounts for First, Second, and Fourth, so if they wanted to spend 50K-plus per year at the Ivies, they could. To set up Third for life - she will never be independent, and it would be so cool to know a trusted trustee would see to her financial health, and otherwise, after hubby and I are gone.

I would replace the current wrap-around porch with something at least three times as deep.
I would make the outdoor pool that we currently have (next to the house where the wrap-around porch wraps around the pool) a glassed-in indoor pool with panels to open for the summer.
I would add on: several more bedrooms, as my girls share bedrooms still due to this house having 3 bedrooms for 6 occupants. I would build the coolest playground ever on the property we currently have (25 wooded acres): huuuge cargo ropes between tons of trees, treehouses, whole-log climbing structures, etc.
I would expand the kitchen (but not get more toys as I already own a number of them) so one of those chest-high open working-hearth-fireplace thingies I have seen in magazines would be in the wall and add an old-fashioned wood stove and space for two huuuge SubZero fridges.
I would add a room for my cats - just a little room with floor-to-ceiling wood-branch cat trees with hidey holes and ledges, and wrap-around windows and skylights - for those times when we have big family gatherings and they really need to be off somewhere safe instead of trying to steal the Thanksgiving turkey.
I would have to add a large library room.
I would have to add a room as a Man Cave. And then one for Me - a female. And we wouldn't share.
I would try to add solar power, microhydro, and whatever else to try to operate this house off the grid, or as much as possible (we already have geothermal).
I would expand the garage, but not to have more cars, but to add a woodworking / shop space. A new, smallish barn might just do the trick, painted in barn red, with two levels, and all.
I would add a winter garden / sunroom.
I would landscape somewhat the 23 acres that isn't yard around the house to build connecting paths, and then add tiny, exquisite garden-shed structures in strategic spaces on concrete pads, so if somebody wanted to spend a night in our woods, they could do it in style in a choice of buildings.
I would buy my neighbor's house. He is a sweetie, so it isn't to throw him out - it is for his much more level, cleared property - we can't fly kites and stuff here because of our beloved trees.
I would resite the driveway - so nobody could see our much-improved, rich, kick-ass house from the road.
And I would travel. First port of call for me: the Faroe Islands. I want to see tons of Scandinavia.
I would hire a chauffeur. I put 20 - 25,000 miles per year on the cars, and I am sick of driving.
I would go to college: plunk down cash for 4 years at a liberal-arts, small-town college, and live in the cutest renovated apartment ever while I am doing it - while driving my VW Thing back and forth to class.

I would start some kind of foundation that helps my daughter's special-needs school buy supplies, improve facilities, and perhaps do a bit of charity relief for the families of its students.
I would start another foundation that supports our county library.
I would start another foundation that buys land, then leases it cheap, cheap, cheap to farmers who farm organic or biodynamic or permaculture or some other land-respecting way, for as long as they care to stay there - as long as they stay organic, etc.

(canio6 - you said I could say whatever...)

[Crabbcakes]

I will apologize once more - NaiadKnight got me dreaming. I just looked at the length of my post. Won't happen again.