So here we are only two weeks away from closing on our land loan, and our lender backs out of the deal, saying they won't lend to us because there are wetlands on our property. I wanted to grab the guy by the neck, because I made it clear from day one that there were wetlands on the property, it is not like we were trying to hide it or anything.

All is not lost, however. After some frantic scrambling, I have located a new lender that doesn't mind the wetlands. I will find out for sure tomorrow if they will give us the loan, but I think it will be fine. This time I am working with a local lender who is familiar with the issues here in our county, so we should be much better off. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

I just got off the phone with a typical pushy sales guy who called to "save me money on my mortgage." I told him a refinance wasn't going to happen because we are building a new house and selling this one (and our current rate is low anyway), but that wasn't enough to discourage him. He said he could put us on a 12 month plan and he could save us XX,000 dollars. I was laughing at him and told him he was smoking crack. I told him there was no way he could save us XX,000 dollars because we don't even pay that much on our mortgage in a year. How could we save more than we spend? He persisted and wanted to run some numbers and I told him not to waste his time. He kept bugging me, and I finally asked him, "Are you going to pay us to live in this house? He said "No" and I told him "Then there is no way you can save us the amount of money you are talking about, even with no origination fees or application fees or closing costs. He said "Well, we only charge a couple of thousand for origination" and I just started laughing like a maniac. I said "I don't know what kind of new math you are using that you figure we will even be able to make up the extra fees in one year, let alone save anything in the long run. Forget it!" Sheesh!

Today is my oldest dog Ollie's eighteenth birthday. I was in eighth grade when my mom brought him home. She picked me up at the school bus stop after school one day, and there he was in the car, a sweet little pup about twelve weeks old. I had him named by the time we pulled into the driveway. I never could have imagined that day that he would be with me so long; we've been together for more than half my life. He is deaf now, and has a bit of osteoporosis, has had a heart murmur all his life (obviously that was of little consequence to his longevity), but he is doing remarkably well. I hope he will still be with us when the new house is done, as several of its design features were chosen with him (and other elderly dogs to come) in mind. Happy Birthday, Ollie!

I posted this little review over at MobilitySite already, but I thought I would share it here too. One of the things I looked forward to the most when I got my first Mac, a 12" iBook, was ordering a foofbag for it. If you are not familiar with Foof, she is from Australia and handmakes wonderful fun and funky pouches for protecting your iBook, Powerbook, or even your iPod. Even before the advent of iPod socks, Foof was making these marvelous pouches in a similar form factor and fantastic fabrics. The foofbag pictured is called "purple people eater," for obvious reasons and is just one of the many fabric options available. I ordered the "it's not easy being green" corduroy foofbag for my laptop, and it is splendid. It protects my iBook just enough to allow me to carry it around with me, but doesn't add much bulk. I can only imagine that the foofpods are excellent as well, and I am really digging the one she calls "half a giraffe." That and the foofbag called "I ate the giraffe!" These bags are not a new product, but are fabulous and handmade so I decided to share the experience. I will be ordering from her again!

Most of you know how much I like creatures, and that even includes some insects. Ants can even be interesting sometimes, like the leaf cutter ants I saw in Costa Rica, once that carry huge slices of leaf many times larger than they are.

As neat as ants are, I do not so much relish observing them in the house. While Florida living is great, there are some cons to it, and one of those is the bugs. It never gets cold enough to kill them off, so they just multiply and multiply and you get the idea. Professional pest control is not a luxury, here, it is a necessity. And still, we will have bug problems from time to time. A stray silverfish here and there, once in a while an earwig, but mostly it is the ants. We get these little ants referred to as "crazy ants" or "sugar ants" and they are just the tiniest things. Probably smaller than the head of a pin, but where there is one, there are many of his friends. In addition to our pest control service we have to spray, bait, and smoosh the damn things, cause I don't care how neat they are, they can be neat and interesting OUTSIDE of the house. We encourage small geckos to take up residence in the house as they feed off the little vermin. No matter what we do, they always seem to come back, and lately there hasn't been a single day that wasn't punctuated by me yelling "DAMN ANTS!"

I guess you northerners don't have to deal with this kind of stuff, or do you? I guess the warm weather is worth it, but sometimes I feel like I am living in a giant ant farm.

I found this great liittle shop online called Pixel Girl Shop that sells unique handmade items from different artists. I ordered all three colors of these great monster pouches and they arrived today. Shipping was fast, the packaging was great and these are just the cutest things ever. I don't know what I am going to use them for but they would be perfect for an iPod plus accessories, a PDA, or anything else you want to carry in your purse or bag but don't want getting scratched. Pixel Girl Shop carries a variety of items including iPod cases, pet collars, and jewelry. Check it out for some neat gifts or sell your items there on consignment if you are an artist with a product to sell.

Ramblin Girl tagged me a few days ago, and the gist of the meme is that I have to list five weird things about myself. I asked Andy to help because he is always telling me what a weirdo I am, but when pressed, he couldn't think of many specific examples. Here's what I came up with:

I have a compulsion to break those little square plastic bread bag closers. Whenever I see them laying on the counter, I pick them up and snap them in half without even realizing what I am doing. It drives Andy nuts because usually there is still bread (or buns) in the bag and he has no way to close it. I tell him to get a twist tie and get over it. I have no idea why I break those things.

I detest and fear school buses, and always have. When I was four years old and in kindergarten, the school bus driver closed the school bus door on me by accident, squishing me. I was not hurt, but a little shaken. That was the start of my hate affair with school buses. Later that same year, Debi Doll barfed up a baloney and cheese sandwich on the bus and we had to ride around with the stench. I still to this day cannot eat baloney and cheese. In middle school I had an evil mean bus driver named Clara. We got on the bus in the morning when it was still dark, and we had to cross the street in front of the bus when she arrived at our stop. I think she would even rev the engine a little when we were walking in front of the bus, but that could be my imagination. I just knew she was going to run over me one day, and I had lots of nightmares about it. I still hate school buses.

My pajamas have to match. It doesn't matter if no one will see me, my pajama tops and bottoms always have to match. One time I spilled something on my pajama top, and I proceeded to change both the top and bottoms and Andy asked me what the heck I was doing. He couldn't understand why I would change the bottoms when I didn't spill anything on them. I even wear flip flops that match my pajamas. These kind of things are important, you know. Which leads me to the next weirdosity.

I wear flip flops almost all the time except when I am at work, or out running. I used to go barefoot in the house all the time, but after two foot surgeries, I need some cushioning between my feet and the hard tile floor. I hate putting on real shoes on the weekend, and I will bitch about my feet being cold sometimes but will still go around in my flip flops. I wear Reef King Smoothy flips; they are the best and squishiest.

I talk to animals. I talk to my pets and haveregular conversations with me speaking their parts as well (except for Charley the parrot, who can keep up his own end of the conversation). I even talk to my deaf dog all of the time even though I know he can't hear me. I also talk to dogs I see in the neighborhood, squirrels, birds, alligators, turtles, and any other animal I see. They don't usually have a lot to say back, but still I talk to them. That is probably why my bird has such an extensive vocabulary which is remarkable for a bird of his young age- I am constantly talking to him.

I hereby tag Rebecca, Alex, Patrice, Niki, and Kim, that is if you guys haven't done this one already and if you want to do it. I think it was kind of fun, at least for this weirdo.

This afternoon I was invited to a meeting held by a representative of NASA's next program, the one to take over after the shuttles are all retired. He came around to let us know what is going on with the CEV (Crew Exploration Vehicle) Program and let us ask questions about what direction things are moving. We didn't get a lot of concrete facts about the new vehicle because as of yet, a lot of things have not been decided for sure. We were told that the workforce would be retained less those lost to attrition and that layoffs are not forseen. Apparently NASA learned from the mess after the Apollo Program ended and the entire county's economy was devastated due to the loss of jobs. Thousands of people left their homes in the middle of the night with the doors swinging wide open, abandoning them because they couldn't afford the payments. Most of the space program's best talent left the area to find jobs elsewhere. NASA does not want to see this happen again, so that is a good thing. Many of us will have to learn completely new skills, although some of the work will be very similar. It will be interesting to say the least.

Charley, our goofy bird, has figured out that you are supposed to say "bless you" after someone sneezes. It is so funny to hear him say it, and makes me think we must really sneeze excessively in our house for him to have picked that up already.

Little Annabel, the sweet poodle we rescued, has decided that she does not like being penned up. We had been putting her and Louie, the two youngest dogs, together in a huge open topped pen when we were not home so they wouldn't get into trouble. Louie has gone in the pen ever since he was a tiny puppy, and he actually likes it in there. He even goes in there and lays down in his little bed when he isn't feeling well. Annabel never really loved the whole pen thing, but she was okay to stay in there as long as Louie was with her. That is up until last week, when she figured out that she can jump right out of the pen. There is no keeping her in there anymore, she just won't have it. So now she and Louie get to stay out with the other dogs during the day. They are confined to the downstairs area by a gate at the bottom of the stairs and we close the bedroom doors to keep them out of there, but they have the run of the kitchen, living room, dining room and laundry, as well as access to the backyard via their dog door. So far it has gone well, but I am a little afraid we will come home one day to something that is destroyed. Oh well, dogs will be dogs.

Wow, I had no idea how many of you out there have experience with eczema! The dermatologist did say that is the most common inherited disease, but still, wow! And some of you had some really interesting solutions that I had not heard of. I particularly liked the one from Twila, Kukui Nut Oil. I went to the company's website and read some of the eczema testamonials. I decided to give it a shot- what do I have to lose? I ordered some and it should be here by Priority Mail. I'll let you know if it works. Lulu had another interesting trick; using geranium oil mixed in almond oil. She says it works really well on all types of "gross" skin. I may give that one a shot too. Thanks for the input everyone!

I have been plagued with itchiness all of my life. It has occurred in different forms: hives, eczema, and even just random itchiness. I am now in the midst of one of the nastiest bouts of eczema I have ever had right now; it is all over my ankles and a little up my legs and it is trying to spread to the inside of my elbows. If you are not familiar with eczema, it is something that is inherited (thanks Mom!) and is not curable, only controllable. It consists of itchy bumps and scaly patches of skin that sometimes cracks and oozes. Sounds pleasant, doesn't it? Many times the cause of it is never found, like in my case. It tends to be cyclical- I can be eczema free for years, and then all of the sudden, there it is.

Unfortunately the only effective treatment for really bad eczema is corticosteroid, usually in a cream or ointment, but I can't use steroids because I am super sensitive to them and they tend to give me a rash on my face, which is even worse than the eczema, if you ask me. So I am trying to avoid that by using some of the non steriodal creams and ointments (Elidel and Protopic) that are less effective, but might help beat back the nastiness. They have never really done much in the past, though.

Itching is one of those things that not a lot of people truly understand. If you have ever had poison ivy, I think that might approximate the kind of itching that plagues me regularly. Strangely enough, I am immune to poison ivy, so I can't tell you if it is same amount of itchiness or not. My allergist says that people tend to dismiss itchiness because it isn't life threatening, but severe itchiness can be as bad as violent nausea or migraine headaches- nearly debilitating. People who don't understand true itchiness might tell me "stop scratching" and they are not trying to be funny or anything, but it is almost like saying "stop breathing." When Andy tells me not to scratch, I say "I'm not" and continue on scratching. He just doesn't fully understand.

It may be January, but it is 77.2 degrees right now, and we have bananas growing on one of our banana plants! We only planted the bananas a few months ago, so I was surprised to see one fruiting already. I absolutely love growing plants, especially exotic ones, so it is going to be really neat for me when we move to the new house on over seven acres and I have unlimited space for planting. There is an upland area of about .88 of an acre that would be perfect for fruiting trees. I have made a list of all of the different fruits I want to plant and it is a rapidly expanding list.

So far I have:

Papaya
Lychee
Mango
Starfruit
Kumquat
Tangerine
Key Lime
Pineapple
Persimmon
Pomegranate
Surinam cherry
Peanut butter fruit
Chocolate pudding fruit

Can you believe there are actually fruits that taste like peanut butter and chocolate pudding? I have got to try these! My goal is to have enough exotic fruits growing back there that we will never have to buy fruit at the store for Charley, our extremely picky parrot. I plan on planting a pepper patch as well, with jalapenos, serranos, cherry peppers, banana peppers and poblanos. This is going to be so much fun!

I started calling around today to see if I could get someone to do a percolation test for a septic system on our land, because our lender requested it. Strangely, I could not find anyone who could do it. There was one company that does them, but they wouldn't be able to do it for ten weeks or so. Finally I talked to an engineer and found out that our county does not require perc tests. I believe it is because this part of Florida is almost completely sandy soil, which drains very well.

Instead of doing a perc test, when you apply for a septic permit in this county, the county comes out and does a drainfield evaluation. They dig down and test the soil, and if there happens to be an area of clay or hardpan, well they just have you dig it out and replace it with sand. The drainfield evaluation unlike the perc test, is not something that can be failed. I relayed this information to the lender, who is not in this area, and they seemed satidfied with the explanation and wrote down the engineer's name and phone number in case the question comes up later.

We got the results of our house's appraisal today, and it actually came in $30,000 more than what we needed. Whew, is that ever a relief! We are closing on that home equity loan tomorrow afternoon that will give us the money to put down on the upcoming land loan we need to purchase our homesite. We are not quite out of the woods yet, although getting past the appraisal was the biggest deal. We now have to get a land appraisal for the lender, and have a "perc test" done to see if the site will support a septic system. The percolation test consists of digging a hole in the area where the septic system will be and timing how long it takes an inch of water to drain out. Considering the soil here is extremely sandy, I don't anticipate having any problems passing this test, but it is one more thing we need to get done. I will be working that issue tomorrow before our closing.

Have you ever been so busy that you are sure there is some big thing that you are forgetting? That has been me these past few days. I have been running around like mad trying to get things done at work, after work, etc. and I have that feeling but I can't for the life of me think of what it could be. Maybe it is nothing, and I just think I am forgetting something.

I have nightmares to this effect a lot. Like I am going along with my daily business and all of a sudden I remember I am enrolled in some class that I haven't been to since the first day and forgot about completely. Or I forget to put on a piece of clothing or something. One of those kind of things where there is a moment of sickening realization when I remember. Ever have that happen?

We made it through the house appraisal this afternoon, and I am somewhat relieved, but I can't totally relax until I know the outcome, which will be in two days. Andy and I did an excellent job of cleaning the house from top to bottom, straightening up the yard and pool area, and I even broke out some nice scented oils to make it stink nice.

The appraiser we had was definitely the most professional one we've worked with, and she gave me a sheet to fill out while she was inspecting the outside of the house. It had all kinds of interesting and relevant questions mostly pertaining to the condition of the house and improvements made but also a little bit about the neighborhood. There was even a space for me to put in how much I thought the house was worth. I filled out the form and gave her the list of improvements we've made and also gave her a CD of photos of the house. I told her she could use them or not, her choice. She was very nice and personable, and hopefully she will give us a fair appraisal. We are not looking for an outrageous number, just a fair and reasonable one. I have been praying for it to come in at $345,000. I like to be very specific in my prayers. We'll see if it actually works.

At work the other day my friend Julie and I were talking. We are pretty much the only women working in that area, so we have bonded. She was saying how one of the men we work with said something the other day that really bothered her. It went like this:

Julie walks into the logistics building and says to Clyde "It is really cold out there!"

Clyde says, "I can tell"

Julie says "You can?" And instantly it dawns on her that he is talking about her, um, chest.

She says she realizes now that he was probably always looking at her boobs before, but now since he said something about it it really skeeves her out. I told her to just get used to the fact that ALL men are looking ALL the time and just get over it. I mean you have to really put things like that out of your mind when you work with a bunch of men.

The big thing here is, if you are a guy and you are looking at us, don't blow your cover by making a rude comment. We are able to deal with you on a daily basis knowing that you are probably looking, but when you go and confirm it, we tend to think of you as a perv, and don't want to be around you because you are skeevy.

Due to the large numbers of blogs I like to keep up with, I find myself falling behind during the week. I am so busy with work, getting things in order to buy the land for our new house, taking care of all the dogs and bird, that I just don't get to check out as many blogs as I would like to.

I am thinking that I need to check out the whole RSS Reader deal where you can view the latest posts from all of your favorite blogs on one page, and save all that clicking to and fro. I need to figure out exactly how it works, because I am not sure how to get more than one blog to show up on the page when I subscribe. Apple's Safari browser, which I am using has a built-in RSS reader, and it is time for me to get with the program!

Do any of you use RSS feeds to keep up with your favorite blogs?

In case you are wondering, I did actually live through the presentation I had to give today, despite my irrational fears. The whole thing went pretty smoothly and I don't think I came off like too much of a dork. I am really glad that it is over, though. Thanks for all the encouragement.

I have to give a presentation to a group of about six big wigs at work tomorrow, and I am slightly petrified.

I have never been good at public speaking, and try to stay away from it as much as possible. When I was in middle and high school, I actually convinced several teachers not to force me to do oral reports. I told them that I would just DIE. I am not THAT bad anymore; I can speak in front of a group of people I know okay, but around high level managers and directors I just freak out a little.

So I am hoping it goes well tomorrow. The meeting is at 9:00, so at least it will be over with early, and then I can relax. I prepared a PowerPoint presentation, so when I completely lose my mind I will have something to fall back on.

Ugh, I hate this stuff.

We got a call from the realtor tonight; the property we are trying to buy, the 7.59 acres, is ours for the taking, our offer was accepted! We still have two weeks to back out of the deal due to feasibility studies, but I don't anticipate that happening as we have already gotten our homework done and know that we will get an appropriate homesite on the land despite its wetlands issues. So hooray for us, as it is now official that we have a contract on this land.

Rebecca at Dimension 29 tagged me, so here goes. By the way, Rebecca is a very interesting and talented young lady who reminds me a lot of myself at her age with her love of animals. Give her a visit and some support as she is going to be an incredible scientist/writer one day and then you will be able to say you knew her way back when.

Four jobs you've had:

Working at my parents' flower shop when I was in school
Selling Jewelry in the Virgin Islands
Aircraft Mechanic at the Cessna Aircraft Company
Space Shuttle Technician (currently)

Four movies you could watch over and over:

The Jerk
Dumb and Dumber
The life of Brian
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Four places you've lived:

Tallahassee, Florida, where I grew up
St. Thomas, USVI for a year and a quarter
Wichita, Kansas, where I met Andy
Merritt Island, Florida, where I live now

Four websites you visit daily:

Google
The Intranet at work
MobilitySite.com, a gadget site I write for
Tons and tons of blogs from my blogroll

Four TV shows you love to watch:

Don't laugh, I watch bad TV and I know it.

The Real World
Road Rules
Survivor
Felicity

Four of your favorite foods:

Pizza
Quesadillas
Blackened fish
Chicken and noodles

Four albums you can't live without (at least for the moment):

I am going to change this to "four artists you are currently listening to" since i really don't listen to albums anymore; I listen to selected songs on my iPod.

Led Zeppelin
Jane's Addiction
The Beatles
The Grateful Dead

Four places you'd rather be:

I am changing this one because I like it here, and I can't really travel because of all of my pets. I am going to make it "Four places you'd like to visit one day"

Australia and New Zealand, because they are just cool
Papua New Guinea to see parrots like our Charley in the wild
Christmas Island to see the migration of the crabs
Germany for Octoberfest because it looks like so much fun

Four people who are now obligated to do this on their blog:

Ahh, you are all off the hook. Do the meme if you want to.

I keep thinking about all the things that will change when we build a new house on over seven acres and sell our current house. I like our house now, but there are definitely things that could be improved on, and the neighborhood here is driving me away.

The good:

No more Homeowners Association!
Not having to care if neighbors paint their houses bright orange
The only neighbors will be horses, not drug dealers
A large "buffer" of land providing true privacy
A chance to really enjoy nature
A shorter drive to work (I will even be able to come home from work at lunch to let the dogs out)
No solicitors
No Jehovas Witnesses coming to the door
No more hiding out on Halloween
No noisy cackling wino neighbors that like to stay up all night on their back porch facing our house
The only barking dogs wil be our own

The bad:

We will miss this house as we have put so much into it and have a lot of memories here
We will be farther away from shopping/restaurants/vet/etc.
At least a year of house building stress
Higher property taxes

So it definitely seems like a worthwhile thing to do. It is going to be a long road ahead. Interestingly, my mother-in-law is not too keen on the project, but for purely selfish reasons. If we build a new house, it will delay us building a log cabin on our property in North Carolina, which she was looking forward to because she thought that she could see us more if we went and stayed at the cabin as it is closer to Ohio, where she lives. I have to say I was floored that she could come up with something negative about this great opportunity for us to build a new house. One day Andy will learn not to tell me this kind of stuff.

Well Andy and I still haven't had our offer on the land for our dream house accepted yet, but I know the realtor is on our side and it is pretty much a done deal. We could find out for sure as early as tomorrow but more likely it will be on Monday.

In the meantime, we have been searching through books of house plans and looked on the internet to find a basic house that we like. We found one that we both agreed on, and that would take only a few small modifications to make it suit us. I went out and got a book today about cutting costs when building a house as well. You can view the floorplan of the house by clicking on the picture above.

Well, if you didn't figure it out by the title of this post, today was a good day. I found out that the property we are looking at was originallly parceled before 1967, and that it has not been split into three parts.

Let me explain. Due to the fact that the lot we want to buy is covered in wetlands, if it was parceled out after 1988, when the newer more strict wetlands laws went into effect, the land would have been basically worthless. A lady at the county found an aerial photo of the lot as it is, 7.59 acres, as early as 1967, which is the first bit of good news.

The other issue was that the seller had tried to divide the land into three lots- the realtor was pretty sure it had already been divided, and if it had, it would be subject to the new strict wetlands laws since this is after 1988. I found out from the county this morning that the division of the lot had NOT gone through, and so we are in good shape to move forward. We are going to have to spend some money to be able to build on the land because of the wetlands issue, but another piece of good news we had today may offset the difference.

Andy was getting a quote from a company about improving the road to the property, which we were told was a county requirement if we wanted to build. The seller of the land was probably told this when she was inquiring about what she had to do to split up the land into three lots and build three houses. It turns out that the county does not require us to improve the road, since we are only building one house. This will be a savings of about thirty thousand dollars, so it is a really good thing.

So thanks everyone for all the well wishes, prayers and positive energy, because it actually worked. It still isn't going to be an easy road, because getting the wetland permit is a process that can take four to eight months, and it has to occur before we can even start to get building permits. We will definitely have to be patient, but in the end it will be worth it.

To illustrate what a good deal this is- I found a flyer for a typical lot in Merritt Island today at the Realtor's office. It was advertising a lot for sale that was .39 of one acre, not on the water or anything. Just a normal, buildable lot. The price was $289,000.00. The 7.59 acres we are trying to get cost well under half of that price. A steal, I tell you. A once in a lifetime deal. And we are going for it!

Tomorrow could be a very telling day. Andy and I have found out a lot of information about the feasibility of the lot we are looking at buying. Basically it boils down to a couple of pieces of information that I need from the county zoning department. If they turn out to be one way, we will walk away from the property. If they turn out the other way we will push forward. If one is one way and the other is the other, well then we will have to re-evaluate whether this is worth our time. I know this is cryptic, and anyone but my regular readers won't find this interesting in the least, but I felt a need to give an update.

So things are more up in the air than they have been since the beginning of this project, but I am still clinging to the little bit of hope that I have. If you believe in God, please pray that it all turns out for the best. Thank you and I will post the results tomorrow, if there are any.

It would be nearly impossible for me to write about anything else today, since all I can think about for the last few days is the property we are trying to purchase. So there is not a lot of new news about it, just that so far there are no other offers on the property, so we are in good shape. Andy is still trying to get in touch with the right person from the county, but we are encouraged, because we have heard of other people in similar situations that ave been permitted to bulid on the same type of property.

In other news, it looks like I am going to be pretty busy at work here coming up soon, as some engineers have come up with another modification that needs to be completed, and quickly. That is all I can really say about it.

Today Andy and I went back to work after our long vacation, and also worked on our homework towards acquiring our dream property. We split up the duties; Andy is dealing with the county about the wetlands issue and feasibility study, and I am dealing with getting all of the funds lined up. Andy talked to the county over the phone today, and he is going to talk to them in person tomorrow.

I spent the afternoon after work going to a couple of lenders to present our ideas. I found a flexible lender who agreed to approve us for financing and has all of our information- all we have to do is call her if our offer on the land is accepted and she will set things in motion. It was actually much easier than I thought, and with their construction loan we would not have to sell our house until the new one is finished.

So we are a little bit closer to the dream already.

Click on the photo above for a slideshow

Wow, so remember that 7.59 acres I mentioned? Well it is pretty incredible, although it poses a bit of a challenge to get the county to build on it where we want to. The lot is considered environmentally sensitive, due to some wetland vegetation on parts of it (don't worry, it is not swamp land!) We put in a full price offer on it today, but the seller is on a cruise until Sunday. The offer is contingent upon us getting a satisfactory feasability report on the property as well. There are several areas on it that are identified as buildable now, but they are not the best areas, and we are going this week to see if we can negotiate with the county and promise never to develop the vast majority of the acreage if they will just allow us to build a house on about one half acre of it, in the area that we desire. If that is possible, this land is an absolute steal.

The lot is gorgeous, it is basically "raw Florida" with cabbage palms, saw palmettos, laurel oaks, saltbush, magnolias, pines, etc. When we went there today, there was a HUGE alligator snapping turtle crossing the road. It was really neat. We having been missing being immersed in nature for a long time. We saw all kinds of foot prints throughout the property- there are probably wild hogs, bobcats, alligators, and more out there, which is right up my alley. The area we would want to build on is near a smallish pond on the property. The lot across the road from the property is pasture with lots of horses. We are sooo excited about this, but are still trying not to get our hopes up too much, because a better offer than ours could come in during the week, and we would get nothing.

So, please, pray for us, that we get this wonderful piece of land to build a new house on. I would love to be able to just look up in the trees and gaze at the clear blue sky and just "be" with nature.

Last night was kind of rough. I mean I expect some noise and fuss around the neighborhood and all, with it being New Year's and all, but last night was a perfect example of why I don't want to live in a neighborhood anymore.

The people that live next door to us are in their fifties, but they frequently act like teenagers. They are loud, drink a lot and get rather obnoxious at times. We are awakened to the sounds of them yelling and singing and whatnot several times a year. They are friends with the people that live on the other side of us, but two doors down. These people are also partiers and love to hoot and screech well into the wee hours of the morning. Fortunately we can't hear them over there that much, but they used to drive my old next door neighbor nuts as his bedroom faced their party area.

So last night our next door neighbors were partying at the house two doors down from us, and that was fine, but they left their big dog at home with the windows open. He sat there and barked continuously for at least four hours, and it just resonated off the side of our house. I could hear it even in my bed, and our dogs kept hearing it and then they would bark and go nuts. Around two o'clock I finally got up and got dressed to go down to the party to tell them to close their damn windows, but Andy didn't want me to go. He kept saying it would stop, and it did, but it was HOURS later.

Anyway, today Andy and I seriously looked around at some properties with some more space between the houses. I found one that I am going to have to call about tomorrow. It is 7.59 acres, zoned agricultural/residential, and is on a dead end street. Sounds perfect; nothing but us and the bugs and frogs. Just what I want.