and this could be yours...

Sweet little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house available in a quaint cohousing community.  House is designed but not yet built (you can choose the finishing details such as countertops, flooring, plumbing).  No commitment needed until after we secure our financing (appraisal WILL come through this time).

Seriously, one of our cohousing members backed out.  This is a GOOD thing...a very good thing actually.  I won't go into boring details but they now have other plans for their future.  We decided to take the opportunity to sell an already designed house rather than just a "spot" on the property as we have done previously.  This house is perfect...and it could be yours (yes, you Rebecca)!  Spread the word...

on a whim

sunset from the porch

On Thursday night of last week, Chris & Shannon invited us to come stay the weekend with them at their family cabin.  On Friday, we were on a ferry heading to Lopez Island.  The weekend was spent enjoying sunsets, visiting beaches, eating cinnamon rolls, shopping at a quaint farmer's market, bouldering (let's just say Eric was in heaven when he spotted the big bad boulders on the beach), laughing, and relaxing.  You can't get much better than that.

family love

little char char

Rowan, Julia & Leah eating cinnamon rolls

sparkly shoes

Chris, Shannon, Julia & Leah (thanks guys!)

and we are moving forward...

...only it seems as though we are moving backwards.  The bank threw out the entire appraisal (this is good news...the best news we could hope for considering the situation) and a new one has been ordered.

So, now we are back where we started.  Only this time they are looking for someone who has experience appraising green building projects.  This time they are going to let us present our project to the appraiser.  This time, it'll get done right. 

The down side?  Time.  It's taking more time.  Hopefully weeks, maybe months, possibly even a year.  I'm not known as the most patient of people but somehow, I'm okay with this.  I can wait.  I'll even do it patiently....I promise!

(Wait...I take that back...the promising part...but I'll try to be patient - I can promise that)

keeper of dreams

We had our monthly Millworks meeting today.  As I sat there on the back porch of our common house (our common house, in need of some remodeling, is the house that "came with" the property) enjoying the sun on my back while I simultaneously cared for my baby and listened to the ensuing conversation about appraisals and delayed ground breaking, I realized that there is no way this isn't going to happen.  No way I say!  The people surrounding me this afternoon are my future neighbors.  They are good people.  We all share this dream.  It's remarkable how well we get along, how well we deal with these challenges, how we share the patience/frustration/excitement of this project.  I love our differences as much as I love our shared vision.  Sure, we may be dreamers, but together we are keeping that dream, damn it!  And we will continue to plod along because we all know it...we are doing the RIGHT thing. 

maybe it is a case of "too good to be true"

We have been working on our Millworks Cohousing project for just over two years now.  Two years!!!  To put it in perspective, Charlie wasn't even a thought when this all started for us.  When I say "working,"  I really mean working.  Countless hours of time, so much energy, lots of excitement, plenty of frustration, some disappointment, many unknowns.  We have come so far.  All the houses are designed, the infrastructure is planned, we have all our members (and a waiting list), we restored the wetlands, and we are ready to build.  We all thought we have 8 big ole holes dug into the ground by now.

But, our last stumbling block has proved to be a huge mountain.  In order to secure our loan, the project needs to appraise for the what it will cost to make this dream a reality.  This is challenging since our project is unique and there aren't any "comps" out there to compare it too.  We received the revised appraisal reports yesterday and, once again, they are too low.  The devil is certainly in the details...and it's too much to summarize here but basically appraisers don't value things like quality, small footprints, and green building.  We are still hopeful.  Well, I guess I am hopeful....but this has been a major blow to all of us.  There are some things we can do to protest the appraisal and we are working through that now.  More work...so much work.  Oh, and time...more time.

I have been consumed by this question all day today - how could we come this far for it to fail?  I think the worst part of it all would be knowing that we are good people trying to do a good thing in the right way.  If we were to build all our houses on the cheap, ignoring any consideration to our planet or our health, the appraisal wouldn't be an issue (or perhaps, not as much of an issue).  But, none of us want to do that.  I think we would rather walk away.  I just hope it doesn't come to that.

Rhubarb memories

Rhubarb...it's in season.  We have three rhubarb plants shooting up beautiful red stalks of yummy goodness in our yard.  The other day, I cut them down to make a pie.  My oh my...what a good idea that was!

I used an old recipe from years ago so, for me, this particular pie brings back memories.  Memories of good friends, our bungalow with a view, gardens full of kolrhobi, and our sweet, gentle giant of a landlord, Art.  The recipe, I think, is his...or perhaps a combination of mine and his.  I remember harvesting rhubarb from the yard all those years ago for the first time.  I had never even tasted the stuff much less cooked with it.  That spring, we made two amazing versions of the pie - the traditional strawberry-rhubarb and then a strawberry-raspberry-rhubarb with a shortbread crust.

As you may have noticed, I did a lattice crust for the top - my first!  It was fun and much easier than I thought...thanks Eric for inspiring me.

Without further ado...

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
4-5 cups of strawberries and rhubarb*
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar

pie crust

Cut fruit, add salt, flour and sugar.  Stir and put into your favorite pie crust (we'll save that recipe for another time...and yes, I do have a favorite).  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes with foil.  Take the foil off and continue cooking for another 20 - 25 minutes (crust should be golden brown).

*I usually use about 2 1/2 cups strawberries and 2 1/2 cups rhubarb.  I usually just use whatever amounts I have on hand (the strawberries being the limiting factor seeing as though I can hardly keep a full box in the fridge for more than 10 minutes).

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. inspired by soulemama

right under my nose

A while back, I spent way too much time digging through our unorganized and overwhelming storage closet.  I was looking for a camera lens.  I have hardly used this lens and since I now have time for things like taking photos, I really wanted to find it.  Well, after trying to remember where I had put it (and wondering why on earth it wasn't where it "should" have been), I found it in a random bag under our desk.  Right under my nose...the whole time.  Grrrrr.

I had some fun with it today.  It's challenging to get a good shot with this lens...you actually need to pay attention to light and things like that.  It doesn't have a zoom and it seems like I took more blurry shots than ones that were in focus.  Obviously, I am still learning but I'm excited to see where it takes me.

skipping in the streets

This weekend was Bellingham's Procession of the Species parade.  True to the motto of the city - it was subdued but exciting.  What does that mean to me?  No stress, all fun.

The parade consisted of marching around the city dressed up in costume - either an animal or a plant.  We headed to the starting location about 10 minutes before show time and joined the masses...about 1,000 people showed up to march.  There were plenty of people watching as many of the costumes were fabulous.

Rowan decided she wanted to be a flower so I threw together a costume the morning of the parade.  Simple - felt flower pedal skirt and a little flower hat (kinda funny but she loves it so much that she is still wearing it around town).  Charlie just wore a little lion jacket but played the part by showing us he could scrunch up his nose when he laughed.  Adorable.  Seriously.

Eric was a lady bug - the old standby costume that has been worn and worn again.  I remember making that costume one halloween night about 10 years ago in the basement of this little rental house Eric and I lived in together.  I had no idea how much use we'd get out of that thing.  And me, I was a bee - total last minute costume.  I wore black with yellow & black striped "baby legs" on my arms and a baby bee costume (size 6 months) on my head.  Yeah, funny but hey, it did the job!