How I Spent My Holiday Weekend. By, Meg Tverdy

Friday morning, we loaded up and got on the road at a respectable 9 am.  Come to find out, I-84 was closed due to a pretty serious car accident.  We spent about 3 hours in Ontario, OR waiting for the freeway to re-open.  Not an encouraging start to our trip!

After surviving the long drive, we spent the evening at one of my new favorite places...

My dad and step-mom met us there, had dinner and then thankfully, took the kids with them!  Mark and I had enough stress without the kids getting bored.  Plus, they got to hang out with Gramma and Grampa and Jessica.  I believe ice cream was involved at some point.

Saturday, we left the kids in the capable hands of Grandpa. (Sorry Dad!)

I'm sure as soon as we left, he was feeding them ice cream for "breakfast dessert".  It's a Grandpa tradition...his 5 grand-daughters pretty much run the show.

Mark and I headed back to IKEA to continue designing our dream kitchen.  Well, let's say it's our dream kitchen within our budget.

I am all about aesthetics, while my husband is concerned with boring things like affordability and things being structurally sound.  Weird, I know.  But, sometimes, he does have a point.  ;-)  We pretty much agree on lay-out and smart boy that he is, he lets me pick out the style of cabinets.  It took several hours to get the design just right, but I think we can both agree that it's gonna be pretty darn cool!

Our next hurdle, was getting 1500 pounds of cabinetry boxes from Portland back to Boise.  We thought about renting a trailer, but decided this was a better option.

You can see Syd quite approved of our choice.

We did get to go to dinner Saturday night with my dad's side of the family to celebrate his 61st birthday.  We were exhausted, but still had a great time.

Sunday, we made the drive home, after one more quick stop at IKEA.  We pulled in our drive-way around 7:30 and were pretty darn glad to be home.

Cut to Monday...

Speed dating, or builder interviewing?

All the paperwork got recorded today, so we officially own two homes.  Wow!

Now, I have to figure out what to look for in a builder.  I know some things to ask, but I think we still worry that we will make a poor choice.  I've heard so many horror stories!  Exactly why I said I would never build.  But, here we are. 

I'm assuming that looking for a builder is similar to looking for a husband.  Someone honest, hard-working, trustworthy.  All good traits, for sure.  It seems a bit like speed-dating though.  Well, at least I'm guessing, as I've never actually tried speed-dating.  (Stay with me, I realize this is an odd metaphor...)  Really, you're looking for the perfect person and can only go by what they choose to tell you.  Obviously, a builder will have some references, but it seems like you're going to have a gut feeling in the first few minutes. 

Thankfully, Mark will be at the meetings with me.  I think a lot of times, I trust his gut more than my own.  Many of the choices we make for the house are researched mainly by me.  At least this time, if it goes awry, I can share the blame.  One of the many benefits of being married.  That, and not having to actually try speed-dating.