A "Lot" of Work

It's been a while but we've had a couple of new developments since our last posting. First, we inherited a sweet lawn tractor from (Great) Grandpa Henderson. We never knew how much fun mowing a lawn could be! We also never knew how long mowing a lawn could take. With the acquisition of the mower, we've been able to keep the lawn nice and neat. We also spent a load of energy pulling 3-7 foot weeds out of the sandy ditch that will one day be our culvert. It is kind of cool to drive through this undeveloped neighborhood and see the lots of weeds and then our maintained area. Also makes it easy for people to see which one is ours!

Our second feat was the building of the fire pit!

We have a lot of branches that we can use as firewood and we thought, as the weather turns cooler, it would be fun to have a place we can go and roast dogs or marshmallows. Plus, who doesn't like to burn stuff.? It took very little time to do and we're excited to have our first fire!

We put it near the back right corner of the lot in a very flat open area that won't be disturbed once building begins. It is near the creek which flows along our back property line so we'll have to make sure we're covered in deet before spending the evening out there, but it seemed like the best place to put it. Karen had a blast but Greg did most of the work...

Visitors welcome!

Lot 9, meet the kids!

We finally brought the kids out to explore the lot.
They followed dad from the front to the back.



We even took a walk around the walking/biking path.

They were so excited which, of course, makes us even more excited! They are looking forward to being able to 'help' build their own house.

Phase 1 has begun!

We officially own the lot!



The closing was today. The whole process was rather simple. The players in today’s meeting were our lender, Karrie, and the land owner/ real-estate attorney, Russ Holesinger, and the two of us, of course. Holesinger is kind of a big, well-established name in these parts. The land we’re building on used to part of Holesinger Farms. Russ is a successful attorney in town. We found out pretty early in the process that Russ is not only the owner and acting attorney, but he will also be our neighbor as he and his wife will be building on lot 10! To make things even sweeter, Russ brought cookies!


We signed some papers and wrote a check, (ate cookies), and wha-bam! We have a piece of land to call our own. We are not going to begin the building process until after we pay off the lot, so we have a "lot" of motivation to keep saving and living as frugally as possible. We have to digress to something completely off topic for a moment, but this will be relevant in the long run! We have a slight obsession with a local business called Freezer’s.


Freezer’s is the town ice cream shop and they have a rotating soft serve ice cream flavor schedule which changes every 2-3 days. Each month they put out a calendar of the flavors which we promptly acquire and adhere to our fridge. We’ve basically tried every flavor at this point! Because Freezer’s is located along the bike path, we’ll often ride with the kids up to have some ice cream (justifying that we’re simply working off the calories we ingest by biking instead of driving). Let me get to the point. Freezer’s is attached to a sub shop called Cousin’s, of which we are also fond. When Russ came to the meeting today, he brought cookies from Cousin’s Subs. As he offered us cookies, he mentioned that he owned Cousin’s. Of course, we had to inquire…did he own Freezer’s as well? YES! So, not only are we going to be neighbors with a highly respected member of the community, but we are going to live next door to the OWNER OF FREEZER'S! How cool is that? (So cool it's Freezing! Ha!)


Back to the lot…we’ve grouped our plans in phases and Phase One is the purchasing of the lot and the subsequent paying the lot off. Phase 2 includes saving enough for a hefty down payment on the construction and the actual building as well as the fence. Phase 3 is finishing the basement. Phase 4 is the in-ground pool. The phase definitions and time-frames are flexible, but we’ve definitely taken the first major step in building the Henderson Homestead.

A splash of color and some reassurance!

We are wizards with the paint application! Here are some renderings of what we'd like the exterior to look like as well as our planned basement layout... and the remainder of this posting would be specifically for Vicki.


Please notice the two....TWO bedrooms and full bath located in the basement which will be finished shortly after we move in if not before. In fact, please don't just see the drawing as two bedrooms, but as an open invitation to all family members near or far!

Purchase Update and House Plans!

We went into the bank this week and made all the arrangements for the closing which will occur on July 13th…less than two weeks away! We’ve visited the lot many times. Yukon has officially peed on the parcel. The kids will get their first look-see in just a couple more weeks. The house across the street from us is all finished. The home owners worked a deal with Darwin to host an open house for potential lot buyers and builders. Their house looks great! We are now sold on the idea of a built in sprinkler system and we met our future neighbors. They have twin 10 year old girls and a part-time 11 year old boy. They seemed like really nice people. Wade something and his wife…we have some time to learn names. We didn’t happen to meet the people building the house two lots down from ours, but we’ve certainly walked all over their property seeing the progress and coming up with ideas for our own house placement and design. Speaking of house design, we’ve found one that works for us. We wrangled with house large or small we wanted the house to be and had to debate whether we wanted a large house and a large wait for all the extras like finishing the basement , the pool, and the jet ski/boat….or do we want a moderate house and the those extras in a more immediate time frame. We decided moderation would serve us better in the long run and found a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath ranch with a 3 car garage.





The red arrows indicate areas where we plan on making some minor changes, but we like the overall layout. We’ve looked at so many house plans. Settling on one is a big step and a big relief. We’re definitely going to nix the French country looking exterior shutters and décor and we’ve found some similar exteriors that we prefer, but overall, this is the general idea. Now, imagine a white privacy fence in the back surrounding a large patio and rectangular pool, and you’ll see into our future! Maybe a less distant future should include the lot closing, the paying-off of the lot, the saving-up for a down payment on a construction loan, and the selling of our lil’ shack.

The Purchase Process Begins

We began the purchase process by saving up a bit of money (of course) and made a stop at our bank. As we all know, the universe dictates that when we want something so badly and so immediately, something will be thrown our way to delay the gratification. Good thing for us it was simply that our loan lady was at lunch and wouldn’t be back for another 30 minutes. We figured lunch was a good idea and headed to Jimmy John’s for subs so fast we freaked.




We made a quick stop back home and headed to the bank following lunch where we were warmly greeted by Carrie at Central Bank. We discussed finances and borrowing and APRs and monthly payments, filled out some paperwork, and headed to the Lot to kill some time and to take some pictures. We hadn’t made it even a mile away from the bank when we got the call that we got the loan. (Karen must insert that she is so grateful that she is married to such a frugal and fiscally responsible man who keeps her in ‘check’ when it comes to spending (or not!) We were one step closer to officially owning our Lot. We went out to the lot and took a “lot” of pictures. Unfortunately it had just rained so we left wearing the battle scars from our mosquito colony invasion and accessorizing with giant smiles. A call to Darwin (the contractor) was placed, but we had to leave a message. We will most likely use Darwin as our builder as well when it comes time to break ground. When he finally called us back, we made plans to meet the following day, put down some earnest money, and sign some paperwork! The day came, the money was paid, the deal was signed, and we will officially close within the month. It was such an exciting moment. Now we are just playing the waiting game…

The Scouting

We always sort of knew we were going to build a house. We both always wanted to live on a little land. Perhaps we’re both a tad anti-social, but neither of us wanted to wake up each morning and be able to read the paper because our neighbor left one on their kitchen table and we happened to glance out our kitchen window. We don’t stunt our day with dreams of block-parties or keeping up with Joneses or Johnsons or Kardashians. That much is evident by simply looking at our current home!
We’ve lived in our cozy little shack for two years now, living well below our means and biding our sweet time, and as much as we have grown attached to our three uncomplimentary colors of carpet
and our one un-lockable bathroom, it is time for us to branch out and find a home that is not just an object of our affection, but a product of our love.
Our initial dreams consisted of a parcel of land so large that our driveway would have to have to have its own street sign: Henderson Circle. We would have an outbuilding for our ATVs and our boat and/or ski-dos and, of course, we’d have no neighbors as far as the eye could see. We’d spend the summers playing in our pool and the autumn seasons watching our tree lined drive/road burst into colors from our porch swing. We found such a piece of land in Morrison…31 acres which backed up to a state park.

We also checked out lots in Port Byron and Erie and we toured a few pre-owned homes, but we kept going back to that piece of land. Every lot we looked at was too small or treeless or in an undesirable area. Every house we looked at had ‘something’ wrong with it or was nearly on top of the neighboring house. We wanted space and our own house. And we kept going back to the 31 acres by the park. We walked up and down the acreage multiple times and I won’t confirm or deny that two of our family members marked it as their territory. Of course, we eventually had to come to the realization that we were not millionaires and if we wanted land and trees, a house, boats and ATVs before the kids made us grandparents, we were going to have to search for something a little bit smaller. We happened to remember a friend discussing a new subdivision on the outskirts of Fulton, so we drove on over and checked it out. The subdivision was quiet. It had large lots. It had trees. We checked out plat maps and spoke with the developer, and we found a lot that had nearly everything we wanted! So it was 30 acres less than we initially thought we’d have, but that simply means we can build our house 30 times faster. It doesn’t have private ATV riding areas, but it does have a large open wild area which will be used by just us and our neighbors. And while we will still be in our new home long after our kids leave us to find their own dream homes, the subdivision setting will allow them to grow up in a very similar setting to what we had (and we think we both had it pretty darn good.)
We always knew we would know when we found where we were meant to be. Standing on the newly laid asphalt and looking out at our overgrown field grass and our doomed chestnut trees, it feels good. It feels right. We temporarily removed a gas line marker and scribbled OURS in the dirt along the road front. (Don’t worry, Dads, we put it right back where we found it.) Soon our hands will build our house and our hearts will make it our home. Chestnut Court, here we come.

Let the journey begin!

We have created this site to document the building of our home and to share the journey with family and friends. We have found a beautiful lot on the outskirts of Fulton, IL. It will become the Henderson Homestead. The lot is in a new subdivision and on a cul-de-sac. The cul-de-sac contains an entrance to the 13 acre neighboorhood common area and a hike/bike path (.4 miles). Pictures to follow soon!