THINGS I'M GLAD WE DID We planned for the future and ran PVC pipe underneath all our concrete walks and drives so landscape lighting could be added later. Also ran pipe for electric wires out to the backyard where we would be building our barn the next year so we wouldn't have to dig up the yard again. Wired for an entertainment system in the basement (which we are finishing now -- 2 yrs. after move-in). DH insited on 400 amp service so we would have plenty of electrical for pool, barn etc. Splurged on the kitchen cabinets and appliances. It's one of our favorite rooms and is large enough for both of us to cook at the same time. Makes cooking & cleanup easy and enjoyable. Insisted on a pool bath with a separate entrance into the home. We fired our first designer when he insisted it was a waste of space in our northern home and would present a security risk because it makes another entrance to the home. It's great not to have guests walk across our wood floor when coming in from the pool to use the restroom. It's also a great changing room for the pool and hot tub and the shower is a great place to wash the doggie. Lots of very large windows to view the beautiful landscape and wildlife from everywhere in the home. What a way to increase the endorphins during an upper midwest winter. We used to live in a house where we could barely see outside. Our coffee area in the MB suite. We saw this in a parade home and had our second (and final) architect plan for this. It consists of some cabinetry, a small refrigerator and a bar sink -- perfect for making coffee in the morning or storing juice and sodas. It's located outside the bedroom, bathroom and closet area but still inside the suite area. Planned for a single, very large MB closet. It's 10 x 15 and is a perfect size for storing all our clothes and is also a roomy changing room. A covered lanai in the back of the house to escape the summer heat but enjoy the rainstorms. Our hardwood floor (Brazilian Teak) throughout the house. One of the biggest "wow" factors to people visiting. THINGS I WISH WE HAD DONE DIFFERENTLY Mostly small size changes which you wouldn't understand unless you were inside the house. A couple of feet here and there to make a room slightly larger. We actually cut those feet off the original plan to keep it just under 4000 sq.ft. Boy, I wish we had kept them. Really checked our cabinet layout. Our laundry room has a tight area when using the fold-down ironing board. It's mainly because we chose a front loading washer & dryer which are deeper than traditional machines. Try to visualize the cabinets and how they work in the room.

I had a recurring dream in my teens, that happened half a dozen times a year, until a 'grand finale' dream finally ended it's recurrence. I dreamt I was babysitting my younger siblings one night and had put them to bed. I notice a light from my parents bedroom, so went in to shut it off. But I see the lid of the cedar chest at the foot of their bed is open, so I sit down on the bed. Inside it they kept (same in real life) my father's police marksmanship trophies, and containers of loose family photos that weren't yet put into albums. I pick up a container and start taking out photos, one at a time. The first photos I pull out are the latest ones taken, so they are in colour. As I continue taking them out, the colour begins to fade on each successive photo, until they are simply black and white, as they are now depicting (real) events/family from before I was born. The dream ends with me picking up a photo by the back, and starting to turn it over to see the actual picture. I never get to turn the photo around, before I either wake up, or simply morph into a different dream. It became very annoying, having this same dream for almost 14 years, and never getting to see what was on the front side of that dang photo! The good news is, when I was almost 30, and pregnant with my first child, I had the dream one night and finally got to turn over the photo and see what was on it! The bad news is, it made no difference. The photo was only a picture of me, starting to turn over a photo! I'm about 16 in the pic, which is the same age I was when I first started having this dream, and I am in my parents' old bedroom, pulling the photo out of their open cedar chest. I have never had that dream again, so I guess my subconscious considered the dream 'concluded' just because I got to turn over the photo. But it still annoys me that I never got to see the actual picture, lol!

I have two dream homes. One is on my family's lake property, which is small, is on the south side of the lake, and is on Minnesota, so severe winter is an issue. There, I want low maintenance, energy and space efficient, good cross ventilation. An open floor plan with informal dining. A screen porch with a sun deck above. Main floor bedroom and laundry. Probably floor heat under Marmoleum in the living space, to accommodate wet, sandy kids coming out of the lake. It needs to be two-story, because of the small lot size. The lot is level, and I don't want steps; the basement will be storage and storm shelter, but not living space (no windows to speak of). Upstairs, I want bedrooms for guests, and an open area overlooking the deck for a game table - my family loves board games and jigsaw puzzles. My other dream home is in the woods somewhere, more of a cozy cabin - though not log. I love the look, hate the maintenance!

No, I've never been told I had a short conversation with someone during the night, but didn't remember it the next day. But I wouldn't be concerned, you were probably just in a sleep stage that allowed you to speak coherently, yet not retain memory of it in the morning. My younger sister used to laugh in her sleep. I shared a bedroom with her and my older sister, when we were young. When younger sister would start giggling, it would wake older sister and I up. But her giggling was so infectious that my other sister and I would start laughing. Then our younger sister would wake up and ask us what we were laughing about, because it had woken her up! My youngest son also laughed in his sleep often, and now my 7 year old grandson does as well, so maybe it runs in the family!