Hi Linda, I am going to C and P some ideas from a thread I started and saved - to help me come up with ideas...maybe something will strike you! How about some "Hobo Stew"....before you leave home, brown some ground beef with onions and whatever seasoning you like. Do this ahead of time and freeze it. When you are ready to prepare dinner, put the beef in a pot with some broth, or water or beer or a combination of and add whatever canned/frozen veggies you might have with you...corn, peas, beans, etc. We make this for our annual hayride....I prepare the beef and the entry fee for those attending is one can of veggies. It's always different, but always good! You could also freeze some chicken breast ahead of time....in a marinade of your choice. They will marinate as they thaw, then you can toss them on the grill. Any left overs make good sandwiches for lunch. Kielbasa or hot links on the grill make for good appetizers, or snacks for folks that drop by. Just grill and slice...serve with something as simple as catsup. It's not gourmet, but it'll work. ________________________________________ Freeze your large containers of water. It will keep your food cold and you will have cold water to drink when the ice melts. How about chicken fajitas? Slice and marinate chicken breasts and bell peppers (yellow and orange) and onions. Then fry it all up in one huge pan. Serve on soft corn tortillas with shredded lettuce and sour cream. ________________________________________ How about wraps? for a cold food. My daughter and I cabin camp and we have a lot of vegies that are prepared and various lunch meats, sauces, etc. We have it all ready in zip locks and very easy to prepare and for clean up. ________________________________________ Pasta salad! Goes with everything! No worries if it sits out for awhile. Make ahead and take in a big bowl or big ziploc!! Marinate your steaks in ziplocs a day or two ahead. Toss 'em on the grill and pitch the bag. No cleanup! Make chili or spaghetti ahead and freeze or refrigerate. Heat & eat with garlic bread. Pickles. Candy bars. Chips/crackers. Cheese. Hey! It's camping! Go for it! Deanna ________________________________________ How about breakfast tacos? That used to be a staple when we went camping years back. Scramble eggs, add whatever else you like, such as bacon or sausage, potatoes, peppers, onions. Add to flour tortillas, top with cheese and hot sauce if desired. We would usually take fajitas for first night as we would have everything already made before we left and a big bag of flour tortillas. Also quesedillas are good and quick over the campfire, too. ________________________________________ Couscous is great for a quick and easy and tasty side dish. Boil 2 cups water in a pot. If desired, add bullion cube or other flavorings. Stir in 1 cup couscous, return to boil, then remove from heat, cover the pot and leave alone off the heat for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork, mix in some butter if desired. Easy, quick, fulla carbs, no waste, and easier than messing with straining a pot of pasta out there in the wilderness. ________________________________________ My huband is going camping with the kids this weekend (father-kid). They are bringing cereal, granola bars, milk, taylor ham, bacon, eggs, coffee singles, cold cuts, bread, condiments, london boil (pre-marinaded), hot dogs, hamburgers, pre-cooked pasta, chili, potatoes (to be baked in the fire), marshmallows, s'mors-stuff, cookies, chips and stuff. If I was going I would bring boneless chick breast or pork chops to cook on the fire/grill, BBQ sauce, fruit salad, and a pasta salad. ________________________________________ Things cooked on a stick, individual foil dinners cooked in the coals, and banana boats! For the banana desert, use one banana per person, pull back one section of the peel, slit banana still in the peel with a knife, insert pieces of Hershey bars, nuts, mini marshmallows, etc. Lay section of peel back over the filled banana, wrap in foil, lay in coals or on grate over fire until hot and gooey. ________________________________________ You can do all sorts of aluminum "package" meals on a campfire. Just use sturdy heavy duty foil-- butter inner surface then layer sliced potatoes, onion,sliced ham or beef or spam-- add some seasoning , another dab of butter or oil-- wrap tightly and keep turning in the coals. Boxes of mac & cheese-- just add extra cheese.( use the little cans of evaporated milk) Do a big, huge pan of brownies. English muffins & toppings for mini pizzas. Couple of meatloafs-- good cold sandwiches or reheat, sliced Stuff for tacos Frozen hash browns-- & plenty of eggs-- There's a canned, refrigerated ham pattie we often use at camp,it's in the same section as the hams in the grocery. Canned tuna or salmon makes a nice addition to a tossed salad. Fruit Have fun -- don't forget the bug spray, liquid Benedryl, tylenol,deck of cards, good batteries & to check for ticks! ________________________________________ Where we usually camp, it is cold in the mornings and evenings even in summer. So my usual camping menu has warming items for breakfast and dinner. For breakfast it is nice to have hot cocoa packs to make for the kids. Also cooking fresh or dried fruit in a pot of oatmeal. For dinner, a chicken stew or beef stew made ahead of time with veggies and potatoes makes a one pot heat and eat meal. As suggested for the french dip, it can be frozen for transport and keep the ice chest cold. For lunches, we like to keep them simple: fresh fruit, pb & j sandwiches or cheese and crackers, some gorp (nuts, dried fruit and M&Ms) for snacks. ________________________________________ The cabin looks just wonderful! My Mom bought this huge cast iron frying pan that fit the campfire, it had to be 2' across at least! My Mom rarely cooked inside after getting the frying pan. Everything tasted great in the cast iron but then again we were usually starving for every meal! We even had roast turkey at least once per Summer. My Dad would dig a hole and place logs across the hole. Then place large rocks on top of the logs and start a fire inside the hole. When the fire would heat the rocks and eventually burn through the logs and the rocks would fall into the hole making an oven. Then my Mom would place the foil wrapped turkey inside the hole on top of the heated rocks and it would bake. It was delicious! Stacy

IMO you are probably putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. Most buildings can be added on to or redesigned and as long as there is enough level land around the house where you'd like to add more rooms then this property, all else being equal, may be right for you. However, until you actually own it there is little point in designing a new plan. I could tell you how I know this but I'll try to keep this short. There's an order to this sort of thing and one needs to know that legally you can add on to the house which is likely but I'd check with the county to make sure. Then, if you have done your due diligence regarding purchasing and the house seems like a good deal you buy it. Please don't let your excitement of thinking about turning this into your dream home cloud any issues this property may have. And most property has issues, especially rural property. Check to see if the cabin was built to code. In some places that is not necessary with rural properties and could be a problem when you want to add an addition if code is now required and you have to have some things redone to code before adding on. This house is described as a cabin and may not be insulated. It does not appear to have a solid foundation (post, piers stated). I've posted a link with more pics below. The bath is only a half bath and I wonder about the water source and type of septic which are not mentioned. Also I wonder about the electric line and the possibility of a phone line. If you have to upgrade or add a phone line it could be expensive. There was one house on an acreage we did not buy because the costs of an upgraded power line and new phone line were a deal breaker. You need to be clear on costs, both the initial purchase price, as well as the costs to build an addition and do necessary renovations. Those don't come cheap altho you might spread some of it out over a period of time. Think about the size of the addition you would like to build and cost it out on the basis of cost per square foot to build in that area. I certainly do not want to discourage you from your dream but we built a new home on a large acreage and I know how much everything cost us. In the listing I posted below it says "beautiful views of the lake if you choose to trim some trees" and I know how much time and energy my DH spent doing just that! Also every time we had to have a large piece of machinery in (backhoe, etc.) there was a drop charge which was astronomical! While one plans to have all necessary work done at the same time not everything can be planned exactly. A 16'x24' Master bedroom is quite large and will take up the entire loft area of that house. Larger gables could replace the small ones to make more space. Of course if you build a new eat-in kitchen the bedroom could be over that. Do either you or your DH know how to draw houseplans? After you have purchased this property you might make some sketches or a proper plan of your ideas to take to an architect or draftsperson. I wish you all the best with this dream and hope it will be a reality for you, but do keep your eyes wide open. Here is a link that might be useful: more pics here

You've led the horse to water (gotten BM to sit and hear you guys out) but you cannot make her drink (she isn't gonna do what you suggest) but I would have a hard time sitting back & watching the train wreck too. Instead of SD just not visiting, would it be within your ability to offer to take her younger sister for those weekends? (or an occasional weekend)? It sounds as if BM would welcome less distractions to her dating and you are not going to change that... if she gave a rats behind about her kids' feelings, she would at least feel guilty if not change her behavior. But, instead she gives the option of include him or stay home. I don't even get the sense that she has an ounce of guilt or remorse or any consideration to how this makes the kids feel. Trust me, she will reap what she sows... When BM moved away with BF and left her other DD with grandma, we offered to take her other DD one night a week to have dinner with us so SD could see her more because she was used to seeing her sister every other week and after BM moved, her other DD chose to stay at grandma's on many of the weekends SD was with BM so SD was going weeks without seeing her sister. (of course SD's sister was 12 and declined to have dinner with us... I think because BM had a problem with it and talks badly about us too) But, in your case, your SD will probably worry about her sister and fall into the role of caretaker at BM's and that is not good for SD. While it's not your responsibility to do anything at all, it would be a nice gesture to babysit her sister occasionally so SD gets to see her sister and doesn't have to be the caretaker or worry that mom is neglecting her. It's such a sad situation... there really should be a license to breed!!!

Dlm, Oh now I understand. No, I just posted Wandawega because I like it. It looks like everyone else has heard of it too. That's why no one else was excited about it when I linked to it. Now I want to check out the lettered cottage. Kitschy, You are a Wandawega groupie, too? Where upstate is your lakehouse? I think back in the real estate boom a lot of people bought second homes -- we did too but stayed closer to home. Amaqan, Id love to see photos! It sounds really cute.