My Dream Property - Installment 1

You’re given a plot of land and have the financial resources to do what you please. What’s the plan?

First, I really need to know some things about this plot of land! Do I get a choice as to the size (as in farmland with acreage? I am a COUNTRY gal thru and thru. A city plot the size of a garden wouldn't "be me" and I’d not be happy having to live there! I couldn't turn down a gift either so I’d have to turn it down or sell it if it's in town or even the suburbs.

I'm much more of a "functional" type than an "elaborate" (photo-mag-suitable) type. So I would HAVE to continue to be the country gal that I am. Will this be enough acreage to have the closest neighbors out of sight or at least out of hearing? That would also be a necessity and it would have to have enough acreage that I could build in the middle just in case any adjoining property was sold. I don’t want to go through having city folks buy next to me and build their million-dollar house next to my barn again! I also would want enough room that I could make this a working farm w/income.

Also, where is this dream property going to be located?

I would get a house up there ASAP. One dream and desire I’ve had for years and years is to have a house/barn combo. I have some folks I know who lived in one on her father’s place. It was huge as it was an arena in the center and back and their living quarters were in the front. They had an upstairs living room that looked out over the arena and the kitchen, dining, laundry area were on the first floor. I’d want to have a huge "wall of windows" opposite the arena as I really need to see outside. I really love a pretty view. Below their living quarters were a meeting room with a small kitchen area on one end. This would be easy to rent out on occasion! There were also a personal tack room, a storage room off the arena for arena equipment, a couple of tacking and grooming stalls, a wash room (for critter bathing/hosing or such), bathroom, and, a small storage room off the living quarter’s door.

Then, flanking both sides of the building are stalls and feed/hay storage. There were also a couple of tack rooms and grooming stalls for those who are using or renting stalls. The arena and stalls can be rented out.

I am at a place in life where my housing is best on a single level. So I’d have to decide what and how I would design it so my living was not requiring frequent stair climbing. Hubby wouldn’t be able to do the stairs at all. So I think there would need to be a bit of a different layout in some ways. So, it would be FUN to be able to redesign something like this that would accommodate our needs and the house/barn situation. Maybe it would just be such that there would be a sun room with a covered walkway that made it so one didn’t have to go outside in the winter to get to the barn/arena side. It could also include a patio area for good weather.

I sure hope those finances and the income generated can easily pay the property taxes on my dream property! I may be in serious trouble if it didn’t!

I have decided that this writing prompt is such that I need to make it a few installments. It would be way tooooo much for one post and for reading. So I’ll continue on go through my whole dream that this prompt turned into a massive writing!

Wouldn’t it be fun to have a dream like this become do-able? What’s your dream if you were the recipeient of this writing prompt and financial security to pull it off? I’d like to challenge you to post on your blog what yours would be. Please include my blog link at the end of yours and share your link with me in the comments section here. Then I’ll make a list of your links to your dream property too. You can make your dream all 1 post or break it up like I’m doing. It will be fun to see who all participates and what your dream place would be.

Don’t forget to come back for the next installment. I need to plan for my goats, horse, poultry, and even the business end of this being my dream includes income and that means it is a business!

Word of the Day

Sometimes I am puzzled over words. My vocabuarly is fairly good and I love learning something new every day. So with the word "lagniappe", and seeing it so often lately, I had to go to http://www.ask.com/ and find out if I really knew the real meaning of it. I also wondered if I was pronouncing it correctly! It looks to be of French descent and I'm sure not fluent in French. I tend to give anything not English a Spanish type pronounciation.

That being, I thought I'd give you all the info too just in case you're seeing it on line as I am. Who knows, you also may be wondering about it the same as I have been! So, you're in luck! I have a lagniappe for you!

"LAGNIAPPE (lan‘yəp, lăn-yăp‘) Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi"

Lagniappe "is a creole word meaning ‘the gift’ or ‘to give more’."

Another place I visited described it as "GLUE". That stands for Giving Little Unexpected Extras. They even have what they call the "Purple Goldfish Strategy". It's described as, "Differential by added value." For the commercial use, it's "Finding signature extras that help you stand out, improve customer experience, reduce attrition and drive positive word of mouth/mouse." Source: Marketing Lagniappe website

So, we all thought as we traveled through life we were just giving some help or something. Now we know were have been giving lagniappes and giving something much bigger. Good for us to be giving and know we have a deeper understanding and a "special" word for it!

I hope you've benefited from this lagniappe and appreciate a little vocabulary "lesson". Nothing like a little word-of-mouse to enlighten your day! (I love that: Word-of-mouse!)

Have a great weekend!