They gots it, but I wants it.

We have a history of making decisions based on first impressions, and that works for us, because we know what we like and generally think things through carefully beforehand.  (Okay, so the Metropolitan wasn't really thought through, but it worked out in the end.) Even with our track record, though, we always shop around before plunking down a wad of money on anything.

But every other house we looked at had something lacking.

The one thing I wasn't willing to give up as we progressed to Plan B - buying a house rather than building our own - was a view. I can't see moving all the way away from a lovely view in Texas to no view in Alaska. Well, that narrowed our choices right there, let me tell ya. Most people with lovely views aren't willing to give them up, and I don't blame them. Yet still, we looked around. We asked our realtor to help us look. We did pick out a few other houses that could work, but we kept coming back to this one.

Then we started to notice some things about it... Things that seemed to show us that God's hand was in the delay of our building and in the finding of this already-standing house. I'll put it in chart form here, and for ease I'll refer to the houses as Dream house (the one we would like to build) and Plan B (the house in the listing).

Dream house: Timber frame, but we had considered logs

Plan B house: Logs, outfitted inside to look like timber frame

Dream house: four bedrooms, plus loft

Plan B house: four bedrooms, plus loft

Dream house: walk-out basement

Plan B house: walk-out basement

Dream house: one of the bedrooms separate downstairs for guests

Plan B house: one of the bedrooms separate downstairs for guests

Dream house: wood floors

Plan B house: wood floors (with some ghastly carpet in the basement)

Dream house: gorgeous view over CharVic Lake

Plan B house: gorgeous view over larger Wik Lake

Dream house: southern exposure

Plan B house: southern exposure

Dream house: kitchen in green (which is my favorite color)

Plan B house: master bedroom suite in green

Dream house: wrap-around balcony

Plan B house: roomy balcony on the back and full-length porch in front

Dream house: built-in commercial bakery downstairs

Plan B house: well, you can't win 'em all

The Plan B house is smaller than what we planned to build, but we knew all along that the Dream house was bigger than we needed. Plan B is only one mile from our property, and while it doesn't have a garage, we could build a garage on our land to keep the Metropolitan in, and maybe also the bakery. That structure would satisfy the requirements of the electric company. This house had been on the market for 10 months already, and the realtor said it had been marked down in price twice. 

Hm, could it have been waiting just for us?

This is the back of the house - what you would see looking at it from the shore. The current owner is the person on the balcony.

This is the front of the house.

A wintery view over Wik Lake from the balcony:

I'm a little baffled that someone felt the need to put a bar sink in the island so close to the regular sink. Speaking of sinks, I find the blue color of both of them a little entertaining. Not exactly lovely, but entertaining.

The loft in the Dream house would have been mine. So, naturally, I feel compelled to claim this one for myself. It's got the best view in the house, and [singsong voice here] built-in bookshelves!

I totally want this house. It seems so perfect. I'm trying not to get too excited about it around Jim, though, because if something goes wrong and we can't get this house, I don't want him to feel bad for me. I need this to be a positive experience for him, so I'm playing it cool. Sort of. But dude, that's MY loft.