At least I think.
Here is a rough timeline of what has been going on in our heads the last several weeks, going back about 3 weeks.
On Monday, upon meeting with our neighbor who has the building next door that we were going to renovate and rent to use for the winery space, we decided to nix that plan. We realized how much money we'd have to spend to do that and in the end, it would still just be.....a rental space. We thought, why not throw that money into something we own and invest for the long-term?
On Tuesday, we met with our architect and pretty much got our final floor plans finished for our house addition. It looks AWESOME!
He was teasing us because when he came over to show us the initial estimates for our house remodel/addition and the numbers came in slightly over budget, what did we do?
We decided to make it bigger. "It's the American way!" he said.
We thought to make it bigger because, hey, why not make our garage gigantic so that Aaron can do all the wine processing there since we aren't going to do the rental building. That way we can roll the house addition and the winery into one big plan and get it all done with one full swoop.
On Wednesday, we rethought that plan. Do we really want to have the winery space connected to our house? Is it just another temporary solution until we do what we really want to do? Although it might save some costs to have it all rolled into one addition, again, we thought...is that what we are going to want long-term? To have a winery basically in our house garage?
By Thursday, we were researching buildings options. Pole barn? Add on to our existing workshop?
No, we decided. If we are going to do this, let's do it right.
If we are going to build a barn, let's make it one that we will be happy with long-term. It'll be the processing facility, tasting room, retail space, and event center. Let's make it beautiful.
On Friday, I had a break-down. Coming to the conclusion that we were going to build a winery building,
(a priority at this point given our tight timeline until harvest), it occurred to me that building that AND doing a house addition might be a little much to do at the exact same time. I have been DREAMING about this addition for a long time and it was finally within reach. We were ready to break ground in June! I want my own bathroom! I want my mudroom and our nice big garage!
After consulting with our accountant, and a loan officer that day, we decided to focus on building the winery first. Once that is up, we can continue with plans for the addition. They will just have to be put on hold for the short-term.
On Saturday, I went to an awesome Shoe Party. I was in heaven! I bought lots of cute, new, name brand shoes, all for $20 each!
I had dreams that night of having a shoe party in our new wine barn. Shoes and wine. Does it get any better than that?! I started to get really excited about how awesome our new building was going to be and all the different events we can do there. Okay, I can live with one bathroom just a little longer.
On Sunday, while working on building the new grape press, Aaron stepped on a rake in the garage and got a black eye.
On Monday, he had to give a presentation to a bunch of VPs on the project he's been working on at work.
On Tuesday, I found out I'll be able to save some time on my long commute to work by doing some work from home. Huge time and gas saver!
On Wednesday, I spent time researching daycares. Since our full-time daycare is actually a center on-site at my work, we needed to find a spot close to home we can bring him on days I work from home.
On Thursday, we picked out a site on our property to build the new winery building.
On Friday, I second guessed if that was the best spot and suggested some other potential sites to Aaron. We made a list of pros and cons for each spot.
On Saturday, our architect came out and helped convince us that our initial spot was, indeed, the best site for the building. We measured, staked off, discussed the overall look and all the details. Done deal.
On Sunday, I had an awesome Mother's Day. Out for coffee and muffins with my two favorite boys at a local, funky coffee shop, a walk around town with the stroller, playtime at the park, an afternoon visit from my parents relaxing in the Adirondack chairs, and a picnic at the beach with some friends and their newborn baby.
I felt like we did normal people things that day.
On Monday, getting dressed for work I was puzzled when my pants wouldn't button. I looked in the mirror and remembered, "Oh, yeah! I'm 15 weeks pregnant!" I decided to take a picture.
On Tuesday, the Social Security list of most popular baby names in 2011 came out! I was obsessed that day with coming up with names for our still, gender unknown baby. One more month until the 20 week ultrasound!
On Wednesday, we met with the new daycare, ridiculously close to home, where Axel can go the days I am home, but he'll still come into the office with me the the other days.
On Thursday, we worked on filling out the application and paperwork to get our Conditional Use Permit for a Minnesota Farm Winery license. Then, due to some crazy things going on at work, Aaron had to go into work at 1 am.
On Friday, we got initial plans back for the new winery building. A few minor adjustments and we should be ready to go soon! Excavation process will begin in a few weeks. Our township is putting in a dry pond at the edge of our property to help drainage to the lake at that time and the dirt from there will help to level off the spot we plan to build.
On Saturday, I woke up, rolled over in bed to look at Aaron and said, "what day is it today?"
