My Built Environment: Good, Bad, and Really Ugly

I don’t normally advertise other blogs, but for those readers that are mac fans, such as me, this blog I recently found is fabulous! Mac AppStorm

The last 9 months or so, and the last 6 months in particular have seen a lot of changes for my family and me. It started late last year with the collapse of the real estate and construction industry. My business, Vignette Studios, is directly tied to it, so therefor my business collapsed as well. Between Nov. and Jan. I let all of my full time employess go, and converted on part time employee to a contract employee. I also accumulated a lot of debt trying to stay afloat last year. Then in January, I was forced to move out of my office location of almost 10 years into my home. Move number one. Now we have our home under contract (which only took two months) and are preparing to move in a couple of weeks. Move number two. For now we will be renting a home, with plans to build another home next year in Midori. It has been a lot of stress needless to say.

Now for the good news. With the sale of our home, we will be able to work out of most of our debt. I have also been renegotiating a lot of it. So in only 6 short months, we will have most of the bad stuff behind us, and can focus on the future again. Vignette Studios is slowly starting to come back to life. I am also continuing to work on Midori, and will hopefully be able to start development work on it later this year or early next year (subject to funding of course). I am also working with a local developer and financial partner on restarting my home building company to build homes on his lots as will as in Midori and other projects. We are already getting some good interest in that without even advertising. More to come on that one. So while it has been a difficult year, our family has pulled through, held together and perservered to get through it. Now we can look forward to a new beginning, and pray that we don’t see another recession like this again. I am also aware that there many other firms and people that are in for worse shape than us, so I am thankful for that.

We went camping over the weekend west of Larimie, WY in the Snowy Range area. This is the second year we have gone up there, and it has become our  new favorite place. The scenery is gorgeous, there are hiking trails, fishing lakes, and four wheeling opportunities, and it isn’t as crowded as Colorado campsites, not to mention it is relatively close to home. Of course, on the comical side, we ran out of propane in the main tank (which is why I carry a spare), and for some reason the battery on the trailer would not charge. So in a sense we had to “rough” it. We do have backup lights, so the only inconvenience was the water system in the trailer would not work. But I carry extra water anyway, so all was well. On one four-wheeling trail, we found this breathtaking view. On another trail we found some snow, which fascinated my son and he was enthralled trying to find the source of many of the streams. But with all adventures, it was good to get home again.

Much to our surprise, we were able to sell our home in about two months. This in a neighborhood where the average sell time is well over a year. We are both sad and excited at the same time. We love our home, but also look forward to building our next one sometime next year. And now with the uncertainty of being able to sell this one out of the way, we can begin the planning work on our next one, and yes, it will be built with many sustainable and green features. Probably not as many as we would prefer due to simple dollars, but we will incorporate many.

In the meantime we are scrambling to find a place to rent, and to get ready to move.