Tuesday, March 31, 2009

From Miss to Misses

Yesterday I finally got my act together and hunted down the Iowa City social security office. I took with me my marriage license, social security card and driver's license. A nice lady sitting behind a counter looked the documents over, had me sign a few things and officially declared that my last name is no longer what it has been for the last 27 years.

So, now I am in this odd state of limbo. My new social security card with my updated name has not arrived yet, so I can't start the process of changing my bank accounts, credit cards, driver's license and other important documents over into my new name. But I'm also not technically named my old name anymore. Strange stuff.

In other news we are still house-hunting. We found one very likely candidate and got in to see it the day after it went on the market, only to have someone buy it right out from under our noses. We have seen this ultra-quick turn-around a dozen times or more in the last months since we started our hunt. It is frustrating, to say the least, because Brian and I can't help but feel we'd like more than a handful of hours to think about and discuss such a large decision as handing over our entire joint savings and tying ourselves to a particular spot on the map for the foreseeable future. Apparently others in Iowa City don't feel the same hesitation.

Anyway, having grown frustrated both with conventional ways of buying a home and the conventionality of the homes available for sale, Brian and I have started pipe-dreaming about building our own. I've been reading a lot about straw-bale building, and decided to draw up some plans.

downstairs


upstairs

After all, should we suddenly and miraculously acquire some land and a lot of straw, we want to be prepared.

2 comments:

Oliver said...

You could get some ideas from other straw bale homes on the map here. Each icon gives a link to the owner's website http://naturalhomes.org/strawmap.htm
or you can see the collection as a list here http://naturalhomes.org/ecohouselist.htm?strawbale

Regards, Oliver

Robin said...

Thanks, Oliver!