I met with a contractor two days ago to discuss building a new house! Yay! I was so excited, I tried on several different outfits, because I was meeting with him sans the hubby and I wanted to look like I was a woman he would take seriously. So once he arrived and I ushered him into my office, we started talking ideas and $. I had a number in my head that I figured was pretty reasonable and could get me a decent house. Yeah right. To the contractors credit he was upfront and honest, but the number he gave me made me suck air. I'm talking upwards of $300k. Do you have 300k just laying around? I don't. Well it didn't deter me completely. We still went on with discussing a floor plan, material options etc. He is going to draft a plan and get back to me later. The good news is with the price of building new, the hubby is finally taking my idea of renovating an old farmhouse we already own a little more into consideration. So the whole thing got me to thinking, how come I could...