The older gentleman that built the cordwood house said that when he finished it his son-in-law (the same one that had scoffed at the idea of him building it himself) asked him what he wanted for it. The man said, "It's not for sale." The son-in-law, "Oh, come on. Everything has a price." He said, "Not in this case." The son-in-law asked, "How about a million dollars?" The man replied, "What would I do with a million dollars? This is what I wanted and I have it." Hmmmm....there's wisdom here. The thing that stood out the most about all of these people that had built their own homes was the joy, satisfaction, and freedom that you could hear in their voices and see in their faces. They had done it. (Interesting that it was a relative that tried to discourage this man from even starting. That can be even harder to overcome than an unrelated person.)
He also told us that his grandmother used to say to him in German: "Waste nothing-want for nothing." He spoke it in German; I wish I could do that for you.
Nancy
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