Insanity

There's a popular hymn (if thats not a contradiction) that contains the lines 'Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.' In my case, its more like 'Insanity runs in my family, and it sometimes begins with me.' Though I also think of saying 'Insanity doesn't run in my family; it walks, saunters, looks in all the cupboards, plops down on the couch, flips on the TV, orders a pizza'. Which isn't true, you understand; I just like the concept, and the rhythm of the words. Its like that boom-de-ada video, which I swear I've watched ten times since last night (and which caused my wife to go to sleep with the tune to 'Heart and Soul' in her mind). I just like it -- like the tune, like the rhythm, like the concepts. Likes arachnids? Magma? Imagine being so fortunate as to like anything that much. Wow.

But this post started because I was thinking about the elevator and the structure for it. It is amazing to me how easily I can ramp up the costs of doing this. The rough estimate -- very rough -- for the elevator and a structure is about three decent cars-worth (gulp). Mentally, we think (how else?) of it as 'what would it cost us to get a new house'; so long as what we're contemplating can reasonably be expected to be less than 50% of that, its okay to keep dreaming. Well, I think I exceeded that budget.

To wit:

Extension of the upper and lower floors, making the master bedroom and the storage room (formerly garage) below it about six to ten feet deeper. This is what we call 'the arcade'. No Pac-Man, though, but it'll include storage for the mower, not to mention, the elevator and associated equipment.
Movement of the sliding glass door from the existing kitchen nook to the arcade's outer wall.
Connection of the arcade to where the sliding door used to be, allowing direct passage from the garage, up the elevator, and into the kitchen nook.
A new exterior door for the kitchen nook.
Enclosure of the slab space below the deck, not to be weathertight, but comfortable - screened in, outdoor fan, chairs.
A paved area to wrap around the outside of the slab, extending along the arcade to cover area just behind the garage, Currently, that's filled with tanbark from a failed 'play area' when our daughter was younger.

Ka-CHING!!!! And that doesn't even include the helipad, game room, pool house, or servants' quarters. Time to rein in that imagination, there, boy....