Welcome! I'm sure you will find this forum a wealth of information plus lots of support for the build of a lifetime!!

Hi, again. No, Kim, it's not near the lake. It's just NNW of Tahlequah. It's a single story, with lots of attic space, but no support or floor in the attic. Converting the attic is on our wish list. As y'all can probably tell, it needs a new roof, so when we get that done, we'll hopefully also be able to put in the structure needed to make the attic at least usable for storage, if not as an extra room. It was originally a farmhouse. It's mostly been in one family, which bought it several years after it was built. (I don't remember exactly when, though). The girl (She's a very young adult) we bought it from was the granddaughter of the woman that lived in it most of its "life." The granddaughter inherited the house from her grandmother, but clearly she didn't understand the work involved in taking care of a house, much less an old one in the country. That's why she was selling it. When we bought it 1 1/2 years ago, one of the front rooms was a living room, and the other a bedroom. The living room has a door that leads into a kitchen, and the kitchen has a door that leads into the second bedroom, which is extremely tiny - barely enough room in there for a twin bed, much less anything larger. Somewhere down the road, someone build a closet in or off that room. Out the back door of the kitchen used to be the back porch, but was enclosed several decades ago, maybe in the '50's or 60's, we're guessing. We tore down some drywall on the wall between the back porch room and the kitchen, to discover the original clapboards. We've timidly peeled back a little vinyl from one of the posts, but haven't seen exactly what's underneath, but there is a post there. Don't know if it's original or not. Thanks for all your comments. We can't wait till we can move there permanently! Sally

$70,000?!!! Joyful, that's a lot of money for a rental. I guess that's one reason I bought. Got tired of giving my landlord all that money and not being able to do what I wanted with the house. I saw my old rental house in the paper today. They've put in central air and recarpted...now asking $50 more a month than I was paying.

You've gotten some great advice so far. However, I don't see why you'd lose 'joint' if you went back to court. I'm not savvy on the law. DH and I haven't had these issues w/ his ex in years as the kids are grown, and I tried not to interfere back then and become overly involved, just supportive. Why wouldn't THEY lose 'joint' if it went back to court? I always thought the courts were more apt to give a BM custody - at least in the past. I assume his children w/ his wife are very young - about a 2 y.o. and an infant, so I doubt she was taking the cell away so the others wouldn't be jealous. I think she is trying to prevent communication and could be damaging him emotionally if he isn't told just how often mommy is calling to speak to him. Look into the above suggestion about dr. appt. and a mother taking him over the sm. Is she unable to be rationalized with? What about your ex? What is the reason you got the short end of the deal in 'joint' back when it happened? The silver lining is that the SM is concerned and seems to love him but it's in an all too possessive way at your expense. What is your take? Is she jealous you and your ex have a past? Did you ever have words w/ her? Is she very young and immature? Do you think she loves your son or is just controlling. Elaborate if you can. I still don't see why he isn't one week w/ you, one w/ them... Dana