Interesting, Very Interesting!

We travelled to South Dakota this week to do some preliminary house hunting. Travelling to and from I did the hand binding on two Quilts of Valor.  We also found time to have a few meals, snacks, and conversations with family and friends. 
We met with the agent early on Tuesday and then drove around the area looking at how much the area and changed and at the same time stayed the same.  On Wednesday we saw five properties that offered some possibilities, but we do have hobbies that require dedicated spaces.

• Obviously, I quilt and have a longarm that needs to have lots of space, and if I play it right, I hope to have others share my space at times to quilt with me.  That means one large open space with room for all, but I want it to be a dedicated space so that it can always be ready for me to take a spin on the machines.
• Kevin does woodworking such as large pieces of furniture, bowl turning, etc.  He needs a dedicated space as much as I do.  His needs to be insulated, dry, warm or cool depending on the season, and very spacious so he does not always have to rearrange to use all his large tools.

Beyond that we want both a family room and a living/reading room, master bedroom, 3 other bedrooms and more than 2 bathrooms.  And if possible, more than an acre or two of land is desirable.  Aren't we hard to please?  Kevin insists that we also have a kitchen so we can mainly eat at home, but I told him a few plug-ins for crockpots might be just fine. (He laughed, but I think he still sees the kitchen as a necessary requirement.) 

We looked at five properties.  All had some great features, some had some disturbing features, and all seemed to be lacking studio space or woodworking space.  The agent promises to keep looking.  We have a few months before we have to be really serious about our choices.  If we find a great place that can easily have an additon added, we might go that route.  A little remodeling is okay, but I don't look forward to any of the all-out messes we have fixed up in the past.