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" Soon I will celebrate the fourth anniversary of buying my first home. Yes, my home. All mine! My walls. My roof. My oak and pine hardwood floors. My lawn and fragrant flowerbeds. And, um, my mortgage. My stack of bills. My mice in the basement. My unsightly algae on the north side of the house. My gradually growing wasp nest outside the upstairs bedroom window. My broken attic fan.  Ah, homeownership. How sweet it is. Perhaps my &amp;quot;to do&amp;quot; list would not entice any apartment dweller to buy a home, but trust me, the positives outnumber that growing list of repairs. I dearly love my little house. I say &amp;quot;little&amp;quot; because that&amp;#039;s what the house is \u2013 1080 sq. ft. That&amp;#039;s tiny compared to the McMansions being built today. But it was not tiny for its era. Constructed at the height of the Great Depression between 1930 and 1933, my house is a Sears kit home. I&amp;#039;m sure most PM readers are familiar with these houses. In the early 20th century, one could order a house in a &amp;quot;kit&amp;quot; from Sears &amp;amp;amp; Roebuck. Sears provided the house plans, lumber and other materials. The prospective homeowner took it from there. From information obtained at my local library, I know that my house was built by a gentleman named Edward Sayer, who paid less than $3000 for his mail-order home. He, his wife and three children lived there for many years \u2013 I am reminded of the Sayer family daily, as the children&amp;#039;s handprints are visible in concrete in my basement. My house is nothing fancy, but I am happy to hang my hat there. I love old houses and I love history, so the house suits me. It has had only three owners \u2013 the Sayer family, the previous owners and me. The Sayers left me the handprints in the basement, handmade knotty-pine cabinets in the kitchen, and Mr. Sayer&amp;#039;s old lathe, which sits precariously on a lopsided table downstairs. The previous owners bequeathed me deer antlers perched above the front door \u2013 I&amp;#039;ve left them there as a reminder that the husband in that family loved to hunt and that his wife cooked a fair amount of venison. I&amp;#039;m not sure yet what I will leave should I sell this house. A new attic fan, for sure. And the joy of owning your own little abode \u2013 mice and all. \u2014Kim Sipes "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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