Jon and Jeanne Zucker's House

After living for four years in the house that Jon bought before we were married, we finally moved into one that we picked out together. It's just a little bigger than we need, and a little more expensive than we can afford; in short, the American Dream.

FrontierLand has been our home since 2001. Like all houses, it's been both a blessing and a curse. It provides us shelter and comfort, a place to put our stuff, and may even be a smart financial move. But it also comes with all the headaches of homeownership.

Like the time our basement flooded and we learned that a previous owner had wired the sump pump's outlet to a switched circuit. In other words, the pump only worked when the lights were on!

Oh sure, we'd test the sump pump. But it went like this: Open the basement door, turn on the lights, go down the stairs, test the sump pump - yep, it's working - go up the stairs, turn off the lights (and the pump!), and shut the door.

Or the time our lawn mower guy failed to show up for a few weeks one summer. As our grass grew ever higher, we learned that he had been “incarcerated for from 3 to 6 months.” It's not easy to find a lawn mower service to start in the middle of the summer.

Or the time some kid drove a car into our house. (Pictures coming Real Soon Now (tm)).

All part of the joy of homeownership.