How's the house? Oh- going glamping, too!

Well, the house looks more like a house these days.  It has felt paper and ice/water barrier, it has windows, doors and duct work.  The electrician has made his marks for rough in.  The plumber will be out this week or next to mark rough ins for plumbing.  The roofing material should be arriving soon as well as the bricks.  The porches need to be built, as well.  I am getting more and more excited as it moves along.  How soon to move in?   Could be end of summer, but most likely just before Thanksgiving.  Let's hope for the earlier!  I really hate moving in the winter.

We have decided to paint the interior ourselves along with a few friends?  (Anyone else want to join us?)  Free food and beverages along with good conversation will be the pay!  Thanks to all of you who are going to help! We love you.

Taking a break this weekend and going glamping.  Yes, I said glamping - google it if you don't know what it is. I can hardly wait.  We are going with our good friends Amy and Aaron and their two boys.  All told we will have 7 people and 5 dogs - what a herd.  Campfire cooking, s'mores and gold panning.  Sounds like fun!  We don't really expect to find any gold, but it's fun trying.  Hopefully the rain in the forecast won't last to long and the creek won't come up too much.  (Calling for an inch or more tonight into Friday)  Biting my nails.

Hubs is at home trying to get the fishing gear ready - he's had more than a month to get prepared, but true to his nature, waits until the night before.  I have just about everything else ready to go, just have to pack it up.  Everything is staged in the corner of my bedroom.  Looks like a campers garage sale waiting to happen.

Speaking of garage sales - going to have one when we get back from glamping.  We've accumulated at bunch of stuff a auctions that we just don't need.  Those of you who know where we are living - watch craigslist for the dates.

In other news, today is hubby's last day of work at Traderbaker's Vendor Mall.  He's fed up with it.  He's going to set up at flea markets and such to make up for his piddly lost income.  Hopefully he can make a few bucks here and there.  Biting my nails, again.

Not much more to add.  Just about time to go home from work.  It was a pretty slow day today.  Having company dinner tomorrow evening - Red Lobster - bosses choice.  Yay, shrimp.

Have a great weekend and see you next week!

Here's the latest photo of the house.  The front door looks like it has a post right in the middle of it, but that is a porch post about 5 feet out.  The funky box next to that is the chimney.  The room that sticks out funny is the pantry/1/2bath and laundry room.  I am hoping the workers were able to put the black paper on the roof today.  The contractor said they should be starting the brick any time.  We meet with the electrician on Tuesday for electrical placements.  The doors and windows have been ordered. Paint and trim has been picked out.  I have to go to the home store to pick out paint for the exterior doors.  Thought they were going to be stained, but was informed they were not!

Stressing a little bit...

Stressing a little bit about all this building stuff.  We have just about everything picked out - still need lights, outlet locations and paint colors.  The plumbing budget made me sad.  I couldn't get the faucet I wanted for the kitchen, but found one I can live with.  I am getting a really neat one for the master bathroom.  Looks like an old pitcher pump type.
We haven't decided on all the lighting yet, but need to get a move on so it's ready when the electrician does the rough in.  I found a really neat ceiling fan for the back porch that is actually cheaper than having two (like before)  We've decided that just about all the lighting can be pretty plain (cheaper) except for the living room ceiling fan and the lighting in the kitchen.  We also picked out 2 lights for the porch and side entry that are reasonably priced for the style.  As far as the ceiling fans go in the rest of the house, we can get plain ones now and later on pick up some prettier globes after we live in it for awhile.  You can't go wrong with black metal and darker wood tones.  To me, these are classic and don't go out of style like shiny brass or decorator colors.

Still mad, but token has been returned.

I guess my husband telling the job boss that he didn't want to tangle with me paid off.  The token has been returned, albeit in a different spot.  No questions were asked, but they were warned that if anything else was stolen, the law would be called and everyone of them would be accessories to theft, regardless of who took what.  Let's hope they have enough sense to leave our stuff alone.

FRANKLY, I'M PISSED OFF.....

Sorry if that offends, but someone has done the ultimate dirty deed.  Remember that token that was place in the concrete for my son?  SOME JACKASS STOLE IT!  My husband and son went up the farm to day to check things out.  The workers were placing the foundation blocks and Lliam was watching them.  Lliam walked over to the area where the token was and he noticed it was gone.  His rock is still there, but the token is GONE.  Lance called the guy who is in charge and point blank said "I want that token returned or there's going to be a huge problem."  As of this posting, we have not heard anything.  I cannot believe  someone would do this.  How would they like it if someone stole something that belonged to their child?  Honestly, I hope they choke on the damn thing.

Hard Labor

Hard Labor is good for you.  On Sunday evening after work, the hubs and I went up to the farm to continue moving limbs from the cut down trees.  He got the little tractor out of the barn and we piled up limbs, wrapped a strap around them and hauled them to a spot in the woods. We got one entire pile cleared in about 1 1/2 hours.  In the process, I knocked over my iced tea, got smacked in the side of the face and in the mouth by unruly limbs and found a hole with my right foot and ankle.  Good time, good times.  Lance had an episode with a limb that could have been a winner on America's Funniest Videos.  Let's just say it might have felt better if he had just done the splits.  He had to take a lengthy break afterwards.  I cleared off the patio area of huge chunks of wood and the saw dust.  We then moved the outfit to the north side and started in on that pile.  I received some scrapes on my arms and Lance tripped a couple of times.  We mostly just piled all the limbs up against the fence to be dealt with later.  We still have several branches to move and 4 HUGE logs, but mostly everything is out of the way for the contractors to get in there and do their thing.  They were supposed to put the concrete block in on Monday, but for some reason it didn't get done.  Hopefully they were out there today working.  

At the end of the evening, my severely arthritic knees were screaming!  My feet ached and the skin on my hands was practically raw.  I couldn't wait to get to the house to take a shower and go to bed.  I am still a little bit sore, but overall, in good shape.  And the yard looks pretty good too! Now if we can just get that house done.

Here forever....

This is a Star Wars token and a polished black rock that were found among the debris after the house was demolished.  The person who found the token is who poured the concrete.  He thought is would be neat to put it in the cement footer.  

The same day, Lliam found this polished black rock from his rock collection in the dirt and Buddy said he could put it in there too.  I think it is awesome for Lliam to be a part of the construction process on the new house.  I know he's been struggling with losing all of his possessions.  He's had a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that 'things' can be replaced.  Take his 'Pooh Blanket', an item he's had since day one.  After the fire we couldn't find it and figured it was lost forever.  I got it in my head to try to find another blanket that looked just like it and I did.  I even found the binding I had used too.  I wrapped it up and gave it to Lliam for Christmas.  He nearly cried and so did I.  He loved it, but said it wasn't the same.  I told him I knew it wasn't the same, but at least he had something tangible to hold on to when he wanted to remember his blanket.  

Then, last week, a minor miracle occurred.  During the demolition of the house, Lance and Lliam went up to watch.  During one swipe of the bucket on the backhoe, a flash of pastel color appeared.  Instantly Lliam knew what it was. He waved his arms wildly and yelled for the equipment to stop. Lance had to hold him back until the workers could get it shut down. Lliam sprinted up to the pile.  There among the rubble was his beloved 'Pooh Blanket'.  It was slightly burnt and had smoke damage, but it was intact.  He was so happy!  So am I.