update JUne 9th

I didn't get a chance to update with these photos last week. We're beyond this point now, but I have an obsessive compulsive need to post them in order...














The roof nearly on... just a little bit to go....
















I just thought this was a cool picture.... the web of trusses up above...






















We're getting indoor plumbing in THIS House! :)

framing tour

End of week one:
* Sheeting is now on the roof and shingles will soon be seeing the light of day. I can't remember what color I picked so it will be good to see them.
* Front eyebrow got put on today.
* We decided to add three windows to breakfast nook.
* Met with electrician to layout lighting. It took 2 hours and we will most likely have to meet again.


Here are some framing photos I took on Wednesday before my camera battery died:















This is the fireplace opening in the living room.

















This is the breakfast nook bay window. We are adding transoms above these windows to allow more light in - it'll be kind of like the windows at the fireplace.

















This is the kitchen - I'm standing by the door near the bay window to take the picture.

















This is a view of the living room -- and the master bedroom beyond that.



















This is the dining room

Day 2

I intended to take photos each day.... but uh, well, ... didn't.

So, here we go.

These are photos from the end of Day 2... moving right along. Remember Day 0 was just foundation in the ground.

Photo #1 - west side of the house
Photo #2 - back side of the house. (The basement walls are just framed straight through but will later have windows in there)
Photo #3 - front door (which by the way I LOVE)
Photo #4 & #5 - front

need a little stress in your life? visit Subway...

This blog is dedicated to my new house. Mostly I will talk about the house itself... but I have to take a quick break from that and tell this story.

I decided to be nice and buy the crew lunch today. They are busy setting trusses on my super high roof and it's a big job, hot outside, and the wind is whipping them. I went to the house to just look a bit and try to make some educated decisions on lighting and I about died from the wind whipping me around. I was only there for a half hour.

So, Shera and I got all their subway orders and decided we'd make a quick trip to Subway for them. No problem.

9 different orders, all written down. Piece of cake.

Abbie's, my 14 year old, favorite place to eat in this entire city is Subway. She begs to go there all the time. Funny thing is she only orders ham and cheese on white. Good Grief! Go to the grocery store. I always resist going there. Partly because I can just get the same thing at the store for a LOT CHEAPER. And today, I put it all together and figured out the real reason why I hate the place.

It IS STRESSFUL, people!!!! We got there and already the line was about 6 people long. We had our lists of things ready to go... and the closer we got, the more we stressed out realizing they aren't going to be happy with us when we order 9 sandwiches! So, creatively we figured out that we would split it up, she can order 4 and I will order 5. Then it doesn't seem so bad.

The problem is --- the people at Subway RUSH you!!! They TALK FAST, they ASK you questions you haven't thought about, they HURRY you to make a decision, and they get COMPLETELY ANNOYED if you don't have your decisions figured out in advance.

Shera ordered tuna salad for herself. I thought that sounded kind of good, but I hate tuna, so I asked the girl if they have chicken salad. She said "What do you want on the beef?"... I said "No, I asked if you have chicken salad?" ... She said "Yeah, we do but what do you want on the beef?"

She was really focused on that beef, so I answered her....

Then, she made me a chicken salad and asked me if I want cheese on it! Not A CHICKEN SALAD!!!! I wanted chicken salad!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem was... I was so stressed out with all the other questions... I didn't even tell her she made me the wrong thing. I ate a chicken salad for lunch.

The manager decided to "help out" by yelling at the workers and telling them that the line has already slowed down too much, they need to keep moving! I wanted them to take a minute and think things through to give me what I ordered! So, the manager shoved a paper at Shera and said...

"here, I'm going to give you a fax order form for next time... it is really a lot easier for us".

I wanted to say excuse me, I didn't mean to make it hard for you by coming here!!! I apologize for the annoyance that these nine meals created for you.

I felt like screaming! We didn't premeditate this issue. We decided on a whim to go to Subway from a jobsite!!! We didn't have a fax machine handy to fax in the order! AND HELLO!!! I JUST ORDERED $35 WORTH OF SANDWICHES!! THE LINE DIDN'T SLOW DOWN, YOU JUST FILLED NINE ORDERS IN THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT SHOULD HAVE TAKEN YOU TO FILL TWO!

I just love customer service in the 21st century!

the big day

The foundation is in... the mountains of dirt are levelled...although I really doubted it would happen in time... and the big day is tomorrow!

cruise on by and honk at us if you're in the area...

the kids are taking the morning off school, and we'll have the camera and the video.........

the basement

They stripped the forms on our basement today.

On Monday, we called the mason and said we needed to get it done asap.
Tuesday, he showed up and they dug the hole.
Wednesday, they poured the footings and set up the forms.
Thursday, they finished the forms and poured the foundation.
Friday, they stripped the forms.

Next week will be the garage and the floors.

The pictures:
#1 is the foundation from the back of the house.
#2 is from the front. They just started taking the forms off. You can only see the top 12 inches of concrete.
#3 is a closer one of the back. This shows a smaller wall... it will be framed in wood and have a buncha windows in it.
#4 is from the Northwest corner.

staked out the permit

Well, we didn't stake out the permit.
We staked it out.... the little "bicycle wheels" are the stakes....
and the yellow lines are the "walls" of our house.













and we completed the building permit application...

preliminary plans

The prelim. plans are done.

check it out

getting closer...

We got a call with two questions today....

Q: Are you SURE you want that door in the walk out bay? Do you realize you will have to have a foundation under it? Is that what you want?

A: oh... a foundation under it? Let's try putting the door on the side and see what happens.

Q: I don't quite follow where you are adding square footage.

A: oh... was it that unclear? might have something to do with us going over it 9000 times and changing our minds 90000 times.

Nevertheless, we are moving forward, and getting closer to having some kind of a blueprint.

moving forward

I wish I could blame SOMEONE ELSE that we have done NOTHING on this house stuff for three months. But, truth be told, it's all ME.

But, that is OVER now and we are now officially MOVING FORWARD!!!!

We sent in our house order --- made all our changes and drew all our specs --- and we are now waiting waiting waiting for blueprints. It has officially been two weeks now. But, word is that they are working on it this week. My best guess is that it sat on the "to do" pile while the engineers debated and drew straws as to who was going to get this nit-picky woman's house to draw.

We officially massacred the original plan. And now we will see what happens ...

My decisions for this week include appliances! I am trying to make a decision on which ones to buy. I have quotes from three different places, and am getting one more yet.

Here is a photo of my dream double oven...... be careful, you're drooling on your mouse pad.

Oh yes.... this baby is enough to make any insane cooking loving woman go out of her mind.


















Oh yes..... both ovens feature the true AeroTech Convection cooking system. I've never baked with a true-convection oven but I hear it is heavenly! There are 10 cooking modes, a 4400 watt broiler element, shelves that provide 13 shelf positions. There is 3.5 cu ft of usable space. One review I read said she felt there was so much room you could drive a truck into that baby!

The unit comes with a full 2 year warranty... and a lifetime no chip warranty.

It has blue/purple interior with halogen lights so bright that you can't help but see everything in there!

Another reviewer mentioned that she tested the interior heat range with seven thermometers spread across the interior vertically and horizontally and all showed the same temperature plus or minus only a few degrees!

This thing has minimal heat seepage. The exterior is stainless steel or iridium. I have a friend who might know what that is exactly, but to me, it just means it will hold a lot of heat!

The price on this thing --- well, let's just say it equals the value -- and leave it at that. Maybe I could go without a roof so I can have this oven????

THE LAND

It's ours!
We finally bought our lot today.
Pictures to be posted after we take them.....
sorry, I know. This blog is boring without photos.

the plan

Okay, we finally decided on a house. This is the floor plan. We have a lot of changing to do now though. So, I am sure that when we are finished the house will look nothing like this original plan.

Here are some of the basics we have already decided... fiber cement siding, 30# shingles, custom colonial painted trim, fiberglass front door, stainless steel appliances and hood range vent. Whoo hoo.... boring stuff isn't it? Now, the fun stuff starts.. AND for me, the really stressful and hard stuff. Mostly because Shawn doesn't really care and I am really really picky, afraid to choose something I will hate later.

I am on a quest today though to make some decisions. I want to decide on kitchen cabinets. I am thinking about doing two different tones. One color/style on the walls exterior and another style/color on the island,. I know you are thinking... this house plan doesn't have an island... it will. OR one color in base cabs and a different on walls OR one color as a basic, and another just a few pieces to accent.

Here are a couple pictures of two tone looks I like.

So... I'm throwing it out there... what should I do? I really really like the black cabinets. But, am I brave enough???? That is the question of the day!

update #1

I know what you're thinking. There is nothing going on.
The truth is ---- there is nothing going on.
We don't own a lot yet.
We can't buy it yet.
Have you ever been told you can't buy something when you have the money and you want to?
Well, that is us.
There was some sort of mix up with the recording and the plot plan, etc... so it's back to the attorney and re-do some things.
They told me today it will be two weeks.
I wanted to start this blog off with a picture of the lot.
But, I might lose me entire audience if I do that.
I guess I'd better start with the house plans.
Maybe tomorrow.
Don't give up yet.

SOLD!

We sold our house.
Closed today.
Now we are going to build.
Old Address: 403
Temporary Address: 802
Destination Address: 1405
Stay tuned for the fun.