Today, Last Week, and This Weekend...

My allergies are acting up... probably because I spent the majority of the weekend volunteering my time at the local Civil War battlefield's anniversary weekend, outside.  Our local chapter of the United Daughter's of the Confederacy is funding a rather expensive project for the site and we were begging cash from all the tourists that happened to stop by our table.

I'm a horrible salesperson. 

The weather has been very summery lately... which is a great thing because that means I can actually walk in the afternoons after work which I find to be a great stress reliever.  Seeing how we are in the building process and it is testing season at work, I can use all the stress busting I can get.  I love walking. The white legs and pollen on the other hand-- I could do without.

Today was a long one for me.  This morning I had a follow up visit with the RE... and then back at work I had to give a Quarterly Assessment to a group of rowdy 4th graders... one of which shoes' smelled like dead mice... We only tested from 9:15 until 1:20.  The RE visit was a little unnerving.  You will soon be looking at a 100 pound pin cushion... and I'm not really thrilled about it.  But the Hubster is.

As for the house building... things are rolling right along and I have pictures to prove it.

All the doors and windows are officially in.  The framers have basically finished and now the plumbers and electricians are moving in on their jobs.  Yesterday we got our soaking tub, upstairs shower/tub unit, and our back entry shower for the dirty man that lives with me.

Friday I had to pick out plumbing fixtures-- I was notified of this decision on Friday.  We also had to make the decision on whether or not we would have a central vac system as that has to be decided on early on.  My parents decided that they would do that for us.  And I'm very greatful.  I'm so lucky to have such caring and supportive parents.  They really go the extra mile, without ever being asked.  My sister and I are very fortunate girls.

And speaking of my sister this weekend is her first official Pre-Wedding Party.  Her Engagement Party is taking place this weekend at my Uncle and Aunt's house.  I'm so excited to see everyone-- espeically my friend Olivia and her super sweet hubby! 

Hopefully I'll be able to still a few more moments this week to continue the house updates!

All's Well Now that the End's Well...

So I made my second visit to the Reproductive Endocrinologist's office this past week.  My monthly, well-- sometimes monthly friend came to visit me and because of that little visit, I had to go get a baseline ultrasound to see if I had anything wrong with my lady parts.

Apparently, the end is alright.  Which was a relief, because I tend to think the worst in all situations and knowing my luck... I thought I'd be eat up with cysts or crud or at least a small collection of cancerous tumors.  But I wasn't and so I was thrilled.

So thrilled in fact that on the way home, well actually on the way back to work, I completely forgot about where I was at and got a little lost.  But in my defense, I was really relieved and I was listening to Bob and Showgram on G105, so it wasn't completely all my fault.  The one time I didn't bring the GPS.  But no worries, I found my way back to I-440 and got back on track in no time, after making a very panicky phone call to the Hubster.

It is a little scary to think about how easy it is to slip into auto-pilot mode when you are driving, isn't it?  I was talking to one of my friends yesterday about how weird it was when I first moved into the house the Hubster and I live in now.  Every so often, I would wind up back at my parents house and I'd have no idea how I got there.  Or like when I have a meeting in Smithfield and go there straight from home-- sometimes I'll just take the road to work instead of staying on 701.  Old habits die hard, don't they?

I have to go back to the RE again pretty soon... hopefully this next time I'll pay more attention to where I'm going.

The Week, in a Nut Shell...

For those of you new to the blog, which would be most of you, the Hubster and I recently embarked on building our dream home.  After years and many months of talking and planning we have now officially started and I could not be more pleased, except when I start to think about how much money this is costing.  Let me just forewarn you, house building is not cheap.

"So let's start at the very beginning-- a very good place to start," to quote the Sound of Music.  Monday the framers came and put in a floor system.  I didn't feel it necessary to capture that on film...  Our framer's name is Sam Well.  He is a hard worker, very talented-- as is his crew-- and a snappy dresser!  On Tuesday they started framing...

Tuesday they started putting up the exterior walls and started working on putting in the interior walls.  On Tuesday I panicked because the master suite looked too small.

My brother-in-law walking away from the master suite.

Looking in on the foyer and dinning room.

Wednesday and Friday things started taking shape.  The framers continued to frame the inside of the first floor and continued to work on the outside.  Thursday it rained and so very little was done on Thursday.

The back of the house.

The side of the garage.

Under the balcony in the living room, as shot through the wall of the dinning room.

This was taken Friday afternoon... our house building project is drawing quite the crowd.  My future brother-in-law, my cousin-in-law, my father-in-law and my daddy are standing in the future living room.

The beginnings of an upstairs.

By Wednesday, once the particle board was up I stopped worrying that the master bedroom was too small.  Granted, it will not be huge, but it will be plenty big.  I'm excited about all the new things that keep happening... but things are moving so fast that it is hard to keep up.  I was told that by next Friday the shingles could be up... Today I went to the paint store and picked up some paint chips.  We also went to the fabric store and looked at samples.  We've picked out kitchen appliances, that I will soon blog about as well.

Remember... it's time to Spring Forward!  Have a good rest of the weekend everyone.





All I Can Say is Yuck...

I've been thumbing through the new J. Crew catalog while I type this entry and I just got to the section with swimsuits and all I can say is yuck.

I realize that summer is just a season and a piece away, but I don't feel like wearing a swimsuit anytime soon.  Did I mention that while I thumb through the J. Crew and work on this entry I've been eating Pringles Potato Chips like a woman on the edge?  Lord help me if I had some Girl Scout Cookies!

I swear that Pringles puts crack in those things.  I can eat a whole tube in a sitting, easy!  I literally have to make myself stay away from them and even then, its not a guarantee.  Even the Hubster is obsessed with them.  I think he might be tracking how fast they disappear, which is sad really.

I know, soon enough I will need to start gearing up for the beach and the pool and all that good stuff... but at the moment I'm feeling skinny-fat...  I'm afraid I'm getting a potbelly full of Pringles and that is just down right embarrassing.

I have a coworker who gets up every morning and goes to the gym near our work.  I'd do it too, but that would mean getting up three times as early and having to shower in a gym-- which isn't going to happen on either part.  Neither one of those scenarios is motivating me to get into shape, this coming from a person that snoozes the alarm for 45 minutes each day.

No, what will happen is I'll start coming home a little earlier and do my Hip-Hop Abs or walk... and then, just maybe then I'll be able to feel less freaked out by all the bathing suit ads that keep coming to my door.  OR I could just give up carbs or gluten... but gluten makes the world go around and our digestive track slow down....

Either way-- I know my couch potato Pringles days are numbered... thanks J. Crew

It's Too Late to Turn Back Now...

It really is too late to turn back now.  As if by magic, the footings for the house were dug on Saturday morning.  This time I didn't get too excited because of being jerked around so much in the past.
 
After all the waiting and all the red tape and permit nonsense, the crew came out and by 10:45am there was a very intricate maze of ditches dug all over our lot.  It was really quite amazing.

Today the cement people came out and filled in the ditches so that the next set of contractors can build the foundation on top of it with blocks.

Saturday was an exciting day.  We've still not made up our minds about windows exactly.  Our GC thinks we should do a triple window down the wing and double on the adjacent wall.  I'm thinking quadruple and triple at the current moment.

Wednesday we go pick out applicances for the kitchen-- which is a tad early considering we just dug the footings, but our GC's got a friend who can get us a deal... so we are going Wednesday afternoon.  And that is the part I'm really excited about.

I'm also a little obsessed with metallic paint at the moment.  I keep picturing in my head a metallic finish on my dinning room walls and ceiling.  What do you think?

Anyway-- I'll leave you with a few more shots of our footings.

Some of the brick and the block-- were going with Milbrook

The front porch

 

 

The bathroom

The back entry and garage.



What's Up with Windows?...

In the hopes of looking on the bright side and with the mindset that "everything happens for a reason" I've decided to look at this delay in building as the perfect opportunity to obsess a little about the windows that will be in the house, specifically the front, side wing of the house.

This would be so much easier to explain if I could just show you the rendering of the house we intend to build... but due to copyright laws that is not going to happen.  The deal is that a wing of the house, on the front side, the plan calls for a bank of picture windows that wraps around to the adjacent wall to create a sort of sun-filled breakfast area.  However the architect calls for this to be finished in hearty plank instead of brick and that is something we do not want.  On the architect's website there is a house very similar to ours that was finished in brick instead of hearty plank and we hate how it looks.

And I suppose we could just go ahead and do the hearty plank... but that is really not what we want to do.  So now here we are trying to figure out what to do instead.  To the Internet I went.

What do you think...?

This (above) is very similar to what we've got in mind.  I just can't figure out if it will look okay on the front of a house-- its a lot of windows.

I like this because of the transoms.  But this also might look okay centered in the wing and on the side, centered.  Maybe?

Doesn't this look like the house from Home Alone?  It has a lot of windows and it doesn't look bad... Right?

I like the shape of these windows and the brick work around them. I could imagine another one on the wall to the side... maybe? 

I love, love, love how much light is in this space.  But would it look okay on the front of a house?

We've talked about just doing two windows across (maybe double long windows) and picture window on the adjacent wall... and I'm pretty sure it would look good-- but it doesn't seem as unique either.  Choices!!! I hate CHOICES!!!

I really just love this-- But again, this is obviously the back of some one's house.

I'm so confused as what to do and I'm afraid of making a mistake.  I'm going to show these to the Hubster and maybe he can help me make up my mind.

I'll keep you posted.  Enjoy the weekend!

Frustrating Week...

This could possibly be one of the most frustrating weeks of my life, thus far.  All the excitement and nerves I had about starting the house in my last post have now turned in burning anger. 

Wednesday, around lunchtime I was in my office working on the school-wide slide show that airs throughout the lunch period and continuously in the front lobby of the building when my cell phone rang.  I had been expecting a call from the Hubster with news about the house.  If the county had okay'ed the permits, we would be able to start digging the footing the very next day.  I knew when my tired old cell phone began to chirp, that this was the call with the all clear.

As I held the phone up to my ear a flood of words came pouring through the receiver.  It was the Hubster-- I recognized his voice and could tell by the tone and the hurried way he was talking that he didn't have good news for me.  And he didn't.

We are now about a week or possibly two weeks behind and about $1,200 dollars poorer as our plans have to be engineered to meet our county's codes.  Can you believe that?  And just when I thought things couldn't get much worse things got even more complicated.  Mind you, we've already paid about $1,100 dollars for the set of plans we currently own.

Cut to afterwork.

That very afternoon I was coming home from work, still mad about the news about the house.  As soon as work is over I generally make two phone calls, maybe three-- it all depends on how my day was and considering that my day was pretty craptastic...

Most of the time I call the Hubster and then I call my mom to see how things are going for her.  Sometimes I call my sister to see what she is doing.  And depending on the crap factor I might call my friend Olivia-- but Olivia is on a fabulous 9 day crusie with her husband's family. 

Yesterday my sister had called while I was at work and I decided to return her call.  At this time I was also trying to carry the mail in the house along with my coat, my purse and lunch bag, and a cup from earlier in the day all while talking on my cell phone.

I had the phone wedged between my ear and my shoulder and as I walked I began to feel the phone slip.  I screamed out, "hold on" to my sister repeatedly as I walked to the door.  At this point the phone had fell down around my stomach but I was holding it pretty steady by pushing the phone up against myself with the back of my wrist as I continued to carry all the aforementioned items.  "Hold on" I kept saying and then as I opened our door I felt the phone fall away from my grip and I watched it land, face first on the brick steps.

The phone had met its end. 

It had been a good phone.  It never went swiming in the toliet like the last one I had or tried to wash itself in the washer machine like the one before the toliet phone did.  And when I had dropped this phone in the past, it had always snapped back... but yesterday was just one of those days.

I'm now the proud owner of a Blackberry Bold.  I know very little about its finer points but I intend to learn them.  Today was my first appointment at the Reproductive Endrocrinologists office and while I waited for the Doctor to call me back I read TMZ.com and checked emails.

I've decided that this week can't get any worse.  So Friday is tomorrow and I'm hopeful that it will be a good, good day.

I'll keep you posted on the home front.  And for any of you that are thinking of building-- before you buy plans, make sure that the company you get them from has had them engineered properly!

Oh-- by the way--- which brick do you like best?

This brick is called Milbrook

And this called Mesa Verde