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.

Constructions is underway!

The footers have been poured, the crawlspace dug out, and tomorrow they start laying the foundation.  Today the 3 selected trees are going to be removed.  It was supposed to be done Tuesday or Wednesday, but it was a bit too breezy!  Today is a perfectly calm day.  The sun is shining and the sky is a brilliant blue!  I hope to get up to the farm on Friday to see the progress.  I haven't been there since Sunday.  Lance will be up there today cutting up trees after they are on the ground.  Saving a bit of money that way.  Yay!
The saw dust will be scooped up as best we can to put in the compost pile.  The large limbs will be put in the beagle starting pen.  The logs will be cut up to use as fire wood and the teeny little sticks and branches are going to be used as kindling for bon fires and such.  Nothing will be wasted.  One good thing about cutting the trees down now is these 3 particular trees haven't leafed out as of yet.  At least we won't have that mess to clean up too.
As for the house, I wrote the second big check this morning and Lance is going to deliver it to the contractor today.  It was strange to write a check that big!  Kinda scary, too.  I will try to get some more pictures to post as construction progresses.  I want to get a picture of one of the footers as well.  Why?  Well, Buddy, the guy who tore the house down and poured the concrete for the footers, found one of Lliam's Star Wars tokens in the debris and stuck it in the top of a footer.  Then while Lliam and Lance were up there checking things out, Lliam found one of the rocks from his collection (that was lost) and stuck it in there too.  I thought it would be neat to have a photograph for Lliam to have later in life.
When I was up there on Sunday, I found one of my strappy sandals in the dirt - I wonder if they could put that in the concrete too - lol.

The house is no more!

Well, it's gone.  There's nothing left except the old foundation and some concrete steps that we didn't even know were under there!  We are also going to be removing 3 trees that were a little to close to the house.  The tree in the picture right above this paragraph with orange paint is one of them.  It was burned severely as it stood right outside our bedroom window.  I hate losing any trees, but sometimes its better that way.  Besides, we are going to be planting the entire 12 acres in trees and native grasses very soon, so I think that will more than make up for it.
Much of the wood from the trees being removed will be used in one way or another.  Since we are going to have a wood burning stove,  the larger chunks will be cut and cured to use as fire wood.  The other limbs and debris that is left will be put in the starting pen for the beagles as obstacles for rabbit hunting training. We want the starting pen to resemble actual forested areas where the dogs would be hunting.
I also lost a Red Bud tree in the process.  It's sad since they are so pretty!  They were able to save one of my favorite trees though.  It's also in the above picture, a little more to the right side.  I want to put a bench under it for a place to rest and reflect.

Close Call with a Window!

Lance was up at the old house today trying to collect as much scrap metal as possible before the dozer comes in. He was ripping down gutters when a scary thing happened. He was on the boardwalk on the south side of the carport trying to yank a gutter down. He put his hand on the window for balance and the window shattered! He jumped back in shock. He looked at the window then down at this hand. Somehow he didn't even get a scratch! How's that for luck? He didn't finish pulling down the gutter. Said he's going to wait until Saturday when I am there so that if he does get hurt I can help him. No sense in getting injured over a few dollars worth of metal! Have a great day!http://farmallchick.blogspot.com/p/wooohooo-let-demolition-begin.html

Let the Demolition Begin - Well not so fast!

Well the insurance company finally sent the first of 2 checks for the rebuild of our home. After some banking issues are cleared(we have to set up a separate account), we will begin.

Hopefully in the next week or so, the contractor can start tearing down whats left of our burned out house. He is optimistic that we will be able to use the existing foundation. He'll know more once the old structure is removed. He said he will have the building inspector out there to look a the foundation and make sure it is sound.

After the debris is removed, they are going to dig out the crawl space a little more. That way we have more room to move around if work needs to be done under the house in later years. As it sits, it is extremely tight. I went under there a couple of years ago to try to find a leak and ended up in a panic attack because I thought the house was going to fall on me. Claustrophobia sucks!

The contractor was trying to decide on the best place to put the circuit box. It has to be 3 feet away from any water source. I suggested putting it in the guest room closet. We don't have many guests and it would be out of the way, yet easy to get too. It would also be on the same side of the house as the main line from the road. He's considering that. He wanted to put it with the furnace, but the water heater and water softener are going to be in there and its not a huge closet area.

We know we are going to have a least 2 pocket doors. They are kinda cool and don't take up any room like a swinging door. Don't have to worry about punching a hole in the wall with a door knob either. Yay!

I can hardly wait to have a real pantry. I was looking at doors that say pantry on them last night in some catalogs we picked up at the home improvement store. I know that custom doors can be pricey, so I suggested we get a plain glass door and etch it ourselves. Then we can put whatever design and graphic we want to on it. There are so many cool door designs. We can't decide on a front door. Wood, fiberglass, steel, stained, painted - what color.... so many choices!

The kitchen cabinets are going to be a tough choice too. Of course we have to stay well within the budget, but there are so many styles, colors and finishes to choose from. It's overwhelming to say the least. Laminate counter tops to allow for a granite (or other similar type) island top. What color? NOT WOOD GRAINED! Had that in the last house - looked terrible! Hubby was even picking out the appliances he wanted for "his" kitchen - whatever! He's lucky I liked what he was looking at.

Then we went and looked at lighting. Indoor, outdoor, ambient, task, ceiling mounts, drops, wall mounts, yard lights, porch lights, OMG!

Move on to kitchen faucets - narrowed it down to brushed nickel or oiled bronze - ok that wasn't too hard. What style? Definitely goose neck. Not too fond of the pull down sprayer type - all the displays seemed to be broken - is that a sign? Looked at sinks as well. Looked at one type that said "Heat, crack and chip proof" Looked up at the display model - cracked in two places! Really? Not very good for advertising. Might want to take a look at that again - sink people!

Moving on - what about the 3 toilets we have to pick. Are they all going to be the same? Oooo that one is neat - easy to clean base - no nooks and crannies - hey that one has a slam proof lid! Cool! Dual flush? Supposedly saves water by using less to flush liquid and a little more for solids. Can't they say poop? Everybody still poops right?

What about flooring? Absolutely No Carpet! How about laminate for the living room, kitchen and bedrooms and tile or slate for the bathrooms and laundry room.......