A Chronicle of our Family's Adventure in Real Estate.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Excited!

 

    Why am I so excited?  I am excited (jumping up and down) because Erika Powell of Urban Grace Interiors is going to be designing my laundry room and pantry and she just happens to be featured in the Sept. issue of  Better Homes and Gardens.
  I seriously could have dirt floors in the rest of the house if I have a great laundry/mudroom.  After we work through this weeks bill I just might have dirt floors, but that is another post all together.  That will be titled Reigning in the Budget in 5 not so Easy Steps.  Anyway if you get a chance pick up this months issue of BH&G and check out page 58.

Better Homes and Gardens Sept 2011. Issue

Erika Powell in Better Homes and Gardens
 
  Here is the lasted pics of the homestead.


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  They got the front porch on.  It looks fantastic and it would be nearly perfect if they had put the steps in on the right side that are going to lead to our garage door.  Oh well, it's nothing that can't be fixed.  Just another day and another few hundred dollars.  (No they are going to fix it for free because it was there mistake.)  I believe Titus' exact words when talked to him about it were "My Bad".  Totally serious, who new the Amish used slang.  Have a great day!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Random

  It has been a crazier week than usual.  This may be due to having three major projects going on at once and trying to raise kids and feed them something other than Subway (not that they mind).  
     Here's a little piece of Trivia...Corning Concrete has 3 concrete trucks.  We had all 3 of them at one of our properties in less than 24 hours.  This NOT something I am proud of.  I can think of a lot of things I would like to spend money on and concrete is not one of them.
I like to call this one "Dueling Trucks".





Truck # 3 at the new house.


The first two trucks brought in all the concrete for this lovely floor.

Not that you can tell, but they graded this slope. There used to be a retaining wall here.


   In other house related news.  I went shopping for bathroom fixtures, not too exciting, but necessary.
Bathtub for the girls bathroom.  We are not getting the sliding doors, who knew those things were so expensive?

Shower Heads (in case you were wondering).

   Here's is a pic of the doors we are looking to put in the house.
   I like them, but Dan isn't sure.  He never is...lucky for me he is so busy with other stuff he just going to tell me to pick out what I want, so I think I'm going to pick out these.
   This week it's on to lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, and thinking about putting those cabinets for the kitchen together.  That's actually been on the to do this every week, I've finally come to terms that just because you put it on the to do list doesn't mean it gets done.  Does anybody else have that problem or is it just me?

Monday, August 15, 2011

It's Starting to Look Like a House (Well Parts of it).

   The house we are living in is still a curb appeal nightmare.  I keep on thinking I"m going to wake up and the yard will be beautiful and the pool will be filled with crystal clear water, but sadly each morning I awake to the same dirt filled yard and leaky green pool.  To keep the mood light and myself from taking solace in an illegal substance, I am going to be turning our attention to the new house that is actually starting to look like a house.  Dan and I are making more decisions than we ever thought possible in a short period of time.  Decisions about light placement, electrical box placement,  how long is the back deck is going to be that we aren't building until next year.  Trying to figure out how to fit 120 inches of bathroom into a 108 inch bathroom.    A We hope these decisions are good ones because we won't know if we like it until it's installed and can't do anything about it.  Ugh!  I like it when you just go and buy a house because it already comes with things like doors and well placed electrical outlets.
     Do you know what I did today?  I walked around the house with the contractor who is doing all of our plumbing and electrical work and figured out where we would place each light fixture, electrical outlet, and plumbing fixture.  I thought there was just a standard for those things...like "all lights go 5 feet up from the floor and 10 inches out from the door.  Of course I consulted Google and found some general guidelines, but when we imagined the lighting fixtures placed at those specific measurement, it just didn't look right.  If any of you come and visit us and have issues with our light placement, just keep it to yourselves and tell us how lovely everything looks then go home and talk about how hideous it is and how lucky you are that you don't have to live there :) .  We really did try and make it look good.  Anyway...the whole point is to have lights and electrical service and in the end that is what we will have.   The good news is that after all of that decision making Brian was able to instal electrical boxes and wire a today.  Now all we need is electric service to hook it all up to.
Those blue boxes and yellow wire mark the start of  the interior work.
  In addition to the blue boxes and yellow wire we added a little red.

Yes, that is Dan with a chainsaw.  I'm not really sure why he chose that as a prop, I guess it's manly, and Dan is nothing if not manly. 

   So back to the house, i don't know about you, but I am so diggin' the red.  Especially with the window style.  I am hoping that it really will look like a barn!  I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.  I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

It has to get Worse Before it gets Better.

.....the title is my new mantra.  I keep on telling myself it will get better.  The new house build is going great, but our current house condition leaves a little a lot to be desired.  We are trying to get the house ready to put on the market, but our efforts seem to be putting us further back than moving us ahead.  Let me give you the visual evidence to prove my point.

Basement



   It all started with a "small" project.  Our basement is frightening, but we have to go down into it multiple times a day in the winter to keep wood in the wood burning furnace.  As you can imagine it is not very fun to walk down in a damp, dark, dirt covered basement that you have to walk hunched over in order to save your head from being lopped off with a beam.  This project is part of "operation sell this house"  We felt this was a necessary fix in order for someone to want to buy this gem of a house.   
   The plan was to dig the dirt floor of the basement down a few feet and pour a new floor and a curbed support around the bottom part of the walls.  There is also some new drainage action happening around the perimeter of the basement.  
   The contractor said it would take about a week and they would be in and out in no time.  The project was supposed to completed while we were on vacation.  They started while were away, but as I sit here on a Sat. morning  2 weeks later I hear the sound of workers in my basement shoveling gravel to prepare the floor to be finished with concrete.  Needless to say they were NOT in and out.
     I think I was so focused on getting the basement finished I didn't quite understand the domino effect this would have on the rest of the property.  
         
If you dig out a basement.....


You will have large construction vehicles at your house for days on end...

A new road will be created in your backyard (even if you don't need it).

Your lawn  weeds will not get mowed.

Your freezer, furnace, basement door, and lawn tools will be re purposed as lawn decor  .

This has nothing to do with our little basement job, but it seems to fit in with the demise of our backyard.  Our pool liner is leaking and is looking suspiciously like a pond.  The girls are on the lookout for frogs.


   So there you have it.  I hoping this is the "worse" part and in the near future the "better" will start to show itself.  Please don't judge us for living like this.  We are still doing our laundry and showering everyday! 


Saturday, August 6, 2011

Catching Our Breath

It's been a wild ride the past few weeks.

First we had swimming lessons.






Then we had camp.

After camp we quickly packed to fly cross country to Portland Oregon.

The beach in Astoria, Washington.
We traveled to Oregon to visit Dan's family. The trip was an adventure and the company was fantastic.  The kids spent most of their time playing and tried to fit in a few bites of food and a brief nap in between playing sessions.  They played at the beach... at the park.... in the back yard..... in the city of Portland.... with the chickens.  They pretty much played anywhere, anytime.  I think it's going to be a while before we are fully recovered.  Here are a few of the high points from our trip.


Fort Canby State Park

Powell's Book Store in Portland, Oregon.   I'm told it's the second largest book store in the country.

Hanging out at the Bus Stop, because that's how we roll.

My Father in Law playing a game of Kub. It was fun to play, but more fun to watch my Father in Law play.

Olivia and Saphire








  Oh yeah, and in the middle of all of this the house was still being built. Please continue to pray for Titus and his community.  Another woman who was in the accident passed away while we were gone. Her husband died the day of the accident.  My heart and prayers go out to their family.  a relief fund has been set up and you can send a monetary donation to the following address:
To make a financial contribution to the Amish farmers in Jasper and Woodhull, please send donations to Amish Relief Fund, P.O. Box 123, Woodhull NY 14898.
   We have been very conscious of our blessings and  time together in light of this tragic event, and I pray that I can remember to be thankful for the blessings I have without a tragedy having to serve as a wake up call.

  Titus and his crew continue to do a fantastic job.  They are doing so well that someone decided to move in ahead of schedule.
Nesting taken to the next level
   It seems to be that a local robin was also smitten with the location and decided to pick her room first before all the good places were taken.
   The garage foundation was poured and the walls have started going up.  We should have all of the exterior framing and the garage roof completed this coming week. 




AMAZING. I may even start to tackle putting some IKEA cabinets together.  That should be ....interesting.  I'll be sure to let you know how that goes. 

  


 

 


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