Mtg w/ the builder

The meeting w/ the builder is tomorrow at 3 pm at LS in Bartonville. It will be Steve, Dad, Dan Heinz and I. We are going to hammer out some things and hopefully sign a contract. Dan said "I'm ready to dig" when I called him yesterday. My knees buckled a little. I need to finish the paperwork for the building permit and paperwork for CEFCU, so we can get the show on the road.

Steve is worried that the house we are building is too big. We originally were looking at plans in the 1700 square foot range. Our plan is at 1979. I'm trying to convince him that it will be okay. He gets a little panicky. Of course, I think my blood pressure is definitely going up. I'll be curious what it is when I have it checked later this month.

Dad told me last night to pick out the exterior doors, so Steve and I went to the Design Room at LS in East Peoria. We have been looking beautiful Mission style doors. What do you think? They might be too much, but I have to call someone at the Morton LS for prices.

It's my birthday!!

Tomorrow I will get to see the builder's estimates from all the subcontractors. My dad won't tell it to me over the phone, because he wants me to come and help him tomorrow clean up some fallen branches. He told me tonight on the phone that it is good news. I have my fingers crossed.

Tonight Steve and I are going to a chick flick. My choice - Nights at Rodanthe. I hope it is good. Of course, who cares - it has Richard Gere. The kids have pizza and movies, and they are on their own for a couple hours.

What has happened in the last 10 days? Josie got her baby blue cast Tues. the 16th and had another xray this past Tues. Everything looks okay, so we will be back in 3 wks to have it taken off and another xray. (Josie is going to light up from all the xrays.) If it hasn't healed, then they will put another cast on for a couple more weeks. She says it feels like it's not broken anymore. The original number on the pain scale was a 7.5.

Here we are at the lot. I'm measuring the lot and where the trees are, so I can estimate where the house will be for the "site plan". I faxed the site plan and application for an address permit to Public Works. I haven't heard from them, so I'll assume that everything was okay with the application. They send the info down to Building Inspections for when I file for the building permit. Hopefully that will be next week. Plus we should be applying for the construction loan soon. I hope CEFCU doesn't go belly up. Not likely.

I'm trying not to get to anxious about everything. I keep telling myself that it is out of my control and things will happen when they do. It sure would be nice to have the basement poured and the walls up before winter.

Broken Wrist

Josie has added a new wrinkle to my life. Saturday night she and Jackie were horsing around in our bedroom. I was gone and Steve was in charge. She hit her arm on our dresser and then fell down on top of her left arm. We tried to figure out Sunday if it was just a sprain and I put a wrist guard on it. (We had this from the last time she broke her wrist in 2006.) Monday night after I picked her up from latchkey, I decided to take her to Prompt Care. It was starting to look more bruised and she said she almost started crying when someone accidentally bumped into her arm. About an hour and a half later, the xray showed a fracture. They put on a temp. cast and I have to call the Orthopaedic office today. I wonder what color she will pick this time.



House stuff: I'm working on a site plan, so I can get an address permit, so that I can get a building permit. I need to go and measure the lot and put in the plan where the trees are and where the house will be. I talked to Dan Heinz on Sunday and he says he should have all the estimates soon and probably will have a figure by the end of this week. "The Figure!!!"

Watch the History Channel on Thurs. the 18th at 8pm Central. http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Episodes&content_type_id=1420&display_order=1&mini_id=1335
I don't see the episode name for the "mold and fungus", but check your local listings. You will see me briefly in my bio hood "working".

Northmoor Edison - Blue Ribbon School

Northmoor received a National Award called the No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Award. It was on the news yesterday, and Josie can be seen in a couple of the shots. http://www.week.com/news/local/28196799.html
Click on the video to watch the newscast. She is seen about halfway through. Way to go!!

Our outstanding principal pulled together all the necessary statistics for the nomination. 90 % of the kids meet or exceed the state requirements on the ISAT tests. That is an acheivement considering our school has greater than 40% of kids from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This is our last year at Northmoor and I'm really going to miss it. The Northmoor "family" has been great and the teachers are really pulling for every child. It would be great if the sister school, Rolling Acres Edison, could get an award for this. It is harder to reach kids in middle school.

House stuff: I haven't heard from the builder on the "price" yet. Probably next week. I have a pile of stuff to do for the permits. I thought it was going to be simple, but it is getting more complicated. The person I talked to today asked me if I was the General Contractor - my name on the permit. I guess if my name is on the permit, I'm responsible for all applicable codes and need to be there when the inspector is there. Ummmm - that should not be me. My dad needs to "pull the permit".

We are continuing to search the web for inspiration. I need to know my allowances before we really get into this.

ARS magazine

I'm the covergirl for ARS Magazine this month. The link is http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/index.html
If anyone wants my autograph, it'll cost ya. I need to come up w/ the funds for the house.

I meet w/ the builder tomorrow at 3:30. Steve and I have been trying to iron out some of the decisions. Compromise???