Too much Turkey!!

I'm getting behind. Framing started on Monday. This is the left side of the house. In the back is the master bath, then the master bedroom, then the kitchen and the front is the dining room.

This is the master bedroom window to the North (overlooking Mr. Tookey's green garage). I hope this looks okay when the window gets put in. We changed this from 2 double-hungs on either end of this wall to this awning type window centered and up higher. We are thinking of putting our bed underneath. We don't have a headboard, so it will fit fine.

This is my casement window over the kitchen sink.

Tuesday - They finished the front: the dining room window, front door and laundry window. The back of the garage is done too and the window for Josie's room.

This is the side view of the master "suite". I called and left a message for Dan today, because Steve and I have decided what kind of doors we want for our walk-in closets. The person who drew up our plans put in the symbol for sliding doors, and my dad suggested bi-fold. I don't like either of those. I just want a regular door. He called me back Wed. and we discussed it. I have a hard time visualizing what Dan is trying to tell me over the phone. Something about the width of the clothes hangers and the door will hit them. He is going to move the doors to the side of the closet nearest our room, so there is space for the doors to open in. Whatever makes it work. He also asked me about the bathroom. They are getting ready to frame the inside of the master bath for the toilet area and the shower area. Space is tight for the pocket door for the toilet area, so he wants to move the walls over a bit. He was asking if we were going to put in a fiberglass shower or tile. Steve wants tile. Steve and I talked about it, and decided whatever Dan wants to do is fine, because we don't have a clue.

Here is our front door. Wed. after work I drove over to LS in Morton where my dad works. We put in the order for the front door and sidelight, the outside garage door and the door from the garage to the house.

Steve and I had made these decisions ahead of time, but then the salesperson was asking me about color of hinges and door sill and handles. My head hurt afterwards. I hope everything looks okay.

Thurs. after eating lunch at Grandma Ruth's, we drove over to the house, so Tami could see. They had finished the girls' rooms, bathroom, and hallway. A lot of the other interior walls were up. Here Jackie and Cassie are looking out Jackie's window.

Steve and Erik are coming in the front door.

Josie and Harry are playing king of the hill on the remaining pebble pile.

These are the roof trusses. Dan said these will be set up next week. Cool beans!!

I bet today they finished the inside: the back wall of the great room, the stairwell to the basement, the walk-in closets, and the master bath and other bath inside walls. It was a beautiful day to work, but I wonder how many hours they put in the day after Thanksgiving. I'll run over this weekend sometime after I take Harry and Cassie home.

Subfloor

Tues. I went over on my lunch to see what had been done. On Mon. they put the sill sealer and the sill plate down. Also the excavator finished filling in around the house and the porches are filled in. They are laying the floor joists out here in this photo.

This is Ryan nailing the floor joists. I so want to use the nail gun.

I dropped off the window rough openings with Ronnie to give to Dan. They need that for the framing of the walls.

The lumber pile is disappearing.

Wed. was a beautiful day for framing. I stopped by because I left my cell phone at home. (Any excuse to stop by.) This is an artsy view of the floor joists. Looks straight.

Ryan is glueing down the plywood for the subfloor. I can't wait to be able to walk on it.

Ooohhh! Our garage floor was poured since it was a nice day. I'm so excited that both of us get to park in the garage. Steve is glad this will be the last winter that he has to scrape and heat up his Jeep every day. They also fixed the door problem. It is now at the back of the garage.
There were about 4 guys there for the concrete, and Ronnie and Ryan. When I pulled up the concrete guys were taking a break. They made a comment of me taking pictures of them standing around. I told them they were going to be on the internet.

Because it was going to get cold, my garage floor was going to get a blanket.

Thurs. at 9am Steve and I signed the loan papers downtown. It only took about 15 minutes. Then we drove to the lot, because Steve hasn't seen it for a week. He has better will power than I. Of course, I show him the photos of every day I stop, so he is seeing it.

My mom called at 3:50 and told me my morgage had just been recorded. That didn't take long. The title company is only about 4 blocks from the courthouse.

I am not stopping on Friday, but I hope the wall framing starts. It is a bummer that it is colder. I hope next week will be a little warmer.

Lumber

On Sat. Dad was going to come over and see how things were shaping up. He called and decided it was too cold and rainy. I went over there by myself before running into work to check my fermentor. A load of lumber was there. Doesn't look like much. I'm sure it is just enough to get started.

I picked up a few of the good size rocks that came out of the excavation. I'm hoping to use them for landscaping. (The girls and I have a thing about rocks.) I tried to put them in a spot that they won't get pushed back as fill. I also sat on the edge of the basement wall contemplating where all the rooms were going to be. This is a view of the steel beam running the width of the basement. I'm having trouble visualizing rooms though. It will be a lot easier when the framing starts.

I stood here for a long time. This is the back porch and our bedroom will be on the right side of this pic. By Mon. I need to make a final decision on windows for our room. Do I really want a window overlooking Tookey's garage? Oh by the way, as I was out there having some peace and quiet, guess who popped on his coat and boots, and decided to yell from his driveway to me? You guessed it, Mr. Tookey. He wanted to ask me if I got his phone message about the postoffice. "Yes" and there was no expounding on this subject to keep up the conversation. I don't think I looked like I wanted to have a conversation, so after about 5 min. he went back inside.

We are closing on the construction loan at 9 am Thurs. This is almost 17 years to the day that we closed on our home.

Watch for photos of framing.

Beams and Fill

Wed. night after work: the steel beams are up in the basement. Getting ready for the subfloor.

See the big pile of dirt. Watch it closely.

Fred the excavator was HERE! He filled in all around the perimeter. The garage has been filled in and sand is put down, so it can be poured soon. Dan called this morning to make sure it was okay for Fred to spread the dirt in the back yard. I said sure and please cover all the poison ivy.

This is the view from the very back of the lot. Just one small mound of dirt left. Hopefully this will make it easier to grow grass in the spring. Ha-ha!

Lumber will be dropped off at the lot and Dan is ready to frame. I'm hoping he will let me use the nail gun just once. I think next week if the weather is good, we might have framing for walls.

Basement floor in!!

Dad came over on Sat., so I could ask him some questions about windows and doors. Then we took a quick drive over to the lot. This is the first time he has seen it since they started building. It was snowing a little and cold, so we didn't stay long. The window wells are in and the plumber put the floor drain in. The basement is ready for the floor. Steve is precariously standing on what will be the garage floor, but is just a island of dirt right now.

Steve made a fire on Sunday, so the girls could make smores. Yuck! I only like the burnt part of the marshmallows. A typical fall weekend - lots of raking and fire. I didn't take part in the raking, but my fever finally went down on Sunday.

I went to work on Monday. Still coughing a lot, but feeling okay. I drove by the lot after work, but there were guys working, and I didn't feel like getting out and looking. The girls and I have Veteran's Day off and Steve didn't have class this morning, so we did a couple errands while the girls hung out at home watching cartoons. We stopped at the lot to see if they poured the floor yesterday. Yeah!! It's in!! Nothing going on today, because of the rain though. This means the excavator will come and back fill, and Dan will start the subfloor. We are hoping that most of the dirt surrounding the basement will disappear into the perimeter hole.

After Steve went to work, I drove to Bartonville LS to order my windows. Dad's friend, Billy, helped me. He said he talked to Dan, and Dan wanted to start framing on Thurs. I'm sooooo excited. I hope the weather cooperates, because I think framing is the quick part.

On a scary note: I had Steve call CEFCU again about the closing. She said that something about the lot title was holding up the process. Arghhh! She didn't call us, because she didn't want us to worry. It is something stupid about the previous owners and nothing to do w/ us, so she said it will be taken care of this week. Ummm, we need to close, because Dan is going to want the money for the first payout soon. He will need the money to pay for the excavator and the foundation. We will have to sell the children if we don't get the loan soon.

Next photos should be of the subfloor; maybe a post on Friday. Wish for sunshine!!

Pneumonia

I have pneumonia. I stayed home Mon. to rest, then went to work Tues. and Wed., because we had a fermentor to harvest, and a couple other experiments to run. I felt bad, but the Tylenol cold medicine seemed to help. My fever never quite went down though. This pic is from Wed. morning after we dropped off the girls for school. The forms are all filled.

It is so interesting how everything is put together. It's like that show "How it's made".

Here's Steve checking out the basement. When I got to work, Dan called me. He wanted to let me know how things were progressing. I don't think he knew that I've been out there almost everyday. He said Lahood was going to take off the forms and once they were loaded up, the plumber was going to rough in the toilet, etc. After the plumber is done, the basement floor can be poured. So maybe Mon. or Tues. of next week, then Dan can start framing. WhoooHooo!! I hope the weather cooperates.

These 2 pics are from Wed. after work. It is getting dark so soon now that I had to use a flash. They have removed all the forms. That is our egress window, and we have 2 smaller windows. I noticed something wrong though. I called Dan later to tell him, after I had talked to my dad. We wanted a side door near the back of the garage, so when kids or Steve wanted to ride their bikes or use the mower, they go out this door. This is to prevent something that has already happened to the van. Scratches down the sides where someone was trying to get something out of the garage. When we were laying out the house w/ the excavator, he said something about "blah blah blah" ground level, and suggested we move the door to the front of the garage. Ummmm! Why wouldn't you just open the garage door then! I explained my case, and Fred said it would probably be fine in the back. Dan did not hear this and penciled in the door at the front, so the concrete guys put the door in the front. ARRGH! Dan called Fred, the excavator, and the concrete guys Thurs. morning to see if this could be corrected. Cut through the concrete in the back and fill w/ concrete in the front. It can be done, but I bet we will pay for the correction. Oh well, I want it fixed. Miscommunication. I hope this will help us better communicate w/ Dan from now on. It's is just the beginning.

Thurs. I stayed home. I had went to bed the night before at 7, because of chills and 101.6 temp. I decided to call the dr. Called when the office opened at 9, and spoke to a gruff nurse. She took my symptoms and told me the dr. probably won't need to see me and they would just prescribe something over the phone. Okay? Needless to say, she called me back a couple hrs. later and said the dr. wanted to see me. Duh! My doc was full, so I saw one of his colleagues. He listened to my symptoms and listened to my lungs and diagnosed Pneumonia. He said I could have a chest xray if I wanted, but he was pretty sure it was pneumonia. I just had a chest xray Oct. 20th for work health surveillance program. I declined the xray, and got me some antibiotics.

I'm home w/ the girls today. They are off for parent teacher conferences. I went to both of theirs last night. Jackie's was a "student lead" conference, where she told me how she did this quarter. Interesting. All As. Also we received her ISAT scores, which she exceeded in both reading and math. Josie had 2 Bs and the rest As. One of the Bs is for her Effort grade, because of her "lack of attention", so I don't really count it. She also did well on her first ISAT tests. She was only 4 pts. from exceeding on reading and she exceeded in math. Ummm! I'm starting to wonder if they were switched at the hospital. I always seemed to struggle w/ math and Steve's strong points in school were art and history. I did receive good grades in math, but they seem to get it. I think it is the teaching methods.

I'm going to jump back under the covers now, so I can recuperate. Stay tuned for the subfloor.

Concrete

North Isabell Ave. at 4:45 pm Tues. I counted 5 cement trucks. I'm sure my neighbors are not happy.

This is a concrete pumper. It's just like icing a cake. The name on the boom says "SCHWING".

There were a lot of workers from Lahood Concrete there. Get 'er done.
I wanted to try, but I had my new tennies on. Ha-ha! I'm so excited to have basement walls. I'm not sure how long it takes to cure before they take off the forms. Maybe next week. We still haven't closed on the loan yet. Somebody is going to want to be paid eventually.

I haven't had any luck getting my fever to go down. I went to work anyway. We needed to harvest a fermentor. I might go to bed when the girls do tonight.

Stay tuned for a poured basement!

I'm sick

I think I caught a flu bug. Jackie and I both are coughing, fever, body aches... I stayed home from work. I can't remember the last time I stayed home, because I was the sick one. I feel pretty good while the meds are working, but I can tell when they start wearing off. It started on Friday, and I'm hoping I'm over the worst of it. Jackie had a slight fever this morning 100.2, but didn't want to stay home and wreck her chance of perfect attendance this year. She has never made perfect attendance. She wants to get the medal. I told her I would buy her a medal if she really didn't feel well. She swallowed an ibuprofen and left for school. Here is Josie, the Fall Fairy, and my great-niece Bailey, Snow White. Lara brought her over, so we could see her costume. She is such a cutie.

Here is Jackie w/ a group of her friends. She is wearing the witch costume.

So I haven't been to the lot since Thurs.,and I had to go or go crazy. So I figured since I had to go out of the house to pick Josie up from latchkey, we would just swing by the lot. The guys were putting up the forms for the poured basement walls. I hope they can pour tomorrow, because I think it is supposed to rain on Wed.

With the forms up the area looks smaller. A friend of mine at work told me that throughout the process the house will look bigger and then smaller, then bigger, etc. This was about 3:45, and they are going to run out of daylight soon.

I'm so excited that we almost have walls!!!!
Note: Some of the pics you can click on and they will get bigger.