Wednesday, October 29, 2008

"You said you wanted to live in a warehouse..."

When J tells me something I said, I want to hit him...especially when he is right, or I am wrong or I dont get to lord it over him in some way.... He knows the rules - when I say something, he can state that I am right....or he can forget I said anything at all.....or he can say what I said is right, whether it is or not! We have been married 17 years - HE KNOWS THIS....Huff...Huff...Huff....


Before we ever started on this path, J and I had dreamed about living in a warehouse....well....



Northernish Side:




Easternish Side - FRONT:





Southernish Side:





Westernish Side (Back):




Here are 2 shots of the inside - they are taken from the East/South corner and from the West/South corners:

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

We Interrupt this Program with a Special Bulletin....

VOTE - VOTE - VOTE - VOTE

I know, I know, you are sick of it all and I am too, but this country is in for a rough few years and we need to pick a leader who can see us through. Look at the issues, look at your values, look at your goals and then look at those running.

DONT LOOK AT PARTY - DONT LOOK AT THE LITTLE LETTER AT THE END OF THE NAME- DONT LISTEN TO WHAT THEY SAY - LOOK AT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE, WHAT THEY HAVE VOTED ON AND THE COMPANY THEY KEEP (that last one because my mom always said "show me a man's friends and I will show you the man", so that one is for her)

Mostly VOTE because if you DONT VOTE, you dont get to gripe....Its a rule (or at least it should be and it is in our house.) If you dont vote, you have to keep your mouth shut for 4 years...4 looooonnnng years....

Trust me, if things continue on their present path, you are going to want to gripe and drink, but mostly gripe....SO VOTE....

We now return you to your regularlly scheduled programming....

Monday, October 27, 2008

All we need is a moat....

I have been a slacker blogger....The pics here are from Monday and Tuesday. Even though I didnt post, I did write it and save, so know that I took treats on Monday....






Went this morning and took coffee and donuts (yes, I am a good employer) to "the boys." They got there just a tad behind me decked out in their Carhart and thermals (I assumed). It was COLD this morning. When I left "town" this morning it was 35 degrees and after I dropped the kids off and drove to the land, about a 1/2 hour later, it was 29 degrees. I would have thought it might have stayed the same or at least gone up, but not down 6 and below freezing!





I snapped a few pictures so that it looks like I am actually doing something besides just watching and came back to get some stuff done at the house. After school I grabbed kids and went back, with the excuse that the kids wanted to see the house when all they really wanted was cookies at Nana's, but that is fine with me. I snapped some more pics and included some from the back and Vivian took a few of things also....Namely Terry's sons....She would die if she read this and I may have to edit this out, but for now it stays.... In her defense, the boys are really nice looking boys, clean cut, hard working, and say "yes, ma'am"....

Now for house info....its starting to look a little castle like....



Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Beautiful, Beautiful STYROFOAM






Have you ever seen such beautiful styrofoam? Maybe after a long day in the sun and a styrofoam cooler with something cold inside might be a close second, but IT WOULD BE SECOND - because nothing is more beautiful that this ;)
The above pics are from Monday morning....Terry and the boys started early and worked hard. We went over the proposed window and door openings and then they got busy. I chatted a bit with my mom and realized I hadnt snapped any pics, so I ran back over and they already had a ring around the basement....





Tuesday morning, I couldnt help but come and see what had been done. I knew I was going to bring the kids back after school, but its like Christmas every single day - just dying to know what has been done! Below are the after school pics...AMAZING....






Its the weirdest thing to actually see where the windows and the doors will go. Its been in my head for so long - reality is catching up. Jack jumped in a pic - good thing he is cute....

We had rain today as everyone here knows and COLD North wind, so I dont fault the guys for not working today, but tomorrow, put on those thermals and keep at it!

And yeah, those who pay attention to the date and time, yes, I should have been at church... ;)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Strum....Strum....Strum....Strum....

This is me strumming my fingers on the counter next to my computer....waiting....waiting.....waiting until Monday, October 20th....

I have no idea how I will make it :) YAHOO - at least we have a confirmed, scheduled date....

Stay tuned...Same Bat time...Same Bat channel...

:)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Study...Study...Study....

Sorry you visual people, no pics tonight....It was too dark when John finished filling around the basement, but trust me - ITS BEAUTIFUL - mostly, its beautiful because Caleb get to do his thing now. ARE YOU READING THIS CALEB....ITS YOUR TURN :)

On the Homestead Front, as the house progresses, planning for winter projects has begun. We are laying out how the gardens will be, where the orchard will be, where chickens, a couple guinea fowl, maybe a couple goats, a couple pigs and even a water buffalo will live - yes, you read that right - a WATER BUFFALO. Just FYI, but a water buffalo's milk is what REAL mozzarella cheese is made from and its meat tastes just like beef with less fat than chicken. They are also excellent foragers meaning that they dont have to have perfect green fields to grow and gain weight (meat mass). This is good for us since our fields havent ever been grazed - at least not in the last 50 years!

In my study on how to lay out the homestead, I have come across some interesting websites - just Google "Homestead" or "Sustainable Homestead" and eventually you to a really interesting site.... www.SurvivalBlog.com. Very interesting stuff in case this whole societal thing breaks down.... Anyway - some of the sites I have visited probably put me on some kind of governmental "list".... Man are they going to be disappointed I am homemaker, mom of 3 who just likes to check weird stuff out as well as get my pedicures :) I am also your girl in the case of a nuclear strike - dont even ask me how I learned all that stuff... yup - another government list!

I have read all I can tonight about canning, green chicken eggs, stablizing gas for long storage and which ammunition would be good bartering, so I am going to call it a night.

Thanks to all who pay attention to my ramblings and our building. I blog so I can remember what we did when and in what order when its time to scrapbook the building of our home....You read because you think I am insane and maybe I even make you smile.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Manuel and the guys ROCKED!!





The guys started early and we got there as fast as we could, but they had finished with the gravel and we were working on the clay/dirt combo. They had 2 bobcats going and several guys and it was perfectly orchestrated - guess that happens when you do this for a living, but no one was winded, no one bumped into anyone else....just beautiful.





Tons of dirt delivered, but alas, was not to be enough....




John couldnt help himself - He had to get down there and help....

OH MY WORD....









We have been so used to the basement being "tall" - able to look down to the bottom even though the top of the hill is about 5' away that to be able to hop down to land from the main floor is just weird.






After Manuel and the guys left yesterday, the "North" side (it is in quotes because there is a disagreement as to its true direction - no, its not true North, but close enough....John....) needed just a little more clay put in the ground and then covered with good dirt. Since they ran out of dirt, they just stopped until they could truck some more in and then they would finish. Since time is money, John and I gladly gave our time to save our money. I scooped and dumped and John and the boys put the clay where needed. Clay cant go next to the the house, so they basically filled up the earth from the hill side towards the house and stopped close for the remainder to be filled with dirt.







I dont want to brag, but I managed a load dumped every 3 to 5 minutes. I can count on 1 hand the times the tractor died or I had to take a second try on the scoop! I was very proud of myself and I impressed John also. He was great encouragement giving me the thumbs up each time I dumped - it was a look of astonishment that turned to pride as we got into a good stride :)






Amazingly enough, Bob the Builder helped out ;) Actually, Will helped on and off, but Jack rocked! He had a hoe and shovel and worked the entire time next to the the house with his dad. He notified us on the way home that if his professional football career doesnt work out, he wants to work with dirt for a living.



More dirt is due to be delivered tomorrow, but we are expecting rain - so we will see. If we get dirt, John and I are meeting after school and getting the last bit done. Then its Caleb's turn....Main House - here we come :)

Friday, October 3, 2008

Bored....


Ok - so guys come tomorrow to fill in the remaining "hole" not entirely filled by the styrofoam box but I am feeling antsy tonight so decided to just post :) Good looking man, adorable munchkin....




This is one of my favorite house pics: It was muddy and John had to carry Will around and down to the back of the basement to get in. I wouldnt let the boys climb on the scaffolding the day before, but when dad is there.... You cant see it, but I bet they were spitting down the 10+ feet to the bottom of the basement. Proof that it doesnt matter how old they are, boys will be boys - guess I should be happy no one had to use the restroom ;)



Speaking of....we get our Chem Can delivered tomorrow -I know, I know, it should have been done by now - builder virgins here, a little grace, please! I will post pics - It will be green - I know you cant wait!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Now You See It...NOW YOU DONT :)




Have you ever seen a more beautiful subfloor? Huh? Have you? I didnt think so ;)




Looking at the pics: In the top pic you see stairs on the left side and on the right the beginning of an opening that will have a slide that begins under my kitchen island and ends in the kids' playroom downstairs.


In the picture below, you get a better view of the slide hole in the middle and if you can make it out, a cut out on the far side in the corner on the right side of the picture will be a quickie spiral staircase down to the media room and the rest of the basement.






Next pictures are taken from the basement - you can start to see rooms - I CANT WAIT TO NAIL DRYWALL (and by that I mean, professional men who know what they are doing, nailing drywall).

Vivian is in the bottom picture - isnt she adorable!


This weekend we fill in around the basement - LOTS of gravel and LOTS of dirt....too bad we cant just all the rock and clay we dug out back in....

After this is done, Caleb gets to become our House guy and not just our Basement guy! Go UP and UP!!

Keep checking us out and let us know if you see anything we are doing wrong or could do better!