How do you know you had a good time?

We started framing today. My father in law rolled into town last night and will be doing our framing. He only brought two guys with him and I believe he may be feeling overwhelmed with the task that is before him. My husband assures me that though his dad hasn't actually walked on water that his framing is perfect.  So we are glad to have him here.

There were a couple of little oops on the plumbing but nothing that Herb (my FIL) can't work around.

We have started to rethink our brick choice. I think we have given ourselves too much time to make a decision. Apparently, we work best under pressure that way we don't have enough time to change our minds. I drove around a little today trying to find another one we might like better.

We also had someone out to give us a quote on our windows today.

The kids had a great time playing in the mud that surrounds our slab. Several of the neighborhood kids came over to play. I really hate that I didn't get a picture of that! ChaChi and another kid got their boots stuck in the mud and had to be rescued by the kid's dad. They played out there for hours! I swear next time I want to go out, instead of getting a babysitter I'm just going to find a mud hole and leave them there to play.  Our neighbors were nice enough to squirt our kids off with a water hose, which left them freezing to death. They also offered up some towels but we declined (as any self respecting redneck would do) and stripped the kids down to their underwear for the ride home. All in all, I'd have to say...If you go home in just your underwear, you probably had a good time.

                                                Day 1 of framing.

The slab is poured!

It is not the beauty of a building you should look at; its the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time.
David Allan Coe

Yes, I did just quote David Allan Coe.


Sunday night we had tornado warnings in the area and I was just thinking how stupid we'd look if we died in a tornado after we just paid to have a shelter installed. Yeah, I know we'd be dead and it wouldn't matter if we looked stupid but I can just see the newcasters walking down our street with our shelter in the background saying if we'd only driven to our shelter we'd still be alive. So I told Ryan I wanted to take cover in the shelter. Surprisingly, he agreed with me and we stayed in the shelter from about 9:00 pm to 1:30 am.  The kids enjoyed it. It was like camping out the them. 


To our surprise, we got our slab poured yesterday. I was really not expecting to be able to get it poured as we just had severe weather. They just got out there with a bobcat and scraped off the first layer of mud and the cement trucks were able to trudge through. Our cement guy thought that it would be funny to torment me and sent me a text yesterday morning to tell me it would be next week before they would be able to pour it. Haha he's hilarious. Ok, it was pretty funny and I totally fell for it.

What beautiful sunset. Made even more so because it is setting over our slab!

Of course we had to go back last night so we could deface our beautiful new slab.

It will be raining for the next couple of days. Hopefully, we will start framing on Friday.

No crying in baseball, or housebuilding.

Yesterday was our first little SNAFU. The concrete guy shows up and says the tornado shelter wasn't installed properly. The storm shelter guys insists that it is just how it should be. I don't know what to think as I have neither installed a storm shelter or poured a slab. I think that it does look too high and would like for them to remove it and lower it. So we go back and forth for what seemed like hours and the shelter is just as it was. The shelter guys says he'll fix it for another $1000. Uhhh, no. So apparently, two hours sleep from worrying about this stupid thing, PMS, and finding out that someone is interested in buying this rental is enough to cause me to have an emotional breakdown right on the lot. So, what I learned yesterday is that if you are having a never-ending conversation with two old men and you want it to be over with...start tearing up. They quickly pack up their things and head on their way.

Today they are supposed to start pouring the slab and we will find out if it was too high, which won't matter anyway.

Shake it down, shake it down, now

Yeah! We have chosen the brick! (get the brick house reference?) I had taken pictures of the house with the whites creek brick and Ryan didn't seem too thrilled with it. Saturday, we went by the house so he could see it. Thankfully, he likes it too! I am so happy to have this selection completed.

We also spent three hours at a lighting store. We picked everything out just to get an idea for what it is going cost. Lighting is supposed to account for 1 to 1.5 percent of your costs. I'm sure we will go back several times before we will be happy with our selection. When you are in a lighting store for three hours you just start to pick stuff just to pick it so that you can leave. It's kinda like when people confess to a murder that they didn't commit. They just want all the questions or in our case decisions to stop.

We are going with geothermal as our heating/cooling source so the field loop (whatever that is) has also been installed. The electrician has to put conduit in so that we will have power in our island as well as a few floor outlets in the living room.

Once the weather clears, we will be ready for our slab to be poured. I have watched the weather so much over the past few months I'm pretty sure I could I could fill in as a meteorologist at our local news station.

0 to 60

I can't believe how fast things seem to be coming together! We were waiting around for months for it to stop raining. We just broke ground on Friday and today we had the plumber out and have already passed our first inspection. We also had the shelter put in today.

I also went by the house that is putting up the brick we are thinking about using. I think I like it but I'm waiting to see what Ryan thinks about it. I wish I could see it with a darker mortar. Once we decide we will start choosing roofing.

I also dropped off a set of plans with the electrician. I probably should have done this sooner...

Ryan's dad will be doing the framing so as soon as a get a material list, I will start price checking lumber.

It's supposed to rain for the next two days and when it stops we will have our slab poured!

Mississippi Mud

Finally! We started grading our lot yesterday. I was beginning to think this day would never come! It is already looking better than I thought it could.

        This guy (Bobby Stewart 901 870 5155) did some great work, I'm sure it's because he had a great helper!

Yesterday we got the majority of the grading done with threat of rain looming around for the next several days. We had scheduled a survey to be done this morning. They come out and mark your property line and all the setbacks you have to follow to get your house in the right place on the lot. When we arrived at the lot to meet the surveyor there was a van full of workers just waiting to start putting up the form boards for the slab. I was really thrilled to get this much going so quickly especially since it had rained a little overnight.

ChaChi, wanted to "help" whenever he could. He said, "They keep speaking to me in spanish and I don't know what they said, but I'm pretty sure it was quit throwing things."

We also met with the plumber and the storm shelter guy. Hopefully they both will be able to start on Monday.

                                      This is what it looks like now.

Building Permit

Today was pretty uneventful, we got our building permit. You will need a copy of your plans. The plans will need to be signed off by the developer or the neighborhood association. A receipt from your tap fees from the water authority and the city for gas. You will also need a plat of how your house will be placed on the lot within the easement codes.

We also tried to look at some bathtubs...I just want to get a soaking tub that looks like this:

but nobody around here sells them. Well, unless you want to pay $5,000 for one, which I do not. So I will probably order one off the internet which scares me a little but what the heck. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Oh how I miss my bathroom with a door that has a lock on it! Whoever designed this house we are renting obviously didn't have kids. There is nothing quite like going to the bathroom with an audience.