No Progress

No rain this week, yet no progress to speak of. I don't really need to go on a rant about this, do I? At this point, if you've been reading, you know how I feel.

Basement drama?

Well, not really, but Philip did get a little pissy about the basement bathroom. The plan for the basement is to finish it eventually, as in years down the road. But we did talk a little about going ahead and planning in advance for plumbing down there and maybe some roughed in electrical.

Well, turns out that planning ahead for a utility sink and a fourth toilet in the basement might be more costly than we really want, as in $2000-3000 more. Apparently a fourth toilet requires a bigger drain pipe and more trenching, etc. This is one of those areas that's a little too technical for me. I just do a lot of nodding when Brad goes on about this stuff. Instead, he recommended a pump system where the toilet has a pump that allows it to drain upwards (or whatever). Those apparently work very reliably nowadays, and they only cost $600-700 and include the toilet. Sometimes they involve a raised floor, but not always, and I can live with that.

However, when I tried relaying this to Philip, he got pissy with me, so I just told him to call Brad. But, according to Brad, I did relay the info correctly (yay, me!). So Philip does the "Fine, nevermind then" thing with Brad on the phone. Brad, good sense of humor that he has, basically tells Philip to think about it and call him later. Philip gets pissy again, and Brad says something to the extent of, "You can't get like this already. You've got a long way to go to be acting like this this early on." I LOVE IT!!!!!

By the way, Philip told me this story verbatim later in the day, and obviously, I'm highly amused. I get to see the pissy Philip all the time, and I'm used to it, but for him to get called out by Brad....priceless! Doesn't that break a rule in the man handbook or something???

In case you're wondering, Philip was amused by it later, too. That's a good thing since I was laughing hysterically at him when he was telling me the story. I don't know if he knows I'm blogging about it, but he ought to know me by now. There are no secrets with me....

What's the point in 10-day forecasts, really?

So my friends all know I've become rather neurotic about checking the weather lately. And I know it's spring and all, but seriously, the 10-day forecast changes more often than Braxton changes clothes, which is A LOT! Earlier this weekend, it was supposed to rain one day next week, then it turned to two, then three, then four. And just when I was beginning to think the rainy season was here to stay, now the rain has disappeared from the forecast. As best I can tell, the forecast changes every couple hours or so.

In the end, who knows really what the weather will be? The lot is a mess, so even with the pretty weather, I don't know how long it will take to dry out enough for them to get big trucks in there. I don't think today was enough to do it.

Our bank tells me that they have deposited our first draw, though, so tomorrow, I get to write the biggest check of my life so far, $22,000. I just read an article on CNN about all these people losing their jobs, homes, and just not able to pay their bills in general, and I wonder if the timing of this was a mistake. I guess there's no way to know that now. With my previously mentioned financial worries, I'm all too aware of how the well can be drained dry. But there's no turning back now....not that I even want to. I am so ready to move into this house!!!

About that "little progress" idea...

....well, maybe not. It's not anyone's fault but Mother Nature. I told everyone that we would single-handedly end the drought, and they didn't believe us. Well, what do all you doubters think now? LOL

I did go out to the site today, my only time this week, for those of you who are counting, and saw that there's a little gravel and creek sand out there, but no concrete has been poured in the blocks, and the walls haven't been back filled, and we're no where close to pouring the basement or garage floors. All that will need to be done before the framing starts. And unfortunately, next week's forecast has changed to include rain four out of five days. (A couple days ago, it looked like the week might be mostly sunny. Too good to be true, I guess.) I know Brad's been trying to get things done, partly because I've talked with him a hundred times this week and partly because the yard out there is torn all to hell from the trucks trying to get in and out with the ground so soggy. Today was the first day I wondered if my car would get stuck or not, and no, it didnt! Thank goodness.

I've been too whiny lately

I know I should be using these rainy days to focus on getting the current house on the market, but I have so much to do, here and for work, that I'm just frankly paralyzed. I am going to spend the next several days planning for a huge yard sale, probably the first of many! I've been analyzing the forecast daily for the last couple weeks, promising to be out there the first sunny Saturday, and I went ahead and put an ad in the paper for next week, but who knows if the rain will hold out or not. The last two Saturdays have been a bust, and there's a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. So we'll just keep crossing our fingers for next week.

I'm in the mood finally, after being bummed all week, to get some things done. Those of you who are close to me know that we went through a period about 4-5 years ago where it seemed like everything we owned that was expensive broke. We had to replace the heat pump, the well pump, the pool pump, the front door, the dishwasher, the washer and dryer, and God know what else in that time period. We were financially scraping for a while there. Well, my luck can only hold out so far, so in addition to the house building expenses, we are also experiencing another financial trial of sorts. I had to have massive work done to my car recently, including a new transmission, amounting to the whopping total of $4000. Then Philip needs a crown replaced--$800. Anna is starting orthodontic treatment--$750 for now. Braxton has some dental work that needs to be done--$900. The bank suddenly decided we needed a foundation survey--$300. Anna's summer camp and girl scout camp fees are due--$1100 total. And today's news was the worst, just because he's the member of the family least able to help himself, but the dog has developed more bladder stones, only 8 months after his last surgery, confirming that this is something we will be dealing with for the rest of his life since apparently the prescription diet is not working. There is some medicine that we can try, but it's pretty much our last option, and even that still doesn't change the fact that he needs another surgery. That's probably another $800 total, not to mention the strain and pain for him.

But overall, we are all happy and healthy, and I do know that it's only money. I'm blessed to have a little savings to pull from, even if that is mostly tapped out now, and I still have a little available credit left....haha! So I guess with my luck that won't last long. And we still have our jobs and can still pay our bills. I guess it took the bad news about the dog today to really put it all into perspective. The money is just money, and who needs that???

Well, thanks to those of you who actually read all of this. If you made it this far, you really deserve a prize! Maybe one day soon I'll actually have more house stuff to blog about.

By the way, if you know my dog, Mac, he'd appreciate a visit from you to wish him well. And no, he really doesn't seem sick in the least. But we'll probably schedule his surgery in the next week or two because it really is something that will only get worse and could turn into an emergency very quickly.

A Little Progress

Because of the rain this week, there has only been a little progress. I'm not sure where we are with pouring concrete for the walls, but I know we are waiting for the rain to clear for a delivery of gravel or creek sand to back fill against the walls. I also know the bank inspector has been out and approved the first draw, so we're 10% complete. And now I'm 100% anxious about needing to get on the ball and get this house on the market. I'm such a procrastinator...ugghh!

We had to get an unanticipated foundation survey also this week. The good news was that it was fairly cheap and done quickly. We also now have home owner's insurance, which is incredibly cheaper than our current house/policy. Some of that I'm sure is the lack of pool, but my goodness, this is twice the house and only one third of the premium. That's about my only good financial news this week. I have been telling people that I'm hemorrhaging cash this week between all of us at the dentist, Anna's various summer camps, the dog, etc., I'm about done for.

The windows have been ordered, so I got to make some fun decisions about that. The most interesting window set up is actually in one of the kids' rooms, probably Anna's room because she likes the window, heehee. It'll be a triple window with the center being an arch top. It looks pretty neat. I also added a double window in the dining room and took out the arch top there. That would be too hard to do because of that being a load bearing wall, or something like that. And in general, I asked Brad to size up the windows wherever he could. I just like big windows and think that bigger is always better.

I guess I'll get back out there to check tomorrow evening or Friday afternoon. Tomorrow is crazy with appointments, so it will probably be Friday. To be honest, I really have to focus on getting the current house on the market....forget the new one for a while. That's much easier said than done!

House Plans

I've tried to upload the house plans here, but so far I can't figure out how to upload a .pdf file. Well, it's not that I cannot figure it out; there is just no way to do it in the blog.

If you want to see the plans, just email me, and I'll be glad to forward you a copy of the floor plan and elevations. How's that?