I Like To Move It

Tomorrow is MOVING DAY! Finally.

It's been 207 days since we broke ground on our house and tomorrow, my friends, is the day we start to live in it.

It's been 207 days since the dream started to become a reality. Since we started pouring our blood, sweat and more than a few tears into this project.

We did as much of it ourselves as we could but we didn't do it by ourselves, by any means. My dad and Josh's dad spent HOURS out there with us, swinging hammers, pulling wire, laying tile, sharing our excitement and calming our fears. Josh's mom made numerous trips up to help watch the kids while we toiled at the house. Friends and other family have helped entertain the kids and have offered their support and encouragement throughout the whole process. Words alone will never be enough to show my gratitude for the helping hands that have brought us to this point.

Over the past months when I've told people that my husband and I were building a house, I got much the same response: "Wow, and you're still married?!" It seems building a house is stressful. I suppose it can be, and I can certainly see areas and moments that could have been very stressful, but I gotta be honest and say that it's been a great experience.

We acted as our own general contractor so were in control of everything ourselves instead of leaving it up to someone else. We didn't really have any expensive, unbudgeted surprises and there weren't any major delays or screw-ups. We had a fantastic framer/contractor who essentially built our entire house and did it with as much pride as if he were building his own house (Hi Framer Josh!). We were on the jobsite nearly every day, monitoring the progress, giving our input, helping where we could. Maybe our constant involvement kept things going smoothly. Or maybe we are just incredibly blessed.

I did alot of praying throughout this whole process. I prayed for good weather, I prayed for our safety while working, I prayed for prices to drop, I prayed for strength, both physical and mental, I prayed for comfort and calming of my fears, I prayed we were making good decisions. But tonight, on the way home from delivering a load of boxes to my new home, I prayed with a grateful heart, a prayer of thanks.

Aside from the wonderful blessing of my new home, I am so thankful for my husband. He has worked himself silly building this house for us. He has reassured and comforted me when I threatened to spin out of control with fear, promising it would all work out. He has made wise financial decisions for years that have enabled us to build this home. He has thought of all the little things that I didn't know to think of. I am so proud of all he has done, and all we have done together.

And tomorrow's just the beginning...

Yellow Light

In case you're wondering, I'm still alive over here in my little corner of the world. Even though I was semi-housebound because of the snow and puttering on the computer throughout the days, I just ran of things to talk about. Other than the snow. And how it was ruining my life. So in the interest of keeping you, dear readers, I opted to hold my tongue and say nothing. Mark the calendar; it doesn't happen very often.

Christmas was lovely. Hubby and I were up before the kids; me because of a dang cold & cough that attacked me shortly before Christmas and Hubby because he's just an early riser. We sipped our coffee in the pre-dawn silence and eagerly awaited the little footsteps that would come from the bedrooms. Sam woke up first, sneaking out to check if Santa had visited. After seeing the presents & filled stockings, he raced to wake Zoë up with soft kisses and whispers of "Santa came Zo-Zo! Wanna go open presents??" It was a magical morning, watching them tear into presents and squeal with joy. Their smiles and excitement were truly my best gifts.

We got dressed and headed over to my parents' house for our family brunch. After opening presents there, we gorged ourselves on Mom's homemade cinnamon rolls, eggs, potatotes, biscuits, and sausage then sat around holding our bellies and groaning about how full we were. Really, everyone should have it so bad. In the afternoon, my sister and I took all the kids to see the movie Bedtime Stories which, by the way, was super cute and funny.

Now here it is, the Day after Christmas and the packing of our house needs to start in earnest. We still have alot of snow but the forecast is for warmer temps and rain in the coming days, which will hopefully translate into the snow melting quickly. Since we gave notice that we'd be out of our rental house by the end of the year, I'm hoping we can make that happen, although I know the owners would be totally understanding if we end up needing an extra month week. Unfortunately, the house will probably sit empty for a few months before somebody else rents it because, honestly, who's going to be able to drive out here, see the driveway and think "Yah! I wanna live there!" It's a great house, it just sits on top of a ski slope practically.

I'm working on getting my new house equipped with internet service but it may be a bit before it gets installed. Especially since the pipe that the cable lines need to go in is full of ice. So if we manage to get moved in the next few days, I may be without internet service for a bit. But do not fear, I will find a computer to check in on. And of course, I'll update ya'll once we actually begin moving, whenever that may be.

For now, I'll get packing and wait anxiously for the green light to get the show on the road.

Snowy Adventures

Yesterday I was looking out the window...because really, what else is there to do when housebound with two small agitated, bored, crazy children except look longingly out the window, remembering what it was like to leave the house. But I digress...

As I was gazing out the window, a couple of our hooved neighbors wandered by and were getting perilously close to discovering Bob's nose. (Doesn't Bob look a little nervous??)

Using my ninja-like skills, I quickly formulated a plan to distract them. I went out on the porch and bribed them. "Come here, pretty deer. I have something tasty for you."
And wouldn't you know it, the fuzzy critters listened to me! And walked right up to me and took my offering oh-so gently right out of my hands. (Apples, in case you're wondering.) I even snuck a quick pet on their noses.
It was pretty cool. I never get tired of seeing the deer go through my yard or trying to entice them with treats (always apples so don't be hatin'!) I've written about our visitors before, here and here, but I'm always amazed and in awe to have such a brush with nature. I don't know why. I just love it. Or maybe I'm a Deer Whisperer and have a special gift.

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Today I loaded up the kids and headed out to brave the roads. I figured crashing into a snowy ditch couldn't be any more painful than enduring another day at home with them. Just kidding! (Kind of.) We headed in to the mall to look for some snowpants for Zoë and I couldn't have been more wrong: leaving the house and going to that particular destination was in fact extremely more painful than staying home would have been. Christmas shoppers combined with every single school in the state having a snow day resulted in masses of people and zero parking spots, which when added to the way below freezing temps and snowy parking lots apparently sucked any hint of Christmas spirit out of people.

I was in Target, meandering through the crowds and trying not to scream, when I came upon some de-icer. As I've mentioned, we have a perilously steep driveway so I figured grabbed some might not be a bad idea. I saw that it was in short supply so I squatted down to look on the bottom shelf. Lo and behold, there was one last gallon jug of the stuff. But! Before I could reach out and get it, some Astoundingly Selfish SOB reached around me and grabbed it. I was shocked into near silence, considering I'd stood there and watched the same man grab two 25lb+ bags of the stuff and heave them into his cart. So it wasn't like we were fighting over the last bit of de-icer. He had ALOT already and had moved away! Shocked and absolutely dismayed by his behavior, I simply stood up and started to walk away, muttering (loud enough for him to hear of course), "I guess I won't be buying any of THAT today." A kind lady who had grabbed several jugs already offered me one but I was too stunned to say anything other than "No thanks." Seriously, I still am in shock at his behavior. I mean, really? You're going to grab the last bit of de-icer, reaching around someone who is obviously interested in it? It just makes me really sad that people act like that. It would have been different if he hadn't already loaded up his cart. I considered following him through the store, waiting until he turned to look at something, and then taking it out of his cart and running off it with. But I didn't think that'd be a very good thing for my kids to witness: mama duking it out with some man over de-icer. Sounds like a scene from a National Lampoon's movie or something. Whatever. I hope he has a Merry Christmas with his extra de-icer.

Snowmen

Building a snowman yesterday reminded me of one of my favorite comic strips, Calvin & Hobbes, and his snowmen.

Winter Wonderland

This was my view on Sunday:

This was the view off my deck yesterday:
This was my view this morning:

The snow is getting progressively deeper. Our deck shows 9", but we probably have closer to 12" since the kids trampled it down during first batch we got on Saturday/Sunday.

Yesterday was considerably warmer, probably almost 30°, so Sam and I went out to play. And whaddya know? Bob showed up.




We were back inside, drying off and warming up, when Hubby exclaimed "Oh my gosh!". We looked out the window and saw that an entire fir tree had uprooted and crashed down onto the house behind us. Fortunately, the house is vacant and empty.



We went around and looked at the house, looking in the front door. And saw daylight. The tree went completely thru the roof and down into the second floor. We called the community association office and reported it and they were going to contact the realtor, but there wasn't much else we could do. And scarily enough, there is another tree right next to it that looks a little lean-y.

Today Hubby and his mom went out to the new house to check on things. The carpet is all in, and the plumbers have gotten several of the sinks and a toilet installed (hopefully they're finishing up today). I'm home today again, trying to entertain the kids and maintain my sanity. I'm going to get started packing some boxes after lunch in hopes that someday soon, we'll be actually moving.

Freezing

I am too cold to blog.

Winter arrived in the Pacific NW late Saturday afternoon. With a vengance. While I was at work, it dumped about 5" of snow and the temperature dropped into the 20's. The forecast says it won't make it above freezing for a week and the winds coming down out of Canada are making it painfully cold outside - last night was -7° with the windchill.

If you've been enduring reading this blog for any time at all, you might recall that we had planned to start moving this week. I don't know if that's gonna happen now. First, we'll see if the plumbers actually show up today and if the carpet layers show up tomorrow. Out where our house is, I hear there's not as much snow and that the roads are clear (because the frigid arctic air blew it all away, that's why) so hopefully there won't be a problem. But then it'll depend on the weather after that - if it snows more, or doesn't warm up to melt the snow we have, we won't be able to get a moving van up our driveway to actually move our stuff. We have a perilously steep driveway (see picture below) and even walking up/down it in the snow is tough, much less driving.

For now, plans are creeping tenuously along, but may come to a complete halt depending on what the weather does. Or doesn't do. So not only am I slowly turning into a solid block of frozen flesh (see Factoid #5 in the sidebar) but my plans for Christmas in the new house are evaporating. Who knows? It might still happen but I'm not counting on it.

My Day

7:20-7:45am: Alarm goes off. Hit snooze repeatedly. (See also: worked until 11:30pm)

8:00 - 8:20am: Get Sam ready for school, gather his backpack, convince him he feels fine and that he should buy hot lunch today (so that I don't have to pack one).

8:25am: Josh drives Sam down the hill to meet the bus then heads out to the house.

8:30-10:00am: Drink coffee, try to wake up, check email, feed Zoe breakfast, shower & get dressed, get Zoe dressed.

10:30am: Gather snacks, toys, Zoe, camera, etc. and head out to house.

11:00am: At house, put grout sealer on grout in laundry room. Try to ignore lightheadedness and headache.

11:45am: Round up Hubby, Dad, and Zoe and head to local cafe for lunch in hopes that head will stop trying to explode and/or render me unconscious. (See also: low blood sugar)

12:45 - 2:00pm: Back at house, commence cleaning up between tiles in preparation for grout (i.e. scraping dried mortar from between tiles with screwdriver and steel wool)

2:00pm: Head out to pick up Sam from school.

2:30pm: Pick up Sam from school, have a talk with his teacher about his behavior at school, which has been randomly atrocious lately (see also: adolescent stress & acting out)

2:40pm: Head to Home Depot for my daily visit.

3:00pm: Arrive at Home Depot, gather laundry cabinets (unassembled) and countertops for bathrooms and laundry room, grab paint supplies and have another gallon of paint tinted (see also: repainting bathroom)

3:45pm: Load up cabinets & countertops and head back out to the house.

4:20pm: Arrive back at house, resume scraping dried mortar.

5:30pm: Hubby begins grouting dining room, I commence applying new paint color to master bathroom.

6:50pm: Hubby informs me he's had enough and is wore out.

7:00pm: Head for home after cleaning up grout and paint supplies.

7:30pm: Arrive home, put sleeping Zoe in bed, commence dealing with Sam and his homework assignment (i.e. write apology note to classmate for hitting him in the groin)

8:15 - 8:45pm: Rummage thru fridge for food, drink a beer, remember that last meal was at 11:45am, cook canned biscuits, turkey bacon and eggs.

8:45 - 9:15pm: Check email, read blogs, write blog post, realize that I'll probably do it all again tomorrow.

Just Maybe...

I had a small, minor meltdown Sunday night. No waterworks or anything, but all the anxiety and stress about this house building kind of bubbled up and out. As I told Hubby, it's a wonderful problem to have: being stressed out and worn thin by building your dream home but I'm about at my rope's end. Bless his heart, Hubby has been putting in looooonng hours working at the house (after working all day), which I am truly appreciative of. But it in essence renders me a single parent (when I'm not out there working myself), which I am not cut out for I've discovered. Add to that the multitude of house details that have to be decided. Lucky for me, Hubby doesn't care too much about the details and has left it up to me. But, he's left it up to ME! At least I don't have to fight with him about which faucet I want for the kitchen. Man, I totally could have gotten the expensive, fancy one and he'd never have known!

The other day my task was to go to Home Depot and pick out laminate for the bathroom countertops. Upon arriving at the veritible wall of laminate choices, I wanted to cry. There were just so many! After scaring away the poor helpful employee who tried to help but then backed away slowly after getting close enough to hear me muttering unintelligibly to myself, I managed to pick two possibilities for each bathroom. Mind you, choosing each element means dragging the other elements along for coordination's sake (aka cabinet doors, tile, etc.). Not to mention my impatient, uninterested 3 year old who, for Pete's sake, has had enough of Home Depot.

And did you notice that it's almost Christmas? I will say that I'm about done with my shopping for the kids. Just need one more thing for Sam, I think, and a few more stocking stuffers, which very well might end up being snacks out of the pantry. My niece & nephews may end up with gift cards if I don't get the chance to shop again. I'm just bummed because this is the time of year that I'm usually subjecting myself to all kinds of baking, cooking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, letter-writing, Christmas card addressing, and gingerbread house decorating and none of that is happening this year. Which, even though it's stressful, it's FUN stress. I've calmly given myself permission to bypass all that this year, but next year? WATCH OUT.

While a few days ago I was disbelieving that this whole move would actually happen this year before Christmas, I'm starting to think it just might afterall. What made me change my tune? Well, for one, my father-in-law came up to help with the bathroom tile and yesterday, while Hubby was at work, he worked out at the house all day, by himself, cutting the edge pieces of tile for both bathrooms. Then Hubby went out and they got it all laid. Both bathrooms now have tile. All the grouting has to be done still but that should go quickly.

Secondly, I called yesterday to check on our carpet order. Because even though Hubby thought we could move in without carpet, it's just ain't happening. No worries though, because the installer will have the carpet by Friday and then it will be installed next Tuesday. Yippee!! That'll make a HUGE difference.

Also, the plumber will be coming to set all the toilets and fixtures next Monday, I believe. Indoor plumbing will be a nice feature and make living there more comfortable.

I went yesterday and put a deposit on my granite countertops and got those ordered. The slab could be delivered to the shop as early as tomorrow and then those will get underway. There's a possibility that they might not be installed by the time we move in, but I think it'd only be a matter of days until they were, so I'm not concerned about that. I can use my laundry sink in the meantime. (Which reminds me, I need to buy cabinets for the laundry room.)

It's all starting to come together, in a big flurry, to say the least. It still doesn't seem real that I'm going to be living there very soon. I'm not sure it will until I wake up in my new bedroom, plod out to my new kitchen for coffee, and put our things away in our new home. (OMG, that totally just made me tear up.)

T minus 11 folks.

Making Progress

So, despite all my hand-wringing and fretting about this house, Josh and my dad both say "No problem!" when I lament that we're trying to move in 15 days. My dad does concede that we've bitten off ALOT for our first home-building project but that we're doing a great job and it'll all work out. I still can't see how it's all going to work out in the next 15 days, but ok.

Look! My double ovens are in!

Yesterday afternoon I went and picked up all my plumbing fixtures. All except one of the faucets for the kids' bathroom - they didn't have it so one is being shipped up from another store. Once we get the bathroom tile down and grouted, we can call the plumber to come back and install everything. That'll be a big step towards making the house habitable. I mean, the Port-a-potty has been handy but with the temperatures dropping in this neck of the woods, going to the bathroom is a chilly endeavor.

Here's the view from just inside the garage door:
Zoë's room:
There will be a chair rail where that white stripe is, btw.

Master Bedroom:

Master Bathroom:

After I picked floor tile for the master bathroom, I'm not crazy about the color I chose for the walls. I don't mind the darker blue behind the vanity but the other walls are bluer than the picture shows. But maybe once we get the tile in (which is gray with a some tan mixed in) it'll diffuse the blueness a bit. Or I'll end up repainting it 3 months after we move it because I hate it. The countertops I chose are also a darker gray color so maybe the combination will work out. I don't know. This is the one room I'm not crazy about right now. Fortunately, I won't be living in my bathroom exclusively.

So today we're grouting the tile in the main living areas. Hubby just called me and said "You need to look at this; it's darker than we thought." So that's been halted and I need to go give my two cents. If the kids are at all cooperative, I'll work on doing some paint touch-ups. I'd really like to get those done before we move in because, let's be honest, after we move in we'll be plenty busy and I won't feel like dragging paint cans thru the house. (Actually I'm going to go pick up my niece and nephew and they are going to go with me to the house where they can help entertain/watch my kids.)

And in Christmas news, I managed to sneak off and do some shopping yesterday while Sam was in school and my sister watched Zoë. I think I got the kids almost completely done except for a couple more stocking stuffers and maybe one more present for Sam. I need to go thru my present stash in the closet because I can't remember what I already bought!

On that note, I better get my rear in gear!

There's No Place Like Home

It's December 5th. Already.We've targeted December 20th/21st as our move-in date.

That is only 15 days away.

I have to work 5 of those days.

I have to pack my entire house. Then move it.

I have to finish my Christmas shopping for the kids. I'm afraid the kids are the only ones that are going to make it on the list this year. Even if I had the money, I don't have the brain power to come up with gift ideas for the other 14 people in my family. Sorry folks.

Oh, and did I mention the house isn't done??

Still to do:

Grout the tile

Lay tile in bathrooms

Install plumbing fixtures (sinks, toilets, faucets, etc)

Install carpet

Hang interior doors

Install shelves in pantry & kids' bathroom closet

Install closet shelves & clothes rods

Install countertops

Install kitchen appliances

Painting touchups

I have a feeling that the carpet and the countertops will be the very last things to go in. And hopefully they'll go in before we move. The carpet has been ordered so we're just waiting for it to come in and then we'll get the installer in there ASAP. We've had to change our plans for our countertops and so I'm just waiting to hear back from the gal at the granite place about the changes and then we'll get those going.

Our lease is officially up the end of the month, and while the owners are willing to let us stay, we don't want to keep paying rent. But I'm nervous about officially giving notice to vacate. What if the house isn't done? I can live with some things unfinished, but it's not just that. The house has to be inspected before occupancy and certain things are required to be done. And the stupid guy at the County won't return our phone call to tell us what exactly has to be done. We're kind of flying blind.

It's all coming down to the wire folks. And it's stressing me out a little.

Can't I just click my heels together three times and have it all over with??

Murphy's Law

I'm pretty sure there's some fine print written into Murphy's Law that says that in times of great stress and overwhelming pressure, when you already want to run naked down the street screaming like you're on fire just to get away from it all, there will be something else that pops up to absolutely push you over the edge. Where you sit in the corner, curled into the fetal position, muttering to yourself and batting at invisible bugs crawling on your skin while your maniacal eyes dart suspiciously around, and small streams of spittle drip down your chin.

That place? I'm there.

This morning I discovered that someone has been using our credit card. Alot.

A week or so ago, our credit card company called and left a message saying they were doing a routine security check. Nothing urgent or important sounding; "Call us at your convenience". We've been using our card alot during the process of building our house and figured they just thought it was suspicious since we hardly used it before. They called again this morning and left another message; again nothing urgent sounding. I happened to discover the charges because Josh went to Home Depot to get some supplies and his credit card was denied. So I looked up the card online to check the balance and, lo and behold, someone's been shopping on Cleartrip.com. After looking the site up, I see it's located in Mumbai. Lovely. So apparently terrorists are using my credit card! Ok, maybe not but don't you think it's suspicious?

So I called the credit card company and we went over the charges one by one and apparently someone booked almost $2000 of travel on Kenya Air just this morning. See? Terrorists! Fleeing the scene of the crime. On MY dime!!! AARRRRGGGHHH!!!

I'm not sure how much more I can take. It's almost Christmas for heaven's sake. I just want to move into my house, give my kids a wonderful Christmas, celebrate with family, settle into my new home and live my little life, quietly and undisturbed. Why does it all have to be so hard??

Why? Why?? WHYY???

Sweetness

Just a few pictures I've taken lately...

I love this last one. I've had Chewie for 14.5 years; he was my first baby and I'm extremely attached to him. He never has been fond of the kids, giving them a wide berth lest they get too close. But somehow, Zoë has managed to charm him and he allows her to love on him. He's even become more tolerant of Sam. Chewie still lets both kids know he's had enough, but it's usually just a warning hiss as he walks away.

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Thanksgiving is always special, but this year was extra special as there was a new member of the family to meet:

He slept through being passed around like a plate of nachos, waking only to have a snack himself, then settling back down contentedly. We're already smitten with him and can't wait to see him again.

Creeping Closer

I crossed a couple more things off my list! Yay me!

~ Make dentist appointment for kids for January.

~ Call Sam's new school to get him on their roster & to try to meet his teacher and get a tour. They are sending me a registration packet and we will go meet his teacher and tour the school the week before Christmas break.

~ Order carpet for house; remember to change color choice!

~ Finish painting the stripe in Sam's room.

~ Clean out kids' closets/dressers for outgrown stuff. Partially done - I got thru Zoë's closet in a fit of frustration.

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In house news, the tile is going down. Hubby has been working like a mad man and has almost all of the whole tiles down. There are still a bunch that need to be cut and put down but overall he's thrilled with how quickly it's going down.

After being initially uncertain as to whether I liked the tile (that I myself picked out), I'm happy with it after seeing it on the floor. It's so rich and warm looking and goes so well with the cabinets and paint. The grout will be the color of the light spots in the tile so I think it'll look really pretty.


As of last night, the rest of the kitchen cabinets are in, the bathroom vanities are in and even my double ovens are in! Squeee!! I can't wait to see it.

To top off my beautiful kitchen cabinets, it looks like we're going to be able to swing the granite countertops that I love. The granite I picked out is GORGEOUS and goes so well with the cabinets and will give the kitchen a dramatic look. They definitely will be a standout feature. Especially that island. Which I've taken to calling Hawaii (cuz it's the BIG island...get it??) Yes, I'm a dork...haven't you noticed before now??

I've got to go pick out bathroom floor tile in the next day or so so that can be put down. Then after that's down, we can call the plumber back to install the toilets, sinks and fixtures. Our walk-in shower probably won't be done before we move in, but I'm cool with that. I know it'll get done. And in the interim, we'll just shower in the kids' bathroom.

I'm happy to say that I'm done with the painting - except for the touchups. On Friday after Thanksgiving, I painted for approximately six hours and managed to finish the stripe in Sam's room and get a second coat on my bedroom and bathroom. So now all the rooms that had to be painted are painted. If time (and energy) allows, I'll paint the guest room and laundry room, but those could be done after we move in if I don't get to them.

Sam's Room

When we were out working on the house on Friday, we had the fireplace cranked up and boy that sucker puts out some heat! And it burns so efficiently that even after burning wood all day there was barely any ash left in the fireplace. I think putting that thing in was a very good idea. It's going to heat our whole house very nicely. Good thing we bought some wood.

I've got so much more to tell you, like about my new pink vaccum and meeting my new nephew for the first time (pictures!) but I just looked at the clock and I must peel myself away from the computer. Besides, I'm so hungry my stomach is starting to gnaw on my backbone so I gotta go find food.