Friday

The house looks the same as it did last week, except that Archie has framed in some walls around the furnace room. Now we're waiting for the heating/air contractor to install the furnace and ductwork. The trim carpenter has the flu. The bricklayer has been on the same job for nine months - some doctor's gigantic house - and is apologizing profusely. He's says he'll be out when it dries up a little more.

Archie has a bad cold - lots of coughing - and is staying home from work today. He spends most of his time in the basement, so I stay up here in the main part of the house to avoid his germs. He was running a low grade fever this morning, but he's back to normal now. Archie's older brother and his wife were supposed to come visit this weekend, but they backed out when they heard about Archie.

Cabinets

Today, I finally took the camera out to the house when Angela and I visited today. The bricklayers actually worked today for the first time in 2 weeks. The cabinets were installed yesterday and they look beautiful!! The walls were primed on Monday. I also took some pictures of the deck.

To the right is Archie's side of the master bath and below I'm in my half.

Right - Angela in the Jack & Jill bath

Below - kitchen

Locked Up

If you live in Enid and have not visited our new
house yet, you are too late. Joe put the temporary locks on today, and boarded up the fireplace hole in the basement to keep dogs, and especially kids out.

Don't the garage doors look nice? The single door garage in front was framed for an 8 foot door, so that had to be redone for a 9 foot door. See all the beveled glass in the front door? There's a piece missing, but the door maker assures us they have it.

Today, I picked out all the tile, countertops, paint, wood floor and carpeting. It took 4 hours and was exhausting - but at least it's done. I sure hope it all looks good when it's in place - the lady at the store seemed to like our selections. I have to go to Sherwin Williams tomorrow and let them know which paint colors I want.

Rafters

I can't believe it's been over a month since I updated this. In that time, Angela and I spent a week in St. Louis with my parents, and 3 days in Kansas City with Archie's older brother and his wife. Also, the house is really taking shape, as you can tell from the pictures.

It is HOT here - 105 or hotter for a week now. I'm looking forward to a couple days in Traverse City, Michigan this weekend with some high school friends. The highs will be in the 70's and the lows in the 50's. That just sounds delightful!

Floor Joists

These were taken on Friday, June 5 at noon. All the floor joists are in and the decking should be finished by next Tuesday evening. We meet with the bricklayer on Monday to discuss bricks and fireplace inserts.

Framing has Begun!

That's right, the framers have started. Yesterday, they framed in the basement bath, which they weren't supposed to do, but I did not have them take it out. Today, they built two more interior walls which will support the laminated beams for the floor above. Also, they built the back wall and sheathed it in. Now it looks like we're getting somewhere.

Today, Scott had his esophagus widened and is in quite a bit of pain - but not enough to keep him off the top of our basement wall.

Safe Room

These pictures are from Tuesday, May 19, when the 8" concrete ceiling for the safe room was poured. Our pastor calls the safe room our "bunker." Of course, he wants to come use it if a tornado comes our way!

Safe Room

The basement walls were poured last Friday. Today, they poured the walls for the safe room and next Tuesday, they'll pour the ceiling. Our builder, Joe, thinks we'll begin framing sometime next week, as soon as the basement guys remove all their forms, etc. from the basement floor. Archie met the framers last week - they were helping to pour the walls.

Some of our friends have called our basement a fortress or a castle. I'll have to admit that it does look pretty solid.

I sure wish I had some pictures to share, but I took the camera today and the batteries were dead - even the extra batteries were dead. That's the way it goes, sometimes.

The Waverley Historic Neighborhood Parlor Tour is this Sunday and our house is included. Guess I'd better clean tomorrow. The boys worked on the yard tonight, until the storms came. Mark got it mowed and Scott began to trim the bushes - he'll finish tomorrow. The weather for Sunday looks great, so we'll probably have a big crowd. Guess that's it for now.

Forms are Set

It looks like we are almost ready for concrete. The forms are all in place, but Archie thinks we night need for bracing. Inside, an elevated walkway extends most of the way around the forms.

The most interesting thing we saw today was a dead snake. It appears to be about 4 feet long.

Route 66 Road Trip

Archie and I took a Route 66 Road Trip Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. We began in Joplin, Missouri, and stopped in Elk City, Oklahoma. It was great fun - kind of like a scavenger hunt. We had to interpret poor maps, vague directions and almost zero signage, but we made it. We saw lots of old gas stations/stores and old motels/motor courts. Believe it or not, some of the original paved road is only 9' wide - in 1926, when the road opened, most of it was not paved.

Basement Floor Complete!

To the right is Joe, our contractor.

Next is Otto, our basement guy - he's 82 years old and the only person in town who will build a basement.   

Here's what the basement looked like yesterday.

This morning, the cement trucks began pouring at 6:30 - it was still dark, but Otto had several vehicles positioned around the site to provide light.  I think he said that there were a total of 13 truck loads of concrete, for a total of 37 cubic yards.  They finished pouring at 8:30 AM.   I finally saw it after work.   Otto says they will leave it for about 3 days before they begin the walls.

Plumbing drains

The plumbers came last week and installed some drains.

Concrete

After a week in Phoenix, on a youth mission trip, there were quite a few changes on our lot when we got back.  The piles of dirt are larger, forms are in place and some footings have been poured across the back of the house.  Today, the plumber began adding floor drains, etc. before the basement floor can be poured.    

The  weather forecast doesn't look so good for the rest of the week,  with rain and even snow coming this weekend.  That will probably slow things down some.   It's nice to see something happening!!

Progress

Things are happening at our lot.  I met with Joe (builder) yesterday and he explained everything:

1.  We have electricity

2.  We have new stakes and string outlining the house

3.  We have chalk outlining the digging lines (they are 3 feet outside the house strings)

4.  We have markings for the height of the basement floor (almost 3 feet above the flood plain)

5.  We have markings for the height of the floor in the house which is about 1 foot above street level on the north side of the lot, and almost 4 feet above street level on the south side.

6.  Our builder posted his sign so sub-contractors can find the lot

Spring?

I took this yesterday in the backyard.  Looks like spring, doesn't it?  It even felt like spring most of this week, but today, it's 32 degrees with a wind chill of 21 degrees.  Last night, a cold front blew in with gusts of 50 miles per hour.   The winds deposited several items of trash in our back yard.

New house update:   we still have stakes and pink string.

Back update:  slowly improving.  I can now walk and stand for a longer period of time, but the pain always returns.  This is a different injury than I normally have in the back.

Church update:  Revival begins tomorrow and continues through the next Sunday.  The pastor's father is here, to preach and Brian will lead the music.  It will be a long week for me.  Archie and I went out to eat at a nice restaurant last night (we had a gift certificate) as a special treat before next week begins.  

Tuesday, I went to a photography class at the local scrapbook store.  A gal from the local camera shop taught it.  She give each participant a detailed list of their own camera's features, goes over how to find the features and gives us homework.   We go back in two weeks to review the homework and get more ideas.  Surprisingly, my little point and shoot camera has lots of features I never knew about.  Today, Archie's supposed to take me out to do my homework.  I did some of it last night, taking pictures of Mark, eating his supper, using different lighting settings.  Now I have pictures of him in color, B/W, sepia tones, with a tungsten setting (he's blue) and flourescent setting (he's red.)  At first, he protested that he wasn't doing anything special, so why should I take pictures of him.  But after I explained, he was fine - he normally loves to have his picture taken.

Slow Going

I had hoped to post a picture of a hole and accompanying pile of dirt, but so far, nothing.  We did have some rain this week, which prevented the basement guy from digging.  We do have stakes and pink string outlining the basic shape of the house.

Last Saturday, I pulled a muscle in my back, (while doing laundry) which should be better by now, but it isn't.  In fact, the injury is different than usual this time - I can stand up straight when get up from a chair, but the longer I'm up, the more the back hurts and I become stooped over.  Usually, I can't stand up straight when I get up, but the longer I'm up, the straighter I become.  I saw the doctor on Wednesday and all he could suggest was some pain medicine.

Scott is home for the weekend - he's at work right now.   Angela is applying for jobs at various summer camps.  Mark has applied for an internship at two places - the economy has companies cutting back, it appears.  

Archie and I exchanged Valentine cards this morning, but I'm planning a meal in tonight.  We've eaten out a lot this week because my back hurts so much.

City Okays Plans and Other Updates

That's right - the city of Enid finally approved our building plans and granted our builder, Joe, a permit.  He says that if it doesn't get too muddy from the forecasted rain, that he and Otto, the basement guy, will get out to the lot next week  and stake out the basement to make sure that's where we want it on the lot.

Down in the back - today I stood up from getting clothes out of the dryer and pulled a muscle in my back - the same muscle I always pull.  Now I can't stand up straight.  Tomorrow, I have morning offertory so I get to sit through the sermon, twice, and my offertory is on the piano so I'll have to run back and forth, while stooped over - should be interesting.  Just give me a couple of days and I'll be fine.  

Knee - this week I discovered I can go down the basement steps using both legs.  (Those steps are VERY steep.)  That means my knee is bending further than it has in over a year and it's getting stronger.  FYI - I tore the meniscus in the right knee in June, 2007, in Israel.  After fooling with the orthopedic guys in Enid, I finally went to the McBride clinic in OKC and got a correct diagnosis, then arthroscopic surgery in January 2008.  

New Pictures

Today I finally uploaded some photos from my camera. The red quilt is hanging in my office right now in celebration of Valentine's Day. Below, the blue quilt is on Angela's bed, but it also takes its turn in my office.

On the left are the gals from our latest scrapbooking retreat at the store downtown in January. From the left, Sharon, Sue, Theresa, Kay, Terri, me and Amy.

Just a Little Ice

The schools are closed, so I'm home today because of the freezing mist we had yesterday the the skiff of snow we've received today.  This town is practically shut down - it's so quiet outside!  Of course, everything is covered with ice and it's less than 20 degrees out there, so it's best that people stay inside.

All Set to Go

We signed the papers for our construction loan today, so we're ready to begin the new house.  The heating/air conditioning, plumbing and electrical sub-contractors have been selected.  It's been six months since we bought the lot and I thought this day would never come.

It's time to scrap...

The big weekend is finally here - several of us from church are scrapbooking all weekend at the store downtown.  That's right - almost 32 hours of cutting, pasting, snacking and conversation!  Two ladies from Shawnee are driving up tomorrow to spend Friday and Saturday nights at our house.  I met them at a retreat last November.  After work tomorrow, I'll pack up my stuff to be ready to head out after the ladies arrive.  The weather is cooperating - it's cold and dry.

All the kids are back in college, so it's really quieted down here.  Angela just found out who her roommate will be for this semester.  They talked for an hour on Facebook today, and it looks like this will be a good match.  Scott is supposed to come home and work on weekends.  Mark's term started last Friday.

Two days ago and long lost friend found me on Facebook - the daughter of a friend from Midland, Texas.   She's all grown up, married, and the mother of two children.  It's fun to find people again.

The church staff sees no reason for this blog - they just have no imagination!  Maybe I'll post some of this weekend's progress on here next week.

We did it!

We signed the contract to begin the construction of our new home.  Everything is ready to go at the bank, also.  The appraisal came in way above what we needed, and the banker says everything should be ready to go in a few days.  The basement contractor wants to stake out the basement footprint to make sure it's where we want it.  I can't believe it's really happening - we started this process over 6 months ago!