I've been listening to the Traveling
Wilburys lately and it struck me that
I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel lately, and so the title for this post. I felt like such a turd after my last post for complaining so much because I have had it so good. I have just been trying to keep an accurate record of the ups and downs of building this house for those of you out there who might be considering building one of your own. It is hard. There are times when I have thought I was out of my mind for trying this, especially the paying for it as I go part. The guys at work who have built their own houses have all asked me how much weight I have lost so far. Not, have I lost any but , how much? For the record, 28 pounds so far. I have kind of leveled off now as far as that goes but the stress of this is hard. I think it is more mental now because I am so close to moving in. When you are very far from that in the beginning, you don't dwell on thoughts of living there etc. but now, all I can think of is what all I can do and what it is going to be like to actually live in MY house. But I have had so much help with Allen and the guys at work too getting me
salvageable material etc. Even the architect.
OK, these photos are from some work we did this past weekend. Allen had rented a backhoe to do some work on his land so he scooped out this section for me to put the propane tank. The top photo is where the parking area is going to be and we graded on that just a little bit, then he dug this little area over to the side and scratched out the trench for the gas line. The line will enter the house right under the stone work so it is sort of a straight shot. Allen was proud that I decided on something simple. I will build a little retaining wall against this bank (there will be several retaining walls in this area for the parking etc.) and plant some shrubs and stuff to hide the tank. Hopefully, we can get the gas lines ran, the living room painted and the scaffolding completely down over the Thanksgiving holiday.
I finally finished grouting the shower this weekend! I just need to clean the tile and lay the final few pieces that I was short when they come in. I also located my power outlets on the new kitchen wall ( no actual wiring yet though) and cleaned up around the house. It had rained a little recently so we finally burned a couple of brush piles that have been around for months. Clumsy me fell against an iron pot that I had a small fire in and burnt my shoulder. Now I'll have a nice scar to show off at the Christmas party when I finally get to wear that nice sleeveless dress. Oh well, it will match all the others.
Well, I hope everybody out there had a great Thanksgiving holiday and got some rest maybe. I actually did nothing but eat on Thanksgiving day. No work. I tried to relax....really. On Saturday we had a big surprise when my sister just showed up for a visit and brought her 2 kids. That's Katie and Hunter. It has been some time since any of the family came to see the house. None of them live very close; my sister and her family is about 45 minutes away. My sister, Rosemary, was recently named "Occupational Therapist Of The Year" with her company! I am hoping that they will all be able to come to my house this Christmas for breakfast at least. Years ago when our aunt Corinne was alive, she would all have us to her place for breakfast on Christmas Eve and it was very enjoyable. I am hoping to revive that tradition. I told Katie also that when I move into the house we could have a big sleep over with all the kids (my brother's children too) and stay up watch movies and eat tons of junk food. Katie is very smart and left handed like me so she is a good kid. All my nieces and nephew are great kids though.
We got a good bit done on the house over the holiday. I had 4 days off from work so that has been nice. We installed the sleeve for the gas line and got that covered back up. That is what Allen is doing here with Oliver before he ripped his box blade in half while trying to smooth out a new part of the driveway. I finished building the wall between the kitchen and living room and installed the heater there. It is just waiting on the installation of the gas tank and lines. We installed the shower fixtures and connected the water heater so I now have running hot water! It is sooo glorious! Spring water is extremely cold. Of course, it is probably costing me a small fortune to heat that spring water in that electric water heater. I will be very happy when I have my solar water system up and running but that will be put off until summer at least. I ordered a new sediment filter and it is on it's way. I finally chose a good color for the living room and painted the high gable wall that required the scaffolding to reach. I need to run a little trim there and touch up the paint this week and I can get that scaffold out of the house. We ran the circuits in the new kitchen wall for plugs etc. but I need to get some more Romex so we can make the home run. The ceiling fans are still not operating correctly and the water is still slightly muddy. The wasp population is down considerably but they are still coming in from somewhere. I can't figure that one out. I hope to get the gas tank delivered this week and have it hooked up by the end of next weekend. It really looks like I might move in by Christmas. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
