Hurry Up and Wait

Things seem to fly and many workers are here and then it all stops. The framing crew finished and the heating and cooling crew continued to work. Mike and Bob used this time going from one end to the other cleaning things up and tweaking each area to perfection. Here is our new furnace.

It was a good productive time, but not a lot of visible progress for pictures. Meanwhile we are into our fourth week of waiting for the Water Works Agency to come out and finish the work necessary for our sewer hook up. We have water and electric all set and just need this last thing and we'd be able to move our trailer to our own land. Increasingly, impatiently, for now, we continue to sit on our dear friend's driveway. They reassure us that we are not in their way, but it will feel good to eventually squat on our own land.

Our son Chad, is our electrician and he was able to start wiring with the assistance of Bob and our nephew, Matt.

There were lots of decisions to make, but Chad guided us with good advice.

Bob also got our basement windows in giving us some light down there. We are amazed with how much room we have. We don't have plans to actually finish off any of it yet, but we will have lots of room for shelving and space for the grandkids to play.

Our neighbors, the Andersons, gave us a nice old refrigerator that we will eventually put right at the bottom of the stairs for drinks and extra storage.

Our future living room has turned into a work area which has worked well because of occasional rain and the hot sun.

Our screened in porch now has a real floor and all of our entry porches have stairs.

And, our kitchen window which will sit over our sink, finally came in. It has a lovely view of the woods across the drive.

We are most happy with the way the house is taking shape. It is very hard to stay patient as we plug along, hurrying as needed and waiting when necessary. It is truly an experience!

Plans Continue to Evolve

I can't believe two weeks have slipped by. The stabilizers on our trailer are breaking down and we get a rolling motion when we move about. Add that to the high heat and I feel like I am drifting through the days in a foggy haze. Well, maybe it is just age, but I have to blame it on something. Meanwhile, Bob and Mike are picking up more of the actual building chores and seem to have adapted to being wet with sweat and working through it. They drink tons of water and Gator Aid.

A lot has happened beginning with our finished roof and then windows. I love the look!

On the weekends, we hang out at our house cleaning up the sight, sitting on the porch and walking through, trying to picture how it all works. This weekend, I kept walking through the upstairs and it just didn't seem to flow. As much as I tried to picture where I'd put stuff, it seemed awkward.  Our plan was for two master bedroom suites - one upstairs and one downstairs. We planned to start upstairs and then move down when we didn't want to do steps any more. However, the downstairs bedroom was the better plan with size and view of the lake. We decided to go with the downstairs bedroom and turn the upstairs into two smaller bedrooms with a smaller bath. Mike agreed completely and had some great suggestions to make the plan even better. The bank said that turning the house into a three bedroom actually made it worth more. Bob got the job of tearing out the stud walls that were in place and the next two days, Mike and Bob put in new walls and it looked perfect. The upstairs now is very welcoming and quaint. It is a much better plan to use for grandchildren and guests. Here is Blake and Eva trying out the cute window seat in the front upstairs bedroom. There will be a window with unbreakable glass here for safety.

We are also saving money by using a tub/shower insert instead of tile in this smaller upstairs bathroom.  We are still going with tile for our walk in shower downstairs.

Mechanical Extremes Heating and Cooling started work putting in vents, duct work and our new furnace. The kids loved peeking through the holes.

After they finished the frame work for the upstairs, Mike and Bob built our short walls around our screened in porch.

Joel and his crew build our deck on the back of the house and started work on entry porches. We have temporary doors on the entries so we can lock up equipment and tools. That saves our new doors from the possible damage of construction activity.

Yesterday we worked on tweaking kitchen plans, planning the laundry room layout and adjusting measurements for vanities for the powder room and two bathrooms. Hopefully the order for all of our cupboards will be ready to go in today or the first of the week.

We had hoped to move our trailer over to our own lot by now and free up space for the generous VanWagnens, but we are held up waiting for the Department of Water Works to complete their work so we can finish hook ups. Nothing happens as quickly as you hope, but we are getting there. Meanwhile, we do have the option of moving into the Medler's guest house as the weather cools. We kind of live week to week but seem to have adjusted to it all. I think our years of camper traveling have made it seem somewhat normal...whatever that is. Time marches on and so do we.