Calgon, take me away!

Jeff has just about finished the electrical rough in and JJ has been up to his elbows in plumbing stuff.  "Stuff" is layman's terms for plumbing words these lips of mine have never even uttered.  I will most likely use that term when referring to electrical things as well.  Or, evidently, the word "things."  Got it?  Alright, here we go.

Here's JJ the plumber, doing his infamous impersonation of a man encountering an octopus in a linen closet.  He's responsible for all those white tubes shooting up out of the floor.  Jeff helped JJ shove these things into the house through a small hole JJ cut in the floor which, according to Jeff, was really hard to do.  He told JJ that if he were doing it, he'd make the whole bigger, to which JJ replied, "That's why you're not doing it."  So there.  Apparently, the tubes vibrate if they're not held tightly in place which is something you don't want.  Don't ask me why.  I have no idea, but I guess that would be bad.

             

Here's some plumbing and electrical stuff in the laundry room wall.  Now, I'm no plumbing expert mind you, but the washing machine goes on the left.  That much I know for sure.  I am a laundry expert.  I may not fully understand what all is going on in this picture, but to me, it looks like the plumbing is happening on the right side of the laundry room...WHERE THE DRYER GOES.  "Guys...you got some splainin' to do!"  Wait, maybe this is a picture of the laundry room's backside, taken from inside the bedroom closet.  If that's the case, "Keep up the good work guys!  You're doing GREAT!"  *i'm so confused!*

Here's Jeff doing something to the breaker box.  How many of you saw this picture and the words fuse box immediately popped into your head?  That's so old timey.  Nowadays we use what's called a breaker box.  I would never confuse this with a fuse box, ever.

This is Jeff making a list of what each breaker is connected for.  There are a lot of breakers and the finished list is very long.  It looks like just about every outlet and light switch has it's own breaker.  The purpose of a breaker box has something to do with controlling or interrupting the flow of electricity or something along those lines.  I don't know.  Ask me something about placentas or childbirth.  Then I would surely astound you with my vast amounts of knowledge.  Unless your a doctor or a midwife.  Then never mind.  All I know, is if you aren't careful with how you wire a house you could end up with something like this...

And that would be really bad.

We are working hard to meet our goal of moving in by the end of the month, so while Jeff is working 27 hour days, 8 days a week, the kids and I have started sorting and packing things away.  I hate sorting and packing and have often tried enlisting others to do it for me but that never works out.  Just ask my family, they'll gladly tell you.  Since they can't ever seem to read my mind, I have to tell them whether any given item goes in the pack, trash or donate pile, then I get all bossy and realize I should be doing this myself.  I've never understood how hiring people to pack your things works.  Do you stand over them and just bark out orders all day while they do all the work?  That sounds really lazy, even for me.  Anyway, we are so insanely, crazy busy right now that I may not have time to post much but, rest assured, I'll visit with you when I can and be back, undoubtedly, after the move.  Now, I must go and get to work...right after I take a Calgon bubble bath.

Floor's almost done!

We had a nice, long, busy weekend. Little Evie turned two on Saturday and we had my parents and sister over for some cake and ice cream Friday evening. Evie's favorite song to sing is Happy Birthday but when we all sang it to her she curled up in Jeff's lap and cried. That's what you do when you're a two year old female. Work those tears and puppy eyes to get a little more attention. Actually, she really is very shy, she'll tell you so herself.

Saturday, Jeff and JJ got started on the radiant floor heating system which, of coarse, turns out to be another slow process. It requires notching the wood (about 800 notches) then laying pex tubing into those notches. They broke it into four sections or "zones" and covered it in 4x8 sheets of advantech flooring. The sections of tubing will run from the hot water heater and back to heat the house from the floor up.

Jeff went back on Sunday and worked by himself (poor guy) while the kids and I stayed behind to get everything ready for this baby that's coming soon. I'm ready for it so maybe tonight!!! (A girl can dream, can't she???)

Then yesterday, Labor Day, Jeff and JJ were back at it again. We were all there that time including three of JJ's kids and my parents. The kids had a blast running around nonstop (oh, to have that kind of energy.) Jeff and JJ, on the other hand, were whupped! Every part of the process required that they walk sideways completely bent over. They were, and probably still are, pretty sore. All the pipe is laid and half the advantech is down so the worst is over.

And speaking of advantech, (a brand of osb) that will also be our actual floor when we move in. Isn't it pretty??? It's pretty smooth to the touch and I think it will actually look nice once we paint it. I can't decide what color though. Probably something medium to light because our furniture is mostly dark. Then there are endless possibilities for painting patterns on the floor. We've probably all seen the usual large diamond pattern (love it!) but who knows what I'll actually do. Maybe nothing. Maybe all white to keep it simple and cottagy. Hmm...no, too many little dirty feet running through the house all day. I've had painted wood floors before and it can be a lot of work to keep them looking clean. Anybody have any good ideas for me?

Well, it's late and I'm tired so I think I'll go to bed (and hopefully wake up in the middle of the night in labor!!!)

Coming soon...walls! Yippee!!!

We have water!

I need to try to make this one quick. My sister, Jennifer from Iowa and her family, will be in town in a couple of hours for a week or so and tonight we're celebrating our younger sister's birthday. Happy Birthday Erin!!! That means Springfield's famous and original Cashew chicken (Jen's favorite) and birthday cake (my favorite!)


Things are moving along out at the land. Saturday we loaded up with supplies like 6x6x12 posts and a pressure tank for the well and headed out to work. Jeff started with the pressure tank.

Before...


















After...






If you look closely you can see water pouring from the spigot. Now, check out this geyser!



That will eventually be for the indoor plumbing.

We also staked out the perimeter with string to make sure our holes were all lined up. (snicker snicker snort snort!) Here's a tip, stake out the perimeter with string for your holes before you dig them. (Strain your eyes and you might be able to see the string.)
























Jeff knew the auger was jumping around while he was digging due to all the rocks but had no idea it was so bad. Let me show you our Missouri dirt.


That's not our rock pile. That's what came out of the holes! We buried the big rocks in the trench or in concrete before I thought to take pictures for you. They're small boulders and there was at least one in every hole! This leads us to Sunday's work which was a lot of digging. Very fortunately, Jeff's friend, Eric, came out and spent the day helping out. (Thanks Jen, we couldn't have done it without him!!!) They had to widen every hole to make sure the posts would be where they needed to be. Oh yeah, they dug them out by hand. Talk about exhausting work! They even worked right through the pouring rain!

Jeff decided to place a huge nail (nine inches, I think) in the bottom of each post to make sure the bottom as well as the sides of each post would be surrounded by concrete. We don't have to worry about the nail settling into the dirt because each hole is dug down to limestone bedrock.


Once I showed up (after the rain) they were just about out of concrete and were close to wrapping things up for the day. We only have four more posts to set next weekend. That will probably take at least all day Saturday considering it took two guys all day to set eight posts. It's really a lot of work.









In case you wanted to know, we have a concrete mixer and used four to six bags in every hole. Each hole is three feet deep, or as close as the limestone will let us get to that. We have a total of twelve post which range from about three to five feet above the ground and they're placed every ten feet around the perimeter. So, to let you know some things we've learned the hard way...stake out the perimeter with string as well as spray painting for a guide to where to dig your holes and use a large auger bit (18 inches or more.) We used a 12" bit which doesn't allow for wiggle room.

Thanks again Eric!!

Now we're off to a birthday party!

Playing in the dirt

The weather wasn't fit for man nor beast this weekend but we survived, barely. Saturday, Jeff and the big kids headed out to work early while Evie and I stayed behind for a few hours to gather up some needed supplies and bake strawberry bread for our troops. Around noon, Evie and I showed up at the land to this...

Poor little Isaiah, working in the trenches trying to widen them for his daddy...all by himself! Awww. Not really. This is actually how they did it...

The kids took turns riding with Jeff while he dug and filled in holes and trenches, removed stumps and big rocks, leveled areas for the "barn" and storage buildings...the list of work he did with that thing goes on. I'm pretty sure this has been Jeff's favorite part so far. The auger/trencher he used a couple weekends ago just couldn't cut the mustard when it came to digging trenches due to all the rocks and he planned on renting this dozer/back hoe (?) anyway so he made the electric and plumbing trench deeper, wider and longer with it. It was a pricey rental (to me) at $295 including a $75 delivery fee for eight hours. I couldn't imagine doing all the work it did by hand though. Shew! That would be too much.

My parents and sister came out that afternoon too, which was a good distraction from the heat for me. All of us girls hung out and visited while we watched the guys work. Can you see the box fan on the bench? It's aimed at where I sit, heh heh.

Jeff and my dad finally got the electric and water line in the ground and buried.

Isaiah shadowed my dad all afternoon, doing everything he did. It's pretty sweet how much he loves his pa-pa.

By the end of the day everyone looked about like Evelyn.

And now, after struggling through posting all of these pictures, I'm about ready to fall off my chair. Soon, I plan to share with you all some of the deciding factors that are going into why and how we are designing the house the way we are. Thanks for reading!

Want to know what I'm itchin' for?

We spent this entire weekend being eaten alive by chiggers. Those little pests that rarely chomped past my ankles as a kid took me and my entire family hostage this weekend. Well, except for little Evie, that would be unethical. As soon as we got home last night we headed for the showers and used our scouring, scrunchy thingies to itch and scratch to our hearts content. Then we tried out a few of the remedies we found on the Internet which only work temporarily at best. We have now surrendered to just suffer through it to the end. I'd show you pictures but that would leave a lot of scarring on your minds for all eternity and I just can't have that on my conscience. I would however, like to show you some pictures of what Jeff did out there.



This was the majority of his weekend...digging dirt and shoveling gravel. That was back braking, labor intensive work that left every shovelful filled with his blood, sweat and tears. Okay, maybe that's a little overly dramatic, but there was a lot of sweat involved! That little bit of white PVC he's shoveling around is a part of the septic system he rerouted to where our first floor bathroom will be located.




Here's the other end of the plumbing (the receiving end.) No, we won't be needing a ladder to climb onto the toilet. Remember, the house will be up on piers. I'll be glad when we no longer have to use our makeshift loo in the woods but that's still a ways off. Jeff says he'll be glad when he's moved past this phase and the framing starts. The work that involves wood and nails is his favorite part. Mine too. That's when we'll really begin to see what's in our heads and on paper start coming to life.


That was Saturday's work. Now, that may not look like much, but if you consider that his very slow, small army of a family always wants to be where he is, plus all the necessary errand running before the work, it suddenly feels more like a major accomplishment.






Sunday started with suckers from the gas station and of coarse, a trip to Lowe's for all things electrical. Apparently the previous house (a mobile home) was wired with too small of a wire. Could that explain why there appears to have been a major fire around the perimeter of their home site?? Maybe, maybe not. The mobile had been removed before we ever saw the land so we'll never know.

So, that was unexpected expense numero uno...upgrading the wiring to 200 amp service. How much you ask? Just under $500.


(Please, no comments from the peanut gallery about my caddywhompus photo layout...I'm still learning.)





Yep, that's the new electrical box with the big, fat wiring. Don't worry the wires aren't live...yet.






He climbed up that pole as high as his ladder could get him, to do that! Very scary! (At least it was for me.)



The good news in all this is we won't ever need to upgrade our electrical in the future. This should handle anything we throw at it just fine. Now the electric company has to come out and hook it up for us at the tippety top of the pole, then we'll be in business. That's the end of this very long post. (Finally!) Hope you all have a great day!

Chain Throwing

Tuesday was a long, busy day for the guys. Jeff and JJ (thanks Gina!!) worked all day digging holes for piers and trenching for plumbing and electric. The ground was full of rocks naturally, which made things pretty slow, but the dirt looks like it will be good for gardening. We have a lot of clay right on the surface of our current yard which isn't good for growing anything I'm interested in. Madison likes it for her pottery skills though. Anyway, Jeff rented this auger Tuesday morning and was told to have it back by 5pm. Well, a short while after they began trenching they "threw a chain" or something like that and had to take it back to the rental place for a new machine. By this time it was 4pm, but the rental guy told them to hang onto the new machine until opening time Wednesday morning with no extra charge. Thank the Lord for thrown chains!!! It took them another three hours to trench through that rocky dirt which would have otherwise cost us another $180.

I had a girls lunch at my aunt Alice's house with my mom, sister, cousins and all our kids on Tuesday. We had a big potluck lunch then all sat around the dining table with our craft projects and talked (mostly talked.) We had a good time and I love the women in my family. They are all a sweet, godly bunch and so much fun to be with. A few weeks ago we lost my aunt Paula to cancer and I think we were all missing her. She was the definition of "life of the party" everywhere she went! Niki, her daughter, is so much like her and I'm glad she was at the lunch with her boys. Anyway, the kids and I couldn't make it to the land until around 4pm to watch them finish the trenching and that's also about the time the rain showed up! It rained very heavily for about 40 minutes, but did that stop the work? Nope! The guys know from plenty of experience that if you wait on the weather these projects will never get done. What troopers! Evelyn and I hung out in the Suburban while the big kids, including Jacob (one from JJ and Gina's slew of kids,) used the rain to help them catch toads and lizards. By the time the rain stopped they were all soaked to the bone!

This will be the view from our front door, minus the not so pretty things. You can see the rain clouds that passed over us in the background. It's exciting to have this dream we've had for years unfolding before us. I think we'll be back out there tomorrow so I'll keep you posted!