A big day!

Today was a big day! I have to admit two weeks ago, today was not a day I was looking forward to. It's my Birthday. With the developments two weeks ago I was sure today was not going to be a "Happy" Birthday. I am pleased to say I was WRONG! I was totally wrong!

The new framing crew started today on the house. We went out at lunch to check on things and by lunch time the trusses were already fixed. After work, there were still two not installed. They said they'd figure those out tomorrow. They've also already started sheeting the house! It's all starting to come together.

Another good thing happened today. The County Plumbing Inspector approved the ground work!!! This is huge! I can get the plumber bill paid but most of all, we don't have to tear up the basement floor!!! This is huge!

Tomorrow the crew will be out there again. I am very thankful for a beautiful fall and the weather holding out. We're on our way to get the house "buttoned up" so if the weather can hold out for a couple more weeks, it will be all good!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Well today was a big day. I was hoping to get estimates and a "diagnosis" in writing from a contractor to include in the letter to the builder. Those things take time and it just wasn't happening quickly enough to help us move on with things.

I went out to the property, identified everything that wasn't installed, took more pictures and then identified the trusses that weren't installed properly. We then wrote it up for the attorney and he completed the letter for the builder.

This evening we needed to HAND deliver the letter. Yes, that's right HAND deliver. YIKES!

We'll see what happens next. Hopefully he'll sign the lien waver and be done with the job....I doubt it though. He's too stubborn for that.

Cleaning up the mess

Today we all went out to the property to begin cleaning up the mess that was left for us. Lauren and I worked for a long time on the west side of the driveway clearing brush and downed trees. Earlier in the day she also cleaning up a lot of trash that was left...pop bottles, cigarette packages etc...

Mark and Ryan were also helping with the brush and other things -- I'm not sure of everything they did, but we were all out there working. Even though our house isn't done, it really felt like home being out there.

Just when you think it can't get worse...

I feel like I'm in a really bad movie.

Today I met with the attorney at 9:00. As I was waiting to see him, my phone rang. It was the builder. HUH?? Is he calling to set up a time to meet to transfer the supplies over to me? Hmmmm....I'm not comfortable talking to him though. I choose not to take the call. I find out later he called Mark and left a voice mail for him.

The attorney calls me back and I tell him that I was a juror on a case he argued! That was so super-cool. He thought it was neat too. He asked me a lot of questions about what I thought of the case. At the end of the meeting he even remembered me sitting in on the jury. Wow. What a small world. I know we are in good hands with him.

Stan (attorney) and I started going over the case. In the mean time Mark is meeting with the county inspector, Sutton's, RP Lumber and the Truss Company. Come to find out the trusses are not the wrong size, they are simply installed incorrectly. So much so that not all of them would fit, so that is why there was a stack left on the ground in front of the house. When Mark showed me which ones were installed wrong it was so obvious. We both wonder how we didn't catch that before.

As I'm in with the attorney, Mark calls to give us this information and also to tell us the builder called him and said that he felt that the letter we sent him called him a thief and he would be putting a lien on our house. Hmmmm, I don't ever remember calling him a thief. I just asked for an itemized statement.

RP Lumber is working with "Mr. I think I can build a house" to convince him to provide us with the bills, but so far he isn't agreeing to. The manager told him and he wasn't a lawyer, but he felt that since we are willing to pay our bill it's in his best interest to hand it over. The builder said he would think about it. Someone is hiding something.

So, where do we go from here...
(1) The truss company is providing plans of how to reset the trusses. We will have that Monday.
(2) Sutton's siding and remodeling will take those plans and provide us with an estimate for repairs.
(3) Our attorney will prepare a letter to be hand delivered to the builder. In the letter we will give him two options. The first option he will have x number of hours to fix the problem upon receipt of the letter. The second option will be to walk away from the project and have him take the crane bill for the truss mess up and sign a lien waver.

We do not believe our builder will settle for option one or two. Once he defaults on option one though, we can get another crew in there to fix the problem and then finish the outside of the house!!!

Lining up new contractors

Per our attorney, we needed to get people out to the property for an estimate to get the house fixed. Mark called a couple of people and was able to get one company to come out next Monday. In the mean time a friend of mine sent me contact information for someone willing to look at the house and give an estimate. We met him out at the property at 2:00. He spent a couple of hours out there and verified that the trusses are too short. He did say though that the truss company usually stands behind those trusses and if they are wrong, the will make them right.

This left me with more questions. I thought the builder walked away because he screwed up so bad and couldn't afford to fix what he messed up. If the truss company stands behind their product, then how come he would have hung the bad trusses instead of sending them back. Oh well. Maybe there is at least some hope that we can get them replaced.

The company that Mark arranged to come out next Monday called and there were three guys on the phone. They asked if they could meet earlier. Mark had arranged for the County building inspector to come out and they decided they would like to be there when he is so they will all meet Mark at 8:30 at the house.

I have a meeting with the attorney at 9:00...divide and conquer.

What the heck is going on???

Today I sent the certified letter. I wonder what his reaction will be? Here is what the letter said:

Dear Mr. xxxxx:

Effective November 2, 2010 the residential construction agreement you had with xxxx x. xxxxxxxx and xxxx x. xxxxxxxx is null and void.

In order to rectify the situation and all bills be paid in full and/or settled the following things need to take place.

(1) Please provide us with an itemized list along with a statement either in person or mail no later that Friday, November 5, 2010.

(2) Call either of us at 483-9256 or 341-0683 to set up a time to meet at RP Lumber so the items we are expected to provide payment for can be inspected and arrangements can be made for the transfer of these items to us.

(3) Upon inspection of the materials to verify the items are correct for the house and are not damaged, Security Bank will be notified to begin the process of final payment.

(4) If all materials are in acceptable condition, Security Bank will be notified to make the payment. Zelle Title will provide payment to RP Lumber for the supplies, and at that time a lien waver will be required. Zelle Title will provide the paperwork for this.

(5) In addition, all personal items must be removed from 4200 Honeywell no later than Monday November 8, 2010. This includes the portable toilet and flatbed truck.

Sincerely,
xxxx x. xxxxxxx
xxxx x. xxxxxxx"

Here's the interesting part...tonight we took our former neighbor out to the house. We found a huge issue with the trusses. I've taken pictures and e-mailed the attorney. He called me back and we are officially hiring him. We meet on Friday to get the case started.

It's all starting to make sense why Mike walked off the job. He knew he messed up and now just wants payment so he can run before we realize what's going on.

He quit!

Wow what a day. I drove out past the property at 7:50 am and no one was there. Something told me they wouldn't be there. Mark and I drove out at lunch....nothing.

In the mean time, Mark had contacted RP lumber again to see if they could give us information on the bills and they couldn't since the bills are in the builder's name.

I left work to get Ryan from the bus. As I was just leaving the parking lot Mark called me and said the builder left a voice mail on his phone. The voice mail said he felt like we were harassing RP lumber by asking where they bills are so he was moving all of his stuff off of the property and closing down the job site and if we didn't pay the bill he'd be putting a lien on the house. HUH???? How can we pay the bill when he refuses to give us the bill.

Mark called him back and left a message asking him for an itemized statement and I told him the same thing, but he never returned our calls. In the mean time I also contacted an attorney for advice. I was advised to provide the builder with a letter of termination (so that it's in writing) along with things that needed to be done to officially resolve the issue.

I worked on the letter and I will send it certified tomorrow. UGH!

Still not done framing

That's right folks, it's November 2nd and our beautiful new house still doesn't have sheeting on the roof, let along shingles. Why you might ask? I wish I knew the truth. Last week we had some very windy weather Monday - Wednesday. Thursday it was still windy, but not quite as bad. Friday it was beautiful. I went out to the job site and no progress. I went out yesterday after Ryan got out of school and once again, no one had worked there all day.

I called Mark and told him he needed to call the contractor. He did but he didn't answer his phone. I figured he just didn't want to talk to Mark. I reluctantly called him. I can't stand the guy, but needed to know what the hold up was. I figured there would be a long list of excuses. First he said he just didn't make it out there on Friday and then today he had other things come up that he needed to work on. We've suspsected that he's doing odd jobs on the side and putting our house last. I told him that if he's too busy to build our house that he needs to be up front with us so we can take a different direction. Then he started going off about some rather large bill from RP Lumber that needs to be paid because his account is maxed out. Ummmm, I've never seen a bill and upon further investigation this bill has windows and stuff on it. I've never seen the windows, the've not been installed. Now, had said contractor actually been working dilligently on the house to get it framed, this bill would not be an issue. Now though he's got himself in one hell of a mess because I honestly can't see the bank authorizing payment to the title company for windows that are not attached to the house. It's going to get interesting. I suspect I will get yelled at again for not paying the bills on time. I think last time this happened he gave me a bill on 10/11 that was due on 10/10 (no typo there). Then he said, and I quote, "You aren't working very hard at making sure the bills get paid on time." Hmmmm I think I'm going to tell him he's not working very hard at making sure my house gets built in a timely manner. They started framing on September 27th. I think that's a more than fair statement. Anyway, I eneded up hanging up on him. That dude is not going to yell at me yet again for his in ability to plan and prioritize.

Next I called Mark. I gave a brief description of what happened. He immediatley called him. Sounds like the contractor told Mark that I need to lay off and leave him alone. That wasn't a very smart thing to say. Not sure what happened with the rest of the call but this time the contractor hung up on Mark.

In the mean time I had called to see if my Dad could wire the house so we could get rid of this guy. Dad calls back with an answer of "he can, but...." Oh great! So then I explain what's going on. He ends up calling the contractor. Not sure what all was said, but the contractor promised to be out at the job site today and have shingles on by Friday. We'll see..... there are so many other things that need to be done too.

At this point we have small goals. Goal one....get the house framed, roofed and wrapped and get the windows in. A bonus would be to get the brick and siding on as well. THEN we can probably take the project over ourselves and be done with this completely USELESS contractor.

Framing update and more drama

Last I posted there were framing errors. Mark went out to the job site on 10/12 and with the use of a measuring tape he was able to convince the builder that he measured the placement of windows and doors wrong on the back kitchen wall. It was still early enough to fix it. What we will have now is a sliding glass door out to the deck instead of a single door and a window looking out. This will actually work out better, I think...I hope. Then we will get the window above the sink. WHEW!

While the kids and I were out there on the 11th the builder handed me two bills. One for building materials for framing and one for 1/4 of the framing. The same day the septic work was being done. I asked when he's have that bill he said by the end of the day. Later that evening he brought by the septic receipt. I told him I'd call the bank and try to get the receipts in there on Wednesday. I called the loan officer and she told me I could scan and email them, so I did. I asked for confirmation that she received them but she never replied. On Thursday the 13 she finally emailed me back in the evening saying she had them. Fast forward to Monday the 18th. The builder calls. He calls the title company and they don't have the receipts. So then he calls and yells at me about it. I told him I turned them in to the bank. They should have them any day. I called the bank to verify but the loan officer didn't return my call. Today (10/19) I called the Title company to see if they had the receipts yet. They just received them late yesterday. Cool! I called the builder and told him it was all good they made it to the Title company yesterday. I wasn't obligated to call him back. I did it as a courtesy. Well, he proceeds to yell at me again and tell me that I need to take them to the Title company and not the bank and that I'm not working hard enough to make sure the bills get paid. WTF??????? Excuse me!!!!!!!

I looked at the receipts and realized one of the bills had a due date of OCTOBER 10th! Ummmm, he didn't give me the receipts until OCTOBER 11th!!! He has some nerve yelling at me about a past due bill when he didn't give it to me until is was already past due!!!Everyone always said building a house was stressful.

For some reason I don't think they were meaning this kind of stuff....framing errors, getting YELLED at by the builder. WOW! Just wow!

Read the blue print?

Well, it's another day of errors. We went out to the job site after Mark got of work. The builder mentioned moving over the kitchen door a foot and not putting a window above the kitchen sink. I told him to talk to Mark about it because I wasn't sure how it would affect the cabinets. At first Mark was ok with it. Then he started thinking about it and got WORRIED. So much so that we went out to measure tonight after dark. The measurements on the kitchen wall are TWO feet off. OMG! TWO FEET! That's not going to fly. Mark will be going out tomorrow morning, first thing to make them change it. An inch or two is one thing, but that is a heck of a lot of cabinet space and counter space to re-work. We will be leaving Mark's work as-is and force them to fix the wall. We have to. I mean you can't adjust the blue print THAT much!

Oh and while we were out there tonight, I watched them put the wall up next to the steps. HMMM!!! It's an open staircase!. Come on guys! Start paying attention to the blue prints. I want to post something positive on here.

Close call

Well, this week they began framing again. Sounds like they were waiting on a support beam for the basement.

We went out to the property last night to check on the status of things. While out there we noticed that there didn't seem to be enough room for the bathtub in the master bedroom. We couldn't figure out where things might have gone wrong. I kept thinking a miscalculation on the blue prints. So today at lunch, Mark and I went out to the property to ask the builder about it. He was very puzzled when we pointed it out. He took some measurements and realized he made the closed a foot too big and the bathroom a foot too small. Whew! "Easy" fix. Now, if we had noticed a week or two weeks from now the fix wouldn't have been so easy. It's all good though and it's fixed!

Framing

Well, they worked on framing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. When we went out to the property tonight we noticed they didn't do anything today. We aren't sure why. Trying to remain patient. It's getting hard though.

I hope they are back at it tomorrow.

Game on!

And here we go. They started framing today. I drove out after getting Ryan from the bus and they were working. FINALLY! Mike won't speak to me, but Lonnie did. It will be a 10 - 15 day process. Then he said things would really start flying! Woo-hoo!!!! Pics to come later.

Let's see what Monday brings

It's Monday. The day that once again I was promised framing would start. Depending on what's going on at work, I plan to make a drive out there over lunch. I will admit, I'm a bit nervous to do so. I know if nothing is happening, that I'll just get worked up. I also don't care to see the builder so if he is there...if he is there I think I'll just drive by the property and not stop. I can then go back tonight to see what all was done.

Oh...and when I talked to him last Wednesday I asked him to call me today so I know what's going on -- that would save me a trip out there. Anyone up for a bet? He won't call me, unless it's to ask for more money.

No progress...still

Well, it's Saturday. We were just out to the job site and still NOTHING. It's a beautiful day out there. A perfect day to be framing a house. Yesterday it raining a little in the morning, but by 10 am it was sunny and another great day.

I don't understand how house construction people can not work on weekends if they have had weather hold them back during the week. It doesn't make sense to me. It's not an 8 - 5 job. I'd like Mark to call and verify that they are going to frame our house, but he said he won't do anything until Wednesday. He thinks all of this is my fault because I upset the contractor. I did indeed upset him but I keep replaying the events in my head and I didn't say anything out of line or wrong. All I wanted to know is why they hadn't started framing the house when he promised to start and why he insisted on being paid when he knew he couldn't start.

I'm ready to fire him and move on so I can get this show on the road. Mark says to wait. He's afraid if we upset him he'll contact every sub-contractor in the town and our names will be black listed. This is simply ridiculous. We can't let him control us like this.

When this is all over, I will post the name of the builder and the name of his "company" so that everyone reading this will know NOT to use this person. He cannot multi-task and he does not like anyone questioning him. He wants to be in control of everything. He's more of a spec-house builder than a custom builder. It's my house. He has no say over the specific things that I'm asking for in this house.

No progress

Last week our builder came to me and said he needed 1/2 of the framing payment ASAP so he could start framing this past Monday (9/21). I was a little apprehensive of paying for work that hadn't been done yet, and the bank was too. My loan officer told me though that this isn't completely unheard of with the smaller builders. So, in an effort not to let anything get held up I signed the paper to pay him.

Monday, I went out to the property to check on the progress and NOTHING. I called the builder but of course he didn't answer. I left a message asking what was going on and he never returned my call. In the mean time, I leave for my business trip to Chicago.

Tuesday afternoon Mark went out to the property and first part of the framing supplies were out there. We both figured things would start happening Wednesday. Wednesday Mark drove out there in the afternoon and once again nothing.

I called the builder again and once again he didn't answer his phone. An hour and a half later he called me back. I asked him how come he hadn't started framing when he promised to start Monday. He said he had a couple of set backs in Sherman but he'd start on ours on Friday! FRIDAY????!!!! He told me I was getting upset over things that were out of his control. I told him that he could have avoided all of this by calling me to tell me there is a set back. He said he was calling me now. I told him that he was calling in response to TWO phone calls I made to him. He didn't call on his own to let me know and he should have called me Monday to let me know of the delay. Heck, even over the weekend he had to know he wasn't going to be out to our house on time. I told him I didn't appreciate being forced to make a payment and then not have the service delivered. Well, that made him really mad and he told me I should find someone else to build my house. We left it that he would be out Friday. Well, it's Friday and it's now raining. And guess what? It's supposed to rain Monday too.

If he does not start framing by Wednesday next week, we'll demand our money back and then try to figure out something else.

Missing the dishwasher

I really miss the dishwasher. I bet I spent 45 minutes doing dishes today. I have so many other things I could have spent that time on.

First draw

Today I went to the bank for our first drawn. We had enough in our "cash account", but we still had the title company handle the disbursement as a form of protection. Foundation, flatwork, 1/2 of framing, and the driveway are now paid for.

Making that draw was painful. It was hard to let go of that cash.

Siding and brick colors

The siding and brick colors are chosen. The siding will be "clay" and the brick will be "Olde Towne." This wasn't the cheapest brick. Quite the opposite, but we decided it was worth it since that's one thing on the house that will never change. No reason to compromise on what we really want.

Decision on the shingles...

We decided the color of the shingles. We are going with "Driftwood." Should look nice. We've seen two houses with this color and they both look nice.

Decisions, Decisions...

Today we went out to RP lumber to look at the siding and roofing choices. Mark and I actually picked the same siding as our absolute favorite one, so no negotiating there :) The shingles...well they all just look so different on those small samples versus on a large roof. We have a couple that we will pick between and work out fine. Next week sometime we need to go pick out brick/stone.

Who DOESN'T have a garbage disposal???

So remember how I didn't know how to use a top loading washing machine? You have to admit, that was darn funny!!! Well, tonight I have a garbage disposal story. This fits in line with the "spoiled" Kari.

So I was making some gourmet County Market powdered mac n cheese. Don't judge. It's soccer night and mac n cheese is quick. In the process of this move, things have gotten misplaced. I cannot find my pasta strainer so I was just using the pan and the lid to strain the macaroni. Well, I slipped with the lid and the entire pan of macaroni went into the sink. I thought "at least it's the garbage disposal side." Well, now the sink is clogged. Yep, I forced all of the macaroni down what I thought was the disposal, only for Mark to tell me this pot-shack doesn't have a disposal and I've clogged the drain. Ooops!

You've gotta admit though...that is a little funny :)

"It's only temporary"

Some days I feel like this "only temporary" thing is just not working out. For once, I want to come home and just rest or do what I need to with the kids. On days where there is no soccer or extra activities, I would love also not to have a house full of extra kids.

We have basement floors!!!

Saturday when I looked at the forecast it did not look promising to have the basement floors poured this week. It looked like there could be rain Tuesday - Friday. Well, the forecast changed and it was beautiful outside today and should be the same tomorrow. They poured the floors and we are ready to start framing. The builder needs to finish framing in Sherman first but within a week or so he should be putting walls up at our new place.

Shower and mold fixed, I think (and a much needed nap)

We can now shower again! YEA!!!! I also think they have the mold issue resolved...or resolved as well as it's going to be while we are living here.

Today we went to the Labor Day parade in Edinburg and then came back to the temporary house for a quick lunch. Then we all needed to go to the bathroom and at the time it was still being worked on. We all loaded up in the car and went to the park and used those bathrooms. Then we went to Lincoln Memorial Gardens for a walk. After the long walk, we came back to the house. The guys worked on mowing and pulling the weeds and Lauren played with her Polly Pockets. I laid on the bed and got a MUCH needed nap! It was super-fantastic!!!

Tomorrow starts another work week. Praying for good weather so some decent progress on the house can be made.

Another temporary place

Last Tuesday the plumber came and finally fixed the shower. Now on to issue #2 -- the mold! Our landlord had two mold remediation specialists come out and their views on the situation were quite different. On guy said to just bleach it. The other person said tear down the wall etc.... Of course the landlord heard "just bleach it" and he figured that would be good enough. I didn't necessarily agree with this approach, but there wasn't a lot I could do.

Apparently the plumber and they guy that the landlord brought out to actually bleach the wall explained to him that the mold was much worse that bleach could handle, so this weekend we were forced to find a temporary home for the temporary home. UGH! We ended up just going to Peoria for the night on Saturday. We cam back home yesterday and we still do not have a shower, but the moldy wall is gone.

We went to the movie in the park and when we got home from that is looks like everything is almost ready to go so we should be able to shower again tonight. I sure hope they clean the bathroom when they are done with repairs because it is a mess!!!

The sad part is, this post is about issues with the house we are renting...our temporary house. This really should not have caused us this many issues. We've tried to stay positive but we are just ready for our house to be done.

Quick update on the construction...nothing has changed. We got rain on Wednesday when they were supposed to pour the basement floors and Thursday it stormed really bad, leaving it too wet to do anything Friday. And of course this weekend was Labor Day weekend so no one was going to work then. This coming week is not looking promising either. Tomorrow there is a chance for rain in the morning. So far, Wednesday looks clear but Thursday - Saturday calls for storms again :(

Still no shower...

Ok, so sweet little Kari is now past the point of being patient.

The plumber guy came out tonight but he didn't come to fix the problem. He came to "assess it" he'll come back tomorrow to fix it. UGH!!! This is completely ridiculous. And for the mold disaster...the guy had two people come out for an opinion/estimate. Our builder happened to be here when they were here. One lady gave an estimate with a significant $ amount that would truly fix the problem. The other guy...well he provided an at home remedy. I later described this opinion as half-ass that will only temporarily fix the issue but it will come back.

Let me tell you...all this landlord heard was the money amounts to fix it and the details behind it he just totally ignored.

It's all only temporary, right???

Monday :(

I woke up in a grouchy mood this morning. I'm not really sure why.

The guy never came to fix the leaky shower problem over the weekend. I got a text message from the landlord at 10:30 last night saying he would send a real plumber today. We'll see... He's also supposed to be calling a mold remediation specialist. Once again...we'll see. The landlord stopped by tonight to see the mold, but I honestly don't think he has a clue about what he's up against.

I don't feel like I'm necessarily grouchy because of the shower & mold. I think I've got cabin fever. No, we're not snowed in or anything...it's August. This house is 985 square feet and we only have one closest. I don't have any of my stuff here. No sewing stuff, scrap booking stuff, stamping stuff. Sure, I have Mr. Macbook, and I could play with Photoshop, but sometimes I just like to do paper crafts to relax. I've colored a lot this weekend, which I enjoy doing but I need a change. I also don't have any exercise equipment here. I've kept busy and active, but once again, would like to lift my weights or something. Our living room is so tiny, that I can't even do the Wii Fit. I guess I'm just having a pity party.

Thank goodness for soccer! Lauren has soccer practice tonight and Ryan has it tomorrow night so that will get me out of this shack.

Hmmmm, maybe since I woke up grouchy, the day can only get better??? I can hope...

Leaky shower and mold = Frustration

Well, it's Sunday and the landlord and his worker guy still haven't shown up. I called about two hours ago to see if they were going to come fix the leaky pipe. He told me he'd call the guy and then call me back. While I had him on the phone I told him there is a serious mold problem. He didn't seem very happy. I think I ruined his day. That wasn't my intent. I'm just worried about us having to breathe that stuff and getting sick.

I'm just sitting here waiting for him to either show up or call. Mark says he probably doesn't have the $ to fix the problems. We paid him a security deposit and rent less than a month ago so he should be fine.

I'm getting frustrated and mad. I told myself I wouldn't do that because this is all temporary, but here's the deal. I want a shower!!! The bathtub is just gross. I don't want to sit in it. I'm angry because I should be able to take a shower whenever I want. Showers are not luxuries. It's a necessity! Oh....and there needs to be an action plan in place to get rid of this mold. We should NOT have to live like this.

Picture of the mold...

The things I miss

Well, we've been in this temporary house for four weeks. WOW! Early on Mark said that I had become spoiled by the nice houses we've lived in and this temporary house is such a drastic step from where we were that it's totally normal for me to feel overwhelmed and all out of sorts.

There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not really missing something that comes in a newer house. I decided to make a list of those things that I miss.

• Space. I miss the space. Our last house was a bit excessive with the amount of space we had. Our next house won't be quite as large. That being said though, this temporary house is just way too small. We have ONE closet. ONE!!! As a result, I can't find anything. Nothing we have has a permanent home, so I never know where anything is.
• The Dishwasher. Oh my gosh do I miss my dishwasher. Not much explaining to do about that. I just miss it.
• Outlets that work. Half of the outlets in this temporary house don't work and those that do are wobbly at times.
• My bedroom. This house only has two bedrooms. That means each kid has a bedroom. Mark and I are stuck using the living room as our bedroom.
• My own bathroom. We went from four bathrooms down to one.
• Things that work. Lauren doesn't have a ceiling light in her bedroom because it just doesn't work.

That is just a partial list. I'm sure there will be more.

We have basement walls!!!

The forms were taken off today to reveal our basement walls. This is so exciting!!!

Walls are poured

They poured the walls today. Tomorrow, they'll take the forms off.

Bathtub leak?

Ever since we moved into this temporary house when someone is taking a shower you can hear water dripping in the basement...A LOT! Mark kept saying he needed to find a flash light to see what was going on. Tuesday night when Ryan was taking a shower he grabbed a flashlight and found that water was practically pouring into the basement.

I called the landlord and Wednesday night, he and someone that he thought might be able to fix it came out to take a look. They ended up cutting a couple of sections out of the paneling to figure out what the issue was. Basically, the pipe from the shower is cracked/broken. The guy said he'd be back Saturday or Sunday to fix it, but put some glue-like substance on the pipe until then as a temporary fix. HA! Some temporary fix. Tonight when Ryan was showering water came spraying/pouring out of the wall where they cut the paneling out. Mark put a town up there to minimize the spraying, but what a mess. Not to mention the wall is full of black mold.

I needed a shower badly but wasn't sure if I should take one. Then I decided the heck with it. I'm taking one because I have no where else to go and I felt sort of lousy. I thought a shower might help me feel better. It did.

FORMS!

The forms are up. Tomorrow the basement walls get poured!

The footings have been poured

The footings were poured today. Starting tomorrow the forms go up!

We have a basement

Mark and Ryan drove out to the property today to shoot the b.b. gun and found the excavation guys finishing the basement! Our basement is dug!!!

Start digging

Today they started digging the basement. They didn't finish it, but the did make progress.

Let the fun begin

At 11:30 today we closed on our construction loan. At the same time, our basement was being dug. Let the fun begin! Here we go.

Building Permit Approved!

The building permit has been approved and the will start digging the basement on Friday.

Name two things you don't like

Today Ryan was sick so he stayed home from school. It was the first full day. Tonight was meet-the-teacher night though, so I went to the school and got to meet his teacher and I picked up some papers that they had done in class. This way he could do them at home. One of the pages was called “Groups of 2’s”. There were five questions which he had to list two answers for each question. One of the questions was “Name two things you don’t like –“ He said he couldn’t think of anything. What a great problem to have!!!! Then he said “This house.” I had him write “Our temporary house.” Wow! I knew he didn’t like it…none of us do but the fact that other than “cherries” that is the only thing is the entire world that he could think of that he didn’t like really puts things in perspective. First, what a lucky kid to have such a great life that he can’t think of many things he doesn’t like and second, a little sad wondering what is really going through his mind and how is all of this really impacting him ☹

First day of school

The only reason this post is valid for this home building journey is because Ryan had to switch bus routes…and when the house is built he’ll switch bus routes again. Anyway, he was pretty nervous about this. It all worked out though and that anxiety seems to be behind him.

Building Permit

Today was a big day! The builder stopped by and I wrote a check for the building permit.

Big Day

Today was a big day in this journey. At 10:00 am we signed papers proxying our signature authority over to our realtor for Tuesday’s closing. Basically our part of the closing is done. The house is empty and clean. The repairs are done. We did one final walkthrough tonight and left the keys and garage door openers on the counter.

We leave tomorrow morning for our trip to Florida. This trip has been planned since March. Actually we’ve been planning on going for a couple of years, but the reservations and such were made in March. Pheebs is going to the Vet for boarding, as usual when we go on vacation. This afternoon when I dropped her off there was a thing on the screen that popped up. I wasn’t sure what it was. It was a note on her file that said she is to be put in on of the large runs that they use for the bigger dogs. Apparently, she’s spoiled and doesn’t do well in the crates that they typically use for smaller dogs. I just had to smile.

The timing of this house sale wasn’t really the best. It’s been a long three weeks. BUT, to look at the silver lining, our Disney trip marks the beginning of new things to come for us. It also marks the end of the most challenging two years I’ve had as an adult. I’m looking forward to the good things that are coming.

The best boss

I just received a text message from my boss. He wants me to get my work done tomorrow and start my vacation early. He knows I’ve had a ton of stuff at work and home and he told me to take the afternoon and get ready for the trip by either shopping, sleeping or packing. I almost cried when I read the text message. That was a prayer that got answered!

T minus 48

Two days until we leave for Florida. That meant everything needed to be cleared out from the house tonight. There were a lot of odds and ends left. The biggest problem we were having was, not knowing where to put everything. You can only cram so much into 985 square feet.

We ended up taking some stuff to my parent’s house. Once we get back from Florida, we will either need to rent another storage shed or take more stuff up there. You cannot walk through this house. It’s crammed full of boxes.

Our builder agreed to do the repairs that the buyers of our house asked for. He got those done today and we have a document saying so that we will take to the bank tomorrow when we pre-sign the closing papers. Due to the termite issue, the bank wasn’t able to get all of the paper work ready for an official closing tomorrow, so the actual closing will be on the 10th. We will be in Florida resting and relaxing…and seeing Mickey Mouse, so that’s why we are pre-signing tomorrow.

Speaking of the repairs, when we bought this house we thought it was a quality built home. The house was a foreclosure on a builder, but it was brand new. Sure it had a few odds and ends that needed fixing, but we were up for the task. We didn’t have a home inspection when we purchased the place because it was brand new, so all of the mechanics should be just fine. The bank who had the house wasn’t going to fix anything either, so we decided it wasn’t worth it.

The buyers had a home inspection this time and overall everything was fine except two things that I found odd; the roof and the siding. At first we thought these were just trivial nickel and dime issues. When our builder, whom we completely trust, made the repairs, he said they had to repair 150 shingles because they were either coming off or the nails were showing through. Can you believe that? The house is only 3 – 4 year old. Just poor workmanship. He also said the top row of siding just wasn’t installed properly.

When we moved in, the window screens were missing, we had to secure and stain the trim, the water line for the icemaker in the fridge was never hooked up and the hot and cold water lines were switched in the master bathroom shower. Hmmmm, maybe this house wasn’t as well built as we thought.

I will say though, the space, floor plan (aside from the location of the basement steps), the storm shelter, the extra room off of the kitchen for Pheebs, the fantasic master bath…all of these things really made this a great house. I really loved the back porch too. It was fun to watch neighbor Dave garden while sitting back there. There was something peaceful about that.

Time is tickin'

Tonight my mother-in-law came down to entertain Lauren while we attempted to clear the rest of the house on Spring Ridge out. We didn’t get completely done, but we made a ton of progress. The biggest challenge is where to put everything. Going from 3600 square feet finished to 985 is rough. It’s not like we have a ton of stuff. There are just four of us.

One luxury I miss is the “snack cabinet”. I had one drawer in a cabinet dedicated to snacks that the kids could grab. They would ask if they could have a snack and sometimes I would tell them to get something from the snack cabinet. Now when they ask, I have to go grab the box for them. It’s not a huge deal, but it is a change. It takes some of their independence away. We’ll fix that when we get into the new house. I’m all about them being as self-sufficient as possible.

Laundromat

Warning: Please have a chuckle when you read this. A friend of mine told me this reminded him of the episode of “Friends” where Rachel tries to do laundry for the first time.

Tonight I needed to do laundry…BAD! Mark hasn’t been able to get the washing machine hooked up and we leave for Florida on Saturday. I decided to try out the laundromat in town. WOW!
First of all, it was the hottest day of the year. I know at one point the heat index was 112. There was NO air conditioning in this place. It was HOT!
Maybe Mark was right. Maybe I am spoiled. I don’t think I care though. This was quite an experience. First of all, I don’t know when the last time was I used a top loading washing machine. It took me the longest time to figure out where the soap went. I ended up pouring some in on top of the clothes only to read the instructions later that say the soap goes in prior to the clothes. What a racket! How the heck was I supposed to know that!?! Yes, you read that right, I couldn’t figure out a basic top loading washing machine. I’ve had a front loading machine for as long as I can remember. I’ve NEVER bought a top loading machine. There is no way I could have known how those things work. I sooooo felt like a fish out of water in this experience. It was like I was a college kid again out on my own for the first time. I just had to laugh.

On top of all of that, two machines wouldn’t work and one dryer wouldn’t. I think I lost like $7. Hopefully Mark gets the washer hooked up very soon!

Termite treatment day

The termite guys showed up at 8:45 this morning! I wasn’t sure how they knew we had termites so I asked them to show me. It’s really something very easy to spot if you know what you are looking for. They assured me this wasn’t anything we had done wrong and it happens to people all of the time. Then they said BUT it will cost you some $ to fix it. Great! How much??? I had been prepared for something between $1,000 - $2,000. He looked at me and said “For you Darlin’, $800”. Whew!!! I’ll take it. I never knew what they did to treat those little suckers. They drill into the concrete about every 3 inches or so around the perimeter of the inside of the garage, patio, porch etc… then spray some stuff (I think) and then seal the holes back up. Took them three hours!! Learn something new all the time.

Did you also know that if you have termites, it increases your neighbor’s chance of having them or getting them in the future? I had no idea. The lesson I am taking away from this is that termites do not discriminate in any way. Our house was 3 – 4 years old. I didn’t think they attacked newer houses. I also learned it not my fault, and not to be naïve. I intent to have a termite inspection at our new house every 2 - 3 years. You just never know when they’ll appear. Two years ago when we bought the house everything was fine.

Wanna play a game?

We won’t have cable or internet at the pot-shack until we return from Florida on August 16th. Tonight Ryan asked me if I wanted to play a game. SURE! He chose Connect 4. I love that game. Lately, he’d been playing in the basement at the other house or watching iCarly on TV. Tonight was nice though. I love playing games like that. There were lots of smiles and some great bonding time. Making the most out of tight quarters.

Spoiled?

Today was another day of tears. This temporary house we are living in is very dark. Not much light comes in at all. It’s just not a very welcoming place. I was crying in bed and Mark said that he understood why I was so sad. This process had been so stressful. He also said that he thought I’d become spoiled by the houses we’ve lived in. He didn’t say it in a mean way, at all. He was very nice about it and he meant nothing negative by it at all. I never thought of myself as spoiled though. Quite the opposite actually. We’ve worked very hard for everything. We’ve never had anything just handed to us. It got me thinking though, have I become spoiled by things that I considered necessities in life but to others they are luxuries? Maybe. Will this process change me and make me not need those “luxuries” anymore? Not a chance in h*ll! It will probably make me appreciate them more though. My hope is that it will make the kids appreciate the little luxuries in life more too!

Don’t get me wrong. I know I should be thrilled that we sold our house in six weeks. AND it was our decision to sell it prior to building. We knew we’d need to rent. We just had no idea WHAT we would have to rent. Could we have done anything differently to avoid this situation? Not really. So we must keep our chins up and know that in a few months we’ll have our new home.

Signing a lease

We signed a 10-month least on the rental home today. We affectionately call it the pot-shack. You should see it and smell it!

We also started moving some things in tonight. Ryan isn’t happy, Lauren doesn’t really care. Mark and have tons of mixed emotions about everything.

Home Inspection and Termite Inspection

July 29 – Home Inspection and Termite Inspection
Let me just start by saying this has been one of the most challenging days of my life. Lots and lots of tears were shed today. These were tears of frustration and stress. When I get frustrated and things are out of my control, I tend to cry…especially when it’s just too much.

At 11:00 am my phone rings. It’s the realtor. They found termites in the garage. Are you kidding me??? She assures me the buyer still wants the house. We just need to have the problem treated. I call the termite control people and they set up a time on Tuesday August 3rd to come take care of the problem. Fantastic! What’s this gonna cost me. Either way though, sale or no sale, this HAS to be fixed. Termites! YIKES!!!!

12:40 my phone rings again. This time it’s the school district. They buyer registered his kids for school yesterday and unless I can provide proof of residency, my son will not be allowed to attended school. That’s ok, we have land and are in the process of building. I can bring the papers, contracts etc… This wasn’t good enough. We have to physically be living IN the district. Even though we are building, that’s just not good enough. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????!!!!!! Good grief! I’m frantic now. What the hell am I going to do?

There was this little brown house a few blocks over from where the house we are selling is. It’s 985 square feet, 2 bedroom, one bath. One car garage, and we can take Pheebs. It’s going to have to do. I call the guy. It’s still available. It’s going to be a long six-months.

I get a call later from the realtor. The home inspection has a bunch of little stuff that the buyer will probably nickel & dime us on. FANTASTIC! Just what I needed to hear. Good news though, the radon test came back fine. Holy cow! Finally good news.

Radon Test

Two years ago when we bought the house we had a radon test done and everything came back fine. The buyers decided they wanted to pay for another test so here we go again. It’s a 48 hour test and we can open any windows, move anything out of the house (can’t leave the doors open for an extended period of time), so we wait…. I figure it will come back positive and there will be another $1000 down the drain!

Another day of moving

Today Grandma Cindy came to watch Lauren while we moved more boxes into the temporary house. We also move the swing set out to the new property. Making progress.

We start to Move-it Move-it

Today we started moving boxes into the basement of the temporary house. These are things that can be stored for a while.

We found the perfect temporary home

Gina has the perfect house for our family. It even has a basement and garage for storage. It was still a work in progress, but that’s ok. It wasn’t in Rochester and I would need to drive Ryan back and forth to school every day, but it was a place we could live in and be content with as our house was being built. We’d take it.

Frustration is setting in

No one is willing to give us a six-month lease. We called about a duplex in our neighborhood but the guy wanted a 12 month lease, $2700 security deposit and $1350/month for rent. Seriously????? The security deposit turned me off. That would have meant $4000 before we could even live there. Security deposit and one month rent.

Next, I found a place on Craigslist. It looked very nice and the rent was reasonable, I guess. As reasonable as rent can be. We made an appointment and looked at it. Once again, he wanted a 12 month lease. We were noticing a pattern. We asked about the possibility of a 10 month lease. At that point this guy and his realtor really started to be jerks. They wanted us to get in a bidding war with others over the rent. No thank you!

Earlier, my Dad’s cousin had offered a rental house that they have, but it wouldn’t be ready until the end of August. I told her I would keep the offer in mind but really wanted to try to find something in Rochester for the school bus route. Well, the time had come to take her up on the offer.

Holy Sh*t

Now we are in Holy Sh*t mode. We cannot find a rental in Rochester. We found one advertised in the paper. It was a duplex. Well, it was advertised as one anyway. It was more of an apartment. How could a family of four and a 9 ½ yr old pug move to a tiny apartment. It just wouldn’t work. We’ll keep looking

Run 4 Marion

Today was the first annual Run for Marion, in memory of Mark’s Dad. This day was filled with emotions…excitement, sadness, fear…. Sad because Mark’s Dad is no longer with us. Excitement because our house sold! Fear because we had no idea where we were moving to. We needed to spend the time finding a place to rent, but the reality was we belonged right where we were…at the 5K run in memory of Marion. So, we decided to quit worrying and be excited for the sale, and take the day to remember Marion.

We have an offer

Tonight at 4:57 my phone rang. It was the realtor. We had an offer. This offer was a take it or leave it offer, as the buyer would go for another house if we didn’t like his offer. That scared me when she told me that but it ended up being a very reasonable offer. So we took it. The only issue is he needs to close on or before August 10th. We leave for Florida on August 7th. YIKES!!!! That gives us TWO WEEKENDS to get out of the house. Holy Cow. Lots of praying!!!!!!!!

A little background

I was born with this sincere interest in homes. Even before I realized I had this obsession, it was there. I remember as a child going to garage sales with my mom. We would go to subdivision sales in Bloomington and Normal. She tried to hit the “newer” sections. I was always in awe of these homes. I wasn’t one that really enjoyed going to garage sales to buy things, but I did enjoy gawking at the homes and dreaming about what I would be living in when I was an adult. Never in a million years though would I have thought that I would move as much as I have in my adult life.

My husband and I are “cheap”. Not cheap in the traditional sense though. We both like very nice things. We just don’t like to pay a lot for them. Did someone say clearance rack? On top of that, we are both very picky when it comes to style, especially of a home.

In February 1998, we bought our first home. Interest rates were a record lows of about 7.5%. In today’s world, that’s high! We bought a 1069 sq ft ranch. It had a full basement that was ready to finish. This home was the builder’s home for the subdivision and had all of the extras – ceramic tile, nicer cabinets, nicer fireplace. It also had cosmetic issues. The carpet needed replaced. Some drywall needed fixing. All things we felt we could fix to make the house our home. Because of these issues we were able to buy the house at a reasonable price. Two years later, I decided that I was ready for another project. I mentioned to an acquaintance that I would like to sell the house and that’s all it took. We made a nice profit on our first house and that’s where the cycle began.

The next house we bought was everything I pictured myself living in. It was a 2100 square feet two story, three bedrooms, two ½ bathrooms, living room, family room, dining room and kitchen. It again needed cosmetic changes. The house was 20 yrs old, but the furnace, siding, roof, a/c were all relatively new. The trim, doors and cabinets needed some updating. I mentioned before that my husband is cheap. He decided that it would be cheaper for him to make the kitchen cabinets than it would to buy new. So, he did. He bought the tools and made a brand new kitchen. It was beautiful. The work was higher quality that was we could have bought elsewhere.

Four years later, we sold this one; again to an acquaintance. This time the circumstances were a little different and I was truly sad to leave this house. We could have decided not to sell, but the profit was too much to pass up.

In our search for yet another home, we found the house that we liked to refer as “a diamond in the rough.” This one was two or three years old. This house was also owned by a builder. He had rented it out. The problem with this house was limited cabinet space and carpets that needed replaced. It was just under 2000 sq ft with a full unfinished basement. We purchased this house with every intention of flipping it. And we did just that. We put in all hardwood floors (except for the kitchen and bath. We kept the ceramic tile in those rooms). We took out the hollow core white six-panel doors and replaced them with solid oak six-panel doors and Mark made oak fluted trim and rosettes to go around the doors. It was BEAUTIFUL!

Our son, Ryan, was five years old when we sold this house. We were ready to find our forever home. He was going to be starting school and we couldn’t keep moving with a child in school.

We found what we thought would be the perfect forever home for us. It had a Springfield address, but was in the Athens school district. It was in a “Country Style” subdivision. 2100 sq ft ranch, 3 bed, 2 bath, walkout basement on 1 acre. There was only one problem. We needed to sell our house first. The housing market wasn’t in the best shape and a lot of foreclosures were happening. We didn’t want to purchase a place and have two house payments, even though the bank said we could afford it. HA! I do like to eat and go shopping!

As it turns out, that home was not meant to be. It sold ONE WEEK before we got a contract on ours to sell. We were bummed. We kept looking though. Through all of our looking we never really found the house with the beaming light. We ended up settling on a brand new house in Rochester. This one was a foreclosure on a builder. SWEET! We could get a bargain and flip it!!!! Oh no here we go again. It was a 2400 square foot ranch with 4 bedrooms 3 ½ bathrooms. The basement was 2600 square feet. There was a 200 square foot storm shelter, which made the square footage a little more in the basement.

At this point, I’m getting worn out when it comes to the moving. Even though this house didn’t have the beam of light, I really wanted it to be the one. I wanted it to grow on us. It didn’t though. As a matter of fact within about 30 days of moving in, I started counting down the days until we could put it up for sale. We’d need to be there two years to avoid capital gains taxes.

Mark made a beautiful built in entertainment unit for the great room. We upgraded cabinetry in the master bathroom and new sink tops and also upgraded the ½ bath on the main floor. We landscaped and got the yard looking nice.

We knew that in order to get what we really wanted we’d need to build a place. We decided to try find some land, buy it, and then just hold on to it until we sold our house. We would wait to put our house on the market until we had a contract on the land. We decided that we’d look for a place that had more room for a great yard and that wasn’t in a subdivision. We wanted our space and privacy. We found a two-acres in the Rochester school district. The land was totally wooded. At first we decided it looked like too much of a project, then after much thought and looking we decided it was perfect for us.

We put in an offer on the land, it was accepted and on June 1, 2010 the house we bought just two years ago went on the market. On July 16, just six weeks later, we had a contract on the house. It was sold! And this is where the fun begins.