Camera

08/09 has been hard on our cameras. When we went to Virginia last Nov, Shane used about 3 rolls of film on our "oldie but goodie" 35mm. When we developed the film, one of the rolls (our day in DC) was completely blank, thus ending our film picture taking.

Imagine my surprise (while I was in Alaska) when my digital started acting funny. 2 cameras in 2 vacations? Seriously?!?

Well last night, my good ol' Olympus took it's last picture. I lasted almost 24 hours w/o a camera. :o) Then ran down to Inkley's to pick up my new Olympus. What is the first thing I pointed my new camera at? Thing 1 and Thing 2 of course.

Below Grade

For the last 2 weeks we’ve been working on all the stuff in a house that gets buried. Although most of this will never be seen, it’s all pretty important. Remember that “the wise man built his house upon a rock.”

We had subs help with the excavation & pouring the foundation. Once our cement had “cured” for a few days, we sealed it. This was a project that was UNBELIEVABLY sticky!!! To do this, you thin a bucket of tar with paint thinner and then paint it on the foundation. Doing this seals out all the moisture that could creep in thru your foundation.

While working on this, I learned if you give a 10 year old a paint brush and ask him to cover the spots you miss, there is NO WAY said 10 year old will not end up covered in tar. Surprisingly, an 8 year old will fair FAR better.

While I was sealing the foundation, Shane was laying the conduit and pipe that would need to be buried in the cement of the crawl space and garage floor. Let me just take a moment here to stand in awe of Shane’s capacity for detail. He has an amazing attention span and can achieve a level of precision that most of us don’t know is possible. Shane is the one and only reason I believe I can build a home.

Yesterday we installed an outdoor faucet and built our vent wells. Yes, we could have bought wells instead building them. Building the wells did take all day but we save $600 and they’re pretty, so I think it was worth it.

You’ll notice in the picture, my first well was a little off center. I had to take that one apart, but we got it right in the end…the level is my friend…

So that’s it for our work below grade. Next week our exterior walls will start going up.

There’s dirt under my fingernails…& in my shoes!

When most people decide to build a house they visit a nice sub-division or look up a builder they like. They get to pick a floor plan & tile and carpet color. They chose a lot and visit a few times thru out the build to see how their house is coming on. This is called a” turn-key” project. For these smart people owning a new home involves, well, turning a key.

Some people, we’ll call them the “DYI” people, are more involved. They do all the painting. They may put the roof on or hammer in some nails…these are smart people as well.

My darling sis, once said (in exasperation) about Shane and I: “You never do ANYTHING the easy way!” I now see that she is right! We are not like the smart people I just told you about. For us, building a house is far more complicated.

We’re pretty much building this house on our own. We will hire (and supervise) all sub-contractors. And even more time consuming, we’ll be arranging for all materials to show up on time. And we will be doing A LOT of the work ourselves.

So here we go: For the next 6 months this blog will be about the blood, sweat & tears shed while we build our home.

Wish us luck!

I think my brain is melting...

Knitting Monogamy: the state of having only one knitting project at any one time.
ie...Knitting monogamy is soooo boring, I think my brain is melting.

I'm a loyal girl. I met my best friend when we where 5. I've been married to the guy I dated in high school for 11 years. So why do I have such a hard time with project monogamy?

I currently have 4 projects on needles right now & we're just talking about knitting...leave my crochet hooks out of this... I have enough yarn on hand to keep me busy for a long long long time.

Here's my problem. I love the yarn shop, I love yarn shopping and I love love casting on a new project. I don't always love finishing what I have cast on...it's a sickness. Seriously, there should be a 12 step program.

So now I am TRYING to finish all old projects before starting anything new. So far I'm doing pretty good. 4 is actually a good number for me. (And lets face it, I'm never going to finish those socks, until I see Heidi again.)

I'm hoping this public announcement will keep me honest. It's getting pretty dicing...all that beautiful linen I bought in Alaska is calling to me from the closet

We have a foundation!

Just wanted post some cute pics

Brandon Sanderson's latest book is now in stores!!!

Got Dirt?

Our View

Our Street

I think everyone knows we are planning to build a house this summer. We FINALLY closed on our property in Thatcher and hopefully the excavator will be there this week so we can pour the foundation next week.

And away we go...

Summer Saturdays

Cousins at McDonalds

I think my favorite thing about summer is the Saturdays. Summer Saturdays give me so many fun ways to hang out with my favorite people.

Today the boys and I started out at Logan's farmer's market. Perrin and Connor did a craft, and I got some greens and some yummy cheese for our dinner salad. I learned a funny thing about myself...I am a sucker for handmade soap...I came home with way too many bars :o) I also learned that if a nice lady (who doesn't appear to be selling anything) offers your kids a pickle, smile and say "thanks" But under no circumstance should you drink her (free) mushroom tea. She will say it's not alcoholic, but trust me, she's crazy!

I always find it relaxing to wander around a farmer's market. The music and the artsy booths and eclectic people create an air of...oh I don't know..."green" is the word I want to use. Everyone there is trying to buy local and fresh. And so many of the booths are run by the kind of creative people who can make a living growing flowers or making pottery. How cool would it be to be able to do that???

After the market, we meet Jessica and her girls at Macey's for an event to raise money for our library. There were games and balloons and face painting. The whole reason we went was so P&C could meet Matthew Buckley (one of their fave authors) To tell the truth the whole point of getting out of bed this morning was the book signing. It was way too cool for them to meet the guy who wrote "Chicken's in the Headlights." (for more on that, read the last post)

We ended the afternoon at McDonald's for lunch. Please tell me why those frys are sooooo good? Why can't broccoli taste like that???