Footers or "Footuns"

View from the upper edge of our lot. You can't see the yard on the other side due to the dirt piled up quite high on the far side. The closest corner is the front right corner of the house (where you see the three stakes sticking up out of the ground.) And yes, I did have someone call them footuns (or fu-uns).

Curvy panoramic

This is a not very good panoramic of our lot where the footers of the house have been dug. No, it is not going to be a curvy house, that is just how the pictures stitched together.

The foundation's 'a comin'

View from where the house will go. The truck pulling out of the driveway delivered the rebar (is that how you spell it, or is it reebar?) for the foundation.

Busy busy

Activity on the lot today. They reassessed out lot line and cut into the hill further, moving the house a bit, giving us even more yard and more fill dirt for a flatter yard!

Septic

They put the septic in yesterday. Here is the corner, still exposed to make it easier to plum when the house comes in.

Go Ryan!

Ryan call is back to Blogging, and if you want to read some great pro Bush (Ryan's Homeboy) stuff, check it out on the link to the right or click on the words Go Ryan above.

This is a panoramic from the far edge of our lot. It is about 90 degrees from left to right of the picture. This helps you see the slope of this side of the lot. Click to enlarge.

Here is another shot from the driveway looking down the lot. The lot continues to the right behind the burn pile.

They're really making progress on our lot. Here is a picture from across the road. Great driveway and flat yard!

Here is the Kitchen. Lots of Cabinets! Very big and spacious! Yes, two bar/counter places to sit and eat. On the left behind the wall is the oven, microwave, more counters/cabinets, etc. (see the blueprint). We won't be getting the cherry cabinets, just oak. Also, no yellow!

Here is the model of our house. Our colors will be different-Sierra siding (tan/brown), red/maroon shutters, weathered wood (grey/brown) shingles.

We get the septic and building permit tomorrow and start digging the septic in the next few days.

New reinforced driveway entrance!

Another panoramic from further in the lot (kind of fuzzy)

Here is a panoramic combo pic of them clearing the lot. Click on it to see it full size. It is almost done now but we are trying to conserve gas. We'll go out on Saturday (or tomorrow).

Clear away!

They really began clearing today! This is a picture we took from the "driveway" looking onto the lot(Click on it to see it better). The three trees clumped in the middle are about where the living room will be and are about 1/2 way across the lot. It is really difficult to get any kind of perspective from this, but it will help us have a comparison point as more is cleared.

Closed

We closed on Friday! We went to the lot on Saturday and helped my parents dig up lots of great plants for them to take home before they were bulldosed. Thor, our contractor, came out and I showed him what stays and what goes, and he passed on the word to the guy with the excavator. He comes on monday to start ripping things apart. We are on schedule for the lot to be ready for the house to come by the end of the month. Move in should be the first week in November!!! Pictures of the progress to come this week.

Closing

We close on Friday @ 1:00!

Check out my latest blog spot at methisbad.blogspot.com

Closing

We have an appraiser ready to go and we should close on our lot by the end of this week. Update to follow! BTW, Here is our official floor plan!

LDS Family Services

Just to clarify on Shiree's post, I will be working for LDS family services in ADDITION to my full time job. It should only be a few hours a week, but will bring in some extra money, help some people out, and let me work with some people that are not on meth.

So, I'm excited because Lance is going to have a job with LDS Family Services as a Therapist!!! The closest office to Boone is in Charlotte, so they are hiring him to work with people in this area! The pay is decent, but the best news is that he can do the sessions at the church (because they don't pay him, they pay LDS Family Services) so, no rent! And he can take insurance!! It's pretty exciting! Now he just needs some clients. 

We got the loan!

Yup, we're approved and ready to go. Now we just wait on the Health Department, get an appraisal, and get busy on the house! Updates to follow!

Lot update

Thor, our contractor, has been out to the site with the grading guy, and they are ready to go. We are just waiting on the helth department and the bank. We "should" know if we are "go" with the mortgage on monday (remember, we are already good to go on the construction loan, the bank just wants both approved before we can close.) We'll post an update tomorrow if we hear anything. So, this is the week we will know we can do this thing, for sure! We're not really worried about the septic test, all the lots in the neighborhood have passed.

1st step- Yes!

We've been approved for our construction loan, and we're just waiting from the mortgage department. We should hear from them by Friday! Almost ready to start!!!

Lance gave Alex a haircut! Isn't he cute? 

Here is the proposed site plan (done by your's truly). Click on it to see the larger image. 

Home building update

OK, it's been awhile, so here is where we are at. The guy counter-offered on the lot (lot 1) and we accepted. We put $1000 earnest money down to hold the lot while we get it tested for the septic system. If it passes (and they all have in the neighborhood), the lot is ours to build on. Thanks to Ryan Call for helping me dig the 4 three foot deep holes for the test (saving me oodles of $$$). Thor (our contractor) has told us that we are good to go on the floor plan we wanted (see the post with the plan), which is really exciting. We will find out on Monday the 11th if we are approved for the loan. I have flagged the property to show the holes, the driveway, and the proposed location of the well and our house. If we are approved on Monday for the construction loan and the mortgage, we will get a loan commitment letter to the seller, and will begin clearing the lot in the next few weeks. If all goes well, we should be in by or around Thanksgiving. Whew! That was a mouthful (or a finger-full). Tune in next time for information if we got the loan. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.
-Next blog will show the proposed lot layout.

We made an offer

We made an offer on a lot yesterday. We should know by Monday evening if he accepts. If not, we will still get the lot, just pay more (so pray he accepts.) It is lot one in the same neighborhood. Nice lot. Pics to follow when we officially get it.

We got some sad news today. Our lot that we were hoping to buy, lot 5--see photo at bottom of blog-- was purchased recently. So although we were ready to buy it and get going on this house, we've got to start looking for land again. Oh well. It's been for sale for 5 years and right before we decided to buy it someone else did, so it must not be the lot that we need to get. There must be something better out there, I just hope we can find it soon!!  

Floor plan

This is the floor plan of the house we're looking at building. As with all the other pics, click on it to see a larger version.

Jenny's all ready for her swim lessons!!! 

Princess Tinkerbell!!! 

Jenny turned 4 on the 2nd of June!!! We forgot to post some photos, but here they are! We had a great party, and a great day! 

You can see that we love Diamond Lil's show.  

Both my kids want to be "can can girls" when they grow up! 

Here's the photo op with Henry! 

We had a great time at Day Out With Thomas! Isn't this photo with Gordon great!!! 

Freedom!!!!

Shiree just informed me that we are now COMPLETELY out of credit card debt!!! We had about $6,000 on the card in October of last year (we put Shiree's student loans on it at 0% interest), now NONE! And we only paid about $6 in intrest, due to skillful planning on Shiree's part. So now...no credit card debt, no more of Shiree's school loans. What a great day!

Here is some great statistic twisting, but it makes an interesting point

If you consider that there have been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraqi theater during the last 22 months, that gives a firearm death ratio of 60 per 100,000.
The firearm death ratio in DC is 80.6 per 100,000. That means that you are more likely to be shot and killed in our Nation's Capitol, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, than you are in Iraq.
Conclusion: We should immediately pull out of WASHINGTON, DC!

The wise man built his house upon the rock, so apparently he could afford a non-conventional drip septic system for a minimum of $25,000. Sure, a lot with only 18 inches of dirt may be flat and in a nice neighborhood, but man!.... 

Our new van: 1997 Chrysler Town and Country, 3.8L V6, Infinity sound system, Fog lights, adjustable 3rd row, seats 7 adults, and is SEXY. 

Our van again! 

Here is our new van! What a beauty! 

Something dreadful

Something was dreadfully wrong with our computer, but I have it up and running again. Thanks go out to Chuck for teaching me DOS when I was 8 (or so), without that knowledge, I would have been in trouble (or at least forking out a ton of cash to get it fixed). So, we are back up and running. Alex’s birthday was great. Donna and I have birthdays tomorrow. Jenny’s is coming on June 1st. Surely there are more pictures to come.

What the...!!!

I was out today and saw a great piece of ex-pasture for sale by owner. It was 1+ acres, nearly completely flat, no trees, and still surrounded on 3 sides by cows and pasture. I called the number to see how much it was going for. Remember, just grass, no trees, no view, valley, 1+ acres. The guy told me $130,000 for the lot (he had a cheaper one up the hill for $87,000). No kidding. Boone...

Alex is turning 2!

Frank & Melanie came over to celebrate Alex's 2nd b-day!! (the first of many celebrations) They gave him the Three Musketeers DVD in addition to the hat & necklace in the photo. (As a side note, it was Shiree's idea to give him the necklace.) We had a great time!

Beauty and the Beast

Our little ballerina getting ready for her big performance! Jenny was one of Belle's little friends in the ballet yesterday. She also had a tap recital that morning and did a wonderful job in both performances.

Audioblogger test (This is only a test, feel free to ignore)

Update

The Weblog has a new look. Let me know what you think. I will occasionally make changes, so let me know what is better, or needs changing. I think I made it so anyone can comment without having to be a "member" of the site. Give it a try! I added a few links to the side as well. Enjoy!