Pretty

Thought you'd enjoy a fall artsy fartsy photo from the lot today. 

Ready for the house! Dirt all filled in, etc. The house should be done on wedesday, on the lot by friday or next monday, and set on next Tuesday!!!

Here is our "basement." Still digging...

Here are Jen & Alex on the wagon at Tweetsie.

This is Jenny & Alex with Miss Emerald at Tweetsie. Aren't they cute?

Modern war and the media

This is another great post on Ryan Call's blogspot. I had to post it here too. It is as follows:

My Uncle Craig wrote this outstanding article in our hometown newspaper. Enjoy.
As American casualties mount in Iraq and Aghanistan, and popular support for the President's war against terrorism fades, I am struck by a single, seemingly inescapable conclusion. If we had television in 1943, and the news media had been allowed to film, in color, the unspeakable horror of the assault on Tarawa, where 1,000 Marines and Navy medical personnel were killed in just three days of brutal fighting, and had shown it to the American public 24 hours a day, I don't believe there would have been a Normandy invasion in 1944, or assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945.
Having seen the true brutal nature of war, our basic humanity would have demanded that we negotiate peace with Hitler and Hirohito. Of course, that would have allowed most of Europe and all of China, Indonesia, Burma, and the Philippines to remain clenched in the iron grip of the worst despots known to mankind. What would the world look like today had that happened?
World War III, popularly known as The Cold War, saw America and the free world defeat communism. I'm convinced the tyrants of history's dustbin have now been replaced by radical Islamic fascism, and we are now engaged in World War IV against that new evil. I know American soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen have the determination and dedication to win World War IV. I'm just not so sure the American public does.

Kincaid furniture sale!!

Check out my selection of Kincaid furniture! Click on the link:

http://bargainbarn.blogspot.com/

This is our latest investment.

here's another. They were building a house of sticks.

this was taken the other day at the lot. Alex and Jenny had a great time playing in the dirt.

1545 Liberty Grove Church Road Fleetwood, NC 28626 There isn't a mailbox yet, but we have an address!! I'm thrilled!

I can't work this thing, here's the address:

We have an address!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Voice of Ryan Call

I just have to make another plug for Ryan's blogspot. He has been eloquently attacking the left in their constant barrage of anti-Bush, anti-America, anti-truth, godless filth. For some enlightening, thought provoking comments, click on the title above or the link to his site on the right (no pun intended) of the screen. Go Ryan!

The house will be finished by the 15th and on the lot the next week. We should be able to close and move in by Thanksgiving! (Click on the picture for an enlarged view of the panoramic.) This was a morning picture, no editing, the glow up top is natural.

Here is Shiree in the pseudo-basement corner of the house. Small door, but a door nonetheless.

Well is done.

Foundation done

Next thing you know, old Lance is a millionaire...or has a well.

Well, no bullblin' crude, but lots of water. I went out to the lot today on my lunch break and I noticed that there is a well on the lot! I called Thor, and it seems that they only had to go 300 feet and we have a strong flowing well. Nice! Also, they were finishing the foundation, and said that they should be finished by this evening!! Man that was fast!!! We'll go out later this week and take some pics.

A little early, but really cute! Jenny wrote and drew this all by herself!

We now have power on the lot, here is the power pole to the right of the tree (ain't she purdy?).

This pic was taken on Wednesday. I heard today from Thor that they should be done with the foundation by mid-week, and that the house should be here by the 10th of October.

OK, one more of Jenny

And lastly, here is our cute girl (pointing at her shoe for some reason) and a plug for our great contractor, Thor.

This gives you a great idea of the barrier between our lot and the road.

Another angle of that far corner. The string line is the base of the house/top of the foundation.

This is the far corner of the house (the master bath corner). The top of the board is where the top of the foundation will go. Thor is going to put a door on this corner, and give us a basement-like corner to store tools, etc.

Edge of the house (left), yard, and Jenny.

View just down the road from our lot (less than 1/2 mile). Click for bigger image. This is five pictures in one (I think).

The footers are in!

A crude but kind of accurate impression of the house on our lot (compare to the "footuns" pic below).

Shiree and Jenny behind us on the chairlift at Tweetsie Railroad.

Me and Alex on the chairlift.

Yes, we still have kids!

Kids at Tweetsie on the 5th. Sorry for only lot pics...

Corner up driveway

Same corner, looking up our driveway.

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.