Porch and Patio

A couple weeks ago, Kevin and Jerry came and poured the concrete for the front porch and the walk-out patio. Check out the pictures.

Here's a little helper that came along!

Here's the front porch and sidewalk!

The walk-out patio! Also notice the back of the house is finished.

My Husband, My Hero!!!!!

I must take a brief moment to go back to painting. I did not believe that my dear husband, Jeff could prime the entire house in less that 3 hours. To my suprise and delight, HE DID IT! We rented a paint sprayer, and ended up using more than 15 gallons of white primer. Boy, it worked fast though. Here are some pictures of our white primed walls.





I wish I had a picture of Jeff when he was done. He looked like the Abominable Snowman! Funny stuff, really. All this to say...Thanks Jeff for being such a great husband and worker to build our house! You're doing awesome!

THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy do I hope that I don't forget someone here. There's been so many people lend us their hands over the past few weeks! What a blessing you have been!



Ricky Kay-the best second mother there is!

Tish-the best first mother there is!

Stacy-my sis

Dorothy-sorry for making you sweat like that grandma!

Mike and Kristy-you're terrific neighbors, glad we're not moving out of the neighborhood.

Bill-thanks for all the encouragement and help with the stuff Jeff doesn't know about!

Kevin and Jerry-the concrete looks great, I'll get pictures up here one of these days.

The Petty chicks! (Vennia, Holly, Maria)-the fastest painters I know! That would not have gotten done without you!



If I forgot to mention you, please send me a note and you'll get you're own blog post!

Where were we? And Where are we going?

Hello all. Quite a bit has been happening since we last talked. Let's see if I can get us up to speed. The drywall is all hung and finished, and PAINTED!

Here's the dining room in a dark brown.

Here's the living room in a tan. (same color as the hall, stairwell, two front bedrooms, and master bath.



Yeah, Here's me in the master bedroom covered in paint. Just call me Grace.



The water lines and power lines have been buried with only some hooking up at the house left to do before we are ready to go with those.

Our neighbor Mike helped a lot with getting the water and power lines buried. Then he got to use his 4-wheeler to cover up the trenches. (Which only further confirms my theory that boys never grow out of playing in the dirt.)
Bill helped Jeff get the power box ready to go!



Well, I guess that about covers it in a nutshell. Things are progressing along little by little. If all goes well, we could move in at the end of October. Let's pray to that end! I'm really getting ready to be done with this project!

GLORY, GLORY, HALLELUJAH!

Sing it now! ok, just kidding about the singing. But seriously, I was doing some rejoicing, Praise the Lord, happy dance when we finally got the West side of the house done. This is the part where Jeff is teetering on the 3rd section of scaffolding and then climbing out onto a ladder and back to work. I'm so glad it is done, no more climbing to scary places! Mom Tish is especially glad for her kids' sake. :) Here's the pic of this part of the house looking all spiffy and nice and DONE!

No longer Naked

Check it out! I'm starting to get caught up here! Jeff took a week off to start the siding. Wow, what a chore and we aren't even done yet. It was quite a process of getting the soffit and Facia (SP?) on. We did that for a couple days, non-consecutive. Then there was the actual siding. I liked this part better. It's prettier and goes faster! A great THANK-YOU to Tim and Jim for their assistance during this week. We basically worked from the time we got up, to dark.

Some people are asking if I'm ready for school to start back up, well, yes and NO! I might get a brief reprieve from the manual labor, but then it's right back to it once I get home. And let me tell ya, dealing with kids all day is like torturing device from "The Princess Bride". You know, the one that sucks the life right out of you until you get a major dose of chocolate from the wizard. ;)

Anyways, while we were on the outside, the drywall folks were on the inside. So the house is looking a lot more like a house, inside and out. Here's the pics.Front view Walk-out view

Living room as seen from kitchenMaster Bedroom

SERIOUS Yardwork

Let me just say that boys must LOVE to play in the dirt. Some more than others. It certainly didn't take any explaining whatsoever for my nephew (5) to learn to love playing in the dirt and mud. When Stacy's house was under construction, Nathaniel was all about playing in the mud. I think he went through at least 2 pairs of mud boots. And not just growing out of them, he wore the suckers out! Ok, ok, all that to say that the only difference between Nathaniel and Mark, out excavator, is the size of the toys. Here are some before and after pics of the yard and one shot of the Earth Mover that was used to create the masterpiece.

Here's looking out the basement doorway.(Before)



Looking out the basement again, after some dirt was moved.



Front part of the house BEFORE.


Looking toward Walnut Hill Rd from garage side, AFTER



I bet this guy had lots of Tonka trucks as a kid, now look at him go!