Summer is almost over

Even now as a grown adult with no children, the thought of school supplies taking the place summer fun at Walmart is just as sad today as it was 10 years ago. There is only one week of camp left, a few weeks left till school starts, and only couple months of warm weather left :-( The goods new is our house is almost half done.

The roof has black paper on all of it and shingles on half of it. I didn't want to walk to the back of the
house to take a picture of the completed shingles so here is the front with black paper.


The next picture you may ask, why in the world did you take that....Well there is a reason and that is to show that the plumbers have came.

The plumbers asked me question like what size is your double vanity, my reply was that it was not bought yet. I said plumb it for a standard double vanity and his reply was there is no standard! Goal to not spend a fortune on a double vanity and find one soon!!

The next picture is Matthew's handywork as he is trying to frame in the jacuzzi tub and make it perfect for me!!


The last picture is this metal netting I nailed in by myself that is for the rock work.


We have framed in the fireplace. The heating and cooling people are coming this week. Then my uncle is coming the end of the week to start on electrical. We are also working on cabinets.

It finally has started feeling like a home. I got ancy and ordered pots and pans, a toaster, and a steam mop online from Macys with wedding and birthday gift cards.

Time goes so fast, summer is almost over, and fall will be here and over before we know it. I am trying to savor every day before it gets away from me.

Top Reasons you know we are building a house

1. I have become very knowledgeable in construction lingo. I now know Trusses are like the framed wood on the roof. I know osb boards are the wood that gets nailed up after you frame on the outside. I understand words like dried in and finish work.

2. Instead of buying clothes or even decorative house items, we are buying nails and nail guns. Instead of buying furniture we are buying showers and bathtubs. Our latest purchase is a front door.

3. I spend more time talking to subcontractors than I do to my friends and family. How long do you want your cabinets, how many cabinets, do you want rock work on the front of the house, do you want a left or right swinging door, and the list goes on.

4. Matthew and I's dates consist of dinner and doing something like going to lowe's and picking out bathtubs or going to Meeks and picking out shingles. Both were dates we went on recently, so romantic I know your jealous?

5. Every conversation Matthew and I have always includes at some point the house. e.g. We are walking along and talking about the weather or something not related to the house and then we see beautiful rock work and begin to discuss how we are going to do our rock work. Or we are discussing what we need to get done in the house or bids we have gotten.

6. I am now learning how to use power tools. After work and on the weekends, you do not see me laying out but you see me at the house working. You may find me using a saw (which I can use quite well, if I do say so myself), measuring and marking things, or trying to place osb boards.

7. The only places we have credit is Meek and Herman lumber (well, and the bank)!!

8. Matthew and I have started asking other people that are remodeling and building there house where they got things or who they used. And people are coming to us, asking us about our construction and who we use and where we purchased materials.

Finally
9. You know we are building a house because a great big house is being built! We are so thankful how God provided, and how he also has been supplying wonderful subcontractors and amazing deals on materials.

Progress on the house is coming along, the trusses were put up on Wednesday. They have worked on putting the osb boards on the roof even in the terrible heat. Wednesday they will start to put shingles up! I am still working on cabinet qoutes. Now I will post some pictures.

Pictures of the trusses






This is a picture of Matthew and Jordan working on the house, and I would saw the pieces while they nailed them in.

Progress on house, almost ready for Black paper, then shingles




Our Front Door!!!

No TV... takes away from resell value??

Almost 7 months ago, only engaged and still long distance, I was on the nightly phone chat with Matthew and as we were discussing our home, I made the statement, "I would rather not have a tv in our house." He had a stunned reaction like that is unbelievable. I explained to him my concern of how tv replaces conversation and quality time. When children are in the family it steals their innocence, teaches them bitter ugly attitudes, and robs their imagination because they are too busy watching tv than to play!! Matthew still thinking it was crazy agreed with my concerns and said we would work out a deal. Then my uncle the electrician tells me that we have to have cable hookups for resell value. Not only in the family room, every bedroom, but the kitchem, bathroom, and any other knook and cranny. About a week ago, Matthew says he has something to tell me. A little hesitant tells me that he bought a tv!! I said I have lots of thoughts 1. How could you make such a big purchase without consulting your life mate 2. I thought we decided we were not going to have a tv in a living room. His reply was oh no this is for the bathroom!! You can imagine my response the BATHROOM. What happened to having limited tv's in our home!! That is still up for debate as to where the tv will be located. But here is the tv still in the box.

The Plumbers are finishing up the house. The electrical starts tomorrow. The roof is just about done.The windows come tomorrow and they will set the windows and doors But the big project for the week was they poured our driveway and our approach!! Here is a picture of the driveway and approach after it was poured.

Now, I need opinions. Matthew has come up with an idea that benefits me completely but we haven't completely decided. He came up with the idea since our laundry room is awfully small to move it downstairs. Then expand my closet to make it over 100 square feet. I would have a bigger laundry room and a huge closet. Downside laundry room is downstairs. Upside added exercise in my day. So that is the big question of the week, what should we do?
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OSB boards and working together

I have not had the opportunity to update this last week because we have diligently been working on the house. The last 2 weekends, we have been at the house and litterally measuring, cutting, and nailing OSB board to the house. I have officially learned how to measure and saw. I do not touch the nail gun because it is scary!! I took on the project as a relationship builder activity. It was alot of fun to work together and BUILD OUR HOME!! I love that we are building our marriage and our home in this project. The upstairs is completely framed with a few little things to be done. The trusses come tomorrow for the roof. Then we have to figure out how to expedite the process on windows. We dropped the ball and did not order them and apparently it takes 4-6 weeks to get them in!!!

We made our first trip to Lowe's and agreed upon a shower/tub combo, a jacuzzi tub, and a shower.

I went over frightening and very intense questions with the electrical guy/my uncle, who will do the electrical!!! At the end of the conversation, I wanted to tear walls down and rebuild them in different spots. Matthew said, "He would go through the roof if I did that."

We will meet with cabinet guy this week! It is scary and exciting trying to make all of these decisions. I am all over the place on decisions like this, I know what I want but I fear it will end up not being the right decision.

We are going to look at doors tomorrow

Now I will show pictures of the house!!!
This is the front of the house on one side


This is the front of the garage


This is the hallway to the front door inside the house


This is the shower/tub we bought


This is the living room


This is a spare bedroom/future nursery

God understands and answers the little wants

You may look at my title and say that is so cliche but that title is exactly what happen this week. God has definitely answered the big request on providing for us to build this home. He continually blesses us with wonderful subcontractors. This week, I was talking about how I wanted a gas fireplace. Matthew was concerned about the price and asked me how much, I said, they can't be that much!! He asked my dad (since my dad just bought one), my dad's reply was $2,000. Matthew looked at me and said there is no way I want to spend that on a fireplace. He left, and I just said a quick little prayer, "God, I really want a fireplace, help me find a good deal, and I ended it with but I guess I don't have to have one." About an hour later, I just thought maybe I should check craigslist for a fireplace, (I never look at craigslist). I see a listing for 2 brand new fireplaces a big one asking $425, the smaller one asking $250. That afternoon, I showed Matthew my findings and he called the guy to get details. Ten minutes later, we were in the car on our way to pick up both of them, the big one for us, the small one for my dad. We got both fireplaces for $575!! I walked away thinking how thankful I am to serve a God that blesses and really does care about little things like fireplaces.
So Here is a picture a our wonderful fireplaces!!

The framing is moving right along, they have finished the basement and moved to the upstairs!! I am told they should be done framing by Wednesday! The house getting built is going much faster than I thought, it is sometimes stressful to have to make decisions so quick. I have pictures of their progress.
These are of the basement

The next picture is the upstairs before the put any walls up

This is after one day of working on the upstairs

The last picture I am going to show of the house is the water closet in the master bath. I had to beg and plead for this and Matthew could not understand why I wanted it so much. We worked out the bathroom so I could have it but he still thinks it is ridiculous.

Lastly, I have to tell about my Birthday surprise. I have been begging Matthew to change his driver's license so we could officially live in the same place. I even threaten to not change my name until he did. He kept refusing. The day before my birthday, I suggested that we go do it for my birthday. I wake up the next morning (my birthday morning) There was a pink tool box kit with a card. The card said the tools were for me to help build my closet, so I didn't mess his tools up. It said in the first pocket of the tool box was cash for materials. In the second pocket was to prove actions speaker louder than words and it was a Missouri driver's license. We now officially live at the same address (technically we don't live there yet though).
Here are pictures of my toolbox and his license.



It was a wonderful birthday as a wife except I could not get Matthew to leave from working on the house to go eat for my birthday.