(A) Groundbreaking Day

Went to the new house today and they had started excavating.  So exciting! 



Before...





After...

There is something very gratifying about seeing progress!  Sounds like they should start pouring footings on Tuesday.  So happy that our contractor is on the ball.  :-)

One last shot...the girls think this property is their personal playground.  I guess in a way, that's exactly why we bought it.



Best day ever!

Power Struggle

We conquered one hurdle, and chose a builder.  We'll call him "Jim".  He's pretty great.  Unfortunately, he also discovered our first problem. 

In looking over the site plan, "Jim" realized that Idaho Power has lines buried exactly where we are putting the addition.  Obviously, we can't build over buried line.  Why, you ask?  Well, I don't know, but apparently, it's supposed to be obvious.  We contacted Idaho Dig Line who came out and painted pretty lines all over our property indicating where power, gas and sewer lines are located.  Idaho Power sent a representative to go over our options with us.  While all lines are property of Idaho Power, and they have pretty specific rules on what can be done, we are solely responsible for any and all costs incurred with moving things around.  Of course we are!  It couldn't be easy, right? 

Since we have to move things around anyway, we've opted to do a little upgrading.  We are planning on moving the meter to the back of the house, instead of leaving it attached to the front.  I think aesthetically, this will be much nicer.  While the electrician is moving the box, he's also going to move the air conditioner unit to the back.  I'm not sure who decided that the meter box, air conditioner AND gas meter should be placed in the flower bed directly in front of the house, but they were just wrong!  So, the only thing we will have to camouflage will be the gas meter.

The guys will start this process today (lucky boys, having to dig in the rain) and as soon as everything is moved, the next crew will come in and start digging for the addition.  Jim hopes to have the addition built (not finished, of course) by mid-to-late May.  I believe he said "caught up with the existing structure". 

I'm so excited to see everything get started!  All of our research will finally come into play.  I need to get a list of items to pick out, and find out what is budgeted as far as fixtures and finishes, and start shopping.  Ahhhh, shopping....I'm sure Mark never imagined he would be happy for me to shop.

The kitchen is closed...

I have never in my life been so glad to see something gone!  We finally got the cabinets removed from the kitchen.  It was definitely not an easy task.  One of us even ended up in tears.  I'll let you guess which one.  ;-)  Mark promptly informed me that there is no crying allowed in remodeling.  Unless you drop something really, really heavy on yourself.  Whatever.

Here is a picture of Mark trying to figure out the easiest and best way to remove the cabinets.

He's such an engineer!  My plan was to just sledge hammer them to death.  Which in the end is what it came down to.  They were not the most cooperative of inanimate objects.

Sydney brought a bit of comic relief to the day.  Mark knocked down a cabinet and as he was lowering it, it hit Syd in the arm.  She yelled "I'm hit, I'm hit!"  You'd have thought we were in a battle.  As soon as I stopped laughing (possibly while I was still laughing) I was able to determine she was fine.  You'll see that the sparkly bandaids can fix just about anything.

Unfortunately, we'll have to change our sign to read "0 days injury free", as any injury requiring a bandaid counts.



Stand still and look pretty...

I was hoping that would be in my job description today.  But alas, I was wrong.  Here is some proof that I do actually do some of the hard work.

We finished removing the rest of the tile today.  Both bathrooms complete and the entry way as well.  I do have to go back and finish removing one of the backsplash areas, but since I have no grip strength left, it will have to be another day.

We gave the girls a sledge hammer and told them they could beat the heck out of the entry way stone.  After 45 minutes, this was their progress.

Progress?









Our helpers












Quite a motley crew we've got, wouldn't you say?  I think they're pretty cute though!  We are continuing to see progress, so we are definitely staying motivated.  I think we're both a little freaked out to meet with the builders this week.  Since we have no bids yet, we could be severely cutting down on improvements if the construction costs are too high.  Honestly, it's not like us to jump first ask questions later.  We are about as far from risk-takers as it gets.  Until now, I guess!