Happy New Year!

It's been almost 2 months since my last post....I'm sorry. It's been a crazy two months. I will try to update as best I can. So sit back and soak in....

-Our house is getting there. We hit a lull during deer season and the holidays, but we seem to have regained our momentum. We have garage doors now, that I happen to LOVE. And we have most of our house sided. We still have to go pick out our brick for the bricked parts, but that can't get bricked up till next month anyway...so we aren't stressing about that yet. Hopefully, next week we will be able to insulate and shortly after drywall. Whew! Can't wait!

-Our kids are still getting big. We started Upward Cheerleading this week. Because of the lack of volunteers, David and I both ended up coaching. David has a boys basketball team....which I think is weird b/c we don't have ANY boys or basketballs players. And until Tuesday afternoon, I was the coach for 2 cheerleading squads....17 girls. Also funny because I was never a cheerleader. Luckily a friend felt called to take half of them off my team and form another one. YEAH ROBIN!!!! So now I am down to 9. That I can handle. I feel sorry for the poor little girls who think they are going to learn how to be a cheerleader!!! A cheerleader...I am not.

-Christmas. Our family spent another year at Camp Takodah. It was great. We stayed in The Pines for 4 days. It was such a good relaxing time. We got to hike, eat, horseback ride, eat, sleep, eat.....and the best part was eatting. Did I mention we ate? The highlight of the week was finding out my little brother, Travis, and his wife, Stephanie, are going to have a baby! So around August there will be another McMillion! It was such a great Christmas. My camera was broken so I am relying on others to send me pictures....so far I have nothing. ;)

-New Years......we didn't do anything big. We went to a friends house and played Loaded Questions for hours and hours and hours. It was fun...and we even stayed up! (That's a first for 4 years!)

-Well that's all for now! Stay tuned...when I get pictures I will post them....HINT HINT HINT...family! :)

House updates!

Just one of the views on our property....lots of trees...some are now gone, this was last winter!

This is actually from the end of our driveway looking down the street! You can't see it here but there is a creek that runs under the road across our land. EEEK! :)

I promised pictures...here they are. But, lucky for us, they are already outdated! :) The framing crew is already working on the second floor today. We are still waiting to get our garage poured so they can frame up the garage too. But that should be poured tomorrow if the weather permits! (Knock on wood!)

We were kinda worried about Ike and his aftermath. Yesterday morning, we woke up at 2am to the howling wind and NO electricity. When it was light, we went to check on OUR house project. We had a hard time getting there because of down power lines and trees, but alas, we made it. We got to our property, and saw that we had two trees laying on the power lines by our house, and a HUGE tree that was laying across the driveway. But, the house was fine, except for the two inches of water standing on the INSIDE of the house! :) (We got rid of that later in the afternoon...thanks to some help from our church family!) When we tried to leave I got my car stuck in the mud. Luckily, our dirt guy, was driving up to check on our house (what a nice guy) too. So, he and his son in law helped to get me unstuck. No sooner did I get situated and we looked back down the drive, and the trees that were laying on the power lines were smoking. Yes folks, we are going to burn down the neighborhood! So, David called a friend that works for the power company and he came to kill the line. But, by that time, one of the trees had officially caught fire. I was a little panicked. Fortunately, the fire burned itself out and all was safe.

This is a picture of the tree as it was smoking....it's sideways sorry!

In the afternoon, we had a few of our church friends come help us cut up the trees that had fallen and drain the water out of the house.

We are blessed.

Rain, Rain, Go Away......

Just an update on our house saga:

*We have fired our architect. He was dragging his feet on our project and after avoiding our calls for 5 days, and still not having our promised plans after 3 and a half months, we decided to move on. So yes, we were back to square one on the plan thing....good news is WE have drawn out some plans that our framer (wonderful guy) can work off of. And the bank said they didn't even need a copy of the plans....Yeah for that!

*We have our pad for the house leveled/ carved out of the hillside. (Who knew we lived on such a slope?) We would have the foundation done but it keeps raining and getting the ground all wet so the concrete won't set. (Who knew it rained so much in July?) Please pray that we can get this show on the road this week....the weather man says it should be dry all week. ((Fingers crossed))

*Our water line is dug out. But now we are faced with digging rocks and root out of the bottom so we can get our pipes to pass inspection. And we live in "ROCK COUNTRY" here in Clinton. We have some doozy rocks coming up. Great for landscaping...if anyone out there wants a rock or two for your yardscape....come and get 'em!! (Seriously) This job is not an easy one. Our water line is over 450 feet long, and if you have spent any length of time outside, you realize that the heat index isn't our friend. David was out there for 4 hours yesterday in 110 heat index. I am having to be his protector...calling him every 20 or so minutes to make sure he is still standing upright, and reminding him to pour ice water on himself to cool off. I wish I could be more help, but I have the girls all day and they are in danger out at the land with all the dozers and equipment sitting around. Soon enough we will be calling that place home....ahhhh can't wait!

* I have been ordering fixtures via Ebay. I have been addicted to ebay lately. I have had my eye on the oil rubbed bronze fixtures for the kitchen and bath since we decided to build. Naturally they are one of the most expensive fixtures out there. ( I have high-end taste with low-end budget! :)) Well, I have to share my bargain news!! I went on ebay and bid on a few ORBronze fixtures, with a limit in mind. Here is what I got:

2 master bathroom sink faucets: List Price: $ 161.48 each
I paid on Ebay: $112.50....for TWO

Master Shower faucet: List price: $207.00
I paid on Ebay: $49.99

Roman tub fixture: List price: $268.00
I paid on Ebay: $ 76.00

Kitchen sink faucet: List price: $298.00
I paid on Ebay: $95.00

Needless to say I am SUPER excited about my "wins" on ebay. Now I can have my high-end taste and not pay the high-end prices! (And David likes that part too! :) ) I have also been to a lighting store auction that we got a good chunk of our lighting for around $100. Yeah!

Bargains get me all pumped up! I could go on for hours about all my "steals." But I will spare you.