No new photos today as most of the big changes are taking place inside and they don't show up well on photos.

We had the electrical walk through this week!  It took 3.5 hours and a team of 6 to get it done, but it is a big step along the way in this long line of things to get done.  It feels like I am laying out dominos in one of those elaborate patterns and soon, the dominos will all be set and everything will fall into place.  Until then, I will be carefully setting things in place taking care not to knock them down too soon.

Happy Spring Break!

 Mimi decided to go for a dip
 Window!
 Soon to be the screen porch

I have great visions of curling up in the oversize chair with my coffee and the Sunday paper with the fan running overhead and lazing the day away...

That is all for now, tune in next week to see the progress.

Doug and the girls enjoying the afternoon
View from dining room.

So I can only post 5 pictures at a time, so as soon as I finish with this, I'll post some more with the windows.  We spent the afternoon at the house yesterday.  Doug and his dad were working, and the girls and I hung out in the 60 degree weather.  The boys shored up the boathouse roof, did some assessing of the boat house floor and put the fireplace in the living room.

There was evidence of lots of work this past week, piping in the basement, duct work and he windows are in!  Those are the pictures I'll post next.

View from the master tub
view out the master
from master looking into Maddie's room

We have a second floor and roof!!!  We had an open house today at 1809 Hidden Hill Drive and had to make ourselves scarce.  Doug and the girls headed to McFarland, and this is what they found!  I can't wait to go see it in person.  

Things are really coming together; the kitchen design has been finalized, the flooring and tile is done, we met with the lighting designer this week and on Saturday, Doug and I spent 3.5 hours with the plumber going over selections of faucets, sinks, toilets.  Who knew there were so many options on toilets!  It really is amazing to see something take shape when for months you have stared a pieces of paper that represent rooms and now you can stand in them.

We had 2 visitors to the open house, which is not bad considering how lousy the weather was today.  It was pouring and 34 degrees.  So cold.  Cross your fingers.

Mad City Aqua Stars
Thriller Team
Dark Knight headpieces
2 nd floor trusses, finally
First Floor.

So please forgive how long it took me to post new photos of the house.  We had some technical difficulties.  I took some great shots of the first floor and the views from the living room, and Doug lost the card with the photos on it.  Luckily in the mad scramble to get the house on the market, he found it, I will upload them tomorrow.  In the meantime, you can see we have a first floor.  It is really cool to walk around in the structure you have been imagining for a very long time.  Not much progress had been made since 2/14 as the second floor trusses were delayed.  You can see in the 4th photo the guys putting those in.  An interesting side note; we had a weird weather day last Thursday where it poured rain and was thundering, that of course was when the trusses arrived.

When the girls and I stopped by on the way out of town for the invitational meet last weekend, the poor guys were out there in 17 degree weather putting them up.  That's right, we went from 40 and torrential rain to freezing.  The first floor of our house could have doubled as a skating rink! 

I am headed over tomorrow to register the girls for school, and I am anxious to see the progress from last week.  I think the roof may be on!

Until then...

Happy Birthday to me!!!

On facebook, there is a thing going around called "25 Random Things About Me," once you are "tagged" by someone, you are to write 25 things about yourself and tag 25 people including the person who tagged you.  At first, I had a hard time, but once I got started, I could have written more.  It isn't meant to be a "bucket list" just a list of random things.  It did get me thinking about a bucket list, a list of things to do before I die.

Where do you start?  Of course I would love to see The Great Wall of China, scuba dive The Great Barrier Reef, and I would love to visit each state in the United States.  But those seem self-indulgent and superficial.  What I want to do before I die is watch my girls grow-up.  Help them get ready for their first date, shop for prom dresses, help them learn to drive.  I want to be there when they get their hearts broken.  I want to take the college "road trip" to help them find the college for them.  I want to throw big parties for their graduations.  I want to share funny stories about me when I was their age. 

 I want to shop for their wedding dresses, cry at their weddings, dance with their dad and toast them at their receptions.  I want to help them move into their first house, share my favorite recipes and deliver all their Christmas ornaments to them for their first Christmas in their own home.  I want to hold my grandchildren, spoil them and send them home to their moms.

I want to watch them grow and blossom, become who they are meant to be.  Watch them navigate the world and discover what gives them joy and passion.  I want to watch them fall in love and meet their soul mates.

I want to continue loving my soul mate and rediscover and redefine our relationship as we grow older and our roles change.  I want to continue having adventures, exploring new places together and taking on new projects.  

I want to make sure that all my family and friends know how much they mean to me.  How their support gets me through the days when the pain is more than I can bear.  

That is my bucket list.  If along the way, I walk on "The Wall," snorkel "The Reef,"  and visit the rest of the 50 states I have yet to see then so be it, it will be an adventure, no a to do list.

Happy Birthday.  Thanks mom and dad for me.

Kathryn Sue Jaques Barton

Hello from the comfort of my new bed.  We did end up sending the sleep number bed back.  We are now trying a Verlo mattress.  It has a combination of memory foam and laytex.  So far so good.

Sorry I do not have photos today, I have still been sick.  I did get an update from the site manager today.  They have finished the foundation walls and have filled it all in.  No more big piles of dirt.  They have also moved the well and dealt with the old septic.  Next week the plan is to lay the concrete slabs over the fitness room.  These slabs will serve as the floor of the garage.  Once those slabs are in place, they will be able to begin framing.  It may be as early as Friday, but most likely it will happen Monday.

I hope to be better by then and therefore able to share photos of them placing the slabs.  It should be pretty cool to watch, they need to use a big crane to lift them and put them in place.

We Have Walls!

With the temperatures rising from sub-zero to the teens this week, they were able to get back to work this week.  Tuesday, the walls were poured.  It was rather interesting, the truck was parked in the street and one of the guys controlled the nozzle remotely from controls on a belt.  Then, one guy handled the nozzle and moved it back and forth as the forms filled up.  Two guys came behind him and smoothed the top, all while balancing on the 2 by 4s you see toward the top of the forms.  I joked with them about needing gymnastics training.  It really was a site to see, imagine big clunky boots, ice and snow, wet concrete and a 4 inch beam.  No one fell while I was there, I think they were showing off.

We meet with the realtor tomorrow to go over what else need to get done before the house goes on the market, should be interesting.

Good night for now...