You guys.... Thank You!!!!! I bought the gable vent tonight. I went with the circle. I'm so grateful you stopped by this blog to help me out.

Update time: We cut out an egress window over the weekend.

We are cool like that.

Just wanted to make sure you read what I said, and it sunk in....

WE CUT OUT AN EGRESS WINDOW AND FRAMED IT AND GOT IT ALL READY FOR THE WINDOW TO BE INSTALLED!!!!!!

We are rockstars!

Do you know the difficulty of cutting into solid concrete? And guess what these lovely people did when they originally poured the concrete walls?

Hint: You will never guess....

They only put a mold on the inside of the house, but used dirt for the outside.

Can we all say "LUMPY"?

This means that the walls were thicker in some places and thinner in others. They ranged from 6 to 10 inches thick. Yep. I can't make this stuff up.

The thickness variation made it extremely difficult to cut the walls since the saw couldn't cut all the way through in places.

I'm telling you, I'm so glad I'm not a boy. I hurt just watching Trevor wacking and wacking at the concrete with the sledge hammer. In the end he got it all loose and it turned out okay.

Tonight the hyster and basket got dropped off at the house. The siding is about to be ripped off, and the front of the house is about to be finished and changed for forever.

YAY.

I'm excited for this party to get started.

I think we are close to seeing things start to change at the house. We need to get the egress windows in, get our final building inspection, get the plumbing inspected, get the rough electrical and inspection done, and then we will be off to  insulation and drywall.

So close, yet so far away.

Your Input Needed

Hey ya'all.

I've got to get some lap siding ordered tomorrow to replace the siding on one side of our house.

It's a long story.

But while we are up there working, it's the perfect time to install the gable vents.

This is where I need your help, and I need it quick.

The first picture is my amazing artistic rendering of the triangular gable vent we will be putting on the front of the house.

The second picture is of the side of the house we will be installing the new siding above the stucco. It's pretty easy to spot the part that needs to be replaced.

The third and fourth pictures are more amazing artistic renderings of the vents that we can install on the side of the house.

So what do you think? Is it weird to install a different shaped vent on the front and the side?

And if you think it is okay, what shaped vent should we go with? Trevor thinks rectangle and I think circle.

Honestly, we don't care anymore. I just want someone else to make the decision so I don't have to.

Yo. I'm tired.

This has been a rough couple of weeks. I feel like it's all starting to catch up to me.

And photo season is upon me.

Heaven help me. Seriously. Help me.

Meanwhile,  the water lines are almost in.

I'll put up a good post with photos this weekend.

But I've got goals, and even though I'd like to lay in bed for a day or two and catch up on sleep, maybe have a few foot rubs, and watch This Old House, I've got things to do.

I guess that means I'm giving in to being an adult.

Flying By

I wanted to throw a quick update on here about how we are doing. I was gone last week to my niece's wedding in Texas. While I was gone, Trevor and the kids decided to frame some more of the basement.

When I got home from my trip we went right back to work, pushing really hard to get things done. I've been working at the house every day this week from sun up to sun down. It's exhausting,  but I know we need to do it if we are going to get done enough to move in before the cold comes back.

Let me show you what I've been working on.....

DRUM

ROLL

PLEASE

Good and Bad

Good evening everyone. We have had a productive week this week. The kids and I bricked up the very last window on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The next day my sister Jenn and nephew Jett came to rescue us from the pits. Together, we were able to calk most of the windows which needed to be done badly!! This means the house is almost ready for PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for coming and killing yourselves for us!!!! It meant the world and was a huuuuge boost!!!!

Meanwhile, after work, Trevor  started the window well digging process. He's getting close to being done with one well. Also, I made the cat door officially done and gone today. 

And that brings me to the bad. We had a really bad wind storm come through today. We heard a loud crash, and looked up to see a tree branch sticking through the roof! Good thing we are roofing experts. It was too heavy to lift out of the hole, so Trevor started chopping the "branch" up and ended up cutting it off a few inches above from where it was sitting in the hole. You can see the stump from the picture where I'm holding it in my hand. It went right through the roof vent, missing any wood. What a blessing, right? I cut new vent shingles while Trevor pulled the old ones out and put tar paper over the hole. The other blessing was that we had everything we needed to fix it and that it happened while we were there. And another blessing still, that it wasn't worse than that. We need to get that tree down!

Look for the speck of light. That's the hole.

FIXED!!! 

Now on to the basement. The wall is built and the manifold mounted. Let's get the water lines run

I've discovered something very interesting: ever since it has been so hot, and we've been working so hard in the heat, when we come home at night, our house is too cold! Yeah, 73 degrees is freezing. Bodies are amazing how they can adapt so quickly. I'm Having A hard time right now falling asleep because I'm so cold!  Brrrrr.