Asbestos anyone?!?!!?

We found out we have asbestos in our "popcorn" ceilings ;(  so of course, you can't just pull it down, you need to pay some E.T. looking guys to come in and wrap the whole place in plastic to remove it! And also pay... Out the nose ;(... Since it had only 3% asbestos we didn't have to quarantine for too long tho so that was a good thing. They got to the house at 7 am and worked all day... We got home at 2 something and just sat on the front lawn in the shade until probably 4 ish... But when we got in - our oldest was not thrilled that his ceiling fan had been taken apart ;( with the autism, he is very accustomed to having everything in its place and gets ruffled when it is not! It is heart breaking. But he got through it. Our youngest, with Aspergers, emotionally attaches to EVERYTHING!!!! So we get in and he starts pouting... "I'm gonna miss those ceilings!" Seriously kid?!!?!?!?

Anyway, I'm so thrilled at all of the things that have been accomplished this week!!!!!! First the front patio was leveled, then the dirt was disposed of, then the trenches were dug for irrigation and drainage, then the asbestos was removed, then the irrigation and drainage were laid! Whew!!!! That's a LOT! It is amazing at all the progress that has taken place in less than 4 WEEKS!!!!! So excited! The framing is supposed to go up next week... More pics to follow...

We leveled the front patio...

Soooooooo I left for work this morning and I still had a side patio... I came home to this.  It's CRAZY! The good thing tho is that now my dad can park his motor home and plug in without having to be in the street... AND we will have a double drive way as the boys get older.  I have to say I am looking forward to NEVER having to say, "baby I need you to move your car!" ;) hehehehe

It is complete :)

Wow! I guess there's nooooooo turning back now huh??? :) hahaha

It has been set in STONE... so to speak...

Such a cooooooool process to observe!!! The truck was here at 6:30 ish and it is 8:50 now and they are pretty much done with the pour... CRAZY! I am so glad I got to be here to watch this!!! What an amazing experience to see it all take shape in front of my eyes!!!!!  And for all you HATERS who are all gonna make comments like "don't see you helping!" Or "get those knee boots on and play in the Crete" I HELPED!!!!! I stayed out of the way AND I bought everyone donuts!!!! :) hehehehe

But really, I feel so blessed! How fun!!!! Enjoy the pics!

And... We have passed inspection!!!!!

After all this ridiculousness with the Inspector who was supposed to come yesterday... Who came and cuz no one answered the door (duhhhh everyone was working in the backyard!) LEFT...Mark called and the message said "only answer calls between 8-8:30 am and 5-5:30 pm please call back during those hours!" No way to leave a message... Seriously?!!?! So he e mails, no reply, calls at 5 something... no one answers... calls at 8:15 and no one answers... So he just works from home today...WAITING ... NUTHIN! So I get home after giving blood and he has to go teach a class at the school... NOT 15 minutes later... The Inspector shows... Kid u not!

Anyway, the guy is nice enough... He goes into the yard and says everything looks GREAT!!!! ;) asks a couple questions and then asks to sign the yellow building permit card thing... Ummmmm what yellow card thing?!?!!? Mark didn't leave me a yellow card thing?!?! He left me the plans and the other inspectors report... But no yellow card thing ; /. So I call mark and he tells me where to find it...

The guys signs the yellow card thing and says good luck! Sooooooo... Tomorrow morning bright and early the cement truck comes to lay the foundation!!!!!! Woo Hoo! Soooooo excited! ;) more pics to come tomorrow... ;)

Baby steps...

We are one step closer :) the rebar inspector came yesterday... And now we are waiting on the other inspector in order to pour the concrete on Friday...but its all taking shape...and PRAISE JESUS for cooler weather!!!!

Rain, Rain... I'M MELTINNNNGGGGGG

Am a bit disappointed in the rain! By a bit I kinda mean A LOT! I know we need rain. I get it... But we just cut our roof back ;( soooooo the rain caused our ceilings to get saturated and even start to leak... IN THE CLOSET ;(

so sorry... started writing this on last Wednesday after the rains but didn't get very far before LIFE HAPPENED! Sooooooo much has happened in the past week ;( first, the rains soaked thru the roof, made the whole place smell like pooooooooo ;( and stained the ceilings... Then we couldn't get everything dug until the ground dried out... So footings didn't even get dug out completely until today. Then Mark and our "guy" finished putting up the form board today. Tomorrow the rebar goes in... Then the inspector comes tomorrow. Hopefully (prayerfully) the cement will all be poured on Friday!

Yesterday, I watered my flowers in front, because our sprinklers were cut off. Then I found out our "guy" sheered the handle off our backyard spicket ;( so my dad came out for church and I asked him to fix it. He did! Yay dad!!!! My flowers REJOICE!!!!

I AM DYING IN THIS HEAT WITH NO AIR!!!!! It is 91 degrees in my house right now ;(... This heat makes for a very mean and cranky Heather! I am sooooooo NOT a nice person. Yesterday, being Mother's Day, we went out for a champagne brunch after church with my dad. It was so nice. He then took us to Costco to us some fans. We came home and hooked up a window a/c unit in the slider but it is just miserable ;( I popped last night because of the heat!

I don't know how we are going to make thru the summer ;(... I know I am a whiner... But HOLY COW! Anyway here are some updated pics...

Excited to see what happens...

Gosh it has been a few days... What a CRAZY weekend. Glad for life to get back to normal... In the meantime:

Friday the dirt got roped off and tamped down real good. Tomorrow they are gonna dig footings and then later this week, pour concrete! I am excited ;) YES! I said it! I am excited ;). This is all taking shape!

Sooooooo... This past weekend mama went a little CRAY CRAY! I was just so overwhelmed by the mess that I made every one CLEAN! There is no reason for the inside of the house to be in disarray like the outside. Soooooo... I feel a little better! There is still so much MESS... and sooo much dust and dirt floating everywhere. But baby steps are good right?

My next step is to get RUTHLESS!!!! Now is the time to purge all the clutter and crap. There is so much superfluous things stuffed in drawers and cabinets. There is so much junk in closets. So now we get down to business and get rid of the junk! My kids are not gonna like me much! ;( I am trying to figure out if I should just clean out their rooms and closets and get rid of the stuff or if I should let them be responsible and a bit independent and do it themselves. I know I would get rid of a lot more than they would... And they probably wouldn't even miss half the stuff I'd get rid of, but... Then what do they learn from this process if I do it? Am I doing this for my ease or to teach them about choosing what is truly important and necessary?!!?!?

I'm gonna hop on my soap box here for a moment... I think kids learn that their parents will always clean up their messes when we come in and make their choices for them. We also give them someone to BLAME if they don't like the decisions we have made about what to keep or what to toss. But then again if we let them do it they keep way more than they should and there are tears and grieving "things"... Etc... Anyway, sermon over...

More info to come hopefully if the weather cooperates this week... Stay tuned...

Our "Guy" had a sick kid today...

Nothing got done today ;( I am surprised at how disappointed I am. Especially since I am not enjoying this process much ;) kinda funny huh? Oh darn no destruction today... I should be relieved... Anyway I guess I just want the process done already so I don't wanna get too behind. Stuff happens! I get it! ;)

I made Mark help me set up a small patio outside our backyard TONITE ;) hahaha I need a space to go outside and escape from the craziness in my house. So we have a teeny tiny table and two chairs sitting right outside our sliding door in the dirt ;). It made me feel better ;)!

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more to report...