Super excited about this house project! Already it's been hours of work put into it. When we completed the paperwork, we became locked into a August 15 start date with a 9 month finishing window. After we signed (on August 14), we scrambled to get things finalized (drawings, excavator scheduled, permits opened, inspector booked).

Over the weekend we began to fell the trees in our lot (correctly stated: my HUSBAND started to fell the trees). He got SS involved with it, and that was some good quality man time. My hubby worked for several hours in ridiculously hot, humid weather on Saturday. Hubby and SS worked solid from Sunday 10:30am-3:00pm (minus a shower break, a lunch break and a quick cool down). And then I helped in the evening carrying the limbs and branches to hubby while he used the wood chipper. We ran out of daylight and into the noise curfew before we finished, so Monday evening, hubby felled several more trees, while I carried the excess into piles. Tuesday, hubby marked out our property line with the surveyor stakes and his dad came down so they could map out the house walls for the dig.

 

 

 

 

 

So exciting!! And then yesterday was the highlight so far. Digging the hole!!!

 

The last picture is us having a few drinks on the deck while we waited for the hole to be dug. Took longer than we thought. 11 hours in total. Yikes! 8:30am to 7:30pm. After the operator left, Mark's dad popped by and they re-marked the lines and made sure everything was square (an excavator digs 4 feet around the house walls to make room for weeping tiles and such).

We had a few surprises including the RM deciding our garage elevation was a few feet lower than we had anticipated which is scary with our high water table. But we were able to dig 6 1/2 feet down (we had only wanted to dig 4) without hitting the "bad soil". We nicked it and knew that's where we needed to stop. The concern was if we couldn't dig down far enough, our house could be a few feet higher than the garage (messes up the drawings and trusses). But thank the Lord (He most certainly had our back this week!!! As always :) ), we are now only out 6 inches. Which means we can simply build up our garage 6 inches with the studs, and keep the same trusses.

That one had us sweating. Our permit came through on Tuesday afternoon, just in time for our Wednesday morning dig, and that was by the skin of our teeth (what a funny saying).

But here we go!! Today is insane for my wonderful husband as we have rentals, and he is balancing a promotion (which is great, but currently has him working his old position AND his new position while the switch is being completed and makes for a VERY stressed out hubby), AND he wants to get the footing formed tonight so he can pour tomorrow morning.

#1 - this man I married has the strength and stamina of an ox (that's a compliment)
#2 - I have no idea how he does it

I'm going to keep updating the blog with house updates. FUN FUN FUN!

I'm off to the city today to do some shopping. I have things in our current house to finish up before selling time. And that time is ticking.

*peeking out from beneath the covers*

is it over yet?

Well another summer is nearly complete. June is pure insanity with the side business. Every festival, fair, birthday party and church picnic we can be a part of physically, we make all effort to make a show.

I face-painted many excited children creating them into butterflies, tigers and dragons; among other creatures. We set up and took down many bouncers to fill children with joy and exhaustion, while simultaneously filling parents with relief and the ability to get their children into bed at the end of the day.

June was as June is. Every moment is filled with survival, schedules, driving, sweaty weekends, catching up weekdays. We even pulled an (almost) all nighter with a midnight to 4am graduation party rental. Whatever comes, we take. It's always an adventure! My dear hubby worked his full-time job and then worked the full-time side business.

July trickles to a slow and we were able to celebrate the kids' bdays (2 days apart) in between rentals. We rediscover what it means to have a house and bashfully mow our lawn, weed our garden and clean up our yard while the neighbours stand, watch and slow clap.

July kept us busy into August, and finally, we have had some breaks. Today we have 3 rentals, but tomorrow is a "day off". I use quotations because I'm sure many other people are like us. We love the idea of days off but apparently have no desire to make them a reality.

Our house plans have all been approved and so we will be building a new house in our "spare time". hehehe...quotations. So Sunday will be filled with taking down trees, chainsawing and woodchippering (I realize that's not a word. But I like it.)

This past week was actually a break though. While SS was at his mom's, DD (dear daughter) was at church camp. 5 days without children. What to do?! I realize for some people who don't have children, this is a normal day to day routine. DH and I were confused and a little bit alarmed when we had a spontaneous date. I kept feeling like I was forgetting something.

We have kids for the weekend, and then I'm shipping them both off to another camp on Monday. Another week without kids? I have to say that this last week when I dropped DD off at the church to go to camp, my heart was sad and filled with the usual mom concerns (will she be lonely, will she get homesick, will she make friends, will she eat enough), but I have to also admit that I enjoyed the fact that on Monday and Tuesday I gave my house a good clean....and it stayed that way.

Besides my Lucy dragging her blankets from her kennel from room to room and sleeping on the cushions on the couch (random re-fluffing was necessary), the house stayed...clean. Minimal dishes, vacuuming, tidying, de-cluttering.

So while on one hand I missed my sweet girl, and also enjoyed getting things done and a remarkably clean house.

We got the kids last night. I'm already looking at my house remembering the good ole days. Last week. 2 days ago.

Sigh.

But all in all, a successful summer. We didn't get to do everything we wanted to do with the kids, and the summers are slipping away. SS only has 2 more summers before the law declares him an adult and responsible (seems too early in my opinion). We looked at our business and are thinking we may be more picky about which rentals we take next year so that we actually get a summer. Kids are growing up way too fast. I'm thankful I have 6 more with DD, but that too will go fast.

In less than 2 weeks, school begins again and routines will become part of life. The leaves will change, the kids will be busy with school, homework and lives. I cannot believe how quickly the summer disappeared. It felt like we had so much time and then poof, it was gone. We didn't make it out to the lake at all. We didn't take a road trip. We just worked, and planned, and did meetings with lawyers, bankers and surveyors. Summer was a little sad this year. I'm hoping that next year will be better and filled with more memories and less missing moments.

But now it's fall, and I'll grab the moments where I can. School supply shopping, signing up for extra curricular activities and planning healthy lunches. Buying new clothes for the new school year and watching DD make new friends and reconnect with old ones.

I have always found it strange to make New Year's Resolutions in January. I find more of a connection to resolutions in fall. In September, when the school year begins. It feels like a fresh start for everything and everyone. It's saying goodbye to the Summer...the leaves change colour and die and get ready for their new start. I'm looking forward to this September New Year.

Here's to the 2013-2014 year! Cheers