wow, it's only day four!

Well, there it is!  A little more rain drain work tomorrow, the moat will be back filled, and the framing begins!

Here's our new rain drain, which will carry water away from our house for a change!!!

The Boy doesn't quite understand yet that he won't get to ride in this one (like he did with Uncle Morgan), but every 10 minutes he asks if Randy is going to come back and ride the bulldozer.  Tomorrow - and hopefully not at nap time!

tears on my pillow, rain on my foundation

Yeah!  Looks fine, right?

In case you can't tell, that is hail.  Dang.

This can't be good for concrete that hasn't set up yet.  If it does indeed set, the forms will come off tomorrow!

it's.... actually..... happening...... don't..... panic......

I would just like to take this moment to thank Clackamas County for issuing us permits.  It was a nail-biting sweaty 3 weeks, but we have them.  Exhaaaale.  Our amazing builder was ready to start working almost immediately after the permits were issued, and look, now our yard looks like the scary pool scene from Poltergeist.  I was out all day, and came home to this!!!!  My panic attack only lasted a couple hours.... I kept wandering outside or staring out the window.... getting vertigo teetering on the edge of our sawed-off porch.... and trying to remember to breathe.  This is quite a sight to come home to!!!

this is what happens when I quit my job....

I haven't drawn a geologic cross-section in over 3 years, so I was delighted to have the chance to map out our plot plan for the county.  Ahh, mechanical pencil, mmmm, graph paper and scale.  Plus, it's interesting to see our little acre of earth mapped out.

fingers crossed....

So, we picked a builder!  He was our favorite as a person, and also came in with the lowest bid.  Professional, thorough, good at listening AND remembering, and follows up quickly on items in question.  We are just waiting for our permits to come back with the county's seal of approval, and our builder will be ready to break ground.

Our plan is to have the addition built only to the point of a weather-tight shell, and hubbo will do the wiring and plumbing, genius that he is.  This is generous of our builder to allow us to work this way, because the county does the wiring and plumbing inspections before they sign off on the structural portion that our builder is doing.  Fingers crossed!

And here's a little factoid for my WV family:  The permit fee for one sink is $16.  That is the snowflake on the top of the iceberg.

Here's a before picture, if you haven't been to our house before.  Looks a little dumpy, but hey, it's all going to change eventually.

3 bids in....

Are material prices really going up?  Or is that just an excuse to jack up a bid?  And what about the bid that is 50% higher than the rest of the bids?  I just don't get it.  

a man, a plan, a canal....

OK, so maybe it's just another crummy little ranch house. And no palindrome in sight. Looks like the ball is rolling...more to come soon!