Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Power

Nothing too exciting to note... 2 weekends ago Ryan and I put up the temporary power pole (a few hour project that turned into an all weekend project!). When we went back last Friday, we found it all hooked up. So, technically, we have power! If only we had something to plug in...
I have no pictures of the hooked up power yet (not that they'd be all that exciting), but I do have some from the process of putting up this crazy thing.

Quikrete is our friend.


Maybe this wasn't the safest place to stand...but it worked!




With any luck, they'll be breaking ground this week. Imagine, if the weather holds, we'll have a hole in the ground before this weekend! More later!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Closing Complete

Quick update: Done! We closed on the construction loan this afternoon. Tomorrow we head out to the property to set up the temporary power pole, and then as soon as the permits go through, excavation can begin. Cue the Jeopardy music as we wait...

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

End of Summer Recap and House News

Wow. This summer just disappeared. August was a busy month, which probably had a lot to do with how it flew by. So, before we go on, a recap, with some pictures.

In August:

  • We attended a baby shower for our friends Brad and Meagin. Their beautiful baby girl Molly was born 2 weeks ago.
  • We met with the drilling people to choose the location of the well. Much to our disappointment, there was no divining rod involved. We were really hoping, but alas, there is definitely water anywhere we go on our property, so we just picked a spot.
  • Meghan attended the Illinois State Fair with her dad. They had so much fun – saw more food “on a stick” than you could ever imagine. (Cheesecake, pizza, alligator – you name it!) At Andy's suggestion, they watched the society horse show, which sounds weird, but is fascinating. Plus, no trip to the fair is complete without a visit to the Dairy Barn to see the butter cow and indulge in fresh cream puffs.
  • Delicious!!

  • We had a great weekend in Peoria – the West Coast contingent came to town, the men went golfing, the whole family gathered for 'formal' pictures, and we capped off the weekend with Gabriella’s baptism and party. It was so wonderful to get to see and spend time with the whole family and to see beautiful Gabby baptized into the Catholic Church. Dan, Sue, Daniel, Emily, Kevin, Ela, Gabriella – we miss you all and can’t wait to see you again!
  • We joined Mama, Papa, Mia, and Madison for the Obama-Biden rally in Springfield. Despite the oppressive heat, crazy crowds, lack of water, and Meghan spending most of the time in the medical area after nearly passing out, it was an amazing experience. It was a historic moment at a historic location, and we were there. So cool.

Obama watches as Biden speaks.

  • We completed the paperwork for our construction loan and began the month long jeopardy-music-finger-tapping wait.
  • Meghan's mom came down to Decatur for a visit and they had a great day of shopping in Clinton and Bloomington – always a good time.
  • We built a small shed on our new property with the assistance of Andy and James. Needless to say, the boys did most of the labor, but Meghan held her own, took lots of pictures and did the first aid run. First aid, you ask? Yes. In true do-it-yourself tradition, we had an injury. We’ll spare the details, but Ryan gave himself a really nasty cut on his ankle. Instead of going to the hospital, we chose to clean it with bottled water, bandage it, wrap it in tape, cover it with a sock and out Ryan back to work. The next day we did go to the doctor where we were told that he should have had stitches but it was too late. Doh. Hey, Ryan has a pretty scar to remember the weekend by.

Wrapping the ankle. Note the most important First Aid kit item: Miller Lite.

A job well done!



  • We attended one of Michael Aaron's JFL games. So much fun - for the players and the spectators.

Running for a touchdown!

September was a little more calm…

  • We celebrated Ryan’s birthday with a trip back to Peoria. (Who can resist Papa’s homemade pizza?)

  • We attended a wedding shower for our friends James and Andrea, after which Ryan celebrated James’ dwindling bachelorhood with the guys at the bachelor party. They saw Donnie Baker and then…it was a bachelor party, let’s leave it at that.

  • On the 25th, we found out that our loan was approved and the wheels were set in motion. Wheeee!!!!

  • Last weekend we headed to Mundelein to visit Mom and Dad P and to window shop and make decisions on housing materials.

  • Yesterday, James assisted us with picking the location of the new house. For most people, this would be a simple task. But for silly ol’ Meghan and her lack of vision, it required measurements, flags, paint, and Ryan pacing things out saying “Now, I’m in front of the bedroom.” “Ok, you’re in the kitchen” “This is the back porch.” Our neighbors probably think we’re bonkers.

And so we enter October.
This morning, Ryan met with the excavator and made a trip over to the county building. The septic and building permits are in process and the house is all staked out. Take a look.

I think that's our front door....

Friday we meet with the title company to close on the loan – very exciting. On Monday, we get our well.
The rest of the month will be exciting as well. Between both our baseball teams in the postseason, house stuff, a couple of milestone birthday parties and a wedding thrown in for good measure, this month will probably fly by.

Thanks for you patience on such a long entry. We'll work on keeping them more frequent and shorter. And hopefully before long we’ll have some house pictures with something in them!!!