Fast Forward
Filed under: Building the BBM House, Mental Strain for Mama
Yesterday I was dragging. At the beginning of the day, 5:30 a.m. thanks to a certain someone’s cell phone alarm that went off every five minutes for a half hour, I had every intention of making it to karate class. It was one of those days though, that totally wiped me out.
I spent the morning trying to convince my students that although they may not have learned how to write thesis statements in high school (shame on their teachers), they are inherently important during the college years. I had several students tell me that they have never written a research paper before. I had several tell me that they have never had to create bibliography or note cards. I did not realize that so many would be lacking basic research writing skills. I think that the reasons their teachers passed on these skills is because of all the pressure to "teach to the test," but that’s a topic for another day.
I spent the morning conferencing with students and then watching speeches in my second class. I grabbed all my gear and headed out to the car, overturning my ankle just three feet from my car. Of course, it was my left leg, so I spent my entire drive home panicking that I had screwed up my knee. By the time I got home, my knee was sore and my allergies had kicked into high gear. I was feeling like I needed a major nap.
I didn’t get one. The contractors working at my Mom’s house were here the entire day, banging and making dust in every room on the first floor. Some people get black lung, but I think I’ll have white lung from all the drywall dust and debris floating around all the time. After picking Big I up from school, I drove by the house and saw that they had graded the yard and finished my rock wall outside, yet no work was being done on the inside. Major bummer. After so much activity at the beginning of the week, I was fearing the end of the week slow down had started already.
I felt like I was going to fall asleep at the dinner table, so I didn’t make it to karate class for fear that the exhaustion of the day would make things worse. I told myself this is called "taking it slow" so as not to feel like a slacker. I dozed on the couch until debate time and then Sarah Palin woke me up (What a relief, by the way!).
Since I spent the entire day dragging yesterday, I decided to start my day with a big cup of coffee. It helped. I then met my realtor at Panera and drank entirely too much coffee. By the time I left my meeting with him, I felt like I was running on fast forward. Apparently the guys were doing the same thing at my house.
When we went tonight, three guys were putting up stone on the outside of the house, and the entire inside of my house (walls and trim) were painted. I was shocked that they were able to get it done in a day. They’ll be back to finish staining the railings on the stairs and to touch up. Next week is flooring, cabinets, and maybe my lights and counter tops. We went from freeze frame to fast forward over night. Maybe my coffee buzz was transferable.
The following are pictures from throughout the week, before the paint. I’ve decided to not show the outside anymore for safety and security reasons. However, if I know you and have known you for quite some time and you’d like to see it, just shoot me an email.
My favorite room in the house, the family room:
The picture window in the entrance. I didn’t know we were getting that cool trim:
My bedroom! They finally put the double doors on.
The catwalk/upstairs hallway:
The catwalk and back staircase, from the family room:
The dining room. I was there as they were putting in the crown moulding and picture framing:
Three Week Countdown
This morning there were at least six trucks parked in front of our house. There were three guys working on the siding, at least four guys working on moving the Bilco door, a handful of guys inside cutting and putting up the trim, and a couple guys laying the groundwork for our sidewalk which looks like it will be poured sometime tomorrow. When we arrived tonight, there were two lone guys still working on the final bolts of the Bilco door. I have no doubt that the guys who sawed through 10 inches of concrete will be sleeping well tonight.
I will also be sleeping well tonight, knowing full well that neither of my fantasy football teams have a snowball’s chance in hell of turning out a win. Between injuries, and bad decisions on my part, I’ll be raking in two losses tonight unless Santonio Holmes and Heath Miller absolutely light it up. I’m not holding my breath.
Because I have an early morning of pounding basic research paper writing skills into the minds of young and hopefully impressionable freshman, I’m going to keep this short.
However, if you are the parent of a 2-5 year old who happens to like Sesame Street, you may want to check out The BBM Review, the latest review, and the contest giveaway. Keep coming back too, because there are three martial arts books in the queue and more giveaways as the holidays approach.
Finally, you may want to check out Karl’s birthday dare wrap-up. He took my dare to make a music video and I’ll just say that it’s not work safe and it’s slightly disturbing, but it’s still quite funny.
Four Weeks Until Settlement
There is something about hitting the four week mark for anything that brings such excitment. Four weeks until vacation! Yes! Four weeks until I give birth and get my body back! Awesome! Four weeks until I move into my new house! Hallelujah!
The house was a flurry of activity today. The entire front yard is dug up to put in the sewer and water pipes. The siding guy was up to the roof on part of the house and he tells me he’ll be finished by Monday at the latest. And the guys were busy sawing and banging things in the basement. I didn’t go to inspect but I suspect they are shoring up support for the house before they cut the hole in the concrete and move our Bilco door entrance later this week.
The drywall people spent the entire weekend couped up in my house, and now all that needs to be done is the sanding. Then it’s onto the finishing. I’m starting to feel better about them actually being finished on time.
This weekend, we all loaded into the car and went to see some of the Parade of Homes houses in the area. Our builder had one house entered in the contest and he won almost every category including "Best of Show" for the beautiful house he built. I saw the builder and VP of the company in front of the house and he instantly recognized me from high school. He graduated a year behind me.
I congratulated him on building such a beautiful house and then told him that he’s currently building mine. I didn’t expect him to know since my maiden name was oh so different than my current last name. When I told him the lot number though, he exclaimed, "That’s YOUR house!". I told him it was and asked him to throw some free upgrades into it like the ones in his million dollar Parade of Homes house. He laughed, said "no problem," and peddled away on his bike with his little girl on the back.
I’m hoping he feels badly enough about his cousin dumping me two weeks before the prom to get my house completed on time.
Now that’s a story for another post.
Excuse me while I freak out
Filed under: ACL Hell, Building the BBM House, Tales from the dojo
Mr. BBM is all zen. When we were selling our house, he was calm. My realtor and I were not. When I’m freaking out because I don’t feel they’re going to finish our house in time, Mr. BBM says, "It will all work out." Last night, I finally brought him to my side, the dark side of worry and pessimistic paranoia.
While I fully realize that a crew of men descended on my house like a hive of worker bee’s, completing the insulation on Monday and hanging all the drywall on Tuesday, when there is no activity on your house for three days post all this crazy activity, you start to worry a bit.
Tomorrow is September 20th. Our settlement date is October 20th. As of tomorrow, they have exactly 30 days, 29 really because they won’t be working on the 20th of October anymore. We’ll be moving in. There are also weekends in there, which brings the number of actual working days down considerably.
Mr. BBM was asking me why I’m freaking out and I said this: "The siding guy hasn’t been back since Saturday. Only about 1/10 of our house has siding. The stone guys can’t come until the siding guy is finished. The stucco guy can’t come until the stone guy is finished. They can’t tape and spackle the drywall until the house is one temperature which means the furnace needs to be installed. They can’t install the furnace yet because they still have to saw through 10 inches of ribar-enforced concrete to create my new Bilco door basement entrance right near where the furnace goes. They also need to pour the new concrete basement wall where the door used to be. That has to sit for 24 hours. Then they have to seal it and that has to sit for at least 24 hours before they can push the dirt back. They can’t grade the yard or work on the sidewalk to the house or the driveway until the yard is graded. If the furnace isn’t installed and they can’t finish the drywall, then they can’t paint, install trim, put the floors in, or the cabinets, or the countertops or the lights. . ."
By the end of my little diatribe, he was looking pretty stressed. His whole, "the outside pace doesn’t have any effect on the inside pace" and vice versa thing fell through completely. Screwing up the bilco door screwed up the schedule and now I am having a fit.
I emailed the builder representative this morning and questioned him about when things are going to happen. His answer was pretty much "don’t worry about it." I’m sure there were matching hand gestures.
Here’s the thing. I am worried about it.
You see, I think we’re approaching the end of the honeymoon period of living with my parents. The other night my dad sat in the living room drinking directly from a near-finished bottle of wine. He didn’t want to make another dirty dish or glass. It’s probably just my paranoia but I’m thinking they’re tired of their dishwasher running all the time.
When I joked with my parents last night that they’re turning into my grandparents and bickering over silly things like opening the dishwasher before the dry cycle is over with, my Mom retorted with a "Well, we’re tired." I don’t know exactly what that meant but I knew it meant something and headed for the solace of our room above the garage, also known as the disaster area where the kids’ toys live.
When my Mom comes home from work and we’re not outside, she asks me if I’ve had the girls out for a bike ride. When I say "no," I get this look. The truth is that I would have loved to ride bikes with the girls, but I spent the morning washing my Mom’s sofa cushions when Lil C decided that my Mom’s sofa resembled a toilet and while I was still cleaning that up, the girls knocked over my glass of iced tea which splashed on the sofa, the rug, my dad’s magazines (gasp!) and everything else within a 10 ft. diameter.
To say that I am stressed is sort of an understatement. I’m tired of not knowing where my stuff is located. I’m sick of cleaning up after the girls non-stop. I’m tired of sharing a queen bed with Mr. BBM. I want my king back; and I’m really tired of sharing a bathroom with three other people.
I’m also tired of this knee business. When I wrote about my knee this week, my readers came out en masse and basically said that I’m mental, in a nice way of course. While I don’t disagree with this assessment, it’s also a fact that my knee hurts. When I took Big I to karate last night, Hanshi began asking me when I was coming back. I asked him when he had time to do a private lesson or two, to just walk through kata slowly without the pressure of feeling like I have to keep up with the class. We started trying to come up with a date and we were back to mid-October when Hanshi strongly suggested I make the trip in tomorrow morning.
Because I haven’t been able to think of an excuse worthy of blowing off a 9th degree black belt, I guess I’m going back to karate tomorrow. Why not right? What’s one more thing to stress about in the grand scheme of things?
Full Speed Ahead
I would like to be able to show you pictures of the inside of my newly drywalled house. I can’t do that though, because when we arrived tonight at about 7:30 to check it out, there were still eight very busy men walking around my house on stilts installing drywall at the speed of light. From what I could tell from the street, the entire entryway, family room and most of the rooms that are visible from the front were completely done.
Now I know why the electrician told us that sometimes the guys go directly over the electrical outlets. They are moving. As much as I would have liked to walk in there and check it out, there were saws and screw guns operating almost non-stop and I really didn’t want to interrupt.
Plus, I was kind of scared that they’d drywall me if I didn’t move fast enough through the house. I am wondering if they finished the entire job tonight. If not, they’ll be back at 6 a.m. tomorrow. My neighbor told me this is the time they wake her up each day.
For the longest time, things were moving so slowly. I guess hitting the one month until settlement date kind of lights a fire under them. Monday, our entire house was insulated and today, most of it drywalled. At this rate, I’ll have my floors in by Saturday.
Lil C said yesterday, "Wow Mommy, it’s really starting to look like a house now." The girls are brimming with excitement; and I can’t wait to get in there in just one more month.
One more month people!!!
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