Been a while

I can't believe I haven't updated this in such a long time. Well... We HAVE WALLS! Yes. The framing finally got done and sheet rock went up. Also got the tape, bed, and texture done just in time for us to hose Thanksgiving dinner. It was a bit primitive but I think everyone enjoy it. I can finally start thinking of this place as a home now that I can actually see the rooms and can no longer walk through them. LOL. We have the refrigerator hooked up in the shop area and the range is set up in place. Those appliances were needed to cook on Thanksgiving and we have left them there until we need to move them for the cabinets to be installed, which should happen next week. Unfortunately the cabinets were delayed, which has set everything else back. I doesn't look like the countertops will be installed until after Christmas but hopefully before New Years, if they work that week. If they do it would be awesome since I was planning to have Lindsey's birthday party here. We bought tile for the kids showers and floors so maybe we can get things moving along even with the kitchen being delayed. The weather has been feeling more like winter and not fall. We have had some below freezing evenings which has caused us to sleep in the house because the motor home heater is making some god awful noises and doesn't kick out warm air. The upstairs unit is the only one connected but that sucker sure keeps it comfortable. I am dreading our next electric bill though. I guess it is the price for stay warm.

And we move along

We have had a building spurt lately. Robert took a week off of work and put in our beautiful picture window and his buddies, the best guys in the world, came over and helped put up the ceiling trusses. We also got in our appliances: refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, cooking range, microwave, hot water heater, and hood vent. I am giddy about having everything but sad that it is just sitting there in boxes, teasing me to no end. Soon... soon they will be in use. I was talking to someone the other day and they commented that they knew someone else who lived in a motor home while building their house and it took them three years to build their home. The wife had said if she had known in the beginning that she would be living in a motor home for three years, they would have never done it. I have to agree. If I knew coming into this that I would be in the motor home for close to 3 years, I would have never done it either. And once you are already in the situation it is easier to accept the time period because you figure, Heck, I have done it this long, what is a few more months. And then after a few more months, and construction is still going on you say, again, what the heck is a few more months, until three years rolls around and you move into the house and think back - WOW! Were we really in that darn thing for that long? LOL.

The 2nd floor goes up

We are making more progress. We got the ply-board down for the 2nd floor and Robert has started framing the walls. I knew the front room ceiling was going to be high but you never really realize just how high until you put the walls up and you look up.

We got estimates for the HVAC and will get that started in the next few weeks, then appliances, cabinets estimates, electrical, plumbing, and so on. It is starting to come together but I am still hesitate about it coming together for us to have Thanksgiving dinner here. Oh, the toilet are suppose to be delivered today and I am making Robert install one of them by the end of the week. I never realized how much a flushing toilet mattered until you don't have one for a while and summer kicks in. Motor home toilet can get pretty nasty smelling during Texas summers. As soon as one of the toilets is in I am buying some curtains and that thing is being put to use. LOL.

Gavin turns 5

Yes, my baby turned 5 on May 31 and it is surreal to me. I can so clearly remember the day he was born like it was yesterday and now he is a no longer considered a toddler and classified as a school age child. Today is their last day of school and tomorrow morning is the 'awards' ceremony. After that, almost three full months of having them underfoot ALL day long. In some ways I look forward to have them around; no more getting up early, dragging them out of bed to get ready for school, figuring out what in the heck and I am going to put in their lunches, and making sure we do't miss the school bus. In other ways I dread these next 3 months. The whining that they are bored, consistently under foot and not being able to turn around without knocking into someone or stepping on a f$!#ing toy. Trying to figure out how to keep their minds sharp for next school year without making them hate it and dread school. I do look forward to our planned trips to Houston later this month and to Michigan in late July. Hopefully we can figure out and plan another trip down to Corpus Christi to visit family as well. Of course that means having our vehicles cooperate with us as well. We will see how well that goes.

The trusses are up and it is looking more like a house. So exciting. What is even more exciting is that the dirt guys came out and finished our road - WOO HOO!! We estimated it would be summer before the road would be able to get done because of all the rain we had and it was pretty darn close. The sheeting for the second story floor should be going down soon and then the second floor can get framed and we will be on our way to getting the HVAC installed. We have decided to change the way we are going to proceed with the house but we should still be in by Thanksgiving. Well, that is if things stop breaking (like our cars) and we have to dip into the house money to fix them. Have I mentioned that yesterday was the 2 year make of living in our motor home?

A long absence

It has been a few months since I have last update. I would have sooner but we have been progressing slowly, we still had no internet, and my laptop died on me. Recently we have started moving again, getting up all but two of the major walls and a few little ones, we got internet installed in the building even though the cost of installation was ridiculous, and we unburied our old desktop until I get a new laptop. We still have the issue of not being able to download pictures because the desktop doesn't have an SD slot and for some reason the USB cable doesn't want to cooperate with the camera, or vice versa.

We have had some decent weather lately and our alternate driveway is great but the 'tree cave' is still muddy as can be and isn't anywhere near ready for gravel so we can drive on the road we want and intended to use. Some day... some day.

Progress and the holidays

Robert got the doors on the building, well, the back and side doors, not long after the building was completed. There is a piece of ply-board covering the front door since it had to be special ordered and it won't be ready until February 1. Since the doorway are covered we moved everything out of storage and into the building. It was a early Christmas for the kids getting all their old toys back. Looks like I am going to have to go through everything once they are back in school and clear out the old 'baby' toys. I set up the tree so we could celebrate Christmas morning in there since the motor home is not conducive to that sort of thing. I have to tell you, it has been FREEZING lately and even though there is insulation in the building, it isn't a place I want to stay in very long when it is 30 degrees outside. After Christmas the kids and I headed down to Houston to visit friends while Robert stayed back to start putting up walls and getting the windows installed. We head back home in three days so I guess I will really see how much got done then.