I have to start somewhere

This is our house, so far.... actually these are just pics to start off with the house is much farther along now. I went out there again today and the roof is on, not the shingles but the wood is down and they were starting to put the vapor barrier down, and the shingles go on top of that. Its amazing all this work has been down in just two weeks!!

A pile of wood, actually its the roof trusses

the basement walls

this is looking at the front of the house

the guys is standing on the garage wall

basement walls

looking at the side of the house, you can also see the lookout part

a far away view looking at the other side

the back of the house

the lookout part

side few again

front of the house again

this also shows the forms they use to form the walls

Ryan's garage

the garage and front of the house

I have sooooo many more pics and I will post them later, I had to start somewhere. We are soooo excited!! It took a while longer to start then we thought it would but at least now it is well on its way. :O)

Exciting Times

So first of all this weekend my dad and I went out to the home site to measure some things. I some how got this crazy notion in my head that they poured the wrong basement for our house. Last week when I went out there I was in my work clothes and the place is SUPER muddy so I didn't get that close, plus the guys were working and I didn't want to intrude. But from where I was standing and walking it didn't look like the right basement, so Saturday I asked my dad if he would go out there with me and measure just to be sure. I know I am a girl and I can worry a bit about things I shouldn't and at this stage of the house who could tell by just looking anyways. So Saturday after we did bridesmaid dress shopping (*story later* ), my dad and I drove out there.

Now this is the thought in my head....its freezing cold outside so all the mud that I had encountered on Tuesday will all be dry and hard if not frozen , yea not so much. We get out there and the first thing that I realized as I stepped onto the lot of mud, is that mud really doesn't freeze. So starts the adventure. So my Awesome dad and I begin carefully walking towards the house, trying hard not to sink in to the mud, we finally reach where the garage and do some measuring, then we begin our "hike" to the back of the house to see the actual basement. This was the fun part. We were climbing over big mounds of dirt ( mud ) and trying to maneuver around big muddles and mud, I felt like we were little kids, it was so much fun. But at one point I almost lost a shoe, I stepped in a really muddy spot, the kind of mud that is more like quick sand than mud, it was like it just can alive and started to devour my shoe, lucky I didn't panic too much :O) and was able to pull my leg and shoe out. But it was a close one. From then on Dad led the way.

So we climb down to the back of the house and climb over the wall, and WE STOOD IN MY BASEMENT!!!! Soooo exciting!!! We measured all the wall and stuff and sure enough its the right house. Some how I think my dad new all along that it was right but I think he wanted an adventure too. We always have the bestest times together!!! So after we decided that the basement was ok ;O) We made our way back out of the basement and back to the street. I think my dads childhood days came back to him a bit because on the way out he knew right where to step and we didn't get stuck once.

After we measured the "house" he helped me figure out our property lines. He is soooo smart and good at stuff like that. They don't have the lines marked so by my dad using his awesome math skills I think we found them, or at least we are really close. So yeah, yeah, yeah!!

And my mom called me today and said that she drove by it and that they are pulling up the basement floor joists ( I think thats what you call them?? ) So tomorrow I am going out there again to take some more pics. I could just burst at the seams!!!!

In other news...... Saturday we also pick out bridesmaid dresses for Lt. Marys wedding. They are sooooooo pretty!! They will go sooooo well with her dress. God, I am sooooo happy for them. She is going to be the most beautiful bride and he will be the most hansomest groom. Their colors are pink and blue. Their theme is doves and her flowers are daisy's. Things are moving right along. Its crazy to think that in just a few months she is going to be married!!! HEHEHEHEH!!

Other than that Ryan and I are doing awesomely!! He's still working for "The City" and is loving it. He comes home in a great mood, we have fun, laugh, giggle, play with the meowfaces, eat dinner and snuggle up on the couch and fall asleep together. That is till I wake him up and we move to the "bee bed". Yes, that is his new thing, everything is "bees" with him. Bee Bye times, and sleepy bees, and Tinky bees and Bootsie Bee, and bee butt cheeks, the list goes on and on. I swear sometime he has he laughing so hard I almost pee my pants. I Love him soooooo much. We are soooooo happy and this is such an exciting time for us, I can't imagine sharing this time in my life with anyone else. God, I am soooo lucky to be married to such a wonderful, loving, caring, big hearted, goofy man. I am soooo blessed.

Giddy like a little school girl

Hehehehehehehehe, guess what?? Our basement has been poured and they are getting ready to add the floor for the house!! Then the walls, and the roof and tons of other stuff!!! I'm soooo excited I could just burst!!! I took pics today and will post them later. I'm in too much of a crazy mood to sit here while pics load. I can't believe we are on our way to having a house!!! And to top it off today is beautiful!!! The sun is shinning and the birdies are singing!!! Can today get any better!!!

So Happy For Them

My sister Mary has decided to get married this year. Well I guess they had decided to get married August 2nd 2008, then the wedding was postponed till June 2009, I think. But over the weekend she and Erik talk about and decided that they didn't want to wait till next year, that June 09 just didn't feel right, that they love each other, always have and always will and that they want to get married this year. I am sooo happy for them. They are really starting to work as a married couple they made the decision they wanted, that was the best for them and they are the most happy with. Choices that a couple makes are solely that of the man and woman and this is the decision they made, its want that want and I couldn't be happier for them.

I have known Erik for 5 yrs now and I have known Mary all my life, and to see them now after being together 5yrs and seeing how much they have grown, seeing how they care for each other, how they are best friends, seeing how much they love each other, all I can put in to words is I am sooooo happy for them. I love them both, wish them only the best, and I know they will have the most beautiful wedding, he will be the most hansom groom and she will be the most beautiful bride EVER!!! Congrats to the both of them, and now its time to PLAN THE WEDDING!!!!!

P.S. sitting here thinking about the two of them I remember the first time I met Erik, he was soooo shy, hardly talked and when he did he was sooooo quite and now well lets just say he fits in the family perfectly and he is no longer shy and quite, but loud and he definitely can hold his own. 5yrs ago when I met him he seemed like boy and now he is my sisters man. HEHEHEHEH soooo happy and giddy for them.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

O.k so I am not exactly mad but I am definitely not jumping for joy. Because of the cold weather they still have not dug our basement yet. I got an e-mail from Tony, our construction manager, telling me that the ground is still to frozen, and that they have tried a few times now but the digging machine just can't break through the ground. Grrrrrr, its just very frustrating. Now that we know we are going to have a house we are getting a little impatient. I've been out there a few times and you can tell that they have started to dig, but it looks like they just can't get past the top couple of layers of ground. With it being so cold the frost penetrated much deeper into the ground then they thought. I guess the most frustrating part is that this just pushes everything back. As it is at first the house was going to be done late May, then they told us early June, then mid June, if this stupid weather keeps up the house won't be don't till July!! On one hand I feel like I shouldn't be upset, I mean at least we will have a house, a house that is built for us, and not many people have that, and I feel very blessed and I am grateful to be able to have this house, but on the other hand we have wanted a house for 2yrs now, our apartment is sooooo full we can't put one more thing in here, I hate my kitchen, I can't wait to start packing, and this is the next step in our lives and I feel like it is just being put on hold again. I'm good at being patient, I really am, but right now I am feeling frustrated which makes me feel like I am being ungrateful. So its time to take a deep breath and go back to being patient. I am very grateful for having an Awesome husband, the greatest little meow faces ever, the apartment I live in and the house we will have. And someday we will have it, even if it takes a little longer than planned. Looking on the bright side we are able to save more money this way. ** I feel better now :O) **

The Bestest Days Ever Miss Mary

These past few days my sister Mary and I got to go on a trip together. We had soooooo much fun!! She had a teachers conference in Hastings, MI, so I took a few days off of work and went with her. The drive wasn't bad , a couple hours and we had fun talking to the lady in the GSP. The hotel she picked was in Shelbyville, and it was AWESOME!!! We went swimming every day in the heated pool, and played a game with the beach ball. She is sooooooo a kindergarten teacher, she kept trying to come up with new games we could play. She cracks me up!!! We got to eat out, actually we only ate out once the other days we got food and brought it back to the room to eat. I taught her how to knit. OMG!!! She picked it up wwwwaaaaaayyyyy faster than I did. I was very impressed!! We got to hang out and talk and just had a real fun time. It was also cool cuz Mary went to these conferences every day and she would come back and tell me all this stuff about children and how their brains work and stuff its sooooooo interesting. I'm soooooooooo proud of her, I could never be able to do learn all the stuff that she knows. Her brain is just sooo packed full of knowledge, I don't know where she stores it all, maybe in her big toe :O) She is such a cutie. I'm so proud of her. But now the trip is over and we are back in the real world. :O( Maybe some day we can take a trip together again. I love my little Mary :O)

Pictures of Our Lot

These are some pictures of our lot :O)

Can't really see much other than snow but I promise that

our house will be on this piece of land....

somewhere??

The thought is that where my car is parked is

kind of in front of where our garage may be??

This would be looking at the right side of our house
See the stick the is sticking up, we think that is where our house is going to be,

maybe??

Oh well, just look at the pick and imagine a house, somewhere??

***These pics where taken today 2/15/08, they started to dig yesterday :O) ***

There is dirt turned up on the right side of this photo, this is where our house will be

More turned up dirt on the left this time
I think this is the far right side of our property. looking toward the left side

All the turned up dirt is where our house will be!!!!!

Can you see it now :O)
I CAN!!!!

Not So Hehehehehehehehehe

Well we had the meeting with our building mananger today. It doesn't look like they will break ground tomorrow after all. As we were going over the plans one finial time we noticed that where they were placing the house on the lot was not going to work. They forget to account for the fact that next year we are adding a 3rd stall on for Ryan. With the way they had the house we would not have been able to add it. So now they have to re-draw the print and re-stake the lot. Also today when he when out to check the land he discoverd that the ground was much more frozen then he thought. So tomorrow he will re-stake it and re-check the ground and if it has warmed up some they will break ground tomorrow, if the ground is still to frozen he will keep checking back everday, till there is a good day. He said that it will more than likely be dug by the 18th at the latest. So its not bad news just not heheheheheheh news. Also he did a time line for us and it looks like the house won't be done till June not May like we had thought. But once again that is o.k. A: it gives us more time to save our pennies. B: we have more time to clean out some of our junk. C: we have a better chance that the weather will be nice. There is a small chance that the house will be done in May, but it is small. Although I have a thought that I may be able to help the deal out by baking some cookie, brownies, cake, ect..... But no matter what we are still SUPER EXCITED!!!!!

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

I am sooooooooo EXCITED!! We got a call from our building manager today. They are BREAKING GROUND ON THURSDAY, VALENTINES DAY!!! They wanted it to be a surprise for us, so we will always remember the date!!! I love these people!!!

Crazy Weekend!!!

Well it all started out on Friday night. I went to get Mr. Bojangles cage out of the bookshelf and put in on our Entertainment shelf, so he could be "part of the family" and so the Meow-faces could watch him. So I grab the cage and I notice Mr. Bojangles wasn't in his normal spot. So I put the cage on the shelf and started to look all over the cage for him, and of course by this time Ryan is asking "whats going on".
"Oh, just looking for Mr. Jangles"
"what do you mean, looking for him??"
"Well he's not in his normal spot and I'm looking for him"
So Ryan starts looking for him, after moving around everything in his cage including all the bedding, we came to realize "oh crap he's not in there" :O( This did not make Ryan happy.
So what do I do......Call my all knowing DAD!!! After talking to him for a bit we came to the conclusion that we have NO idea how he got out!! That the Meow-faces had no clue that he even had gotten out, and that we weren't even sure how long he had been out cuz the last time we took him out of the bookshelf was Wednesday, we think, it could have been Tuesday. So now what??

Well we didn't want the Meow-faces to get him so I packed them up and took them to my Dad's, he's such a good Grandpaws :O) Oh and by this time its 10:30-11:00 at night :O( I ran to Meijer hopping to find some No Kill mouse traps, which they didn't have. Neither did Walmart.
So I get home, and try to talk to Ryan, but he was really, really mad. So he just went to bed. I tried looking for the little mouse face, but couldn't find him.

Saturday I got up early with Ryan and went to Lowes. Which does have No Kill mouse traps. I am not about to kill this little mouse, he is ( was ) my buddy. Plus I hate killing things ( except spiders ). The no kill traps are actually really cool. Can't really explain it, The mouse runs in the tube looking thing and his weight causes a door thing to close so he can't get out. Anyways, so I set up these trap and begin to clean like mad. My thought is that if there are no crumbs to eat then he will be forced to run in the tube to get the peanut butter.

So all day I'm hoping that A: I will Find him hiding somewhere, or B: I will turn around to find a trap that is sprung. Neither happened. I cleaned all day and looked everywhere. My dad even came over to help look. But no luck. Plus while I was doing my "mad" clean I burned my hand, got cleaner in my eye, and I took a pretty big chunk out of my big toe which really hurt and bleed. :O( Finally Ryan got home around 10:30pm, he wasn't in such a bad mood by them, plus I made him meatloaf and homemade mashed potatoes for dinner which I think helped. I make an AWESOME meatloaf!!! So we decide that if we don't catch him by the morning we will get out of the house as soon as we can in the morning. Hoping that if the house is quite then he will come out,and get caught. We eat our Awesome dinner and went to bed.

Ryan got up early, much earlier then I was hoping he would cuz I still wanted to sleep. All of a sudden I hear " I think we got him". I jump out of bed and Ryan hands me a trap that was sprung. But it was soooooo light I couldn't tell if he was in there or not. We even tried comparing it to another trap, but it was so hard to tell. So now what?? I'm not going to just open it in case he is in there, plus if he is what are we going to do with him?? So I leave the decision up to Ryan. Its his choice. So what does he decide?? He wants to keep him!!! What the crap, he got made cuz he got out and now he wants to keep him. So we talk about it. Come to find out he wasn't made that he got out but that the Meow-faces could have gotten sick and that we had to put them through some stress by having to take them to my dad's. He is a little over protective of our girls, I keep saying that he treats them like babies. I wonder what he is going to be like with real babies??
So o.k, we will keep Mr. Bojangles. Since we still had no clue how he got out of his cage we decide to clean it up and take it back and see if we can get a different cage. So we put him back in his 1st cage, the one he started to try to chew through, which is why we got him a different cage. Crazy mouse face.

So now we have the Meow-faces back, which they are happy about. At my dads all Tinky did was hide. He couldn't find her. But once she heard Ryan's ( daddy's ) voice, she came right out. She loves her daddy. And now Mr. Bojangles has yet another new cage. This one is a 5.5 gallon glass aquarium, with a metal screen lid so he can't chew thought it. And we got him a little toy Jeep for him to play/hide in. So hopefully he won't give us any more problems. Although, he is a smart little shit and has discovered that he can roll his toilet paper tube over to his water bottle, climb on top of the tube and jump up and grab on to the water bottle, climb up it and then he can grab on to the metal screen and hang from it, and crawl around the screen. Grrrrrrr. Just be a good little mouse face, won't you :O)

Some of you might think we are crazy for keeping this little guy, and thats o.k but I'm not heartless and I am not about to let him go in this weather its like 30 below outside and its not like he has a place to go out there, he wouldn't even be able to dig himself a house cuz the ground is soooooo cold, and frozen. Maybe in the spring we will let him go. Just not now we don't want to give him a death sentence.

The Cats Out Of The Bag

Well now that my dad, mom, brother, and sister know I can officially post it . ( No I'm not pregnant ) WE ARE BUILDING OUR FIRST HOUSE!!!!!

Remember that lost dog that lead us to the creepy man who told us about Laffetty Falls, well I think that dog was sent to us for a reason cuz we are now building in Laffetty Falls. The craziest part about the whole thing is that we had driven past Laffetty Falls a dozen times and never drove in because it looks too expensive. But I guess looks can be deceiving. So I should probably stop call the creepy man creepy too. I should also try and find him and tell him thanks.

So today we are going to see our CAD drawing ( blue print ) and sign off and then they will break ground. The plan is to break ground this week but if it is too rainy they will have to wait a bit. That would be one big mud puddle!!

I will post pictures later with the details of the house.

HEHEHEHEHEHE We are soooooo EXCITED!!!

Snow White and Noah ( like from the Ark )

Here's how the story goes....

As most of our family and friends know we have been looking for a house, we are tired of this apartment and we want out!! So for the past few Sundays Ryan and I have been heading out on Sunday mornings, driving around, trying to find a house.

So Sunday January 13th started out like any other Sunday morning. We headed out around 9:30/10:00am to drive around the areas we are interested in. For 4hrs all we did was drove ( man that seems like a long time, but while we were driving it didn't seem that long ), anyways... we had found some open houses that started a 2pm, so were went thought a couple of them, a total waste of time, as were are driving to a third house we see a golden retriever walking on the side of the road. As we drive by I see that the cable it was tied to was broken, so I make Ryan stop and back up. I get out of the car, half hoping that it will just run away, and all I say is "come here" that's it I don't really call it, all I did was make a statement, "come here" and I only say it once. But sure enough it comes over to me. Well now what do I do?? It had no owner tag just a vet tag that we call and of course they are closed on Sundays. So I do what any normal person would do... I call my dad. :O) As he is trying to look up the number for animal control I hand the phone over to Ryan and I start knocking on doors. Of course no one has ever seen the dog before, after about 20 houses or so I knock on this door, a guys comes to the door and says that he thinks he knows who's it is. Oh and I do have to say that the whole time of me walking this dog around it was the best dog ever, never ran away, walked with me, and even sat when I said sit. Anyways.... so this creepy looking man say that he can take me to this house that he thinks the dog belongs to. Now mind you Ryan is in the car, and I am walking with this guy thought back yards and all I keep thinking is that I am going to be killed by this guy and no one will know. How long will it take for Ryan to realize that something is wrong?? So we get to this house and of course its not theirs, so we walk back and he says that he will take us to another house that has a golden but that we have to drive there. So now he is in the car with us and the dog. Now I am thinking that not only is he going to kill me but Ryan as well, and for sure no one will know. We drive to this house and sure enough its not theirs either. We take the guy back to his house and he says that he will take care of the dog and call the vets office in the morning. Then he asks us where we live. We tell him that we are just looking for houses and we don't live in the area. Then he invites us in his house and says he will draw a map of some houses that he knows are for sale. So somehow we end up in this guys house, and now I know we a for sure we will be bumped off. But instead he really does draw us a map. Which leads us to what may very well be our FIRST HOME!!!

So thank you lost doggie I hope you are in a good home now and thank you creepy man :O)

But that's not the end of this fairy tale ( for animals )

On Sunday we made an appointment to look at some house on Tuesday at 1:30pm. At 1pm as we are leaving our apartment we see this little mouse running down the stairs. I look at Ryan, he looks at me and we both look at the mouse. What do we do?? Of course we decide to save the mouse. So we start to follow it. But it is way to fast for us. After trying to catch it for a while we decide that we have to go or we will be late. But that when we get home we will look for it again and if we find it we will help it. So we go to our appointment, which lasts way longer that what we thought, and we go to my dads house after because it was his birthday. We don't get home till after 11pm. As we are walking in Ryan says that he will take the front stairs and I will take the back and see if we can find the mouse. Really all I expect to find is a dead mouse either stepped on or something else got him, but I do not expect to find him alive. As I am walking though the back stairs I hear Ryan " I found him". Can you guess where he was??? Right in front of our door. Not in the corner, smack dab in the middle between the door and our door mat. Curled up just waiting for us. Actually at fist I thought I he was dead. I was sooooo cold that day and we walked right up to him and he didn't even move. I reach down pick him up, and he was so cold. Crap he's dead. Then he moved a little, and of course pees in my hand. But that's OK he was scared and cold. So I had Ryan rip up some paper towels and we put him in a plastic storage container, I run to Meijer, get him a cage, food, water bottle, and bedding. So now we have a pet mouse. Mr. Bojangles.

So now we are known as Noah and Snow White.


And they all lived happily ever after. For now, until we rescue something else.

I want to pull my hair out!!!!

I hate looking for a house!!! We either find one that we think looks good go and see it only to discover its crap, or all we can find is crap!!! We did find some lots and got all excited thinking we would build only to discover the lots are way to small!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! I need a magic house finding fairy!!!

The only good things is that at least Ryan and I are having fun together looking at the crap!! Laughing and stuff, so the whole experience is all bad :O)

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Oh what to do, what to do?? Oh here's the problem. Ryan works a lot, everybody knows that. He works at least 12hr days if not 14hrs, which everyday this week but yesterday ( Friday ) he worked a 14hr day, yesterday he worked only 12hrs. His last day off was the 30th ( last Sunday ) and he had to go in at 2pm and then stayed till 8 for family night. No, I don't mind him working so much as long as he stays sweet when he comes home, and so far he has, in fact his attitude is better than I could have ever hoped for. He comes home with a smile, we laugh and joke and play around every night, we have dinner together and he always wants to help even though he just got home, he isn't cranky at all its amazing com paired to other years that we have been together its like he is a new person. I love it, he even wakes up with a smile, pulls me close and holds me for a few minutes before he gets out of bed. The point is no matter how tired he is he isn't being mean or grumpy, and I don't feel like I have to walk on egg shells in fear that I am going to make him mad.

But the problem is that our friends keep calling and wanting us to do stuff with them, and we feel bad because we keep saying No, and they are beginning to get mad. I just don't know how to get people to understand that Ryan is tired and just wants to rest when he gets off work. Winter is not a good time for us to hang out with people. Its Ryan's busy season and with the new store opening things are twice a busy, not a busy as Best Buy was but I would say 14hrs is a pretty busy day. Its not that we don't want to go to a movie or out to eat, or play pool, etc.... its just that he just wants to come home and sit, plus we don't really go to moves we just wait for them to come out on DVD, the we buy it :O) and Ryan doesn't want to be rude and fall asleep at someones house. Like last night he came home "early" we had dinner and he started to fall asleep in his apple pie, I had to take it away from him cuz I thought he would drop it. I rubbed his back for a bit and he was out like a light. It was 9:30pm. How bad would it have been if we were at someones house?? It's not that we are avoiding people, he just needs some time to catch up on some rest. And if he is feeling up to doing something we will call you. We want to have fun too.

And the reason I don't just go out with out him is because I want to spend as mush time with him as possible. He's my hubby, I love him and if I only get 45mins with him then I best he home to make sure its the be 45mins it can be.

So he works today, he is going to try and get off at 6pm, I really hope he does, and who knows maybe we will give you a call tonight to hang out or something, or maybe not. Just please don't get all pissed off, please understand that this just how it is, we love you all and if things were different we would totally be having fun with you, and when things calm down we will be.

So far this year

For New Years I went to my Pops we shared a steak and both had our own potato, watched some T.V , took a walk in the snow WHICH I LOVE!!! Got back just in time to toast in the New Year with my Pops, called Ryan ( woke him up ) told him Happy New Year and to go back to sleep, called Joe, Lt. Mary, and my Mom. Then shoveled some snow something else I LOVE. And was home and in bed by 1:30am. And if you really want to know the reason Ryan and I didn't spend the new year together was because he worked 16 hours and had to be up at 6:30am New Years day to work ( again ). He didn't even get home till after 11pm and went straight to bed. So instead of me having to be alone we decided that I should just go to my dads and have fun with him :O) So I did. We have also decided that when he gets a day off we will have our own celebration, but that won't be for a while :O( He is pulling an over 70hr week this week. So we will wait till we have a chance.

Other than that all I have done so far this year is cleaned, organized, washed, put away, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah......... oh but I did get to play my sisters new Wii,and my arms are killing me. That game is such a workout, but FUN!!!! And what is my plan for the rest of the week and weekend??? Clean some more. Well at least when we find a house we will be ready to go and not have to go through things, thats a plus :O)