McHouse fans: I stopped by the house today and saw the frost footings. Harrison is very excited as well. Brian and I went to the appliance store and we are not liking the GE appliances as far as looks and features on the standard units. We are going to keep looking around town. Maybe we'll have to make a voyage to Nebraska Furniture Mart! I am just so used to my Amana Microwave (RadarRange!). Let me know what you have and like! The other thing we spent time on was the heating and air conditioning system. We have to choose between one that has a two stage (dual valve) blower and the standard that doesn't. It basically comes down to comfort level related to consistent heat across the house. We will have the garage door appointment tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Here we go again!

WooooHooooo! Thursday brought another chance to dig and success; the frost had melted and they were able to dig our basement! On Friday they finished digging and poured the frost footings for the foundation before the end of the day! Que Bueno! Soooooo, I will check with the project manager tomorrow for the plan on pouring the foundation. I will also post some pics as soon as I can get them from Dad. (We left early last week for a long weekend at Okoboji). Last week I spent some time on the flooring. I might change the tile in the front entry way. I can not find a picture of it on the internet to save my life or I would post another poll. I am waiting on quotes from another store in town on the carpet and vinyl and wood. I also got a quote back on putting granite throughout the entire kitchen and it came in only $100.00 more than the low end version of Corian (Staron) so, I guess if we are going to make the jump from formica to hard surface we will go with the granite! This week we are tackling appliances, furnace, air conditioner, garage doors and looking at possibilities for stone on the exterior. I also have another appointment with the plumbing supplier to make some final decisions about fixtures. Again, I'll try to get some pictures posted of our choices. Have a great week and keep your fingers crossed for a successful foundation pour! Emily

On hold

Ok, anybody who knows me knows that I rate very low on my patience level! So yesterday when I drove by the lot and saw not only no action but NO EXCAVATOR AT ALL I was a little worried. I called the project manager and she said that there are some houses on the framing schedule before ours and that if we wait a week hopefully the rest of the frost will go out of the ground. So we are on a little bit of a hold this week. Tomorrow I have an appointment with the cabinet vendor to try to finalize the layouts for the kitchen and the bathrooms. I'll be sure to keep you up to date an developments get underway!

The case of the missing hole

Hey everybody. We had a mystery on our hands today. I drove by the lot at 11:30 this morning and I was pleased to see that they had started to dig a large hole. There was a man in the hole that I assumed was the excavator operator. I got out of the car and said "Good Morning, what are you looking for down there?" He said, "Nothing, I just had to pee!" So I guess the positive way to look at it was that our hole was christened but I'm really glad I didn't get there any sooner! There was a long copper pipe in the bottom of the hole and the man said that it was the water line and the plumber had connected it. We looked up and saw the city inspector coming to check it out so I left feeling like things were progressing right along, everyone seemed to be working expeditiously etc. I thought Harrison would love to see the big hole and we might even get to watch the excavator in action so I drove by again at 3:00 after I picked Harry up from preschool. You can imagine my surprise when there was not only no excavator operator, but there was no hole! Mind you I had called Dad, Bob, Brian and told them that there was action at the lot and they should drive by! I was confused, Harrison was bummed and I looked like a big liar! I called the project manager and she said they just hooked up the water and the sewer today and hopefully tomorrow they will dig. So I have to redeem myself so people will stop thinking I'm nuts for being all excited about flat dirt. I hope to have a great big house shaped hole soon! Warm weather is promised for the week so we may see the 1 foot of remaining frost dwindle. Have a super day! E

Fun is ahead!

Hey all Mchouse blog watchers! We have started a blog to track progress on our house. So anytime you want you can look, make suggestions or be glad it isn't you going through the "fun"! I will try to post daily pics of interesting developments, I may even ask for advice, who knows! So, check back often and we will plan an open house at the end of the summer, by then you should know your way around pretty well! E