good things and what I learned - { september }

Swallow Ridge at the Beginning of September

cheesy iPhone pictures – I’ll try to get some with my big girl camera next time

What I Learned:

~ Drywall likes to go before stucco, but roofers like to go after stucco. But. . . .drywall can’t go before roofers because of the threat of rain damage. This creates a fun little catch-22 that gets subs irritated with you. I learned to just choose what seemed best to me, and darn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

~ Check all your windows with code requirements BEFORE ordering! Our inspector found 5 windows that have to be replaced with tempered glass, costing us more than $1000. 

~ It’s okay to have to reschedule people. And then reschedule them again. And then again. I was feeling like a major annoyance to my roofers – and maybe I am – but I am paying them quite a lot of money, and it is not my fault that other trades are taking longer than we thought they would. Now I try to just cheerfully call and update them. “Yes, it looks like it will actually be in another decade or so. Sorry about that!”

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~ This house still feels like an albatross when I think of the money involved. It is really hard not to get into the If-Only trap of thinking. But since I am saying what I learned . . . . I would definitely do more research on who should draw up plans. An architect would have been a much better choice for us and saved us lots of money, way more than what we “saved” by hiring a draftsman. Oh, well. Since we are ending up with a bigger, fancier house than we had set out to build, it helps me to think more of the comfort we will be able to provide to our family and visitors as well as the years of happy memories I hope we will make here. I also like thinking of all the blood, sweat, and tears we will be putting into it ourselves once drywall is done. It makes me feel all pioneerish and awesome.

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Good Things That Happened with Swallow Ridge in September:

~ Rough-in was completed for our hydronic baseboard heaters, our electrical, and our plumbing.

~ We scored a cooktop and dishwasher that will work well in our kitchen on Craigslist for $225! For both!

~ The roofers came back and fixed the dry-in with cap nails so that hopefully it doesn’t start blowing off again. I was grateful for the individualized help we received from a friend of my parents, who has retired from roofing but is expert in that field and who came and watched, making sure it got done right.

~ My mom has been a huge help translating for our stucco guy and me. Her Spanish is amazing and she is friendly to boot!, so not only are we able to communicate but she makes it fun.

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check out that Cutie in the sunset light – can’t wait to sit on our front porch together :)

~ Most of the first layer of stucco is on! Woot! It took most of the month for two workers (only :() to install the lath. But once they started putting the cement on it seemed to go much faster.

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~ My parents have some old, but solid wood salvage cabinets in storage that they are willing to give us. I will need to clean them well and refinish them but I am so happy about the money saved on cabinets. Woohoo!

~ All the exterior doors were installed without anyone getting hurt (see August’s post when it comes for an injury story). Also I never have to work with that sub again, which is a relief (just one of those personal things – some personalities are more pleasant to work with than others!).

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the result of much communication between me and multiple framers – woot!

~ Our electric company has been on the ball. They got our design approved and all the easement paperwork to us. They’re waiting on us now to get the trenching done and conduit laid (can you believe they leave that up to the homeowners? yikes). Power is scheduled to be connected on 11/4.

~ Framers came back and fixed many of the little problems still hanging on, also got it all set for drywall. They even did some of the blocking for our kitchen cabinets for free.

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looking up at that sweet chimney chase

~ Trenching was completed on the last day of September. Our backyard looks like a war zone, but it was a huge blessing that an excavator was enough to get through the solid rock – we didn’t need to use a hammer hoe, which would have cost more than double. Now what to do with the stacks of boulders sitting on what is supposed to be our backyard lawn!? lol

trench through the backyard

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Swallow Ridge at the End of September

I’m not complainin’!

So blessed. So grateful.

I apologize for the negativity that came through my last couple of posts. I think that I will do better to focus on the good things that are happening. Building a house is stressful for anyone that takes it on, but what an incredible blessing to be able to do it!

I have worked through some (most?) of my more complicated feelings about the mistakes I’ve made and I’m ready to continue the process with a better attitude!

Here are some of the things that have helped:

**Realizing that this house will be a place of joy for us. We will have many joyful moments there and create lots of good memories.

**Thinking of the house as an asset we can use to help other people. To invite family and guests and have it be a place of refuge and comfort for them.

**Getting a clearer perspective of what seemed a mountainous trial to me. It is after all, just a house. And if my decisions have caused us financial strain, sometimes that is just part of life. I need to move on and learn from my mistakes, but not grind myself into the ground over them.

**Thinking of Houston. And Florida. My prayers are with the people of those areas destroyed by the hurricanes!

**Talking, talking, talking. With DC, the best man in the world for me. My true and loving friend and companion.

**Church! I wish we had it every other day instead of every 7 days. After our meetings yesterday I came home feeling strengthened and refreshed. Joseph Smith had it so much harder. So many awesome people have had it so much harder. They kept fighting through their challenges and I want to, too.

I’m going to retrofit some posts (builder-talk :) about the building process of this house, including photos, things I learned (so hopefully my mistakes can help someone else!), and good things that have happened along the way. . . .stay tuned. :)