delays, delays, delays…

I must have been delusional to think we’d be in our new house by Christmas. There are so many things left to do, I’m not convinced the house will even be ready by the first of the New Year. Of course our keeps saying he’s shooting to get us in before or around Christmas, but today, even he was a little less optimistic. Even more so when he discovered the wrong garage doors had been ordered, and another 3 weeks will pass before the correct doors come in.

This is about par for the course. We’ve had delays due to the plumber, the utility company, the dry wall installers, the siding…I could go on, but I’m depressed enough as it is.

Ben the builder thinks the interior of the house will be painted by the end of the week and then he’ll start putting tile down. I’ll be shocked if this really happens, but I’m hoping it does. It would be nice to see everything come together these next few weeks. With the weather getting blustery, I fretting about the effort it will take to move into the new house, so something going well would be a welcome change of pace.

I’ll put some more pictures out soon…as soon as there something worth photographing. Check back later, and keep your fingers crossed.

- the UB

thanksgiving away

We spent Thanksgiving with my Mom this year in Auburn, IA, which is about 3 hours from our home. Since we’re living in temporary housing until our new home is ready, it was nice to spend a holiday away from our little rental and together with some family.

Thanksgiving day was pretty typical – mom made lots of food, Anna and others brought some side dishes and desserts, and we sat around and ate like it was the last meal we would ever consume. Being the intelligent guy I am, I made sure I wore my fat pants just so I could stuff a few extra bites of pie down my pie hole. Then after dinner, there was the annual food induced coma – one of the best naps I take all year long.

The best part about the entire visit was how lazy an event it was. Anna and I have been under tremendous stress with the new home being built, especially when we’re looking at getting in around Christmas – not the best time to be moving. So spending time with my mom and my step-father was a pretty nice diversion from the stress we had waiting for us at home.

I’m not sure how much fun it was for Cam, but I know Zoë had a great time. She was excited to visit grandma and grandpa, but not to see them, but to see Barney – one of their dogs. Barney and Zoë became best of buddies over the past couple summers when the kids spent a week camping with my mom. It was like reuniting long lost friends.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we’ve been thrust back into reality and the stress that follows. Now for the mad dash to Christmas with the hope we’ll be in our new house to host the holiday with our family. Everyone keep your fingers crossed.

- the UB

concrete evidence

Even in the damp and dreary weather the contractors seem to find a way to get some work done around the house. This week they’ve managed to pour the concrete for the driveway and the steps to the house. It looks like they’re about to pour the sidewalk too, but I think they have to wait for the loops to be plumbed in for the geo-thermal system first. Apparently there is a big truck that needs to run over the sidewalk and they fear damage may occur.

If all goes well, which is our hope, they’ll have the heat on in the house before the end of the week. Then the drywall guys can come back and tape and mud the walls. So there’s a good chance the drywall will be completed by the end of next week. Keep your fingers crossed – we still might make it in before Christmas.

Anna and I are down to picking paint color, stain, and tile. The builder need us to make these decisions quickly so he can order everything and get ready for all the finish work. Sounds like he’s ready to tear into it.

Like always, I add new pictures as I take them. So check out the online gallery at http://picasaweb.google.com/urbanbigfoot/NewHomeConstruction.

- the UB

rock on the walls

I can’t believe it, but all the sheet rock is up in the new house. It hasn’t been taped or mudded, but hey, at this point, I’m thrilled to have made it this far.

If we can get the heat on in the house within the next couple of days, they should complete all the sheet rock in a week or two. After that, it’s pretty much all finish work. The builder still thinks he can get us in by Christmas, so I’m not going to complain. I still have my doubts, but it looks like we still have a chance.

The driveway and sidewalks should get poured this week, and then the sprinkler system and sod should be next. So while the drywallers work in the house, they’ll be going to town on the exterior as well. The siding is almost complete and should be finished by the end of the week.

I’ll keep posting images as I take them. Visit our online gallery for the updated images.

- the UB

iowa vs penn state, a game to remember

It was a cold and windy day; the crowd was going wild. The Hawkeye’s were lined up to kick the game winning field goal in the final seconds of the game. As the ball passed through the uprights, the fans spilled onto the field, not realizing that 1 second remained on the play clock. No one cared…we had just beat Penn State, the #3 rated team in the nation.

Over the past couple years, it’s been rare to be excited about having season tickets to the Iowa Hawkeye football games. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy going to the games, especially the tailgating, but once in a while, you like to see your team win a big game. When they’re not winning, you start to feel like you’re throwing your money away. Yesterday was one of those days – a rare and exciting day…the day the Iowa Hawkeyes beat Penn State, the #3 team in the nation.

As usual, we had several hours of pregame fun. We setup our tailgating party with lots of food and drink. I made my special winter drink – Jamie’s Hard-ass Apple Cider, a drink guaranteed to warm you up on a cold day. Everyone had a great time, especially since it was a 2:30 PM kick-off, which meant no one had to get up quite a early as usual.

The game was awesome. Iowa came out and scored right away. I’d say that set the tone for the rest of the game. Our defense was strong and our offense made plays when needed most. There were mistakes on both sides of the ball, but the team gave enough to pull off a last second win against Penn State with a field goal to win the game 24-23. I think Penn State was favored by more than 7 points, so if you had money on this game (and you bet on Iowa), you could have raked in a pretty penny.

You wouldn’t believe how close I came to missing this game. I hurt my back in the morning just before we were about to head out to the game. If it weren’t for pain killers and alcohol, I wouldn’t have made it through the day. Thank goodness for modern medicine. Of course I’m paying for it today, but it was worth it.

We have one more home game next week against Purdue. I’m pretty sure we can with this one, especially coming off such a big win. LET’S GO HAWKS!

- the UB

get out and vote, be a part of history

Who doesn’t want to be a part of one of the most important historic events of our lifetime? More people than ever are coming out to vote for their chosen candidate than have ever participated before. More Republicans and more Democrats, and most importantly, more unique and independent voters. There are even more young and first-time voters showing up in the polls. There’s already been an unprecedented turn-out, and I believe after tomorrow, the numbers will be greater than any of us could have predicted – dare I say, staggering.

History in the making is really an understatement. Hell, the events of the past eight years have been historic, and the current president will go down in infamy. Certainly we’d all have to agree that we’ve witnessed and experienced a financial crisis like no other in our lifetime, unless of course you’re 80+ years old. Now history will write a new chapter into the journal of time, for we the people, for the first time in our lives, have a candidate who has shattered the race barrier and in all probability, will be the next President of our United States. I’m excited to be a part of this, if only briefly and in the slightest way, to usher in a new era in our countries history. Finally, we’re living up to what it means to be an American.

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for – I am proud to announce my endorsement of Barack Obama for President of the United States. We all know how important this endorsement is for the Obama campaign, right up there with Colin Powell. I’m convinced, with my pledged support, that Barack Obama will indeed be the next President our the U-S of A.

Okay, let’s get serious again. Voting is a right, sure. Without a doubt, one of the greatest rights we have as citizens of a free democracy. However, I do not feel that nearly enough people truly appreciate the right to vote. In my opinion, we need to approach this right in a new manner. Let’s not call it a right, let’s call it a privilege, because that’s what it is. Calling it a privilege makes it sound so much more appealing and let’s be honest, it is a privilege to be able to vote for our leaders, unabated, without threat and obstacle. Then maybe we can eliminate this sense of entitlement that so many, especially our youth, have today. If we call it a privilege, maybe some of us will start to understand it’s our duty, our way to honor those who came before us, and a service to our country.

Let’s all get out and vote, regardless of who our candidate for President may be. Get out and represent, and show our fellow Americans that our voices do matter. Vote tomorrow, November 4th. I know I will.

- the UB

If you take anything away from this post, I hope it’s, we all have a voice.

siding baby…siding!

Another milestone – siding has started. I drove by this evening after work and to my surprise there it was, siding on the north side of the house. Due to the change over from DST, it gets dark by the time I can get to the house, but I was able to get a couple decent pictures with the flash. I’m quite happy with the contrast between the two tones of tan/clay/beige…whatever you want to call it. The lighter color pops pretty well against the background of the clay colored siding. It should look very clean and linear once the thinker trim is added to the front of the house. I can’t wait to see it all come together. Even if the inside isn’t put together, at least the outside will start to look finished.

The electrician was at the house when I got there, and it sounds like there going to finish up tomorrow and then the insulation team will come in and knock out the insulation. So if we’re at all lucky (yeah right), I might have some cool pictures by the weekend.

- the UB

quote of the day : politics

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‘Present’ or ‘Not guilty.’
- Theodore Roosevelt (1858 – 1919)

joe the plumber would not be proud

So you may be wondering why I haven’t posted any recent pictures of the new house in the past couple weeks. The reason is quite simple really – very little has been done in the past several weeks. So you may be asking yourself, “Jamie, what’s the hold up?” Well it’s not Joe the Plumber, but close. It’s just the plumber our builder uses.

The plumber was suppose to be done two weeks ago, but as of today, it looks like he still has a day or two of work remaining. In all honesty, it hasn’t taken the plumber an extremely long time, he just didn’t start until about a week ago (or two weeks late). He’s so late that the electrician had to start before the plumber was finished – and to tell you the truth, I think the electrician will finish before the plumber…just sad.

So what does this mean for the time-line? Well my guess is that we won’t be in by Christmas. I certainly have not received confirmation of this, but I can add two and two. You see, since the plumber is behind, he’s held up the electrician (by only a couple days); the insulation contractor; the drywall contractor; the concrete contractor (to pour our sidewalks, driveway, and patio); and so on…basically the entire project is now behind by roughly three weeks.

Now there is still a chance we could get in  on, or before Christmas, though it’s very remote. Our builder is a hard worker and I know he’ll work very hard to get us in if at all possible. He’s done a fine job of completing all the tasks he can, and from what he says, we should have all the stone-work and siding complete within the next week. So the house will start to look finished, even if it isn’t.

If the plumbing, wiring, and insulation is completed this week, we should see drywall by the end of the week. I don’t know about you, but watching the drywall go up excites the hell out of me. We’ll finally start to see the layout come together.

I’ll keep posting pictures, you can bet your ass on that. They might not be as exciting; they might not come as often, but you’ll get a chance to see the progress as the project advances. Just visit http://picasaweb.google.com/urbanbigfoot/NewHomeConstruction to see all the great pictures.

- the UB

tricks and treats

When you’re in-between homes, holiday’s lose a bit of their luster. Halloween, though not a major holiday, was pretty lack-luster for us this year. We didn’t get any of our decorations out – not that we have many. We didn’t make our yearly trip out to Bloomsbury Farm either. Instead, Anna took Zoë out to Bart’s Pumpkin Patch to grab a couple pumpkins, but that turned out to be a bust too since it was extremely cold and windy.

Cam was out of town for a church retreat, so he wasn’t involved in any Halloween activities – not even around to help us hand out candy. When we went out trick-or-treating, we left a bowl of candy on our doorstep with a little note that read, “Please Take One! Happy Halloween!”.

Zoë had a pretty good time trick-or-treating in our temporary neighborhood. She was surprised to receive several full-sized candy bars (which I promised not to steal). This year she was dressed as a black cat – incredibly adorable. She was very excited about the entire day – there was the dress up day at school; the dress up day at her after-school daycare; and then trick-or-treating. She was especially excited about stopping by her teacher’s house. As luck has it, her teacher lives in our neighborhood.

The next holiday is obviously Thanksgiving. Since we do not have a place we can really call home, we’ve decided to spend Thanksgiving with family. We’ll be traveling to my mother’s house this year, something we haven’t done for a couple years. I only hope the weather is nice so the drive doesn’t suck.

To view more pictures, just head on over to our Picasa gallery.

-the UB