Foundation Is In

Foundation walls are up and backfilled. We've been making a trip to our lot each weekend to check on the progress. Mikey stopped by to check it out too. This week Brad the Builder will be pouring the basement floor, framing basement walls and, possibly, capping it all off. We were off to Milwaukee last Sunday to BBC Lighting. It's in an old brick warehouse close to Marquette University. You can find lighting up to 50% off retail prices. Mr. Amazing thought we'd only be there about an hour (me laughing a lot here).....right.....try almost four hours! We darn near closed the place! We found outside lighting, kitchen lights, front hall and back hall lights. I brought pictures of the fixtures I was looking for and, unfortunately, most would need to be ordered. How can that be! A warehouse filled with lights and I like fixtures that need to be ordered! In the end, I compromised. Sigh.....yes, compromised. Kitchen cupboards need to be ordered SOON to take advantage of the company's 15% discount so stay tuned!

It's All About Compromise

I'm finding, with each decision we make, that the art of compromise plays a BIG role. Mr. Contractor is now asking for siding, window, fascia and soffet and roofing colors. Samples were brought home and many hours spent (mostly by me as Mr. Amazing says this is not his area of expertise) trying to visualize just what color this cottage should be. You see, my first choice was cedar shingles. I LOVE THEM! Mr. Amazing does NOT love them. Can I live with a green cottage, a brown cottage? If not cedar siding, what should we use? In the end $ reared its ugly head and I SETTLED. You'll be hearing that word quite a lot as we move along with this project. Since my goal is to stick to our budget, I eliminated the Smart Siding. It's a fairly new product, very nice looking and three times as expensive as vinyl. Vinyl won. It was my third choice....and it fits into the budget. I'll just have to cover it with trellis and grow lovely flowering vines! Not telling the color so stay tuned!

No Turning Back Now!

Here it is....what you've all been waiting for.....the first pictures of our cottage in the woods! Footings were poured last week so we drove out to the site on Sunday to check the progress. Though it was a very hot day, there was a beautiful breeze to cool us down. I know it doesn't look like much now...so please, stay tuned!

Phase II Completed

Phase II completed. Check. We're officially condo dwellers. During this "in between" time we're renting a condo in a lovely old complex on the Lake. It's a small two bedroom unit, newly renovated and...the best part.....it's three doors down from good friends from college! How fun is that! Barbara and John have lived in their home for well over 20 years...it's historic and sits on a quaint dead end street, a towering four story home with lots of windows overlooking one of the two lakes here on the Isthmus. They've added this incredible deck across the back which overlooks not only beautifully landscaped yards but the lake which, on any given day, is filled with canoes, sailboats and other water sport activities. I'm feeling quite spoiled and I plan on enjoying every minute of this as I know soon we will begin Phases III and IV of the Great Move of 2010. So, please stay tuned!

Harvest Moon

I could get used to this!

Refrigerator Envy

The only thing Mr. Amazing misses is his GE Profile side by side refrigerator. He LOVED that refrigerator. I've assured him GE still makes the Profile series and we would get a new one.....but you have to wonder....will it really be the same!

One Last Look

One Last Look out our kitchen window before we closed the door to our home and began the next part of The Great Move of 2010. Phase II turned out to be harder than I'd expected. First, there was the moving of furniture and boxes filled with things we will need for the next few months. A big Thank you to Mikey, Andy and Darren for working all day to help us get everything moved out of the old and into the new! Because the condo was not quite finished we stayed at a local hotel for two nights which was a lovely diversion from all this craziness.

Then, there was the closing of the house that now belongs to someone else. I held up rather well....only a few sniffles.

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful weekend with friends and family!

Phase II

Happy, Sad, Excited, Scared.....that pretty much sums up how I'm feeling this week as we begin Phase II of The Great Move of 2010. Mr. Amazing spent a restful week in Canada fishing and is recharged and ready to get the "show on the road." This means I'll be off line for a week at least while we get ourselves situated in our temporary quarters. If all goes as planned, Friday at noon, we will no longer own our home and a new family will get to make memories, be they good or bad, at that address. Over the 21 years we've lived in our home, many neighbors became friends and so the sad part is leaving them behind. I know, I know....Christmas cards will be sent but it's not the same as being able to run across the street and borrow a cup of sugar! I'm guessing I won't get to the excited part until a big yellow digger drives to our lot and starts making a hole in the ground for our foundation! So, please stay tuned!

Found It!

OK, OK, OK.......since so many of you (thanks David and Mara) are itching to see what I'm hoping our little cottage in the woods will look like...here it is! I found this photo at http://www.houzz.com (I know there's a way to insert the link but...well, it's back to the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" post). If you haven't visited this site.....you should, as it's filled with incredible photos of everything and anything to do with houses! The thousands of photos are amazing eye candy and help get those creative juices flowing. Though our home will be smaller, the footprint is the same. When I saw the photo, I knew it was the look I was going for--clean lines with just the right amount of character. This home was redesigned by Thomas Saxby Architect in Walnut Grove, California. It was originally covered in stucco which has been replaced with....yes....wood shingles to bring a classic traditional style to the entire house. I know we won't be using wood shingles but I'm hoping to create a similar look with vinyl shingles on, at least, the front of the house. Cross your fingers please and stay tuned!

Photo by Thomas Saxby at www.tsaxbyarchitect.com

What a Relief!

.......I KNOW WHAT THE OUTSIDE OF OUR little cottage in the woods will look like! Found a picture on Houzz and IT'S PERFECT! PERFECT I TELL YOU!.......all six of you my dear, faithful blog friends! Stay tuned!

One Down...Three to Go

There you have it. Phase One of four moves is over and all went well. The day was warm and not too humid. Mr. Amazing supervised and seven wonderful friends and family volunteered to give up a day of their holiday weekend to help us pack the U-Haul and move our "stuff" to storage. I can't thank them enough! Yesterday was a day of REST and today we've tried to finalize the "cottage in the woods" house plan.

Mr. Amazing is off to Canada for his annual fishing trip and, when he returns, we will begin Phase two of the Great Move of 2010. Stay tuned.

The Dilemma

I've got a pretty good idea of what the INSIDE of my cottage in the woods will look like, but I'm struggling with what the outside should look like....hence the Dilemma. Mr. Amazing says craftsman. I'm OK with that but it doesn't quite fit the "cottage in the woods" feeling I'm going for. SO, in between packing and working and packing, I've been googling exterior house photos, driving up and down the streets of our fine city looking at small ranch houses, checking out books on house styles from the library and spending time at Barnes & Noble in search of the right "look." I initially knew exactly what I wanted--a cottage in the woods covered in cedar shakes. Mr. Amazing wants NO MAINTENANCE and informs me that cedar shakes are HIGH maintenance. Nothing like throwing a girl a curve ball. Back to square one.

Yesterday, as we were heading for groceries, I suggested we drive very slowly through a small subdivision close to our house. Nothing inspiring......until we came to a house clad with what looked like weathered cedar shingles. And, I still LOVED the look....Mr. Amazing studied it carefully and decided it might be vinyl and, if that was the case, he thought it looked pretty nice too. So, after lunch I drove over to this darling little house, knocked on the door and was greeted by the nicest fellow EVER! His name is Dennis and he most graciously spent an entire hour talking to me about his exterior siding and....wait...there's more....his kitchen! He invited me in while he looked up the siding manufacturer and when I looked into his kitchen! Well, Heaven! His house is modest in size, as ours will be, and his kitchen is a mix of commercial range and hood (with a warmer I might add), stainless appliances, no upper cabinets (he used shelving instead.....just like I want to) and painted lower cupboards. To top it off...he'd just finished making huge muffins! I had to tear myself away from his house to attend a high school graduation party, but I can not thank Dennis enough for all the information he shared in that short hour visit. Stay tuned!

Boxes and more boxes....

Just a sampling of what used to be the dining room.....now filled with boxes. Each room in our house looks pretty much like this. I find myself wondering WHY we've accumulate so much. If I think back to the beginning of "us" it was two people (in love of course), a small VW beetle, a few boxes of clothing, books, dishes and a dog. Now, some 40 years later it's still two people (still in love....most days anyway!) no dog and hundreds and hundreds of boxes filled with stuff we apparently just can't part with! We've been culling as we pack, yet the garage sale pile pales in comparison to the things we think are absolutely necessary for survival! Less is more is our mantra yet....well.....look for yourself!

Oh The Places You Will Go.....

JUST LIKE A BOOK, our lives have many chapters. Today we ended one chapter and tomorrow we'll begin another. You see, our LAST child has packed up his worldly possessions and headed off, sweaty and tired...but happy, with his friends to begin a fun filled summer living next to State Street in our lovely university town. Mr. Amazing is fine, I'm a little sad. I really, really do like knowing my entire family is under one roof! However, I also know it was time for him to go; he was anxious to begin his own life, make his own mistakes, realize his own dreams. After all, that's what we prepared him for. He's a nice young man. Sniff...

Photo illustration Dr. Seuss

The Great Move of 2010

Mr. Amazing has put a name to our adventure....The Great Move of 2010. Our heads have stopped spinning and we 're beginning to formulate a plan. Boxes are brought home daily and filled almost as quickly as they are unloaded. A storage facility has been secured close to our soon to be cottage in the woods. We've consulted with the builder and it looks like it's possible we will be homeless until November. The words "November" and "travel trailer" don't fit well in the same sentence when you live in the north, so I'm pretty sure that idea has been thrown out. Where to live is the new big dilema! Five weekends left before the Great Move of 2010. We're feeling pretty confident we can pull this off. But then.....Mr. Amazing will be fishing for three of those five weekends. It could get interesting....very interesting!

Wherever Will We Live

The excitement of selling our house has quickly faded and been replaced with hunting for boxes, storage sheds and discussions on just where we might live for the next several months while our cottage in the woods is built. I suggested several things....this nifty RV perhaps? The Terra Wind Amphibious RV" has all the proper accoutrements for a luxury vehicle of its class, including an 6-foot swim deck, an 8-jet whirlpool, marble floors, wood paneling, leather furnishings, and a fully equipped home theater system featuring a 42-inch plasma TV, according to Uncrate. In the cockpit you'll find the instruments needed for the aquatic half of its persona to operate the submerged motors, rudder controls, bilge pumps, rudder control, and other standard yachting fare. It prices out from $850,000 to $1.2 million. We decided against this one....

We could scratch the idea of building, buy a VW Bug just like the one we owned back in the 70's and hit the highway.....

OR, maybe a tent perhaps? Mr. Amazing didn't go for any of these ideas. Other, more "normal" but boring options are being considered. Stay tuned.

S O L D

Closing June 18th.......W H A T!!!!!!!!!