Pants, Permits, and . . . Umm, Construction?

Pants: I bought myself a new pair of pants last week and decided to wear them today. I must have been bloated or something when I tried them on, because they are HUGE. And, don't ask . . . I haven't lost weight.

Permits: Our Building Permit is still in the works. I called to check on it today and I worked out a few kinks. Who knows what is to come, however? The water department was trying to charge us $3775 water permit fee! Yikes! Anyway, since our water account is active (I've been paying a $5 water bill for a few months), I told them about it. The lady checked on it for me and the water permit was paid in 1980. So . . . . "Dear Old Guy in 1980, Thanks for paying for my expensive water permit before I was even born. I appreciate it!"

Construction: We had a meeting with our building consultant today and guess what . . . he thinks we may have framing, roofing, etc done by the middle of October!!!!! This isn't me talking, folks, it is the expert in the situation. Anyway, we have another meeting on Friday with our consultant and a guy from superior walls, the people who are going to build us a beautiful foundation (as well as some to-do's before then). Hopefully our permits will be done by then, and we can schedule a time to dig a basement!! :)

FourThings

Since our other computer is down, I don't have an email address book, so I decided to just post this on my blog instead. Please feel free to leave your comments and participate. I'd love it!

Things you may not have known about me.....

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Data Entry at First Nat'l Bank, St. John
2. Farm jobs (pulling rye, weeding beans, changing irrigation, driving a tractor, etc)
3. Travel Coordinator for Advancement at Sterling College
4. Admissions Office Manager, Sterling College

Four Movies I would watch over and over again
1. Pirates of the Caribbean (1st one)
2. Catch Me If You Can
3. The Sound of Music
4. One True Thing

C) Four Places I have lived:
1. St. John, Kansas (birth to age 18)
2. Sterling, Kansas (approx age 18 to 23)
3. Manhattan, Kansas (lived here during the summer while in college)
4. Liberty Township, Ohio (present)

D) Four TV Shows I love to watch:
1. 24
2. American Idol
3. Everybody Hates Chris (don't watch regularly)
4. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

E) Four Places I have been on Vacation:
1. Scotland
2. Myrtle Beach
3. Europe (Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic)
4. Wilmington, Ohio (had to mention my wonderful bed and breakfast surprise get-away)

F) Four Websites I visit Daily:
1. mail.theschechters.com (my email)
2. www.53.com (my bank)
3. mail.yahoo.com (my other email)
4. jaimeschechter.blogspot.com (only to check the site meter)

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. BBQ Pork to Beef (trying to not eat so much pork)
2. Mexican (burritos are my favorite)
3. Chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream at hot caramel sauce
4. Cooked Broccoli (I'm weird, I know) especially with cheese

H) Four places I would like to be right now:
1. St. John, Kansas visiting my family
2. Chicago, visiting my sister
3. Touring Europe with Andrew (I'd like to visit Italy next)
4. San Diego (I loved my visit there, even though it was for training, and I'd love to take Andrew. I think he'd LOVE the weather.)

I) Four friends I think will comment:
1. Graham
2. Carol
3. Susan
4. Anna
(just had to go with people I knew read my blog, although I hope others comment!!!!)

End of the tunnel (or beginning)!

Are we getting close to beginning the actual construction? I think so (although, I've been wrong before). Here are events that lead me to believe and hope we are getting close.

Friday, August 25th, 2006: Closing with the Bank (our construction loan will be in place and ready for us to take a draw).

Monday, August 28th, 2006: Our first officially construction planning meeting with UBI. They will give me this beautiful organized book of people's names I can call to hire for our house.

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006: This is when the county said our building permit would be ready!!

I don't think anything else standing in our way of hiring an excavator to dig the basement and septic system. My prediction is that we will be digging a basement by September 11th. Anyone else want to predict?

Weekend Pictures

I decided to post a few pictures in between lessons (one girl didn't come tonight). I always like other people's photo's so I'm going to try and post more myself.

Andrew in Belmont, Ohio

This is the view from his great aunt and uncle's house!!



Grandpa Schechter comparing Andrew's picture to Grandpa Miller's picture at the Miller Family Reunion on Saturday.


Group Photo at the Miller Family Reunion. Sorry it's so small!

Expensive but Expediting

I just turned in our plans to the township. They are expensive but they said that they would be done with the certificate by tomorrow morning. I can come by and pick it up after 6:30 am! So, while they may be (extremely) expensive, they are very . . . fast.

Minnesota Pictures (I hope)!

I am sitting here waiting for laundry to be done so I thought I'd try to post some pictures from our recent trip to Minnesota.

Schechter Family at Kristin's Wedding

Milwaukee Art Museum


The Field Museum in Chicago

Onward!

So, we are moving forward with house stuff . . . like the tortoise, but that is ok. He eventually wins the race!! :) We are officially "closing" with our construction loan on August 25th. Funny it is called closing since it is more of an opening. Anyway, we also have our first UBuildIt planning meeting that day. In the mean time, we have completed plans. Yeah! I am planning on taking them to the township offices tomorrow to get the zoning certificate! Just waiting on the septic plan. So tell me, why do we have to poop? Nothing has been more frustrating (yet) in this process than the silly ole' septic system. Different opinions (and prices) from everyone! I finally understand people's desire to buy, not build.

House Update #?

I'm losing count on the updates. I'm sure these are fairly boring but it's what is going on in our lives! I committed and purchased builder's insurance today. Actually, I haven't written the check yet, but I will do that tomorrow or Thursday. I have also contacted the septic plan guy (whose computer is in the shop. . . yikes!) to change our plan from two bedrooms to three bedrooms. That should be done by the end of the week. We are getting our house plans finalized (finally!). If all goes smoothly (hmm, when does that happen) I think we should have permits in place by the first of September. That's fairly optimistic, actually. The main hangup right now is with the septic plan. I am just kicking myself for not asking him to draw up a three-bedroom plan initially. I knew better but I just didn't speak up. Oh well, at least all it will cost us is a little bit of time (and maybe a little money to get reapproved). I just wish I could have a vacation from all of this. . . oh wait. . . I just got home from a vacation on Sunday night. I can't wait until the day I can take a personal day to unpack in my house!!! For a while, I could imagine it but now it seems like some crazy fantasy!

I pray every day that this debt will not rule our lives. I trust that God has things in control but as many of you (who know me well) know, I like to be "in control" (if there really is such a thing) so this is difficult for me.

We're Home

We made it home last night around 11:15 pm. Thanks to Maggie who picked us up from the bus stop downtown. The whole trip was very interesting. It got started by Andrew being pulled over about 15 miles down the road. He didn't get a ticket, thankfully! The bus ride home was very interesting as well. It felt just like choir tour. The bus was very similar to the Sterling College bus. The only difference was that we didn't know anyone else on the bus! We ran into some bad traffic coming from Minneapolis to Chicago so our bus was an hour late getting into Chicago!! The bus driver of our bus called ahead and they held our second bus for us! Needless to say, we got some dirty looks while we were loading that bus. I would imagine feeling the same way but nothing could be done to help the situation!!

Well, the house project continues to trudge along. We are now working on getting the septic plan changed and reapproved by the county. By the time we get all the permits done and everything, I am thinking it will be mid-September now. I don't want to build in the cold and snow! :( Anyway, this is teaching me a great deal about patience and trust. I would never have chosen this path to getting a house of my own (again) but I have to trust that it is the best option for us!

Minnesota

We're here in Minnesota. After a whirlwind trip through Chicago, Milwaukee, and now here, we are about ready to attend the wedding of Andrew's cousin, Kristin. We have enjoyed lots of good food (of course, my favorite was Geja's fondue cafe in Chicago) and many good sightseeing spots.

We are continuing to make progress on our house. Right now the main hold-up is that we are adding a bedroom to our house and so we have to change the septic plan, which also means another approval through the county!

Fairchild Family Visit

My parents and siblings were in Ohio to visit this past weekend. I had so much fun with them. I only wish we could have had a little bit more started on the house. Oh well! We enjoyed tea, swimming, a Red's game, visiting, eating (of course), and playing games. I will try to post some more pictures later. Sorry this is short, I'm trying to really get a lot done at work today, because I have a very short week!

What kind of candy are you?

Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you're so darn cute.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

Take the test and enjoy!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofcandyareyouquiz/

Lady in Waiting!

I am waiting. . . . waiting. I am either waiting for God to speak to me and say, "It is not My will for you to build this" or I am waiting from a call from our consultant saying, "You have to spend X amount of dollars extra to get this approved by the bank so we can find a house comparable in your area." I wish you could experience the drastic difference in those two voices in my head!! :) All I am going to say is that it is a wonderful thing that we cannot see the future. I doubt I would have packed a single box (let alone over a hundred), or gotten in the car (if Andrew had decided to pack boxes for me) to move, if I would have foreseen that we would have started on our house eight and a half months later!!