Inspection Update

I called for an inspection this morning and found out that we have to have the electrical inspection before the framing inspection. So, I requested that, which will take place tomorrow. I will call in the other one, once we pass the electric. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Hopefully we pass right away, or just have minor things to change!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been so long since I've posted. I can't believe that I actually let it go a week without writing anything. I think that's been the longest break thus far! I hopefully won't do that again! Anyway, we're moving forward with the house. Andrew has one major project left with the electric and we'll be ready for inspection. We're having the insulation guys out tomorrow to do firestopping (plugging up all the holes in the walls with caulk to prevent fire from spreading . . . heaven forbid if ever a fire). We are planning on calling in for our framing inspection (this is the big one, folks) on Thursday. I hoping that we can both meet the inspector out there. It's pretty rare (I've heard) to pass this inspection the first time (not to mention passing the electrical inspection), so let's hope and pray that we won't have much to fix! If we don't pass, we'll be pushing the insulation and drywall back a bit. I'm so ready to be painting and well . . . moving in!!! I still haven't decided on all the colors yet (umm, help!!!). Our major deadline now, is Andrew's schoolwork resuming in January. I don't want him to be working on the trim, cabinets, or hardwood floors (as he says he's doing) when he needs to be studying.

We had a calm and relaxing Thanksgiving here. Andrew and I were able to "escape" down to Shaker Village for a night on Friday night. Andrew had been wanting to go for his birthday, so . . . we used his birthday money to pay for the trip. It was so nice to just get away from everything for a night. He can play a mean game of checkers! I almost had him beat for a while (because I'm sneaky) but he beat me in the end. It was so fun and relaxing just to do something else than talk about the house and make those kind of heavy decisions with him!!

I'll keep you updated on the inspection, etc. I'm so hoping that we pass and are drywalling by next weekend!!

Sinus Wars!

I've struggled with sinus problems ever since I can remember. Upon moving to Ohio, my sinus problems have gotten much worse! My nose doesn't agree with the air, I guess. Most recently, the chiropractor has said to me that she thinks she can fix my sinus problem. I am overjoyed to hear this but skeptical at the same time. She has adjusted me twice, thus far, in order to correct a sinus headache that I've had. Neither time has worked! :( As I'm faced, again today, with another pounding sinus headache (and no, drugs don't have any effect), I wonder what the solution might be. I have sinus headaches approximately 5 out of 7 days a week (especially lately). Argh!! Any ideas?

We've finally set a bit of a deadline for the electric to be finished. We're hoping to have our framing inspection on November 28th!! It's not set in stone but we're hoping for that date! After that, we can proceed with the insulation, drywall, and finish carpentry!!

Siding Pictures . . . Finally!!

Back of the house with siding.

One side to go with siding

House on 11/19/2006 with siding and trim

Calm

I fear we're in the calm before the storm, the Christmas storm I mean. Things at work have been unusually slow but I hear about the dreaded (although that word is rarely used) Advent season. The church calendar picks up with several services per week, etc. I've used this time to try to get all organized and ahead in some projects.

The siding is mostly up on the house and I promise pictures sometime soon. I bought batteries today, so my camera will be functioning soon. I am so pleased that I learned how to do something useful at the house. I'm shimming the windows myself.

Also, my good friend, Connie, and two of her friends, are coming to stay this weekend. They are actually here to attend a youth gathering in Cincinnati. Should be fun, folks!

No Title

We are still hunting for a car. I made several phone calls yesterday, only to discover many of the cars we were interested in from dealerships were already sold. We do have an appointment with a guy from Dayton to look at his 1995 Honda. The price is really good for the car but we are leery as the guy said his ex-girlfriend ran the car into a guardrail when it was icy. Ah the drama! We'll see if we like it or not.

I received a call, the other day, from the May Festival Manager. They are opening up one concert in January, this year, to any former singers, if they want to return. I really wanted to do it, because of the music and it's just fun to be around good musicians, but Andrew convinced me (or made me think) that I would be completely stressed and busy if I did that. I would drive down to practice on every Tuesday night (minus the holidays) until the end of January. As much as I really want to do it, I just have to think that I'll do it again when I'm not so busy.

I started seeing a chiropractor this week. I had a stiff neck that wouldn't go away for almost a month. She found that almost my entire neck was out of whack (my term not hers) and the natural curve supposed to be in my neck was gone. So, after receiving my first adjustment yesterday, I'm here at work, trying my best to use the proper posture she told me too. I never thought I had that bad of posture before, but I guess so. I also realize that if I'm ever using my mouse at work, I have to really slump over and lean forward to use it! My keyboard is on a pull-out thing but my mouse is not. I tried moving it this morning, so we'll see if that helps.

Ok, all for now! I've got to get to work on the newsletter!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! :)

Well, just automobiles, in our case. We found out that our car is a bit beyond repair. It has a bad transmission, and a leaky valve resulting in the cost of the repairs totally about twice what the car is worth. We're going to try to get a few hundred dollars from it and buy another car. We have our eye on a 1997 Toyota Camry that is around $4,000. We own another Toyota Camry and love it! We were also commenting to each other that it might get confusing around our family since two other people own the same model and color of that car! Actually there are a total of six Camry's in the family and if we buy this one, it would total seven!! :) We should take a picture!

The siding guy is working today. I'll take some pictures tonight, if there is anything to see. He says that it should only take him one week to finish, so we'll see. I bought a kitchen sink and bathtub/shower faucet yesterday. I ended up with a cast iron sink because the other ones felt way to cheap!

Well, that's about all for now. We're just plugging away on the electric, cleaning things up, and moving forward on things. I'm hoping we can have drywall in by/around the 17th of November. I'd like it in before Thanksgiving anyway. All for now!

Election Day

Well, it's election day. For me this means that my place of employment will be packed today, because it is a voting location! It's been hairy this morning! :) But I won't go into that.

We received our car title yesterday!! Yeah!! I am headed to Middletown today at lunch to sign the title over to an Ohio one and get the plates. And again I say . . . yeah! I also have a chiropractor appointment at 6:00 pm tonight. My neck has been out for a long time. We get 12 "free" visits per year. Since there are only two months left in the year, I figured I'd be under that number.

After my lessons last night, I "drove" the Oldsmobile to a mechanics in Fairfield to be checked out today. I liked going down the hills because then the car would make it above 30 miles per hour. I think I pulled over about three times to let people pass. It wasn't too bad. Jennie came and picked me up (thank you Jennie!!) since Andrew was at work last night until 10:30 pm! I couldn't sleep, so I enjoyed a very funny "Whose Line" rerun. The mechanics are just checking out the problem, then we will decide whether or not it is worth the money to fix it. Unfortunately, I left my cell phone at home this morning (charging) and so I don't know if they called me yet or not. Thankfully, Susan (my m-i-l) works about 2 miles from me and she is bringing my phone over. I'll pick it up mid morning when I go to Middletown for the car tags. It'll be so nice to have our cars back again.

Andrew continues to work on the electric and says he'll be close to finished this weekend. Also, the siding guy starts this morning. Andrew met him before work. It should look MUCH different by the end of the week. I'm so excited!! I'll post lots of pictures when things look differently.

Don't worry, Mom . . . . I'm also going to vote at lunch today.

More Survey's

Ok, I realize that no one has commented in a while. Andrew suggested that I not write anymore until I got 7 different people to comment so . . . I'll think about that for the future. These survey's are way too much fun for the time being. Andrew loved the name one below, but didn't post anything (yet). The fun part (for me) is reading yours! So, please post yours in my comments! Here's another to enjoy!

1. Who was your best friend(s) in high school? Marie Chesbro

2. What sports did you play in high school? Tennis

3. What kind of car did you drive? 1991 Buick LeSabre (we called it Big Red)

4. It's Friday night, where were you? Probably at a sporting event (watching my sister)

5. Were you a party animal? . . . umm no

6. Were you considered a flirt? I don't think so . . . although that's where I first learned! :)

7. Ever skip school? Well, once I had a little "disagreement" with my PE teacher and went to the principal's office (I was friends with her daughters) and we just sat and chatted since it was the last day of school. I also "skipped" choir class once and this same principal wrote me an excused note! :)

8. Were you a nerd? Only a music nerd, not a book nerd

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Definitely not! I followed all rules!

10. Can you sing the fight song? I don't think it has words

11. Who was your favorite teacher? Ms. Bennington (for letting us watch SO many movies), Mrs. Richardson (for letting me cook and sew during school), and Mrs. Suiter (for letting us read our library books and eat Peanut Butter M&M's everyday during spanish class . . . guess that's why I don't know ANY spanish).

12. Favorite Class? History, or English

13. What was your school's full name? St. John High School

14. School Mascot? Tiger

15. Did you go to Prom? Yeah!

16. If you could go back and do it over, would you? Try harder in Math class

17. What do you remember most about graduation? It was so quick and I had to pray infront of quite a few people!!

18. Favorite memory of your senior year? The musical

19. Where were you on senior skip day? There was no such thing.

20. Did you have a job your senior year? No, besides helping out on the farm. I worked at the bank, after I graduated.

21. Where did you go most often for lunch? Home or The Ruby Slipper

22. What did you do after graduation? Went to Sterling College

23. When did you graduate? 2000

24. Who was your senior prom date? Matt Fox

25. Are you going to your ten year reunion? If someone organizes one.

26. Who was your home room teacher? I don't remember having home room. We were so small, I don't think it was needed. Don't remember.

27. Who will repost this after you? I HOPE everyone does!

Trouble . . . not in River City but in Ohio!

Well, we waited too long to renew our car tags for the Toyota. Andrew took it in to work on Monday to get Ohio license plates when we discovered . . . we didn't have the title. I called the county in Kansas, and they said that our title was "in progress." Well, it has been "in progress" for three years now!! The lady apologized and said they would get it to us soon. So, in the mean time, we can't drive the Camry around, because it has expired tags. So, my considerate husband let me take his car to work, while he drove his parent's truck. On my way to work this morning, I was just driving along, being nice to the car, when all of a sudden, I went to press on the gas petal and it went clear to the floor with no reaction from the car. I coasted for a while and tried to figure out what to do. I pulled off into a subdivision and figured out that the car, while in drive, was only running in first gear. Well, I could manually put the car into first, second, and third, so I tried that and found it would run in third. The problem was that I couldn't get over about 25 mph without the rpm's getting too high. So, I called Andrew and then put putted my way to work. Now, I will just have to put put home tonight, too! I'm thinking the transmission went out. Ha, I'm faking you out! My husband told me that. I had no idea what was wrong with it. Anyway, I'm not sure what we'll do about cars but things could be worse. Speaking of . . .

The sweet girl, Ellie, in my Sunday school class, is having her third open heart surgery this morning at 9:00 am. They have amazing technology these days and her parents have a website where they update every so often. If you are interested in reading it and praying for her can email me at jaime_schechter@yahoo.com but I can only invite people to it through email.