Exciting new stuff!

Wow...I can't believe it's been almost a month since I blogged! CRAZY!

I guess I've felt like there's not much to tell you. We do a LOT of painting...I even learned how to paint interiors with primer on Tina's house! (I'm not a fan!) Almost all of the houses have their exterior paint on them, and people are working on trim. (Ross said by the end of July all the exteriors will be finished.) Tina, Zhan and Robin's cabinets were delivered last week (and they are HEAVY!). Tina has heaters and over head lighting installed, and Robin, Zhan and Tina's paint/texture is all done. Just a little trim painting on the exteriors and their houses will be finished on the exterior!

As I said, there's been a lot of painting, and waiting for the contractors to get through the houses. Linda posted a picture on facebook that made me laugh...it's a roofer, a sider, and two guys on the inside all working on her house at once! (I told her to stop being greedy and share the wealth!) :) We got windows installed last weekend, Tyvek, and our roof is half on (the shingles). The siders came and started yesterday, and we will be the last house to get siding! YAHOO! Hooray for "lasts!" From memory, Garrett & Amanda, Robert, Nathan, Ashlee, Selina & Jerica, Robin, Zhan and Tina's houses are all mainly painted. Linda, Pennoyers, Josh & Anna and ours are still waiting to be painted. The plumber was in our house this week, and I'm guessing as soon as all the windows are installed/roof is on, the electrician will come in, followed by the insulation guys, and then drywallers!

We are still a few months out, but Ahren and I have "chalked out" where our kitchen counters/island will be, and started figuring out where furniture will go. :)

I miss my neighbors. I don't know if it's because it's summer, or if it's because the work is a wee bit monotonous, but we are are rarely out there at the same time! I went out Sunday, and worked with Robin and her sister for a bit, Linda stopped by, Nathan and Zhan came right when I was about to leave, and Josh and Anna swung in to just say hi. I haven't seen all the others in nearly 2 weeks. With Ahren working days, he goes out a lot during the week and I stay home with the kidlets. This is another weekend I won't be out there..blek!

And it's worth noting that the second group has started in full force! I got to see them hoist their first wall up, and now I think they have four or five bottom floors framed, and were working on second story flooring on Sunday. I totally have framing envy! I loved framing! Now we paint. And paint. And paint. And paint. And paint. Did I mention paint? And then there's some more paint. Well, you get the point. :)

I was hoping we'd be in before November, but apparently Ross laughed when Ahren asked if this was a possibility. Drats. Oh well...it's nice to think we have just a little over three months left. That TOTALLY sounds do-able! :)

I'm going to put some pictures on the bottom here...I've been falling behind! :)



Tina and Zhans (our house will be the same as Zhans)



Robin, Anna & Josh and Pennoyers

Garrett & Amanda's, Roberts (AKA Bobage)

WINDOWS!!! :)

Looking out Link's window at the new group!

From the inside out!

Rough Plumbing!

Not all the houses come with this hot man! Sorry! :)

My favorite window! :)

I PROMISE I will blog again next week! :) Until then!

HB

ROOF!!!

TA-DA!!!! :)

Friday morning at work, my lovely neighbor Ashlee sent me a picture of my ROOF going on! :) I think every person at district office saw that picture inside 10 minutes...SO EXCITING!

I was telling Anna earlier this week how I get so overwhelmed with pride and a sense of accomplishment every time I crest the hill to see our little neighborhood taking shape. Call me a sap, call me a dweeb, call me overly-sentimental, but it's true. I am so proud of my family, of my neighbors, my friends. Everytime I see a new house painted, I think "Right on, Sam! Good work!" (Sam is currently our resident paint expert!) Everytime I see a neighbor with new windows, siding, or sheet rock, it's exciting! Even the things we don't do ourselves are another step on the journey. It's incredible. So if I haven't said it lately, thank you to all my Kingston Cedars I neighbors. I truly care about all of you, and am honored to share in this adventure with you! :)

PICTURES! I think I promised 2 weeks ago, but here are some updates:



Tinas: Painted, sheetrocked, taped and mudded! :)



Zhans: Accent color went on AFTER I took this pic, sheetrocked, taped and mudded!

Robin: Also finished painting after the pic! :) I believe she's also mudded and taped.

Anna and Josh: Got all their windows in TODAY! :)

Pennoyers: Windows! YAY!

Linda: Has a roof now, too! :)

Selina and Jerica: Ready for Sheet Rock!

Ashlee: Ready for paint! :)

Nathan: Also ready for paint

Robert: Ready for Sheetrock

Garrett and Amanda: Also ready for Sheetrock! :)


Ross said Garage Doors are being delivered for the first few houses this week. GARAGE DOORS! And then CABINETS!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOO!!!! :)

Until next week! :)

HB

12 Houses

Yup...12 houses. That's what we have. Saturday we rolled out all of our trusses, while two other groups worked on Tyvek/Windows and painting. We have 12 houses COMPLETELY FRAMED. ##andthecrowdgoeswild## :)

Super Sam has been doing the exterior painting, and it looks great! Tina's house has both the accent and main color on, and looks great! Zhan's house has all the base color down (which is the same red that ours will be and I LOVE IT), and I wouldn't be suprised if there will be more painting this weekend!

Otherwise it's all the punch lists (you know how I love those), and little things that need to be done here or there. A good chunk of the houses have sheetrock, and I believe Ross said they were going to start on tape and mud. Linda's house had the roof and punch list completed yesterday. We will get roof sheeting sometime in the not so distant future, and then we will be tyvek and window'd. :)

I can't wait to start on the next big project (whatever that will be). I really liked framing. Really. Very instant-gratification, and I understood it! Now we are going to have painting, flooring, kitchens, landscaping...yup. you guessed it...I know nothing. All this wandering around with a list written in construction gibberish gives me a slight headache. I hope we have a super productive summer, and blow any other group out of the water as far as production time! LET'S GO CEDARS ONE! :)

Oh...and all our new neighbors started last week. 14 houses. I met our next door neighbor, and she seems really nice. :) Also, I was at the mall this week buying nail polish, handed the girl my debit card, and she looks up and said "Oh, you're Heather Ben-Judah." Uhhh...yeah? "We are going to be neighbors. I'm 23." To which I so poetically responded "Oh..you're the hole!" :) (There's a blank lot between Jerica and Linda..the hole.) It was so refreshing to look down from my second story window while the boys were rolling out our trusses and see that group laying down their first mudsil. I hated that. :) I muttered about how advanced we were now...to which Ross muttered back something and snorted. I think I'm glad I didn't hear him. :)

It's coming along. :) I fear the next phase is going to be a lot of little here-and-there stuff, and it's going to take a lot to keep us focused and motivated. BUT WE CAN DO IT! We're building a freaking community. That takes a whole lotta awesome...and we've GOT IT! :)

Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there! :) Hope it's a relaxing day for you all! :)

HB

From black and white to COLOR!!!!

Ok...not really black and white! But COLOR is so very exciting! :) Saturday, Sam and an entourage of Tina's family and friends put the first paint on a house! :) YAY! It's really amazing! By the time Ahren left on Saturday, 2 walls of Zhan's house were painted as well!

As for the rest of us, Ross didn't call it this, but we were TOTALLY punch listing! :) We did a few things on our house...fixing some un-square walls, finishing the stairs, putting up the scaffolding for the trusses (WHICH COME WEDNESDAY!), top plates, and Anna and I cleaned out the house, which was so lovely! It's really too bad we can't do something productive with sawdust, because we have TONS of it!

People were working on Linda and Pennoyers as well! Linda's will get trusses with ours on Wednesday. The last sets of trusses! :) I walked through Pennoyers and Linda's for the first time. There are things I LOVE about every house!! Three of the houses are drywalled, I believe almost everyone has plumbing/electric that's ready for it, Anna and Pennoyers should be ready for Tyvek/Windows soon! It's all coming right along.

We brought this silly little BBQ out on Saturday and grilled bratwursts and had chips with everyone. It was a beautiful day, and was so nice to have a little lunch break with everyone! :) I know how blessed I am to be in this project at all, but to be in it with people I truly admire, respect and care about is really more than I ever could have hoped for!

So next week we'll be rolling trusses, and doing more punch list stuff. I get such a sense of awe when I walk into one of the houses that has finished drywall. It's a HOUSE people...a house. No question. I remember when I'd look at the framing book, and it may as well have been something in greek. Now, not only do I completely understand those books, but I can walk in a house that I helped build and sit down on it's floor, lean against it's REAL wall, and plug something into it's outlet! What a sense of accomplishment!

I didn't take many pictures...ended up having to leave unexpectedly because I had a really sick baby at home! I'll get twice as many next week!

Til next week!
HB

Remembering...

That top picture is Tina's house, January 30th of this year. I was so excited that there was WOOD on someone's lot, I think I danced around for two days!! Today, May 30th, is the bottom picture. What you can't see is that in addition to looking like a house (and having two next door neighbor houses), it has plumbing, electric, insulation and drywall. DRYWALL. In exactly four months, we have framed TWELVE houses. A group of people from all walks of life, all experience levels, have built 12 houses. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! When I woke up this morning, Jerica had commented on the top picture on my facebook account. She pretty much said we kick a** (which we do), and look how far we've come. Indeed. 4 months and 12 houses.

Friday, the trusses are coming for Linda's house and our house. Jerica and Selina's has been Tyvek'd and Window'd. (I love how those words have become verbs to me). Anna and Josh are waiting for sheeting, shear wall inspection, and then their house will be tyvek'd and window'd too, along with Pennoyers. Everyone else is pretty much waiting on something that a contractor provides (plumbing, electric, insullation, siding, or drywall.)

Today is a great day to remember. To remember how much we've learned, how far we've come, all the people who have supported us with words, actions, or thoughts. And to remember how truly lucky we all are to be here doing this. Together.

A few pics of our house, because it's amazing how much changes in a week!!!

Downstairs from the garage!

Upstairs from the back corner bedroom looking into living room

ME! (See...I DO work!) :)

Also, the rest of the neighborhood from our lot view:

Tina, Zahn, Robin

Anna and Josh, Pennoyers, Linda, Jerica and Selina, Ashlee, Nathan

Garett and Amanda, Robert

That's it! :) Since today is Memorial Day, a special thanks to Garrett and Robert, both of whom "did time" in the armed forces for our country, and to all you other's out there who are making or have made that same sacrifice!

Until next week! TRUSSES!!! :)

Heather

Mourning

It's true. I'm in mourning. My framing days are almost over, and I'm leery of what lies ahead! Saturday, Pennoyers and Anna & Josh's houses had the trusses rolled out. Linda's house and our house received their floor systems, so the second floors can be built. And then that's it. The end of our framing days. Zhan and Linda and Robert were out on Monday, and laid the floor down on the beams. Lines need to be chalked, stairs built, and then the last two framing packages will come. I like framing. I understand it. I'm fairly good at it. It's not complicated, monotonous, or a super long process.I will miss it when we spend months painting. And painting. And painting. And cleaning. Ross also says there's lots of cleaning. Joy. I don't even like to clean the house I LIVE in! BLEK!

So what's left? Anna & Josh's, and the Pennoyer's needs to have the roof sheeting done. Then sheer wall inspection. Then Tyvek and windows, and then the contractors come in. Linda's house and ours need the second floors built, trusses rolled, roof's sheeted, and then tyvek and windows. Then starts the interior work!

Tina's house had the insulation in when we were there Saturday. AMAZING. It SOUNDS different...so quiet. It's packed in white cottonish insulation. Not what I was expecting, but it looks really good!

Ahren and I picked all our selections. Cherry cabinets, Pergo burnished fruitwood floor, "peanut" carpet, don't remember what we picked for laminate counter top or vinyl, and our house will be a deep red with brown accent and soft white trim. It makes it so real that we actually have to PICK this stuff now! Tina's will probably be drywalled soon, and then we'll be doing finish stuff before we know it.

In September, a year of my life seemed SO LONG. I knew we'd get through it. I knew it'd be hard.But now here we are at the end of May, almost all the houses done with framing, and it seems like yesterday I was learning to use the router for mudsilling! I met Robert's sister this weekend, who built a house through the same program. They built 11 houses, and she said by the time they were entirely done framing, it was 3 months until move in. Now, I hate to get excited, but if that holds true for us, we're looking at the end of SEPTEMBER. Not November...SEPTEMBER! This would be such an amazing blessing! So hopefully that will help us all stay MOTIVATED! :)

So that's the update! I haven't uploaded the pics from this week, but I DID start an album of all the pics since February. You can see it at www.photobucket.com/thehousethatlovebuilt

Thanks for following our adventure! :)
HB

Now THIS is the house that love built!!!

FINALLY, the day had arrived! WE GOT TO START OUR HOUSE!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOO! :)

Truth be told, I didn't care about NOT building our house...it's really fun to build, it's something I enjoy, and you just have such a sense of accomplishment over every wall, whether it's "yours" or not. It's something your hands helped build, and it's amazing.

But that feeling when you sink the first nail into your daughters bedroom wall,
 lift that same wall up,

and start the next is incredible. My husband says I was cranky, but I felt amazing all day. :) We got so much done...all of the "house" exteriors done (3 exteriors and the garage/house wall), and one of the three garage exteriors. Another one is built but laying down waiting to be sheeted.

We also have all our samples for carpet/laminate, trim/doors, cabinets and exterior paint. I was totally bummed out because yellow isn't a choice! :( But we'll pick something nice, and it'll look great!

I'm kinda guessing on the other houses for the update...it was 6 p.m. and I was on my way to sign out before I realized how far everything else had come, too! Besides those that are sitting in the "Waiting for contractor" category, we have:

Anna and Josh: There house is ready and waiting for trusses, which is the last stop on the "waiting for contractor" train! YAHOO! :)

Pennoyers: There house looks pretty close to ready for trusses, if it isn't already! I believe both they and Anna and Josh's are slotted to get trusses some time this week!

Linda: I believe Linda's house is scheduled to get the floor package on Friday, along with our house! Which means next weekend we'll be having two houses that need trusses, and two that need floor systems put in! Which means, Heather will be learning how to do something new! I've done nothing but frame since we started framing (well, besides that unfortunate week with the punch list!) This could be exciting! :P

When I look around Kingston Cedars, I see a neighborhood. Not just in the traditional sense, but in the sense that we truly are building a community. I know my neighbors. They are my friends, and people I care about. How many people get to move into a neighborhood like that?

Yup...this is the neighborhood that love built. And it rules. :)

HB