Just call me the drug pusher...

I think I'm ready to go home ... wherever that is ... I think we are all allergic to Limon.  I have seriously spent more time at the doctor's office here than any other place we have ever lived.  Today I was there with two of the kids.  Leslie ended up being diagnosed with a UTI and is on an antibiotic for that.  She seems to be following in Kelly's footsteps, but that is another post entirely.  

Christopher has been complaining for the last three weeks, off and on, about a pain in his left thigh.  This morning, JJ came down the stairs to tell me that Christopher couldn't get out of bed, his leg hurt too much.  After helping Chris get dressed, I carried him down the bed and deposited him on the couch.  Moving his left leg even a little bit hurt so much that it was hard for him to lift his left leg off the ground even a couple of inches so I could slip his pants on.  I called the doctor and got him an appointment at 10 a.m.

We had to borrow a wheelchair to get him into the doctor's office.

After the initial exam, Christopher went for xrays.

How Leslie entertained herself while we were waiting for the xrays.

The diagnosis:  transient synovitis.  I've read a lot about this today and still don't completely understand it.  The bottom line is that it is unexplained pain in the hip.  Some websites say it is a type of childhood arthritis.  All agree that it is painful and mostly harmless.  There should be no long term effects and it should go away in a month or so.  Ibuprofen for the pain and crutches for the walking (at least for the next few days).  They also took two large vials of blood to run tests to rule out anything more serious.

Between all the doctor visits, illnesses, and some other things that are going on, it might be time to move back to a less "toxic" environment!

House Part 13: Cracks and Septic

The first few pictures are of some of the cracks that happened when the house was transported.  (When I talked to the finisher today, January 6th, he said that there are actually fewer cracks in this house than he usually sees in houses that are set over a basement.  I was surprised since there are a TON of cracks.)

The next set of pictures are of the septic system.  I won't bore you with the details (mostly because I don't remember all of them), but it needs to be said that this septic system was designed with a six year old master toilet clogger in mind, and his two year old accomplice.  There are lots of clean-out places to make it easy to service.  Nothing says "I love you" like a working toilet!

The pile of dirt they removed to put in the septic tank.  It is in the ground over 10 feet deep.

The trench leading out to the leech field.

The drain pipe line.

From the roof.  You can almost see the septic tank in the big hole just below those pipes on the left.

Another view of the septic tank area.

The water trench from the well (above) and the water entrance into the house (below) as viewed from the roof.

The trench from the electrical pole to the side of the garage.  The trencher is parked in the middle of the road to keep people from driving over the ditch.

250 feet of electrical wire to go in the trench.

The water line in the garage as seen from the roof.

House Part 12: Lotsa Pipes

This next set of pictures are the plumbers installing the plumbing in the basement.

Where the downstairs bathroom will be.

The floor drain in the storage room.

Pipes ready to connect to the upstairs sinks.  From left to right:  Kitchen, laundry room and master bath (and lots of trash).

The next two are the plumber getting things plumbed for the garage.  There will be a partial (almost complete) kitchen in the garage.  It will be so great for canning parties!

For the garage sink.

Where the water pipes enter the house (kitchen window is above and dining room doors are on the right.)

The trench for the septic system.

Where the septic tank will sit.  (Greenish-blue pipes mean septic system/sewer pipes.)

The beautiful, like-new couch we found on craigslist for $50!  It's kind of red and I LOVE IT!

House Part 11: Installing the Water Hydrants

Christopher helping Dad move the trencher.

John, A.K.A. Dozer 1, filling in a hole while Kelly plays in the dirt pile.

John measuring the pipes.

Gluing the pipes together.

Topper helping John install the hydrant.  The bucket is used to keep the weep hole from filling up with dirt.

John, Jiggs and Topper backfilling the hole while Big John supervises.

The finished product!  There is a hydrant like this at each corner of the house.

Inside the house there are a lot of green dots.  We haven't figured out what they are for, but we think they have something to do with the electrical being checked - maybe.

Just a picture of the kitchen to show how the drawers had all been tied shut and the refrigerator taped shut for transport.

House Part 10: Trenching for the Water Faucets

Leslie running along the water lines behind the house.

The kids playing in the "garage".

"Farming" in the "garage".

The connectors for the water hydrants and the house.

This is taken in the basement, looking up at the bottom of the house.  You can see the two sets of plugs - one on each half of the house.  They will be plugged together  to connect the electricity from one half to the other.  There is another set just like this on the other end of the house.

Just a picture of the tarp from the bottom of the house.

House Part 9: Trenching the Water

John used the trencher to dig the trench for the water line from the well (near the shop in the background - about 1/4 mile from the house) to the house.  It was put in about 5 feet deep and 1,030 long (John knows the exact length because he had to buy the pipe).  Water comes out of the well at 60psi and at a crisp 50* degrees.  It took about six hours to trench that 1/4 mile.

Just a picture of the red flag from when they had the house on the trailers.

House: Part 8A: The House Planting!

The house was "planted" yesterday.  (Thank you, Tanya, for that phrase.  It's pretty appropriate.)  I need to sort through the hundreds (thanks Brianne) of still shots, but until then, here's some video I took.  The first one is them swinging the first half (back portion) in place.  The second two are tours of the inside.  I'll get the stills up as soon as I can.

Enjoy!

House: Part 7

After several (SEVERAL - haha) different delivery dates, we finally got the call that it left at 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning.  We waited all day, almost giddy, and even planned a pizza party in the new kitchen for that afternoon when the house arrived.  About 3:30 or so, Bob called to tell me that there was some bad news... After many delays (blown tires) it was going to be too dark for the trucks to continue.  The Department of Transportation laws say that oversized loads cannot be transported after dark unless they are accompanied by a police officer.

This morning, Bob, Operations Officer of Parker Ag and designer of the house, called to tell me it would be passing by our apartment about 9:45 or so.  We were planning to be out on the street to take pictures of the house passing by and then drive the back route to the house site.  Unfortunately for my pictures and fortunately for us, they made better time that we thought they would and arrived at the house site before 10:00 a.m.  Bob took the above picture of the house, turning onto our road.

Both sides of the house in front of "the hole".  Next Thursday the house will be swung into place using a crane.  The crane will be positioned in between the two halves.  The half in the forefront of the picture is actually the back half of the house and will be placed first.  Then the crane will swing the front half, the part that's in the background, in place.  The crew will be there to affix the house to the basement walls and bolt it together.

Just a picture of a flat tire under the house.  I guess the trucks carry many spares of the very specific tires because flats are common.  I guess this flat happened close enough to the destination that they just kept on trucking.

The front half of the house...  The windows on the left are Leslie's room.  The center is the living room (the NO-NO room - no toys, no playing) and the windows on the right are the master bedroom.  There will be a front porch coming out from the peak above the door and living room windows.  

The back of the house... From the left... The laundry room and master bath; the kitchen (little window); the dining room (french doors) and the family room (big window on the right).  The house is shrink-wrapped because it will be covered in two colors of brown stucco.  We are hoping the weather is good and unseasonably warm during the week they want to stucco.

We got to go inside!!!  We walked through the above door (which will actually lead to the garage) and into the laundry room.  The door on the right leads to the master bath.  I am SOOOOOO excited that John can come straight into the house through the garage, drop his greasy clothes and go straight into the master bath to clean up.

The master bath - above and below.  The door on the right (above) goes into the master bedroom.

The kitchen.  It is HUGE and has a TON of cupboards.You can see the garage door in the background (behind Topper in the gray coat).  The open door to the right goes to the pantry.

The dining room with the back doors.  From this view, the kitchen is to the right and family room is to the left.

From the dining room looking into the family room.  It is filled with stuff to finish the house.  The bar across the top is what they call a plant shelf.  There are also half walls dividing the two spaces.  I like the half walls much more than the full walls I thought they were going to be.

After we walked through the back half of the house, we went over and saw the front half.  This is the master bedroom.

The master closet 

 ***I forgot to take a picture of the living room.  I'll take a picture the next time I run out there and will insert it here.  Just be warned, four white walls and ugly curtains that no one ordered.***

What will be the stairs down to the basement.

The other upstairs bathroom.

Leslie's bedroom, above, and her closet, below.

Bob is optimistic that we will be able to move into the house in three weeks from Monday (December 3rd), but John and I think that it will be closer to five weeks (December 17th or so).  There is a lot that still needs to be done (plumbing, septic, heating/air conditioning, electricity, basement floor, stairs, front porch, garage stuff, etc.).  I'm really hoping we can celebrate Christmas in the house!