Tales of Building Our FirstDay Cottage

New Update

2009-09-23T10:23:00.001-04:00

On March 30th 2009 we gave birth to our 3rd child.
Gavin Craig was 9 lbs 10.4 oz and 22 in long.

Long time no post...

2008-03-10T08:59:00.001-04:00

I must apologize for those who enjoyed reading our daily posts. I got lazy...

I will take some updated photos of the house and what it looks like after the year we've been in. We just had our 1 year anniversary last week. We're still loving it and still have plenty of little odds and ends we need to finish up.

Sunday June 17, 2007 Happy Father's Day

2007-06-17T16:48:00.000-04:00

Justin wanted to go salt water fishing with Daddy today so we headed down to the Agawam River behind the playground where the kids play t-ball. It was a beautiful day, although a little hot.

Justin was all set ready to catch some blues!

Daddy waiting for some bites on his line too.

Emily wanted to try too.

Mommy gave it a shot just for the photo op.

No fish were caught today, the tides weren't right. The kids had fun though and then they ran around on the playground for a while.

Memorial Day Weekend 5/25-5/28 2007

2007-05-28T20:06:00.001-04:00

A little more landscaping in the front.

This kids stained their Home Depot butterfly house project and put them in the garden.
All things in the granite graveyard appear to be growing well...wait, what is that in the background?

The trees are alive!More soffit work.

Bring on the hurricanes.

Seeds starting to sprout, the tomatoes in the back are buried up to their necks in compost now.

Got some mesclun to pick, spinach not too far behind that.

Dressed the lasagna beds with a few more layers, the seaweed on the bottom is really breaking down now. The top layer is leaf compost-a return for all those years Scott raked his parent's yard and hauled wheel barrel load after wheel barrel load of the leaves to the pit.

Saturday 5/19/2007

2007-05-28T19:52:00.000-04:00

We finished polishing up the inside of our old house and it went back on the market. The first appointment for a viewing is set up for this Tuesday. We put down a new floor in the kitchen and hallway.

Our kitchen with our "new to you" gas stove.

Kitchen from the hallway.

Kitchen floor.Hallway floor.

Sunday 5/13/07

2007-05-20T16:58:00.000-04:00

First off, yay Sens, go Wings!

Today we made lasagna. I've been reading about lasagna gardening and decided to try it since we basically live at a beach without water. I read in one of my books that seaweed is a good green layer. After checking with the harbormaster if it was okay to scavenge it from the beach, the boy and I decided to head off to Little Harbor. We filled the back of my truck up and came home.

Here is what we came home with.

This is how we did it, right or wrong.

We soaked newpapers in water and laid out our garden beds.

Next we covered the newspaper with a generous layer of seaweed.

Then we got a load of composting leaves and leaf mold from various stashes around our yard and covered the seaweed.

Then we covered that with some grass clippings I got from a friend at work. Thanks Rich!

Followed by another layer of composted leaves and leaf mold.
The bed on the right is complete, the one on the left is waiting for the second compost layer.
The completed beds.
Three beds here. The bottom bed needs one more green layer then a brown layer.
Two completed beds here.

Summary:

We have 1 layer of newspapers. 1 layer of seaweed. 1 layer of composting leaves and leaf mold. 1 layer of grass clippings. 1 layer of composting leaves and leaf mold. (a couple of beds have a layer of peat moss in place of the leaves).

Now the questions:
I ran out of green and brown material for the last bed. Any suggestions on sources of green material and brown material? I can get peat moss for the brown but since it is sterile, I'd rather not.
Do I have enough layers?
Will it be cooked enough by next Monday to plant?
Any suggestions or comments appreciated. Thanks!

Saturday and Sunday 5/12/07-5/13-07

2007-05-20T16:44:00.000-04:00

We did some more landscaping today. We created what we are calling the granite graveyard. We got a few pieces of granite from the place that did our countertops and we decided to put those out in the yard in our garden. Our intent is an informal garden growing out of the edge of the woods. We thinned out some of our garden from our old house and got some thinnings from mom's garden too. What do you think?

The Granite Graveyard

We'll get our number on this piece at the end of our driveway.

Our cold weather crops are starting to sprout. Spinach, kale, mesclun, left to right.

All tired out from a day of planting.

Friday 5/11/07

2007-05-20T16:31:00.000-04:00

Today we had to put down our old dog, Bear. She was actually my brother, Marc's dog that he got as a puppy. When he died my mom and dad took care of her for a while. Then one weekend they came out to see Sarah and I at UMASS and had to bring her because the weather forcast was for sub zero temperatures. Bear took right to Sarah and by the time my parent's left at the end of the weekend they asked if we would like to keep her so we did. I've known bear for almost half my life as she was 15 1/2 years old. It was a very hard decision but she had grown to a lower quality of life. She was not in pain but she had cancers and her muscles just didn't work right anymore. Sometimes she looked horrible just trying to get up then other days she would bound around like a young girl again. We let the vet decide when it was time. The girls in the vet's office all knew her for her whole life as did the vet so it was a very sad day. I'm thankful Sarah was there for her last minutes and regret I wasn't because I was at work. We held a memorial and planted a bush with the kids, pictured below.

Saturday 04/28/07

2007-05-01T08:14:00.000-04:00

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day so we worked a little on the front yard.
We planted some stuff in the rings along the walkway, some plants we got from Pam (Scott's mom), and shoveled the pile of stuff the contractor left us to form the walkway. Once it flattens out I think it will look nice.

Along the side of the driveway by the well we transplanted some bushes we had from the old house along with some lily's.

I'll take more pictures once everything is in bloom so you can see them better.

After we worked on the yard Scott took Justin fishing down at the end of our deadend street right on the pond.

Justin didn't catch anything but he got a few nibbles!

Catching up

2007-04-03T13:32:00.000-04:00

My brother was here visiting in March, on the 22nd he helped us move our chest freezer and secondary refrigerator into the basement from the old house.

March 24th we finished stacking our pile of wood we had.

March 30th we closed with the bank on our FirstDay Cottage.

The old house.

Then we spent the entire weekend (March 31 - April 1st) kicking butt on the old house. Last week I managed to pack up the remainder of our stuff inside and Saturday we got what was left in the basement and yard. While Scott picked up some of the yard stuff with the kids I was washing the walls inside the house to prep them for some fresh paint.
Front Yard

Back Yard - there was a fence that was all the way around the back yard but since we need to get a new septic put in we took it down.

Saturday while working in the yard our neighbor behind us asked if we had room for a twin bed. He had been keeping it in storage but no longer needed it and it was taking up space. So Justin was able to get a new comfortable bed for free! Was all brand new still wrapped in plastic!! The trundle bed he had wasn't terribly comfortable so this worked our perfectly.

Monday 04/02 and Tuesday 04/03 I finished washing the walls and filling holes and its ready for the paint.

Pictures!!

2007-03-14T20:52:00.000-04:00

Sorry folks for the lack of picture updates. I attempted to do it but found out the pins in my card reader for my camera are bent. Scott just informed me that I can directly connect with the camera so here goes!

A pic of the kids in Feb when we were working on the soffits outside the front of the house. We also did the fan ducts for the bathrooms.

The pantry shelving that Scott put up. My job is filling up the shelves. :)

The dining room.

We had Justin's birthday party on March 4th, these are the decorations.

While I was cleaning up and prepping for the party Scott put up our coat closet rod and shelf.

We put up some curtains in the living rooms.

I love my kitchen.

A cool jug we picked up at a fleamarket.

March 6th, the first night we slept in our FirstDay Cottage. Emilyann had Tika and Misty on the bed for a photo op. Tika actually spent the whole night with her.

Now that I know how to update I'll get back on track with pictures and updates. Furniture has been moved around and I have more to share. I'll get to that tomorrow.

For anyone that needs our new address please contact me. Since I'm not on my own computer I don't have my email address book with my contact list. Thanks!

Friday 03/09/07

2007-03-09T20:39:00.000-05:00

I know its been a while since I've posted. Things got busy and I got distracted from posting. I'll give a quick update and will upload some pictures soon.

Tuesday Feb 26th

We had our final inspection from the building department. He didn't pass us because he wanted more stuff done to the stairs and the ground wasn't level in front of the front steps.

Thursday Feb 28th

Scott got off work early and was able to get most of the cutting done for the stairs. So we added 2x8's on the back side of the kickplate and a 1x1 under the front of the tread. It took an hr and a half to fix up what we needed.

Friday Marcy 1st

In the pouring rain it was finally warm enough and softened our dirt pile enough that I could shovel some of it to dump it in front of the steps to level it out. Soggy and muddy I went down to the building dept and asked for our reinspection. He came by and complimented my mudslide and approved of the stairs. He signed the permit and said that I could go down and get my Certificate of Occupancy before 12 as the secretary was leaving early. So I went and picked it up! Scott was so sweet he sent me flowers :) I called Comcast to set up for our phone/tv/internet installation so they were going to come on Tues.

Saturday came and since we were official we moved alot more stuff in. We still weren't staying here since we had no tv, phone, internet; you know the necessities. Scott ran the lines for all the stuff we needed while I did some unpacking of food and stuff.

Sunday we did have Justin's bday party here and it was pretty fun. He turned 6 on Monday. We even hung some curtains that Scott's mom gave us. Makes it feel a little more homey.

Tuesday March 6th

Comcast got here about 9 and worked until almost 1 getting our stuff set up. Since we were transferring our account from our old house to the new one we were able to spend our first night in our FirstDay Cottage. Everyone slept pretty good.

It's pretty exciting to finally be in. Scott has our wireless connection set up but my computer isn't moved over yet so I'm using his laptop for now. I will try and get some pictures up soon. This weekend we have more stuff to move and hopefully our bed. We've been sleeping on an air mattress.

Hope this gets everyone up to date. Sorry for the delay.

Sunday 02/18/07-Thursday 02/22/07

2007-02-22T19:29:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we worked on getting our soffit built in the front of the house. Then we pulled our bathroom vents through.

Monday we took the day off and did a little relaxing.

Tuesday I had the final plumbing inspection and we passed! The electrician came by to do some work for my in-laws. He came by to check on things and fix a couple of the smoke detectors that we had problems with on Saturday.

Wednesday I had the electrical inspection and we passed that too! He loved the house and the bats we had in the ceiling on the second floor. :)

Thursday I had the Fire Chief came by to check our smoke and CO2 detectors. Unfortunately we have to change out one by the 2nd floor bathroom to a photoelectric one since steam from the bathroom could set it off. So hopefully Friday we can get that settled and go for our final building inspection. He was very impressed with the house though and said we did a great job.

Today I hung out with my friend Audrey's 12yr old daughter today and she was happy to help me clean some dust out of the house. Apparently she had fun cuz she's coming back tomorrow. :)

So we are well on our way to moving into our FirstDay Cottage very soon!!

Saturday 02/17/07

2007-02-17T20:03:00.000-05:00

At 8 I had to head over and let PJ from Cannon's Plumbing and Heating in the house. He came in to finish hooking up the sink and dishwasher, along with setting the correct water temps.

So now my kitchen is officially in!

Now I just have to clean up all the dust!

We worked on some trim work today.

The trimmed out the ceiling in the downstairs bathroom.

Trimmed out all the doors.

I bought some porcelin knobs to put on the Martha Washington sewing table since the original ones were either missing or broken.

By then it was 5pm so we headed home for some dinner and a Bruins game.

Friday 02/16/07

2007-02-17T07:16:00.000-05:00

Late in the afternoon after more drama for the granite shop Glen came by to put on the backsplash. I love how it came out. He worked from 4-6 to get everything cleaned up and attached.

Thursday 02/15/07

2007-02-16T07:35:00.000-05:00

So the new guy taking over the granite shop hired out subcontractors to install our countertops. They had worked another job early in the day and were unable to come to put mine in until 8:30pm. Surprisingly they did come though! They worked until just before 11.

Getting ready to cut the hole for the sink.

It's just a little dusty.

Since it was getting late and they had to get up early for work we called it a night.
They'll be back this afternoon to put in the backsplashes and clean up the counter and dust. I cannot wait!!!

The countertop drama..

2007-02-13T20:40:00.000-05:00

As some of you know we've been waiting for our countertop since just before Christmas. Well after many excuses and putoffs I finally found out what was going on. The guy was going under. He got evicted from his shop over the weekend. Luckily one of the guys that did sub-contractor work for him (Joe) is taking over. I met with Joe on Monday to see what had to be done to get this job finished. They located a piece that we needed but had to find a truck to transport it. I talked to my mother-in-law and she gave the ok that I borrow theirs. So I spoke with Joe Monday night and he was willing to have me drive with one of the guys to pick it up. So today I picked up Glen at the shop and we took a drive up to Galaxy Granite in Walpole to get the 75x76 piece.

The only problem with the slab was it was the glossy finish, when we were sold the matte finish. I do like the glossy better and Glen assured me this slab was enough to do the counters. This is the piece in the sunlight before being loaded.

The guys from Galaxy loading it in.

Loaded up and ready to go.

Glen unloaded after the hour ride back. We had to stop twice to tighten the straps just to make sure it was holding ok. After all the trouble we went to to get it I didn't want it falling out!

Unloaded and in the shop ready to be fabricated!

Joe had Glen come back to the house this afternoon to make a template of the countertop. So it should be ready to be installed on Thursday! Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Saturday 02/10/07, Sunday 02/11/07

2007-02-11T19:26:00.000-05:00

Saturday 02/10/07

With still no countertop in we decided to pack up some stuff and move it over.

Like our fish tank.

And some furniture that Scott's parent's have been holding for us.

The set of chairs his Mom had that matches our dining room table on the large braided rug that his Mom had given him for his birthday one year.

An antique Martha Washington sewing table. It needs a little fixing up and dusting off but still a nice piece. It has been in the family for many years.

And a desk that was Scott's grandmother's.

By late afternoon we decided to head to Home Depot with our list of things we needed and do some idea gathering then went home for the day around 5:30.

Sunday 02/11/07

Since we had the chairs we figured might as well move the table over too. But the table was being used as my computer desk so we had some improvising to do. My desk is now just a fold out table. :)

The table cloth is actually going to be used as curtains in the kitchen.

We also packed up my mini van and Scott's truck with whatever stuff we had stored in the basement. We had 2 loads each today! So we have some more furniture out and its really starting to look like a home.

We had picked up some globes for the bathroom vanity lights yesterday so Scott put those up along with our neat curved shower curtain on the tub.

We decided the daybed in the sitting room wasn't going to work out for use as a couch so we moved it back upstairs for Justin's bed. We're going to search for a small couch or loveseat with a pull out for guests instead.

It was 4:30 and Scott needed a haircut so he headed out for that and I took the kids home for the night.

Sunday 02/04/07, Monday 02/05/07

2007-02-05T12:27:00.000-05:00

We got the floors finished downstairs!

Since the floors were done and the furniture was piled in the kitchen I recruited my father-in-law to help me move them. So I set up the living and sitting rooms a little to get a feel for things.

Hopefully this week we'll get the countertop in and be ready for our occupancy!!

Saturday 02/03/07

2007-02-03T21:40:00.000-05:00

Since it was too cold out to finish the outside work we have left we got right back into sanding. The entire dining room, living room and sitting room are all ready for their coats of poly. We were there from 8:30 to roughly 7.

Thursday 02/01/07 & Friday 02/02/07

2007-02-03T21:34:00.000-05:00

Scott was back at work and the kids in school it left me some time to get the dining room sanded minus a little patch in front of the pantry closet.

Friday we finally got to see a bit of snow. Justin was all excited he planned to play in it when he got home from school. Unfortunately it got up to 42 degrees and all melted before he got home.

Tuesday 01/30/07

2007-02-03T21:29:00.000-05:00

While Scott was home sick and napping I went and put 5 coats of poly on the kitchen floor.

Sunday 01/28/07, Monday 01/29/07

2007-01-29T16:12:00.000-05:00

Sunday we were pretty tired and sore. I'm not sure if the tingling will ever stop in our fingers! But the results were well worth the effort! The floors of our FirstDay Cottage came out exactly how we wanted. Scott's grandmother from NH was coming to visit so we just decided to clean up and put the kids room together. Scott's mom had some throw rugs we could have so we put those in. It's really starting to look homey.

Our room.

The hallway with future seating area. It's a chest of drawers that went under a captains bed that had seen better days.

Monday.

Scott and Justin were both home sick. Since they were sleeping I headed over and sanded the kitchen floor for a few hours. It's ready for finish sanding and poly on Tuesday.

Friday 01/26/07, Saturday 01/27/07

2007-01-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

Scott had Friday off again so we got to work about 9.

Wednesday and Thursday I had worked on the majority of the sanding in our room. So I went and finished off the fine sanding and then started the poly coats. While I was in there Scott headed into the kids room and started the sanding in there.

We left about 7 and had most all of the sanding done in the kids room. I returned around 8 to put the 3rd coat of poly on the floor in our room.

Pictures are from Saturday morning after vacuuming and making some more dust fly around.

Saturday we got to the house about 8:30 and continued on with the sanding in the kids room. We went home about 5:30 and I went back a few times to add additional coats to the floor which I finished around 9.

The first coat of poly in the kids room.

The sanded floor in the hallway.

Saturday 01/20/07 & Sunday 01/21/07

2007-01-22T08:31:00.000-05:00

We had another busy weekend!

We worked from 8-6 on Saturday and got a ton done.

Scott finished putting up the insulation in the basement ceiling. Then did the duct work for the dryer and the fan to take care of the missing window in the corner of the basement. He also drilled out the holes for the first and second floor bathroom vents.

The dryer vent outside the back of the house.

He took some extra insulation and put it up in front of the doorway to the bulk head.

While Scott worked downstairs I worked in the kitchen. I sanded the walls then applied 2 coats of polyurethane.

Sunday we worked from 8:30 to 6.

Scott had started sheating up the basement stairs on Saturday and finished putting up the walls.

I finish sanded then put the 3rd coat of poly in the kitchen and in the second floor bathroom.

Then we moved into the master bedroom and started sanding the floor. We're doing it by hand but with orbital sanders and getting the look we want.

Yeah it gets a little dusty.

Wednesday 01/17/07

2007-01-17T14:57:00.000-05:00

Last few days I've been at the house sanding and polyurethaning the bathroom on the second floor while making phone calls. One of them was to find front and back stairs. Which I did successfully! We got a pair of "seconds" from a guy for alot less than new. So today they were delivered.

And the back steps.

Friday 01/12/07, Saturday 01/13/07, Sunday 01/14/07

2007-01-14T18:44:00.000-05:00

We had a busy 3 day weekend. This is all we got done.

FRIDAY

Plumbers finally got their pipe through the roof. It wasn't as hard to put in as they thought it was going to be. We worked from 8:30-5.

Then we worked on the soffit for under the roof for some support. Scott made the brackets while I did some sanding upstairs. When he had them assembled I came out to help level them and put them up.

Then we put up one of the boards across the bottom just as it was getting dark. There will be a second board but it was just dark and rainy the rest of the weekend and we couldn't get to it.

SATURDAY

Saturday was all about the stairs. Since it was raining outside we couldn't finish up the soffits. With lots of thinking and talking, trial and error we came up with how we wanted to do our stair railing and ballusters. Scott worked on most of it while I drove around to stores trying to find a dado blade. I never got one but it didn't stop us! We used the table saw to cut the groove in the handrail for the ballusters. We worked from 8-7:30.

SUNDAY

Still more rain so inside again. Scott went to the basement to put up the ceiling insulation required by the building inspector while I did some sanding upstairs.

Last night I lucked out and got some craftsman furniture from someone on Freecycle. So I called her to arrange pick up for that around 10:30 I headed down Cape to Mashpee. She informed me that her father had made this furniture many years ago.

Just after lunch I got another call from a Freecycler that was offering left over moldings and trim in Sandwich. I was the lucky recipient so I headed back down Cape to pick up a load of some stuff. Not sure how much is actually useful, but it'll burn if we can't. We did get one really nice long piece of oak thats used for treads and she threw in a large laundry basket of fairly new clothes for Emilyann and a box of unused sidewalk chalk. We worked from 9-3, we wanted to be home to watch the big Patriot's game.

Saturday 01/06/06 & Sunday 01/07/06

2007-01-07T21:01:00.000-05:00

SATURDAY

We got to the house around 9. We had planned on finishing up the trim outside and working on roof brackets but it was pouring rain. So we headed into the basement to clean that up. We stacked our scrap pieces to useable and burnable. Swept, swept and swept up sawdust. Then we moved the cabinets around for Scott's work shop area and the 2 that I plan to use in the laundry area.

After that we took down the basement stairs. The inspector had failed them for being 1/4" too short so we had to redo the stringers. We managed to save the treads so we pulled out the nails and sanded off the liquid nails that had dried on them.

So we were now without basement stairs.

We headed home around 5.

SUNDAY

We got to the house about 8:30. Scott went to the basement to get things ready to do the stairs and work on bracket ideas until Rick got here to help at 10. I was upstairs doing some sanding in the bathroom. By 12:30 the stairs were back up. Since we hadn't exchanged gifts for Xmas yet we quit for the day. It was nice to spend some time just hanging out and watching the Patriots game and eating chili.

Countertop update

2007-01-04T15:16:00.000-05:00

I had called on Tuesday to see what was going on and when it was going to be installed. Well there was a slight problem. When the pulled out the slabs they discovered a small sink hole was cut into one. So the owner was meeting with a distributor today to give him a sample piece to match and order another slab. The slabs he had sold us were extras from a previous job and hadn't been touched in a while. So they had forgotten that it was cut. Hopefully the piece he orders comes in quick so we can get this done!

Sunday 12/31/06 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2006-12-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

It was a long and busy week. We got alot done though. I was told we were going to get our countertop after Christmas but I guess he meant after New Yrs. Works out better for us this way so we weren't in each others way this week. We've decided to take today off and relax. We may go do some clean up though.

See you all next year!

Saturday 12/30/06

2006-12-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

We got to the house about 9 and started where we finished off the day before, in the kids room. We decided to put up wainscotting and some shelving on the wall with the door. Scott also boxed out the light switch and wiring to keep little fingers safe.

As you can see the kids were excited to have shelves for their toys.

With their room done we went downstairs and trimmed out the living room windows the same way as the dining room. I didn't take pictures of them since they were the same.

Then we decided what to do about the light switch by the back door. Scott built a box and a shelf.

It left a space big enough to fit an Emilyann into!

But stayed tuned for later development of the space. We have some cool ideas for it.
By the time we finished it was 6 so we headed home for the night.

Friday 12/29/06

2006-12-29T20:32:00.000-05:00

Slept in again this morning and go to our FirstDay Cottage house by 9. We started in the kids room putting up the wainscotting on the outside wall. While I nailed up the boards, Scott was cutting them and setting up for doing our room as well. We also trimmed out the windows in both rooms.

Kids room pics.

Our room.

It was a good long day and we headed home for dinner about 5:30.

Thursday 12/28/06

2006-12-28T20:21:00.000-05:00

Again we got on site about 8:30, been sleeping in a little in the morning after working long days. But they have been pretty productive days! Today was as well. We continued on with the wainscotting in the living room and into the sitting room.

We decided to add another detail around the middle post.

After that we moved on to trim out the windows in the dining room.

With a full day in and hunger kicking in we quit about 5:30. Tomorrow we move upstairs to the kids room.

Wednesday 12/27/06

2006-12-28T20:05:00.000-05:00

We got to work about 8:30. We figured it would be a good idea to block off the kitchen from flying sawdust as much as possible. So we hung up some plastic across the center posts.

With that up we continued into the living room putting up the chair rail behind the woodstove. Doing the chair rails was very time consuming so we could be as accurate as possible. They were worth the extra time though.

Then the wainscotting.

To be different we added a little corner detail.

And this is where we ran out of precut wainscotting. So we stopped for the night about 6 to be continued Thursday...

Tuesday 12/26/06

2006-12-28T07:48:00.000-05:00

After a long day of food, family and presents we got back to work on the house around 9. PJ from Cannon's Plumbing was already there working on the gas line for the oven in the basement. So I went and picked up faucets for the bathrooms for him to install while he was there.

Scott and I worked on finishing the wall around the door in the second floor bathroom.

Once we finished that we moved downstairs to trim out the back door.

Scott helped PJ move our stove into place.

Then Jay from Hilltop Appliances came by to help install the microwave above the stove.

It was still early so we went ahead and put in the window sill/chair rail in the dining room before calling it a day at 5:30.

Saturday 12/23/06

2006-12-24T22:33:00.000-05:00

We wanted to get in 1 full day of work before Christmas so we got to our FirstDay Cottage site by 8:30. With the appliances in we wanted to build the pantry next to the refrigerator. After careful planning it turned out beautifully!!

While Scott did most of the assembly of the pantry my helpers and I put in some door knobs around the house.

The kids demonstrate the various uses of the pantry.

We headed home around 5:30. We'll be back on Tuesday!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thursday 12/21 Friday 12/22

2006-12-24T21:52:00.000-05:00

This week has been super busy with shopping, wrapping and baking to get ready for Christmas. We did make it over to the house for a few hours to get some work done. After Wed afternoon Scott is officially on vacation until the New Year. On Wed afternoon, Jay from Hilltop Appliances, delivered the dishwasher and microwave.

On Thursday we wanted to finish off the ceiling in the pantry area to be ready for the arrival of the refrigerator and range.

We also hung the track lighting I got from Ikea in the kitchen.

We then moved to the entry way and trimmed out the door which you can see from the picture I took Friday morning as my refrigerator was being brought in.

And my range!

The rest of Friday morning we worked on the wall next to the front door and capped off above the closet. This is where we'll be hanging coats and have a shelf above for stuff.

Justin had his first Christmas Concert at school so we quit for the day around 11:30 to get ready for that and then finish up some last minute shopping.

Sunday 12/17/06

2006-12-18T08:06:00.001-05:00

No building today, time to play. Rick and Audrey and us are going out this afternoon for our now yearly treat:

Click Me

Saturday 12/16/06

2006-12-18T08:06:00.000-05:00

We got to our FirstDay Cottage site around 8. Scott's Dad said he'd be able to help us finish the gable ends in the afternoon so we did some other things. We put up our ceiling fans in the bedrooms. They are both the same fan/light.

Then Scott put the trim up around the windows while I did some second coat staining of the other trim pieces.

After lunch Craig came over and then we got to work on the siding and trim. It came out great! Now the only exterior stuff left is trim on the other peak and cutting the boards to the right length all the way around the sill.

We had finished the siding around 4:30 and the pictures were rather dark.

I went back the next morning and got a day picture.

Just some cool lighting pictures. This is the light over the dining room and in the back is my mini Christmas tree in the kitchen window.

Friday 12/15/06

2006-12-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

This morning I got Justin on the bus, then took Emilyann to her school and met Scott back at the old house to do some online Christmas shopping. After that around 9:30 we headed over to the house. We finished the back side of the house siding that we needed to get up just before lunch.

We went back to the old house for lunch and then headed back over. We worked on the gable end above the dining room until Scott couldn't reach with the ladder any more.

We cut some trim boards for around the peaks just before dark. I had to go pick up Emilyann and when I got back it was dark. Scott had moved inside to work in the bathroom upstairs some more. I turned on the outside light in the back yard to finish staining the trim boards.

Scott finished the wall above the sink area and mounted the light base by the time I was done.

We discovered that the medicine cabinet I got wouldn't work there with the pipe in the way of opening the doors. So we moved it to the wall behind the door. It tucked in nicely between the posts.

It was 6 by the time we got done so we headed home to get some dinner.

Thursday 12/14/06

2006-12-15T21:38:00.000-05:00

Scott was home sick on Wed and still not feeling well Thursday, while using up vacation hours, but decided we should do at least a little bit of work on the house. So we went and put up some sheathing in the second floor bathroom for a couple hours.

Tuesday 12/12/06

2006-12-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

Around 10 I got a call from the countertop guys wanting to come over to get their measurements for the counter. While I was there Bobby from Cannon's Plumbing and Heating called today to see if they could come in to work. Since our bathroom floors were done we were ready for them to put in the toilets. So PJ came by and installed our 2 toilets.

Here's a picture of the finished floor in the second floor bathroom.

I also called the well guys to make sure they were set so we could get running water in the toilets. He came by and trimmed back the line that was sticking out to the basement stairs and set up whatever else he had to.

Monday the electrician came by and put up our ceiling fan in the living room.

On my way out I noticed the outside faucet was hooked up.

Sunday 12/10/06

2006-12-11T08:08:00.000-05:00

Another busy day ahead we got to our FirstDay Cottage about 8. Scott put the sanding sealer coat on the floor in the upstairs bathroom. Since it was a little warmer we worked outside and started putting the window trim on the kids room. We did that by leaning out the window on the second floor. Soon Scott's Dad, Craig, came by to help with the sheathing on the peak.

Craig has no fear being up on the ladders, makes me nervous but with him nailing and Scott cutting it went pretty quick. I was helping by handing tools and boards to Craig up on the ladder.

During our lunch break while I made sandwiches Scott put the first coat of poly on the second floor bathroom.

Once we finished the sheathing we decided to move the wood pile from in front of the house to the basement. Now there's no ugly blue tarp in front of the house!

Since it was 4:30 we decided to call it a day. Scott put a 2nd coat on the bathroom floor and did go back at 5:30 and 7:30 to put more coats on.

Saturday 12/09/06

2006-12-09T21:10:00.000-05:00

We got to the house just after 8 on a chilly morning. We decided it was too cold to work on the outside sheathing. Scott cut the trim for the 2nd floor windows so I could get those stained while he continued with the bathroom interiors.

While I finished those, Scott had put the second coat of poly in the first floor bathroom then started working bathroom upstairs attaching the cabinets then sanding the floor. My next job, along with my 2 little helpers, was to move the wood we had stacked to a pallet. The wood holder things I had bought and we assembled was tilting too much and we didn't feel it was safe.

Here's a shot of the can for the floor stuff we're using. It came recommended by the lady in our Home Depot paint department.

Late afternoon Scott finished sanding the floor in the bathroom. Dust flying everywhere!

I did the fine grit sanding upstairs before we started putting up the boards around the shower.

After every couple of hours Scott was putting another coat of poly in the first floor bathroom. This is how it looked after 5 coats applied.

It was about 6 when we packed up and headed home.

Friday 12/08/06

2006-12-09T20:38:00.000-05:00

Scott got another friday off to use up vacation hours so after I got the kids off to school/daycare we headed over to the house about 8:30.

The electrician had been working at the house earlier in the week and put up my outside lights. I took the picture Wednesday after our first snow fall.

On Friday the plumber called and asked if they could come by and do a couple things since they got cancelled on another job due to snow. We had a pretty good early morning snowfall. So PJ, from Cannon's Plumbing and Heating, came by to install our water heater and hookup up the house to the septic line. They had wanted to put the toilets in but our floors weren't done so we wanted to wait. So we decided to work on finishing up the first floor bathroom. I poly'd some boards to go up around the shower before we put them in while Scott sanded the floor.
Sawdust goes everywhere when you're sanding. Make sure you wear a mask and eye protection.

The results after sanding before we put the sanding sealer on.

We had to let the sealer coat dry an hour so we headed down Cape to pick up some cultured stone I had the lucky chance to receive from a fellow Freecycler. We had to load them into our own boxes and put them in the car. Thankfully I had Scott with me!

After we got back we put up the boards I had already poly'd then Scott did the rest of the room along with the floor.

Here you can see on the left side the finished floor on the right what it was before after being walked on for months.

After a pretty long day of inhaling poly we decided to quit about 5:30.

Sunday 12/03/06

2006-12-03T20:15:00.000-05:00

We got to the house around 8:15 and I got my picture of yesterdays work before starting today. We continued putting up the shiplap siding. We were almost to the last window on the front when Rick showed up to give us a hand. In no time the guys had finished the front of the house and Scott had hung my wreath. :)

While Audrey and I worked on putting down our pop-up camper for the winter the guys moved around to the back of the house.

After lunch Sean and Wendy Kelly dropped by on their way through town. I visited with them and checked out their plans while Scott and Rick plugged away on the back wall. They stopped to visit a little before the Kelly's headed home. By 4:30 we had most of the back done. We had to stop because we ran out of stained boards to put up.

Saturday 12/02/06

2006-12-02T20:38:00.000-05:00

We got on site a little after 8 this morning and started working on trimming out the front door. Once that was done we had to leave for a few hours to attend a birthday party for our friend's Rick & Audrey's son. We got back after 3 and put up some siding on the front of the house. I did however forget to take pictures. Can you believe it?! I will take some tomorrow and add them later. :)

Friday 12/01/06

2006-12-01T20:40:00.000-05:00

Scott had today off so after I got the kids off to school we headed over to the house about 9. It was raining out so we decided to work on finishing things in the first floor bathroom.

We put up sheathing along the main wall.

Installed the cabinet and sink, added more walls above the sink and attached the vanity mirror and light. We also finished off the ceiling.

Since we were using the sink base units that FirstDay Cottage sent in the bathroom I couldn't get a sink top that matched the width. So we got creative and made a shelf above the sink.

Before we could finish off the ceiling we had to remove the bathroom fan light the electrician put in. He had put it in backwards so we couldn't get to the vent hole. So we had to pull some ceiling down and turn the electrical box around to pull our duct work out. So for you future builders make sure it gets put in the direction you intend to run your duct work. :) We got home about 5:30 after putting in a good day of work.

Tuesday 11/28/06

2006-11-28T20:54:00.000-05:00

Our Rinnai heater was installed yesterday and the inspection for the gas lines today. Which passed :) Then they came back and did their final hookup. We now have our propane heat!

The inspector said that I could go ahead and backfill our trench whenever. With rain in the forcast I figured I may as well fill it since the sand isn't packed down.

Sunday 11/26/06

2006-11-26T20:26:00.000-05:00

We got on site around 8 as usual. I had to go to Home Depot and pick up a new set of door locks with a deadbolt for the new door. While I ran to do that Scott took care of some prep of the solid door removal. When I got back his Dad needed his help moving some tree stumps so we had a slight delay of an hour for that. After that things went pretty quick. The old door was taken out and put in the basement and the new one was installed.

Once we had the door done we dug our trench for the gas line. The Rinnai heater is being installed on Monday.

After that we did a little staining and decided to quit early. We went to watch the Patriot's game at 4 before heading back over to Scott's parent's for a turkey dinner, since we had a non-traditional thanksgiving on Thursday.

Saturday 11/25/06

2006-11-25T20:24:00.000-05:00

We arrived at our FirstDay Cottage site around 8 again. We started setting up to continue on the siding where we left off yesterday. I had some paint touching up to do inside on the window trim in the kitchen. I had painted them earlier last week preparing for the cabinet delivery. Around 10 Randy, the owner of Olde Barnstable Workshop, arrived to install the cabinets.

Scott helped him set up his miter saw in the yard, which he also let us use for the afternoon.

We'd run into a few delays for their arrival but they are now finally here! Now for some pictures.

While Randy worked inside we worked outside. We decided to do trim around the back door so I stained that to match the other trim around the windows before putting it up. Then Craig came by to help Scott out while I ran out to Lowe's with Scott's mom, Pam. We picked up the door I wanted to replace the solid front one. When we got back, Randy had finished up and was packing to head home at noon. We had lunch then we put up the door trim.

Trim details always seem to take so long to do. Before we knew it it was already 4. We decided to paint the boards for the front trim and then stop for the day and were home by 5.

Friday 11/24/06

2006-11-25T07:31:00.000-05:00

We got on site around 8 am and got right to work siding. We finished up the lower half of the back gable end. Then turned the corner in the dining room side. This should now be ready for the electrician to finish the septic connection.

While cleaning up around 5 one of the stairs kicked loose on our backdoor temp stairs and I fell and managed to sprain my wrist. Thankfully it was the end of the day. :)

Sunday 11/19/06

2006-11-19T20:26:00.000-05:00

We arrived at our FirstDay Cottage site around 8 again today. We had to prepare the kitchen for the arrival of our custom cabinets on Monday. First we trimmed out the windows in the kitchen. We decided it would be best to just sheath up the walls for attaching the cabinets.

Closer pics of the window trim with our super models demonstrating the thickness of the sills.

It was a good day, we wrapped up around 4.

Saturday 11/18/06

2006-11-19T20:19:00.000-05:00

We got on site about 8 am and since it was warm out we decided to work on siding the outside. We put up the beltline on the other gable end and put up some of the shiplap. I was busy staining lots of boards during the week to get them done before it gets too cold.

We finished up and then discussed plans for Sunday and headed home about 5:30.

Sunday 11/12/06

2006-11-12T19:38:00.000-05:00

We got to the house around 8 and determined which direction we were going to do the wainscotting. We sorted through our piles to find the boards long enough for our dimensions we wanted. Then we measured and cut a couple stacks. Before we could put them up we had to put some blocks up to nail to around the wall.

Before..

The boards we put in to nail to.

Soon after we finished that Rick showed up to give us a hand. It didn't take them long to get the boards up around the dining room. I took pictures while the discussed what to do about window sills/chair rail.

And this is what it looks like with one side done.

We didn't get much done after that. Scott's friend just got back home from Iraq and he and his wife came by to see the house and visit for a while. After they left I went to Home Depot with Scott's Dad to pick up some more 2x10x16 boards for our window sills. Rick had to head home so we pulled some wood inside for next weekend then headed home about 4.

Saturday 11/11/06 Happy Veteran's Day

2006-11-11T21:22:00.000-05:00

We arrived at our FirstDay Cottage site around 8. Scott got right to starting the first fire in the woodstove. Boy did it feel nice!!

I had been staining all week when I had the chance to get ready for this weekend. I had started to stain the 2 boards for the beltline on the other gable end. I had waited for Scott to trim some off before finishing today. While I was finishing the beltline staining Scott and his Dad decided to take down a dead tree in the yard and make it into firewood.

Once the tree was down we got to work putting up the shiplap on the front of our FirstDay Cottage.

Once we ran out of long boards we put together a rack for storing our firewood on.

It was about 4:30 and was already turning dark so we cleaned up and discussed our plans for tomorrow and got home about 5:30.

Monday 11/06/06

2006-11-06T19:22:00.001-05:00

Today we had our first official building inspection. He had to come by to inspect the woodstove so he also did the frame and insulation inspection. He had some issues with our basement stairs but I think that was because my fault for not mentioning the kickplate. I'm going to go talk to him tomorrow to straighten that out. Otherwise we passed everything else!

The electrician came by for a little bit to put up the plugs for my washer and dryer. They were supposed to be delivered tomorrow but Jay from Hilltop Appliances came today instead. He even hooked them up for me. So exciting I have new toys!!

Sunday 11/05/06

2006-11-05T20:42:00.000-05:00

It was 28 degrees out when we got up this morning. So we took our time getting ready to go over. We got to our FirstDay Cottage around 8:15 and walked around discussing different projects inside. We figured we had better wait to do some of the finish work we want inside until after our inspection (hopefully tomorrow). So with that decided we headed outside to put up the trim we painted on Saturday.

By then it was lunch time. We decided to have our first meal in the house.

After lunch we put up some more of the shiplap siding. We had 2 long pieces to finish on the gable end then we moved to under the dining room windows. In case you're wondering why that corner. I don't have any long pieces stained, just shorter ones. We sorted through the pile on Saturday so I can reach each size and prepare what we need.

Emilyann was cold and tired, as were we so we took a short day. We cleaned up and got home about 3:30.

Saturday 11/04/06

2006-11-04T19:47:00.000-05:00

Brrrr was it cold this morning! But it was warm enough for us to do some outside work.
Scott's Dad was around to help us out today so while the guys were putting up the shiplap on the gable end I ran to the local lumber place to see about a door. The front door FirstDay sent us left the hallway extremely dark so we are seeing about getting a different one that will let some light in. Plus I like to see who's knocking on my door before opening it. I got some decent prices so now we just have to decide which style we want to go with. Lucky enough they carry the Therma-Tru doors so it will match the one in the back that we got from FirstDay Cottage.

When I got back the guys were putting up some trim for the corners of the rest of the house. Here's a good picture of the detail of it.

While they were doing that I had started on some staining since it was above 40 degrees. After they finished putting up what trim we had cut and stained already they measured the remaining first floor windows. Which meant more staining!

I realized I hadn't taken a picture yesterday of the stove pipe from the second floor. So here's that! They informed me that we didn't have to box it in, that is unless the inspector says we have to. Hopefully we'll find that out on Monday.

With the sun setting much earlier now it get colder and darker earlier. So about 5 we headed home for the night.

Friday 11/03/06

2006-11-03T21:22:00.000-05:00

Around 9 am the guys from Sandwich Chimney Sweep showed up to install our Jotul woodstove.

They brought the stove in and I got the information I needed off it for our permit.

Then I ran down to the inspectors office to pull the permit and pay the fee. When I got back they were already working on the roof.

Attaching the bracing.

I was out doing some staining but they were about done so I checked inside to see what it looked like.

Unfortunately I did ask the inspector if we could use it this weekend since its going to be pretty cold. And he did say no... So no pictures of fires this weekend but I'm planning on getting and inspection for Monday.

Thursday 11/02/06

2006-11-02T20:53:00.000-05:00

Around 4pm I got the call for the delivery of our granite for the hearth. Here the guys are bringing it in.

Laying it down gently.

Pretty.

Woodstove will be installed tomorrow.

Wednesday 11/01/06

2006-11-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

Blogger is still working on fixing the picture uploading but I've got some to work.

Some point on Tuesday the power company came out and hooked us up.

The electrician was in and put up some switches and lights. So I of course had to turn them on and take pictures.

Monday 10/30/06

2006-10-30T19:13:00.000-05:00

I did a little shopping... I picked up 2 mirrored medicine cabinets and a sink for the bathrooms.
The upstairs bathroom one will fit under the angle of the roof.

Since I was upstairs I took some photos of the kids room. Justin's moving them in pretty good with what toys we had stored in the basement.

The three doors we put in this past weekend.

Now into the first floor bathroom. I purchased a sink and vanity mirror.

I also went down and checked out the options for our granite hearth. The size we need is 41x41 and the piece he had that I liked is called deer brown.

Sunday 10/29/06

2006-10-30T09:34:00.001-05:00

Today was cleaning day! The house was a mess with scattered tools, blocks and sawdust every where. I ran out and did some shopping with Scott's Mom while he finished the sheathing around the other closet door. I apparently didn't take a picture of it either. It looks to like the other ones ;)

We moved the FirstDay Cottage cabinets into the basement and that really opened up the space.

Cleaning out the extra lumber around and stuff cleared out the dining room area and we just put the tools into one corner of the living room.

After that we put one of the FirstDay Cottage cabinets into the first floor bathroom. Again I forgot to get a picture. I'm really slacking off! I'll get it today though.

Then we worked upstairs in the bathroom, putting some foam up behind the sink area and a 2x8 to attach the cabinets to.

Then we started cleaning out the kids room. The pictures I took of the room after cleaning out the sawdust and extra lumber were fuzzy with dust floating around. I'll get better ones of how the room feels with stuff in it.

We moved the beds we had in the living room upstairs into the kids room. Boy were they excited to see that! They were at Grammy's when we did it to surprise them.

They each picked their bed. It was amazing they just each went to one with no fighting!

Celia brought my old dresser down when she visted so Scott attached the mirror after we put it in our room.

It was another long day and we were pretty sore from moving piles of lumber down 2 flights of stairs so we went home about 5. With the time change it was already starting to get dark.

Saturday 10/28/06

2006-10-29T20:57:00.000-05:00

We got to work about 8ish and had to work inside. The weather was horrible with down pours and 50 mph winds. We installed the 2 closet doors before we ended up losing power for about 40 min. The compressor had enough air in it that we could continue installing the basement door.

We also finished the small wall section by the stairs.

For a dark and dreary day we got alot done and got home just before 6.

Wednesday 10/25/06

2006-10-25T20:45:00.000-04:00

Today was our rough electric inspection and he passed it. Inspector didn't even go upstairs... I spoke to him about visible wires and he said he didn't care if they were it was up to us. Soon after he left my friend Amy came by to help do some staining. We filled the rack!

I brought over a lightbulb to put in the broom closet.

The electrician hung a couple more of my Ikea fixtures today. This is the hall light upstairs above the bathroom door.

The wall sconce in the stairway.

Yesterday he had also finished up the wiring for the well.

Tuesday 10/24/06

2006-10-24T20:40:00.000-04:00

I was over at our FirstDay Cottage site getting some staining done when the electrician called me in to check out something. I was excited to see he'd hung my new Kroby light fixture from Ikea over my sink area.

Also up was the recessed light in the entrance way. Nothing much to look at now but a metal box.

Monday night I had gone by to turn off the lights that my in-laws had seen on. When I went inside I got to see our very first light switch!

Which turned off the lights in the basement.

These are just temporarily wired together to a plug that plugged into the extension cord.

Tomorrow we should be getting our rough electrical done which then we can get some real power hooked up to the house!

Sunday 10/22/06

2006-10-22T20:44:00.000-04:00

Brrrrr it was cold this morning at 7:30. So we decided to get some inside work done and let it warm up to do the siding. We measured and cut and installed the kick plate for our stairs.

It made a huge difference walking on them, much sturdier.

The view under the stairs.

After it warmed up a little we headed outside to put up what we could of the siding.
Yes we realize the bottom edge isn't even, it will be getting trimmed off at the same time so its all even.

We had also cut and stained the trim for the windows on the backside of the house. That also went up today.

After those were all done we did a bunch more of staining and let them dry on our cool rack inside the house.

We cleaned up and packed up to go about 4:30 when the Hammett's came by. We had called them to help us out with landscaping stuff. They suggested we wait until spring to worry about grass and such. So thats what we'll do! By 6 we were home for dinner.

Saturday 10/21/06

2006-10-22T20:04:00.000-04:00

The blog was down last night when I tried to update so here is Saturdays work.

We got to the house about 7:30 ready to get to work. It was wicked chilly but we had siding to do. So we got done as much as we could with the siding we did have stained.

While Celia was here visiting I didn't get as much staining done that we needed. So we did tons of staining to get ready for Sunday. We also put up a 2x8 post in the basement for the electrical switch for the lights.

Doesn't seem like we got much done but we did manage to put in a full day until 5:30.

Monday 10/16/06

2006-10-16T19:37:00.000-04:00

We had a pretty busy day at our FirstDay Cottage. The electrician and the survey crew from Scott's office were there at 8:30 when I showed up. Went over a few things with each crew and started staining some of the exterior siding while I waited for the septic inspector. He got there around 10:30 and did the inspection and that was that. He said as long as the engineer is happy looks good to him. I sealed up the tanks and headed back home since I hadn't been feeling well. Later in the afternoon I went back by to see if the backfill had been done, and he was there finishing it.

The top to the denitrification system.

The top to the chamber above the leaching field.

Much to my surprise when I arrived one of the guys was trimming off a piece of the black drain pipe. They took it from my in-laws yard to use above our leaching field drain basin. I couldn't believe it, but he did offer to replace it they just didn't have the right size with them... go figure.. So with the new one the kids had a grand ol time.

Justin was disappointed again when his sand mountains were all gone but nicely graded into the yard.

The electrician had a pretty good day. He got the panel up in the basement and the meter box on the outside of the house along with some other outlet wiring and lights in the basement.

The excavation guys left and came back to finish up our driveway...

Sunday 10/15/06

2006-10-15T20:50:00.000-04:00

Nothing to exciting today. We started a bit after 8 working on the bulkhead and stairs. This was no easy task. Our electrician lent us his hammer drill but it was still a difficult job. Scott kicked butt though! We got the bulkhead stairs attached and the door so now things are a little more secure.

After that we took down the temporary stairs to the second floor and cut them to the proper length and secured them down with liquid nails and finish nailed them down.

We headed home about 5. We didn't get as much done as we hoped since the concrete stuff took longer than we anticipated.

Saturday 10/14/06

2006-10-14T20:44:00.000-04:00

We got to the site around 8 and started setting up for the day. Our electrician is lending us his hammer drill so we can get our bulkhead door and stairs in but I had to get a drill bit from Home Depot. So I went and did that and picked up some coffee and donuts for todays crew. When I got back the guys from WTI were there and starting to get the septic stuff in.

Around 10 Rick showed up to help Scott work on the basement stairs. It took a lot of planning before actually doing since we had some pex in the way and needed to work around it and meet code.

The WTI guys dragged the tank through Justin's mountains of sand and got that set.

They opened it up to do some work inside it so I took a picture of the inside, since I'd never seen one before! Just looks like a big fishtank filter.

Everyone was working hard so I picked up some pizza for lunch for the crew. After a short break they all got back to work. After a breif intermission for Rick to run home for something our stairs started to take some form in the basement.

Around 3 the WTI guys finished up the pump chamber, tied into the D box and got the control box mounted then headed out.

Midway through putting the treads on the nail gun jammed up so they had to fix it before continuing. But they got it fixed and the job got done!!

This is where the septic connects in the basement.

Now the septic is ready for inspection on Monday and then we'll get the backfill. There was also talk of the driveway getting finished up as well. We'll see what happens.

Quitting time was just after 5 as the kids were getting tired and hungry. They had a great time running up and down the sand hills and through the big boxes the WTI guys gave them.

Friday 10/13/06

2006-10-13T20:55:00.000-04:00

The installers showed up around 11ish to get ready for the tank delivery around 12:30. They dug the hole, a really deep one.

Put in a couple layers of gravel.

Then the tank showed up from Acme Precast.

He backed up the truck far as he could to lower the tank. The tank was heavier than anticipated and started to tip the truck.

The guys decided to hitch the truck up to the excavator to hold it down.

After that the tank went in pretty easily and was set.

The Acme guy left and they dug the trench for the pipe to the house, laid the pipe and cemented the hole around the pipe for the foundation.

The rest of the system will be delivered Saturday morning to finish up the installation.

Thursday 10/12/06

2006-10-12T20:19:00.000-04:00

Well there was some delivery issues with the septic tank today so that will be coming tomorrow. However the leaching field tanks were there when I dropped by this morning.

I got a call from the electrician that he was working at the house today and wanted to discuss getting our service in. Then around 11 the septic installers showed up to put in the leaching field to be ready for the system tomorrow.

While I was taking pictures and talking to the contractor the kids were having a blast in the sand pile. My sister-in-law had come down for a jewerly show in West Springfield and dropped my neice, Grace, off with us for a few days.

Meeting of the minds..?

The last bit for the day, the D box.

The contractor is hoping the system comes tomorrow and plans on getting the inspection on Monday.

Wednesday 10/11/06

2006-10-11T20:11:00.000-04:00

We were supposed to get our septic in today but there was some scheduling conflicts so hopefully it will be tomorrow or Friday, rain depending. Things are moving along pretty smoothly now it seems.

In other news that I haven't posted yet and only a few know. We felt the quality of the cabinets wasn't good enough for the house and granite countertop we lucked out to get. So we have decided to get custom cabinets made. We lucked out with family connections and got a really good deal. This will also help solve our problem of the odd corner pieces that we needed. The cabinets from FirstDay Cottage will not go to waste though! We've taken the 33" sink base and an 18" drawer unit to put in the bathroom upstairs and we plan on using the others for laundry storage and workshop area in the basement.

This weekend our friends Rick and Audrey are planning on coming by to help out, which is awesome. We'll hopefully be getting some basement stairs!

My sister-in-law is coming down to visit for a week and we are planning on packing up as much of our current house and moving it as possible.

Our Rinnai heater will be getting installed on the 18th, so stay tuned for pictures of that.

One last thing..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITEST BROTHER, MIKE!

Tuesday 10/10/06

2006-10-11T20:02:00.000-04:00

Scott was back to work at the office and I was over at the house setting up the camper in the yard to clean it out. The electrician was also in today and put up some of our fixtures.

We had bought a wall sconce at a flea market in NH that we wanted in the sitting room.

He also hung the bathroom fan/lights that I had purchased from Lowes.
The first floor bathroom.

The second floor bathroom.