The House is down!

Our house was lowered onto the foundation this morning! 1 more step in the process. It feels really good!

The foundation was poured last week amid torrents of rain and wind. Thanks Garney Hayward for doing such a great job in spite of the weather. Monday was a holiday so Tues the floor of the crawl space was poured. The last thing before the house could come down was the pony walls to support the middle of the house. Jim worked like a crazy man getting them done in time. 7am - 10:30 pm yesterday and then up again before 7 to finish up before Nickles Bros guys arrived at 8:30. But it's done. The house was lowered onto the foundation little by little. They put hydraulic jacks in the middle of the cribbing blocks and slowly removed cribbing as they lowered and adjusted the hydraulics. It was pretty neat to see.

I worked until after 8 last night and 10 the night before, so there wasn't time to make cinnamon buns for the crew this time. I did however manage to make pans of brownies last night so sent the Nickels Bros crew off with baking when they finished up around 11:00 this morning. They are great guys. I guess we won't see them again as this is our 'forever, grow old and die' house ha ha.... so wanted to thank them one more time.

This has been one of those weeks where we wondered whether it was worth it. More than a few tears shed as the month progressed and the reality of how long we've been living in a trailer hit (almost 5 months). But we are nearing the finish line and it is very much worth it.

So now, although there is still a lot to do, I'm starting to measure time left. My business partner Heather and I are directing a musical with Shoreline Musical Theatre group "The Drowsy Chaperone." It's a great show and we have a great cast, so it's going well. It opens next weekend.... my hope is that we'll be ready to begin moving in shortly after the show. That will work nicely as I won't have all the extra rehearsals and will have more time to unpack and settle in. So that's one way to measure this last step. The other way I'm measuring this last step is by RV toilet paper. Yep, ridiculous I know, but I'm still doing it. RV toilet paper is so expensive, so last time I saw it on sale at Canadian Tire, I bought a bunch of it. We are now on the last package.... so I'm hoping that by the time we are actually on the last roll.... we'll be in the house. If I have to go buy more. I will probably cry again. But either way, at some point in the not too distant future... we will get to move in.

The electrician Nik from BConnected is re wiring the house now, then the main power line will get put underground from the shop to the house. Next is the plumbing and septic which needs digging in from the shop to the house as well. Then the holes in the foundation where the beams were get filled, the foundation gets waterproofing painted on the outside, and finally the dirt gets back filled up to the house so it's at ground level... then inspection.

We're adding on a breezeway in the back to connect to a small garage for my car, but that will happen as soon as these other things get taken care of so we can move in. The breezeway will have the laundry, mudroom and 2 piece bathroom for grand kids running in and out of the house. I'm starting to think of paint colors and other fun stuff. It's awesome.

I think it's time for a nap and then some brownies. I have rehearsal tonight and my brain is foggy. Gotta fix that :)