Fence down, concrete up, ditches dug

Okay, so it was supposed to be the worst flooding ever in Austin today. Somehow the rain just disappeared before it got to Austin!! I think there may be some more coming tonight, but at least when I drove by the lot today, there were three guys out there working (they thought I was nuts out there taking pictures of them). So, the north side fence was half way gone, half of the concrete (holding the fence) was dug up, the rest of the forms were up (for the driveway/patio), and they were digging trenches along the forms (for pipes or foundation?). Okay, so I'm not feeling like Noah after all, and am very happy to see some more progress even during these torrential downfalls!

Rain rain go away!!!

Okay, so I haven't been by the lot in a few days because I'm afraid to see the forms washed away. It's been raining cats and dogs around here... crazy for late June in Texas! It's supposed to keep raining until next week. What a bummer! Any other summer I'd welcome this rain with open arms! Our grass is about 3 feet tall!!

Drawings of our house

Here is a drawing of our current plans. We had to nix the first plans we had (2 story house, cost was too high, materials too expensive). We are happy with the second plans of a much smaller house. I'm a little worried that we won't have a garage, a shed, or closets! We'll have to add some Ikea wardrobes and closets later!! We also had to make the height about 11 inches shorter due to Austin's McMansion rule (how a 1300 sq ft house can be a McMansion is beyond me- apparently you can't have such a long house at such a height). We're going to make it work no matter what!!

The sand/rocks have been leveled

You see here that the sand/rocks have been leveled. We think they put a tarp over it to keep some of the rain out (or to keep it semi-level). We met with some neighbors today and are very excited to have such great people living with us on our street. The house on the corner is going to be renovated by an awesome architect so we're very happy about that!

Dirt and Rocks

Okay- last post for tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to do these posts on a real time basis from now on. So, we decided to visit the lot one more time on FRIDAY to take pictures and to see if the neighbors had actually moved the fence on the South side of the property (we think they did--- the posts looked new and the surveyor said that the fence was on the property line now... nice!). So, Little Builder Guy #1 and Littler Builder Guy #2 had a lot of fun throwing sand and rocks all over the place. We all got some stickers (or burs) and we all got to romp around the "living room, kitchen, bathrooms, and bedrooms". It's amazing what's going on! We never thought we'd see this. I think we'll be delayed again, however, because it's raining cats and dogs now (Sat.) and it's supposed to rain for the next 11 days straight. I'm beginning to feel like Noah... where's my arc? This global warming thing is really cramping my style. You can check out some more pics here if you have a Google account:

1108 Angelina Progress

A lot can be done on a lot in a day!

So you can imagine my amazement when I saw the forms down--- I went by the lot on Thursday at 10am. Nothing going on at all. The potty was still there, the city had done some plumbing upgrades on the street, but all else looked the same--- overgrown and calm. So, I went back home. I picked Builder Dad up from work and told him about the plumbing on the street. We went out to eat. We decided to drive by the lot to see what the plumbers had done. To our amazement, there were at least 5 workers on OUR lot!! They had a generator, a Bobcat, and FORMS! Oh glorious forms!! My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe these hard workers were here at 7pm still hammering together these beautiful forms!!

2 Years later and we have a port-a-jon!

So, here we are 2 years after purchasing and closing on the lot, and we finally have a port a pot! What did we do for those 2 years you ask? Sit on the pot? NO!! Those 2 years were filled with totally changing our house plans (to a much smaller and cheaper house), selling our first house (that was the easiest part!), losing our first builder to many years in jail (thank God he's not our builder now), fighting with the city for a year to get the dang permit, fighting with the neighbors over encroachment issues and waiting for lawyers to get their act together (not to mention narrowly dodging a lawsuit- which might still happen after we move in), closing on the construction loan (and finding a way to dig up all the extra money we needed to put down), dealing with the architects, builders, engineers, surveyors, city workers, electric company, title company, loan officers, and the bank. Too bad it all couldn't be done in one day!! Needless to say, we're very happy to have a port a potty now!!

Searching for the perfect lot

Way back in early 2005, we found this lot that we really really really wanted. We searched for months, Builder Dad even attended some foreclosure auctions but we just couldn't swing the cash needed for those purchases (and we didn't think we wanted to wait 6 months to a year to start building). We found this perfect lot and put a bid in for it. We were told later that the owners decided to take it off the market (too may offers) and try to bundle it together with the house next to it (on the corner) that they also owned. Someone purchased both properties but we found a few months later that the deal didn't go through! Our awesome realtor found out about this before the lot came back on the market and instantly told us. We put down another offer and were accepted!! We closed on the lot in Aug. 2005, just after our precious #2 was born. The closing was not as easy as it sounds, but that's another story, and the happy ending shows us with the lot (and that's what it was for 2 more years... just an empty lot!!).