Yet another update...

We went to see our house again today. Truthfully, we do this just about every day. We are always curious what new thing has been done. Well today we saw a little more progress... the vinyl flooring has been laid in the bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, and entry. The counters and sinks have been put in the kitchen and master bathroom. The two cabinets that are the wrong color are no longer in the bathrooms, but the correct ones have not been installed yet. Oh, and toilets have been installed! That is always a good thing to have. :-) There are boxes in the living room that appear to have all the lighting fixtures in them. The air conditioner/heating unit has also been installed. I wonder if tomorrow the will lay some carpet. Who knows!
We are still waiting on the utility companies. I did notice today that the electric company does have little flags in the ground showing where "proposed" work is to be done. That's at least a step in the right direction. Maybe we can meet our November 26 closing. If so, that is 27 days away. But who's counting?!?

Norgan Mitchell

My nephew Evan is not only an artist, but a screenwriter and movie director as well. He has written a movie called "Norgan Mitchell". The movie stars another nephew, Nathan, the oldest Mazellan brother as "Mark". Their friend Will Allison is "Norgan". There are many other cameos in the movie... Ron, Jil and Kyle Mazellan, Lon and Jan Tuin (my parents), Pastor Steve DeNeff, James Luttrull Sr., Marion Police, and many more.

The movie premiere is this Thursday at 7:00 at the Globe Theater (IWU). It is a black tie event. I can't wait to see it. I have seen bits and pieces as it has been filmed, but this will be my first time watching it in its entirety.

For a movie trailer, check out http://www.youtube.com/mmmaaazzzeeelllaaann

If you would like to see it, you are welcome to come out Thursday evening. Just be sure to dress appropriately. :-)

Taking Shape

Can you guess what room this is?

This is what the counter top will look like.

It is fun to watch the house transform and take shape!

Tonight's Sunset

This was taken at the new home sight. The house with no roof in the foreground is my parents' house. The box just to the left is the back of our house.

By the way... our house has all the interior doors, trim and cabinets in place. I think painting might be the next step. There will be one little setback though because they switched the cabinet colors in the downstairs bathroom and the girls' bathroom. Bummer! Other than that, things look great!

5 Weeks

... and counting!

Laundry Woes

Oh the joys of laundry...

I was doing laundry today and noticed that it seemed to take the towels an awfully long time to dry. After running the cycle through a couple of times though, they did finally dry. The next load to dry was the whites. I went down to the basement a few hours after I started the dryer and when I opened it, they were still really wet... as if I never turned the dryer on. So I tried again... and nothing! The dryer was dead! By then the darks were in the washer waiting to be dried also. I had two wet loads to hang up somewhere. Where do you hang two loads in an 800 square foot house with no moulding on the door frames? The best idea I came up with was the shower curtain rod. But then it was bath time for the girls. Hmmm... so here they are, bathing in the tub while laundry hangs around them like a curtain.

Just 40 more days and our washer and dryer can come out of storage and moved into my new laundry room. And if I want to hang up laundry, I will have a plethora of door frames and closets to choose from... as well as a rack in the laundry room... or a garage... or multiple bathrooms... as much space as I need. And after December, if I have this problem, I can carry my laundry out my back door, across our yard, and into my parents' house and use their dryer. :-)

We Have a Date!

We are scheduled to close on the house November 26 at 4pm. I am so relieved to finally have a date set! Yipee!!

ExSiding News!

We not only have brick, but siding as well! And... we have DRYWALL too!

This is the first time Emma has really been excited about seeing the house. I think she just couldn't visualize it until the walls went up. Now she is happy to see her room and the rest of the house. Anna is excited too, although she has been all along.

Emma in her new room.

Anna in her new room.

We are very pleased to see the progress! My parents have some progress too... they now have the footers poured for their house.

Now if only... they could get power, water and sewage out there... gotta love red tape! :-)

Pumpkin Patch

Last week I went with Anna's preschool class to Campbell's Pumpkin Patch.
Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

We Have Brick!

We had our "pre-drywall" meeting yesterday. As we were there, they were finishing up the brick work on the front of the house. Yipee! Also, when we walked inside, I immediately noticed that we have insulation. The drywall should begin today. We still don't have a move in date, although we are told it could be just five or six weeks away. Yahoo!

No News...

As far as a house update, there is no news to report. They are still working on the roads; nothing has been done to the house. There are piles of brick in front of the house... but they are just sitting there. No siding, no brick, no drywall, nothing. We do have our "pre-drywall" meeting next Tuesday. I hope they don't call before then and change the date again due to the lack of roads. I have been able to be patient about it all this week though. I am feeling a little antsy at the moment, but otherwise, I have been very calm. :-)

I have a lot of family in town this weekend, which helps keep my mind off house construction. My Grandma and two sets of aunts and uncles are here from Colorado. It is always fun to see them. (It would be nice to be able to have some of them stay with us... but that has to wait until we have room...) We have been hanging out at my parents' house in the evenings.

I went on another field trip with Anna's preschool class. This time we went to the pumpkin patch. It was fun. It rained the night before and even a little that morning, but by the time we arrived at the pumpkin patch, the sky was blue. It turned out to be a very nice day.

It has been a long time since I have had any health issues to report for Anna. She still continues to do well. We saw her opthomologist this past Tuesday for a routine checkup. We were going every four months and we are now able to go six months between visits. We see the rheumatologist this next Thursday and would love to have her say the same thing. Anna still complains of pain every once in awhile, but she does not seem to have the same pain she used to. I am really hoping and praying she outgrows the JRA. When she was first diagnosed, we were told that 80% of kids with JRA outgrow it, but she might be in the 20% that wouldn't. It has been two years since any major flair up. Since that time, I have only seen minor issues. Mostly complaints and grumpiness. She still needs medicine every once in awhile (maybe a few times a month), not daily like a couple of years ago. I am very thankful!

I don't mean to leave Emma out of updates on this blog. She is doing well. She loves school and is doing very well in all areas. She is becoming quite the reader! It is fun to watch her grow and learn.

Well, I guess that is life here at the Toevs household for this moment in time. I will keep reporting as things change. :-)