Ahhhhh.....

We're in, we're in, WE'RE IN!!!! I can hardly believe it! Right now, here I sit typing - in my new master bedroom! The inspector came this afternoon and only had 3 issues for Joey to take care of, and he'll be back in the morning to check them and then sign off! Yay! So, we asked if we could start to move in and he said to go ahead. So, we spent all evening trucking stuff over from the trailer, and now all the girls are in bed in their new rooms. Eva had no problem going down, and all is now quiet from the others as well. This is truly unbelievable, it still has not sunk in...
Anyway, here's some pics!

Warning: whining alert!

Alright, I'm going to sound completely ungrateful; but I've gotta vent, and as a result give some friends and family a head's up regarding my Queen Cranky-pants funk that I'm in. As much as I'm excited out of my head about my lovely house; I'm just really tired of the transition period. I held it together while there was work for me to be doing, though it was tiring - I at least felt like I was accomplishing something. But, now I feel rather stalled. I can only go so far with the "packing" thing because there's only so much room here for boxes and it already is becoming quite a hassle to move boxes just for the kids to get to the toy closet, or their beds for that matter! I'm frustrated with the carpet guy not getting the work done when he said he would. I can't get the girls' schoolroom set up and more organized so I can actually crack down on the schoolwork, which also has been rather difficult when our internet doesn't work in bad weather and we've had a lot of rain lately. We have a mouse issue again. Our schedules have been so crazy and the girls haven't gotten regular naps and their attitudes are really starting to show it. 'Aunt Flo' is overdue, surely due to stress, but therefore I'm not getting a break from the hormones either. I've had a stress-induced tic in my right eye for 4 days that is driving me batty. I haven't had a chance to really thank the people who've been helping so much. I haven't had a chance to connect with anyone in a general way at all lately. I feel totally not myself - and frankly, I miss me!
So, for you - my dear and precious friends and family who are faithful readers of my blog - I love you all dearly. You have been such a blessing to me with your encouraging words, your shared excitement, your prayers, your babysitting, your hardwood floor laying, your sharing of your husbands for hard labor, in general your servant's hearts. And - as my gift to you - I give you this warning - I am horribly cranky and stressed - and I ask for grace. :o)

9-26-08 update

Here's some pics of the latest accomplishments at the house! The front steps are in and lovely, the back porch is on - the grass is seeded; the living room floor is about halfway done, but as of about half hour ago, the nailer had broken; the vine in the nursery was done on Monday by Ang - and I love it; more work was done involving the heating and electrical - man stuff; my furniture arrived this morning and is staying wrapped till we move it up to the living room, cause there's dust everywhere; and my bathroom upstairs is finished. This afternoon we officially began getting some things ready to move over; we'll be putting stuff in the attic till the rest of the flooring upstairs and downstairs is done, but it's a step closer! Lots going on....

Upstairs bathroom is done. Curtain rods hung upstairs. Upper hallway 90% painted; almost ready for carpet which might come Monday. Appliances in kitchen. Downstairs ceiling done being spackled and sanded - now there is dust EVERYWHERE. Schoolroom hardwood done, 3 ft wide section of hardwood done in living room. Railings almost done on basement steps. Basement door insulated. Cold running water.
We're getting there!

Yesterday I was feeling truly awful and afraid that my cold had turned into a sinus infection. But we had a good night's sleep and woke up feeling much better. We got school done early this morning, and Beth offered to keep the girls after lunch. So, I got the master bedroom painting finished. After supper, the girls played outside while I tidied up some in the 'big house', and then around 9, I set them up with popcorn and a movie and left Anna "in charge" and with my cell phone, while I went back out to finish cleaning up. I cleaned up and swept the whole upstairs and helped Joey clear out the materials and junk from the living room, cause my favorite USDA lady is coming bright and early tomorrow for our first inspection and financial disbursement. Anyway, I got tuckered out and we came in around 10:15 to find that Anna had put Eva to bed and she was asleep already, Lil was snoring away on the couch, Anna was getting Elley jommied up and she had tidied up the living room. All on her own with not a word from me. I nearly cried. I am so blessed to have such a kind and thoughtful child!

new pictures

We've been busy! Here's some pictures of what we've been working on. In order; the siding completed, the kitchen tiled, ceiling fans hung and knobs attached; Lily and Joelle's pinky-purple room; Anna's room - pink and green; nursery; and a picture into the master bedroom closet, not that anything's been done to it yet, I just love it!; and the view from the master bedroom.

I HAVE BEEN BLESSED!

I cannot even fully express how overwhelmed I am today by my blessings. Besides the awesome miracle of our actual house that was "built" today, the love of our family, friends and neighbors that was displayed all day brought me to tears more than once. We had people here excitedly watching our progress bright and early this morning and were flooded with helpers and well-wishers through out the whole day. My brother-in-law showed up at 8:30 with donuts and coffee, which went over huge with spectators and workers both. Then tonight Aunt Beth, and a dear family that joined our church this summer, the Erdvigs, totally blew me away by providing a HUGE home-cooked meal for everyone here! (Lasagna, Ziti, tossed salad, and garlic bread for almost 30 people is an unbelievable gift!) And the sweet young girls taht were here today (Kaitlyn and Heidi) even helped clean up my house (the trailer- how will we distinguish the difference in the next several weeks?, perhaps call the new house "the castle"?!)AND did my dishes (which most people who know me know that few things bless me more than doing my dishes). Speaking of gifts, my birthday was certainly not overshadowed by the house-event either - I received birthday wishes every time I turned around, and my father-in-law even had the workmen place a huge orange ribbon bow on the roof of the house for me; and friends brought a birthday cake to share this evening as well. I even got a special birthday/house day phone call from the new mommy in the hospital! Many aspects of this event were bittersweet as we knew how much my dad would've enjoyed being part of it all; but Lily was quick to point out that "Pappy has the best view" of the building.
So, emotional aspects aside - here's the details:
The set crew arrived and started unwrapping the sections at 5:15am, the crane arrived by 8, they started moving the pieces by 10 and placed the last piece right around 12, they finished all the connections and the roof and were out of here around 5pm. They'll be back to finish the siding next week. Joe and some of our guys put up the basement steps so we could all go in. We prepped the nursery and got the first coat of the first color on that room. Any cracks that appeared in the drywall from the placement were fixed. The painters tape was finished in Anna's room. Got the flooring ready for the seaming strip thingy. Electrical wiring got connected in the attic (which is huge!). And, mostly I gave people tours and fawned over my kitchen. Anyway. It's been an incredibly long day - and there are many more long days to come - so I leave off with some pictures.
*Edit - blogger is giving me some problems with uploading pictures tonight, so I'll try to add some more tomorrow! *

3 of 4 pieces!

The first 3 pieces of our house arrived today - yay! What a rush! It was a bit nerve wracking actually watching it arrive, what with how each piece took up most of the road, and then had to squeeze around the corners to make it to our yard. Oi - I literally had to look away when it was coming into the driveway. But here's some pictures of the major event!
Here's a shot of how much of the road was taken up by each piece.

These two are right before and after I got my very first peek into my kitchen through the back door - notice the pure joy wound up in my shoulders after seeing it!


Then here's some shots of the scary sharp corners they had to maneuver - let me say that those were some very experienced truckers! Notice between the second and third pictures that the stop sign and several field posts disappeared temporarily, but they've been returned - though they'll probably have to move tomorrow too...




And here's just one of the pieces, this is the bottom rear piece which is our kitchen and dining room.

And here's some pictures of my favorite part, the part that has made me cry tears of joy several times today, the part that still has me so excited that I don't know if I'll be able to sleep - my glorious dream come true - my kitchen!

taking a poll for Anna...

Anna's been taking some great pictures with the camera she got for her birthday and we decided that she should enter some into the Oley fair this year. But she can only enter one in the 'scenic' class and we can't decide between these two shots, so she thought it'd be a good idea to take a survey, and I suggested I do it for her here! So, here's the two we're debating between, I think if you click on them, you can see them full size. Please leave me a comment with your opinion on which she should enter, and I'll be sure to let everyone know how it rates at the fair!

Oops...

I think since I was on such a roll today and threw out 3 posts right in a row, most of my "regular" readers may have missed reading some! So, be sure you check out my post about Evie today - cause it's a cute picture!

just a good picture...

I just really like this picture and wanted to share it, cause I've got cute kids and a really handsome hubby. And yes, he is sporting a "faux-hawk" in this shot, which was just for fun, but I actually think I like it and it may be reappearing soon...

4 generations

Monday we had a family get-together at Joe's parent's; and what a joy to see the new babies! We thought it'd be a great opportunity to get a picture of the 4 generations of Pollocks that were represented there, with my mother in law's parents, down to our newest edition, Baby Rinna Sage.


In the picture from left to right,
Front Row: Joelle, Great-Grandmom P (who happens to share a birthday with Joelle), Great-Grandpop P, Lily
Middle Row: Aunt Michelle, me holding Eva, Anna, Grandma, Aunt Cammi holding Baby Rinna
Back Row: Uncle Tim holding Baby Rosalee, my Joey, Grandpa, Uncle Steve

"uh-oh"

This morning, I'm running through my daily ritual of checking email and my regular blogs. And then I hear Eva trucking down the hall saying, "uh-oh", "uh-oh", "uh-oh". So, she's standing on the other side of my bed, and I say, "what's uh-oh?", and she points toward the living room and says it again with a little grin. Then she takes another couple steps around my bed and I suddenly see why she's saying "uh-oh"; for she has once again demonstrated her new favorite trick.



Yep - her new activity for when mom isn't looking is to remove her diaper. And more often than not it's a freshly wet one, like she knows it needs to be changed and she's helping.

So, I asked her, "where's your diaper?!", and she responded with her new favorite phrase: "I no know". She is too cute.

It's coming!!

Talked to our house guy today who informed us that the first 3 sections of our house will arrive on Monday; the last will arrive Tuesday; the crane will arrive Wednesday - and the set crew will be here at the crack of dawn (literally) to assemble it all on Thursday! Ahhh - it's for real! Only 8 more days!!!