Groundbreaking

On June 28th, 2003, we held a groundbreaking for our new home. We wouldn't officially start the excavation until Monday morning, but Bard would be in Italy, so we did it on Saturday. We had a cool little cake that had Tonka trucks on it, one for each member of the family to keep. Each of us dug a shovelful of dirt and put it in a glass jar to keep, starting with the oldest member of the family and working down to the youngest. The kids then gave pony rides to our guests and we had a cookout on the hill in the evening.

Bo's trying to find some subs for our septic system and for our framing. Ack. The framer (our neighbor Aden, actually) who was *going* to do our house now says he doesn't have the time. Ugh. So we either have to find another one or wait for him. That was one of the things I thought was "all wrapped up." Ah, well. It all happens for a reason. We closed on the home loan on Wednesday afternoon. We are supposed to start digging on Monday, or at least sometime next week.

We have an appointment at the bank tomorrow to sign our closing papers. We hope to start digging next week.

Hoping for some more good news about our soon-to-be built house, "Habitat for the *****" or "The House that Music Built." We met with our cabinet maker on Saturday and he gave us very great news about our cabinets. He'll be able to make them for about $1,000 less than we have in the budget. Yes! The big challenge we're facing now is flooring. We're planning to install the wood floors ourselves, and we're putting in quite a bit of wood. So we'll be looking for material and attempting to decide which rooms will be wood, tile, carpet and linoleum. It's a tough decision, and it's all about MONEY, baby! Ah, well. Soon (in about nine months) it will be all over but the crying. Oh, and the house payment. ;-)