excavation time!

Well, it's official--we can no longer use the back door at Mom's house! At the end of last week, the excavator came and dug out a part of yard to get it ready for the foundation. Some of the dirt excavated was used to level out another part of the backyard. Yay! Here are pictures of the excavation and the reassembly of the shed in its new location.

Now the ground is ready for the foundation.

Here are the roots from the trees we cut down. It's amazing how big the root structure was. The excavator made a big pile of all the roots--a big, BIG pile.

Leveling the sloping backyard. Grass will be planted after the construction is done. I always wished it was more level and now it will be, and we didn't even have to ask!

These bricks came from in front of the shed. We'll use them somewhere else.

They took up some of the slate from the back patio. It will be used to enlarge the current patio to make up for the space lost by the addition to the breakfast nook.

Mom and Tanner watching the excavation. Mom was a little disappointed that Tanner wasn't that interested...

Building a new foundation for the shed. They discovered the old one was rotted through.

Walls went together.

Added the roof.

Progress. It's so exciting!

more trees need to fall

Even though it's not in the way of the construction, the large cherry tree in the backyard came down today. Mom hated all the mess it made and the trunk had formed a "V" which could split and fall on her roof.

It took two truck-loads to clear away the branches.

The tree cutter said it was a good thing Mom had the tree cut now--the inside of the tree had a disease that was destroying it.

Look at all the wood! Our builder said, "That's a lot of wood for a home with no fireplace!" Not to worry, we know plenty of people that can use it.

new look

It's been fun to go over to Mom's and see what changes have happened each day (or several days). The landscapers have cleared out both plants to keep and plants to get rid of. Jake has laid rock on the new shed location. The back patio looks soooo different--so open & uncluttered.

Three scrubby pine trees were removed directly south of the garage doors as you can see in this picture above (I should have taken a "before" pic!). It is at least 10 feet deep there. The builder suggested taking them out so there would be more room to back out and park. A friend suggested that Mom could also fit several garden boxes right against the fence. That made Mom very happy!

Even though this pic is blurry, you can see the rocks laid down where the shed is going to go.

Plants Mom wanted to keep are planted here in a temporary greenhouse area.

There was lots of greenery under those trees in the back. It was all cleared out. I asked Mom if she was sad to see it go, but she said that she didn't care at all. 

Next Step

Even while waiting for approval by the county, work can continue on the remodel. They took the siding off the west side of the garage (where the addition will be) and are cutting out some of the cement to make room for foundation work (those pictures will come soon).

Mom and I went to look for new appliances. It was fun to see what is available. We're easily impressed since I just want a dishwasher that actually cleans food off the dishes and doesn't have the sprayer bar held up by a pipe cleaner, and Mom wants all the burners on her stove to work!

The builder made my day when he suggested that I might want to look at some of the antique/restoration/recycling centers for sink/counters for the bathrooms--I love the challenge of shopping within a budget and finding old, cool stuff to use!

Clearing out is hard to do

We will be seriously downsizing when we move over to my mom's home, so I have been trying to clear out, purge, and give away a lot of stuff. Very hard thing for me to do! This week I've been working on my room--

I've sorted through my clothes and books. Besides these bags to give away, I also had 3 more bags of books that I had already hauled to DI! I love books and read them over and over again, so it was hard to decide which to give away and which to keep.

I whittled my book collection down to these 2 boxes,

I cleared out my closet--the shelf above,

and the shelves below. I did find a very cute sweater that I had forgotten about buried on the top shelf of my closet! 

I cleared out three of  the drawers of my dresser and sorted through some of my kids' memorabilia (some I kept and some I threw away).

Then I took a break from my room to sort through our dvds. That was a much easier task. We packed up all but our Christmas dvds and about ten dvds Tanner wanted to save out to watch during the coming months. 

The hardest part is actually getting the give-aways out of the house!

Tuesday and Wednesday this week, Bill and Kathi came over and did a ton of cleaning up in our yard! It was amazing and wonderful. They took two loads to McFarlands. Thanks to them, our neglected yard is improving.

The plans are drawn...

Even before the construction starts, there is a work going on that keeps the excitement up. This is really happening.

Another tree has been cleared.

Bushes and plants were uprooted to clear the site.

These bushes have been removed and saved to be replanted later.

Ivy and berry bushes were cut off and tree branches trimmed.

The addition will be added to this side of the garage.

The arborvitae (spelling?) were cut down (they were dead) and the area cleared. 

This is where the shed will go. I think I already said that in the previous post (oops!)

The official plans are done. I love looking at them--both because it's going to be where we will live and also because I love blueprints. Just waiting for county approval....