Slab it on thick!

I convinced my hubby to go to work late today because...the cement trucks are coming again today to pour our basement slab! They brought back the pump truck - and man is that thing cool! Plus, there was a chance one of the trucks would get stuck in the mud since yesterday we found out the UPS truck got stuck in the mud at our house and had to get towed out. How could Tom miss a chance like that, right?

So, after breakfast we bundled the kids up and headed down to see it all take place. 

It's a little crazy down there. Not only are we getting our slab poured, but the lumber was also delivered last night, so they are working on creating the headers for the walls today. Tomorrow they plan to start building the walls. CRAZY FUN!

They laid down wire mesh to firm up the cement. 

Our beautiful model Becky.

Then the kids and I took our seats to watch the pouring begin. 

Nikki was a little too excited and decided to pretend to be a mountain goat/jaguar. 

Then they began. The cement truck backed up to the pump truck and dumped cement into the loader. 

First the cement shot out. Next they started spreading it out and smoothing the edges. Finally they pulled out a larger version of their smoother and smoothed out a HUGE section at a time. That thing has a motor that pulses it just enough to knock the large rock chunks down and bring up the smoother particles of the cement. It was so cool to watch. 

 

While this was taking place, Mike had his guys building headers and a storage box for nails and other misc. things.  So there was a lot of cutting, nailing, measuring, and cutting again. 

Unfortunately, it was time for Tom to head off to work, and for the kids and I to head inside to do school & have lunch. So, after gobbling down lunch, Tommy and I ran back out to see what had happened. 

 They were almost finished pouring the last of the cement. 

So we watched them finish it up... 

and smooth it out...

and then they were done.

Isn't our slab beautiful??

View from side of basement.

 Screwing down the boards.

 I don't know why, but I LOVE this shot. 

 

 Our slab from above.

 

Then they brought out the polisher and polished it up all pretty.

I actually don't know what it's called, but it buffs the cement up nice and smooth, making it all pretty.

Tommy's getting better with his smiles at the camera! Yay!

View of the tar on the front of the house - never saw it from this angle, so thought I'd show it while it was still  free of dirt.

French drain in the Main Garage.

Now that the cement had been poured, it was time to cleanup the pump truck. This time we stuck around to watch the cleanup process. They dumped the remaining cement from the pump truck into our garage - trying to be useful with where they put the cement. 

 Then the driver got out a large sponge. The sponge is soaking wet and they just squeeze it into the end of the pump pipe and then reverse the suction and VOILA - clean pump truck. 

Well, as clean as that thing can get. It is cement after all. But the inside is cleaner - right?

We waved goodbye to the pump truck, and then...every man-who-owns-a-truck's dream came true. The pumper truck got stuck in the mud. 

So everyone ran to their truck to grab chains and ropes and whatever else is manly and needed to pull a truck out of the mud. 

Then they hooked the pumper up and pulled...and pulled...and pulled...and NOTHING. 

So they tried again, with wheels smoking...

and tires spinning... 

And finally...

Success!!!

Bye Bye Pump Truck! We'll miss you!

Well, maybe not so much, seeing the mess left behind. 

At least that's fixable when Clint comes again...next week, we hope. :)

My TODO Lists

 Between homeschooling my kids, working part time, keeping house, running errands, selling our old house, and building a new house (want me to keep going?), my life feels like it is snowballing out of control. I'm afraid I won't take care of everything I'm supposed to in a timely fashion. I've perused Pinterest quite a bit, and followed some of my favorite blogs, looking for the perfect daily or weekly planner for me, but sadly could not find the perfect one. The one I'd want to use every day. The one that would keep me from dropping all the balls I'm currently juggling. The one that would track house projects, cleaning projects, exercise & food, and people to call. Nothing too picky, right? 

So, I decided to make my own. I wanted something simple that would let me check off a simple cleaning list that would help me easily keep the house clean and keep me motivated to get it done because it could be done quickly. I also need something to write down the important things I have to do today and people I need to call. I also wanted to start meal planning, so there also needed to be a place for that.  With all my needs/wants, I decided to make two lists. One to give me an overview of what I should do today, tomorrow, and sometime later in the week, and one that would give me the chores I have to complete today to keep my house nice.

Here's what I came up with. 

You can download a copy here. 

I'm still playing around with it, but I think my weekly and daily cleaning lists are where I want them to be for now. I'm thinking about maybe making a monthly one too, but will have to see how my weekly and daily lists keep me movtivated and on track. :) I'm also playing around with my monthly food & exercise log. It works, but isn't as pretty as I want it to be, plus I found some other cool features I wanted to add to it. Guess it will have to wait for some more free time! 

Veterans Day or 11-11-11

Today is veterans day! Tom took off work today so we could enjoy it together as a family. First on our agenda was to look at our house site. They put the tar on the walls, along with some foam covering. 

We weren't sure what that was, so we asked about it. It is used to protect the tar when they back-fill around it. Good to know, right?

Kyle and some other guys were working, so we tried to keep out of their way. 

 We weren't sure what the orange markings were for, so we took a picture, hoping we'd find out when we got home later in the day. 

 Here's our french drain hose popping out to say hello. 

Next on our agenda, was the reason Tom took off work today. We went to Point Park in Chattanooga, since they were offering a get-in-for-free day. 

First stop was the gift shop/visitor's center. The kids each found a hat - Tommy wore the Union blue, Becky - a ranger hat, and Nikki got the Confederate grey. I also picked up a Jr. Ranger booklet for Tommy to complete on our walk. 

Next stop was the visitor's center - a back room off the gift shop. The kids enjoyed watching a movie while Tom and I read the boards explaining certain events of the civil war.  We learned that a few days after the battle of Chickamauga, the Army of Tennessee retook Lookout Mountain and used it as an observation post and to fire on Chattanooga, calling it Point Lookout (now Point Park). Confederate artillery from Point Lookout was largely ineffective. After the Union Army successfully completed the "cracker line" - a shorter supply route that gave food (hardtack called crackers) and supplies - the position became a target. On November 24, 1863 General Joseph Hooker launched an attack that would become known as the "Battle Above The Clouds." Although no fighting actually took place in Point Park a Confederate artillery battery did fire on Union soldiers, who were sweeping the mountainside. Point Park was completed in 1905 to commemorate the "Battle Above the Clouds" as part of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park.

Once we were finished, we headed into Point Park itself. 

The view of Chattanooga was amazing!

These cannons are 20 pounder Parrot cannons and could fire their 20-pound projectiles 2,100 yards (about 1.2 miles!). 

We also got to see a hawk up close. Guess he wanted to enjoy the view of Chattanooga too!

The kids started getting restless and began wrestling with each other. I guess it made the civil war a little more realistic for them, although I'm not sure which side they were fighting on. 

 After they tired of wrestling, Becky was very excited to discover that some of the trees had names so she could gather leaves for her leaf book. I don't think she ended up taking any leaves home, but getting her picture with the leaf and the tree name was enough for her I guess! 

One final picture before we left - and then we turned in Tommy's Junior Ranger booklet where they gave him a badge in return for completing 2 of the 5 pages (we did extra credit and did 4 of the 5!). The ranger told Tommy that if he completed the Jr. Ranger program at two other parks, he could earn a badge called the Jr. Ranger Historian - so now Tommy is begging to go to more parks!

We went home and checked out what had been done.

They filled in the basement with gravel.

The orange circles we had puzzled over this morning were for the pump. 

We're definitely making progress! Next week they are planning to pour the concrete slab and start building the walls. Can't wait!

Taking the Forms off

Today they took the forms off the walls! It's kind of weird seeing the walls up now, but I am so very excited. We went out right after breakfast and the men had already started taking down the forms. 

The kids took their notepads with them to draw what they saw happening. Hopefully this will be a good way for them to remember the building process. Even if they don't, it will still be something fun for them to look back over someday. 

We watched for a little while longer, then went back inside for lunch and to warm up a bit. 

When we came back out that afternoon, WOW! What a huge difference. This is what it looked like before we went inside...

and this is what it looked like when we came back out!

The kids were pretty excited about the smooth walls. 

Of course I had to get their picture.

 Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.