Day 4

Friday was another busy day. I met the builder at the lot early in the morning. It was my job to pick the exact location of the house. Yikes! I was a little overwhelmed at the prospect, but relied on what Dustin and I had already discussed and what I had drawn on the site plan as a guide. We measured from the sides and front of the property lines to find the front corners of the house. It took a little time, and a decision to remove a few more trees, but we finally laid some stakes. Then we measured the diagonals to get the back corners. That was the guide used by the grader to cut in the footprint of the house. The foundation people will come on Monday (weather permitting) to lay the footings. The grader also laid the driveway pipe. And a gravel truck dumped a whole truckload of gravel on the driveway to keep the neighborhood roads a bit cleaner.

The kids had fun again, enjoying the bulldozer and playing in the dirt. And I met a few more neighbors. They are all curious, so they drive by to see what's going on. Then they get out of the car or roll down the window to chat with me. Everyone I've talked to seems genuinely pleased to have a new family move in. I learned that ours is the first new house to be built in the last 25 years! And we bought the only lot that hasn't been built on up until now. There's only about 20 homes in the neighborhood, and everyone seems to be very close. I'm excited to get to know everyone even better!

On Friday, I also went to the elementary school and got the boys registered for class this fall. The school looks great. And, they offer Montessori classes! I'm so excited about that! I think it will really benefit our kids. This August seems so far away, but I know this summer will zip by. Hopefully we will be in the house long enough to get settled before school starts.

Well, that's pretty much it for now. We were hoping to spend all day at the lot today with a hacksaw, cutting down small trees and clearing undergrowth. And the footing guys were scheduled to come today if it didn't rain. But guess what? It rained ALL day. So nothing happened. I better get used to that. I'm sure this won't be the last time we get rained out.

The lot is basically cleared, the footprint is cut in, and the driveway is shaped, complete with a driveway pipe. Take a look at that good ole South Carolina red dirt! It took me awhile to get used to that here. But really, the topsoil is gorgeous. It will make a fine garden next summer. :)