We've got slab!

Isn't it beautiful??!! Our own little slab. Hopefully more pix soon.

Prep for the big pour!

Today is the day for the big pour! The slab is all prepped and will be poured today. Karin Lynn will be sending photos later today of the slab. Then she is going to the Spanish Market in Santa Fe...I am so jealous! On the home front, the movers came yesterday and loaded up all our stuff for storage in ABQ and I closed on the sale of the house this morning. So we are officially "happily homeless"...for a few months anyway. :)

Foundation is in!

We arrived in ABQ on Saturday evening. Went to the property to see what was happening...and the foundation was in! That's me standing where our front door will soon be. Plumbing is being roughed in now and the foundation is scheduled to be poured on Monday.

We also got our temporary home, our little Airstream trailer we call "Stella" all set up. Here is a photo of the dinette...where I plan to be working remotely from "CIC Southwest."

I will be heading back to Champaign on Sunday to close on the sale of our house, do some more work in the office, and plan a 90th birthday party for Karin Lynn's mother, Marguerite. Karin will fly back the end of August for the festivities and then we both drive back to ABQ on Aug 29. More photos soon!

Earth work - step 1

The first step in construction is to remove 3 feet of soil. Then they bring in new soil a foot at a time and compact it. Evidently our soil is heavy clay and prone to shifting. So by compacting new soil it will help ensure our foundation doesn't shift and avoid cracking of the stucco. So...no photos yet, because they wouldn't be very interesting. :)

On the home front, Karin Lynn has sold most of our furniture on Craigslist. She is amazing! We expect to do a garage sale the weekend after the fourth to try to get rid of remaining stuff. We have movers set to come on Aug 4 and we should be ready well before then. we can't store many clothes in the Airstream so we have to make careful choices. Since we don't expect to move in until January, we need to span a couple seasons.

Hopefully we'll actually have some pictures to share soon!

Let the construction begin!!!

We closed on the construction loan yesterday. Monday the bank disperses the money which means Tuesday ground-breaking can officially start. We'll be lucky if we are in to our new house by Xmas but that's okay. We are just pleased that we've gotten to this point.

On the home front, we've sold our Champaign home to a very sweet young couple. The closing is set for August 5. I will drive out to NM with Karin Lynn on July 15 and get her all set up in the Airstream. We plan to rent storage space there so we can move our things when the house sale closes. Then I will fly back to Illinois, finish any remaining packing and cleaning, see to it the movers pick up our stuff and turn our keys over to their new owners. I plan to stay with friends until late August. Karin will fly back and we'll drive the remains of our stuff out to NM. Would be settled in by Labor Day.

So that is the plan! We hope to start posting weekly construction progress photos soon!

Contract signed.....finally!!!

It took a very long time, but we finally signed contracts and expect ground-breaking to start next week! This means that it will likely be Nov/Dec before the house is completed, but at least the clock is finally started. We are so very pleased with the design--inside and out! Can hardly wait! We hope to start posting weekly photos soon following the construction.

Update and outdoor kitchen

Hi all. Apologies for the lack of info. I've been traveling a lot and haven't had a chance to blog. But I'll try to catch you all up with where things stand. We have yet to sign a contract with our builder but are getting close. The house designs (which are a part of the contract) are nearly complete now. We hope to get the contract finalized in the next week or so and then signed by all of us. Once that's done, our contractor will break ground...hopefully by mid-May.

We did get all the rogue elm trees removed from the building site last week...and they are spreading mulch over the area that will become the production garden. This will help designate the area as one for the builders to stay off of...so they don't compact the soil with heavy equipment.

I am particularly excited about my outdoor kitchen. Our concrete counter guy is also going to do the outdoor kitchen, including a nice bench, etc. I decided on a built-in American Outdoor Grill with side burner. It will be so sweet to cook outside much of the year! Karin is afraid we will have wasted our money on the inside kitchen. :) Not a chance! Here is a picture of what the outdoor kitchen will look like.

Here are some pictures of the outside of the house. We like how the grounds have evolved. lots of private gardens to enjoy!

More soon, I hope!