i like big decks and i cannot lie {part three}

It's officially mimosa time.

Why does everyone say "sip mimosas"? I heard these words fall out of my own mouth, and the lie echoed loudly in my ears. Let's slam mimosas. Because at least that has the ring of truth to it.

And I'll have none of that pulpy orange juice. If it doesn't flow willingly down the gullet, it tends to slow down (and, thus, ruin) the experience.

Better yet, let's make mimosas with apple cider, vodka, and bubbly. Because fall has arrived. My daughter, Emma, found this recipe and we had to try it out. Yum yum. 

I love drinking with children.

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i like big decks and i cannot lie {part two}

Phil's out playing with his deck again. By himself. Where everyone can see.

As if the neighbors didn't have enough to complain about.

Here's where we left off with our $437,000 deck:

What's that? You don't think it looks like a $437,000 deck? In all honesty, neither do I. Except for this next bit.

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i like big decks and i cannot lie {part one}

Well, hello there!

I thought I'd catch you up on Phil's Summer 2016 project:

The $437,000 Deck

I may be exaggerating a wee bit, but it certainly has been pricey. Perhaps we would have gone with a more conservative plan had we realized how much of our kids' inheritance we were going to be spending.

Maybe something like this:

source

That would have been totally affordable. 

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bleeding john deere green

Greetings!

Who remembers our sexy shed? You do? You, my friends, are marvelous!

I'd like to tell you about the wee beasties who live in the shed, but first, a little background.

I had an amazing childhood. This was mostly due to the fact I'm the youngest of six children, and by the time my parents got around to raising me, they were understandably exhausted.

But it was also amazing because we had a huge yard, and I got to ride a tractor and mow the grass while belting out "Billy Don't Be a Hero" at the top of my lungs. I knew every single line. The 70s and 80s were an amazing time to be a kid, were they not?

We had a John Deere tractor, and our dog, Ernie, LOVED to help mow (as long as it didn't cut into his fornication time . . . he spawned countless illegitimate pups across the 'hood).

My sister has a great picture of Ernie on the tractor, but she can't find it. So basically, my sister sucks. But the tractor looked something like this:

not our actual tractor

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the cutest, sexiest shed of all time

Well, hello there! We haven't chatted in a while, so I thought I'd catch you up on a project Phil whipped up last summer during my little blog-cation.

We're not new to the shed-building business. Phil built a shed at our old house, but the only thing that made it cute and sexy was me.

Mmmm...mmm...MMMM!

Compared to our new one, the old one was a real piece of shed.

We decided to up our game at the new place. Actually, the covenants required us to up our game whether we wanted to or not. The shed had to be made of the same materials we used on the house. And since we didn't side our house with hubcabs (like I wanted), we decided not to do that with the shed, either.

But it was tempting.

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the trellis of all time

Hello, my fellow delusionals! I'm so happy you're here, even though I do realize most of you are only here for Eddie. I can't say that I blame you.

Any time Philly or I come up with something far more fabulous and amazing than what our Visa card alone can provide, we call it the "blank" of all time.

For example, Eddie is the Schnauzer of all time.

Oh, my sweetness. Can you believe him???

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landscaping around the flag pole, Master Yoda, and ticks

Greetings! I hope you're all having a wonderful week. I was the lucky recipient of a colonoscopy recently, which is more fun than a tick infestation. (More on that later.) I love coming out of the anesthesia and discovering which random quote will fall from my numb, dry lips.

This one was Philly's all-time favorite. I clearly believed I was dying, so I raised my head ever-so-slightly and uttered, "But Master Yoda, you can't die..."

Obviously, I'm a Jedi Master.

You can't make that shit up.

Did you see my beautiful flag? And look at that amazing landscaping surrounding it. The way the parched, dried earth surrounds and embraces the dandelions? I'm awesome at gardening.

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the long-awaited flag pole

Happy Monday! I know I've left you hanging on the pantry project, but we were infected with a sudden burst of Spring and were compelled to act upon it.

I've wanted a flag pole longer than there've been fishes in the ocean. There's just something about seeing Old Glory waving in the breeze that always brings a tear to my eye and a squeeze to my heart. I can't listen to the Star Spangled Banner being sung (well) without getting all choked up.

My research assistant (and resident hole digger) found just what we wanted. We purchased a telescoping pole and flag from Uncommon USA, Inc. The poles and flags are made here in the States (as they should be!).

The Hole Digger digs! I love watching a man work.

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dresses for the roof

Hello!  When we last saw our construction heroes, they had completely finished the exterior AND interior wall framing.  That was Thursday afternoon.  Whew.  I still can't believe how fast all that happened.

Friday morning arrived...another glorious day!

The semi would arrive with all my roof dresses.

Really?  Dresses for the roof?

I'm thinking I'd like something like this:

source

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erection! part deux

It's super-crazy when the framing on your new home basically goes up in a day or so.  Kind of like an Amish barn-raising minus the straw hats and beards.  Well, Eddie has a beard (and technically Philly has a goatee), so I guess just minus the straw hats.

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an erection!

This is the moment.

The moment we've all been waiting for.

The big one.

Is it real?  Can I really make it happen?

Will it last?

Will it be strong enough?

Big enough?

Will it respect me in the morning?

Oh, my...yes!!!

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sill plate, load-bearing walls, and puppy feet

My behind is behind on writing posts, shaving my legs, and clipping the dog's toenails ... among other things. This week has been nuts.  We're getting our current house ready to put on the market, so naturally, I'm living an episode of Hoarders.  Clearly I'm not an OCD clean freak or I'd be jumping off the water tower.

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hole-sanna hey-sanna, sanna sanna sanna hole...sanna hey...sanna hole-san-nna....

Hey Concrete, Concrete won't you screed for me?
Sanna Hole-sanna Hey ... Superstar...

The hole is going to become a structure very soon, so I had to take one last opportunity to make a "hole" reference.

We'll get to that in a minute.

My Dad showed up the other day in his Model T, "Rusty," and we grabbed Eddie von Schnauzer and headed out to the lot so he could have a look-see.

My Dad is so awesome.  :)

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my piles....gone

Remember back when I had piles?

They're gone!!

The excavators stopped by and did some backfilling and rough grading and my hole is starting to look like ... well ... a basement!

And my piles are gone!!

When Andi Had Piles:

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the walls did NOT come crumblin' crumblin'

Somehow, amidst all the rain we've had, we managed to get our basement walls poured before everything caved in.

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admiral, there be forms here!

 

Not much to report, but we do have forms for the walls sitting in my hole.

And we have more rain today.  Yay.  If we get much more, we probably CAN house some of Scotty's whales.

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i suck at gardening

I am the biggest loser gardener ever.  Need proof?  Here's my "garden":

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my foot(ings)! my only foot(ings)!

Hey!  The footing dudes showed up!  Wearing just a hint of clothing, tats, and matching scowls.  But they brought the important stuff ... concrete and purdy yellow boots!

**Update...I know you all want close-ups of the half-naked dudes, but I only had my phone with me when I stopped by and could barely see what I was taking pics of anyway, so sorry...that's all you get...**

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wet, this

Between the rain and our completely unreliable concrete people, we aren't much further in our quest.

If you missed how the A-Hole came to be, you can see that here.

Here's a quick update.

We had a little rain.  Not enough to stop forward progress.  After much badgering, the concrete slugs showed up to build the forms for the footings.  I guess they decided just bringing the forms was more work than they could handle and left for the day.  And never came back.

Then we got more rain.

The giant hole is wet.

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holy giant hole batman!

Well, the day has finally arrived.

Andi has a new hole.  Andi's Hole.

We'll call it A-Hole for short. 

We arrived bright and squirrelly to find the guys already there and starting to get their stuff ready to go.

If you've never seen an excavator in operation, let me tell you...it's an art form.  And that's just getting it off the back of the semi trailer.

I took some awesome video on my digital camcorder.  If we knew how to get usable video off of it, that would make it even awesomer.  Perhaps another day.

But watching the excavator was absolutely mesmerizing.  That dude would simultaneously turn the cab one direction, drive the whole rig in another direction, and swing the bucket.  It was like watching a crab skitter across the hot sand with his front claws up in the air balancing its prey precariously over its head.

Only a lot bigger.

Is that thing for real?  It's a Yeti Crab.  Seriously.  I tried to find a crab carrying its prey over its head and I found this.  No way.

source

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