February 2022 Update: We Have a Foundation!

Molly Ishmael
Mar 1, 2022
6 min read

Updated: Mar 6, 2022

Our update follows, but first, a little personal note...

By this time, you probably know this blog is intended to be very much like I intend our home to be - a peaceful respite from the outside stress of the world. Therefore, I do not focus on political or social situations in my posts; no doubt there are many sources to which you may turn for that. However, this doesn't mean that I'm unaware or uncaring toward crises. The lives and futures of those affected are in my prayers daily. Amidst the current chaotic global situation remains the question, "What can I do?" And while I cannot speculate on the answer for others, I believe the answer for me is to pray for peace, trust in God's almighty hand knowing that nothing is beyond His power, take care of those around me as best I can, and continue to live day by day, step by step, and as Elizabeth Elliot famously said, "do the next thing." While we don't know the future, we can live today in love, giving love, and receiving love. And if as you're reading this you're looking for love, rest assured there is One who loves with an everlasting love, who IS love, and who gave His life for us because of love.

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And now, here's the update. It's a quick photo tour of February's progress. We're getting there!

The foundation was poured in the beginning of February.

We Have a Foundation

Upon visiting the property in the very beginning of February, we found the foundation was poured. Yay! It's interesting that when the house was staked out it felt so small, perhaps because there was no point of reference, just being able to "see through" everything. Confession: when we first saw the stakes, we didn't trust our eyes and got out the ol' measuring tape as the house just didn't seem the right size we designed. (If any of the builders are reading this right now, they are probably laughing their heads off.) Of course it was correct, down to the inch, exactly per plan. Empty spaces are just so hard to gauge visually! Now the foundation is poured, there's a bit more of a visible "end" which actually grounds things visually and allows us to feel the space better. In the end, we just have to trust the measurements.

Honey, I'm home!

Rooms Always Feel Smaller When They're Empty

I'm mindful that there's also a stage coming up when the house feel small again, which is when it's nearly done but empty. In my decade of work in property management and real estate, I would always tell people, "Trust me, it feels bigger when it's furnished." People always imagine their furniture is larger than it is. For instance, a king size bed is only 6 ft wide. Pretty much arms reach is all you need for a large bed. But I can tell you from years of leasing and sales experience, a 12-foot square room is usually perceived as "small" when it's empty. In fact, a 12x12 room holds a king bed, two nightstands, a dresser with a TV, and a corner basket of blankets or a plant (not counting the closet, of course.) Even an 11x11 room can do that. 10x10 gets a little tight but technically you can still fit what you need. So again, we're learning to trust our original design, knowing it was based on real rooms we've lived in and real measurements, no matter how the construction project "feels" right now.

Behind these handsome gents and the little lady, you can see the roof trusses stacked and ready to go!

Roof Trusses

The roof trusses were delivered early and the construction manager told us he was pleased that we have room to store them on the property so he doesn't; have to store them elsewhere, haha. Well, there they are. Can't wait to have a roof! :)

This fire ring is very similar to the one we have.

The newly refurbished well.

The Old Well is Good to Go

Great news, after quite a bit of uncertainty (see my earlier progress posts) the old turbine well is good to go after being refurbished! We are so happy that we don't have to fill it in plus drill a new one. The existing well is big and should service the backyard and garden we plan. We are so thankful!

There's a plan for power.

Power is Next

The flags are placed for electric to be run. We were able to work with construction to place the meter in an unobtrusive place as well as the transformer box out of the way. It looks like our own site prep is coming in handy as the transformer box has to be placed in a clear area. We had previously cleared some small trees and brush from the area we ended up placing the stake for the box, and in the future I hope to landscape around it. After all, we all know how gorgeous those green boxes are, haha!

Tailgating in the truck.

It's Time for a Truck

We've been a one car family for exactly two years. Quick recap for those who don't know our car wreck story: In February 2020, we were in the midst of building our handmade hall tree and drove to Home Depot o buy wood, which would have gone in the back of my Toyota Rav4. We ended up not buying the wood because we realized we didn't have the measurements we needed. As we pulled out of the Home Depot parking lot, we stopped in a turning lane as there was oncoming traffic. Apparently, the humongous Escalade behind us didn't notice we stopped and kept driving full-speed. He rammed us and shattered the back of my Rav 4 (which I had just paid off.) Our 6-month old baby was in the carseat. The SUV was instantly totaled. There were pieces of it hundreds of feet from the scene.

Most importantly, our baby was totally fine. Thank God for modern carseats! She barely knew anything happened. I, on the other hand, was sitting in the back next to her on the side where where we experienced the brunt of the impact, and sustained pretty serious whiplash for which I went on to be treated for over a year (thankfully, all covered by our wonderful USAA insurance.) My husband who was driving was also fine.

Had the wooden boards been in the back, we might be in heaven right now instead of writing this post. The wood we were planning to buy could have impaled us all. Thank God we hadn't double checked our measurements and so delayed buying the boards, adhering to the old saying, "Measure twice, cut once." The driver of the Escalade was neither licensed nor insured. However, as Florida law ensure that each vehicle's insurance pays their own damages, we were covered. We also got a credit toward buying a new carseat, seeing as after being in a major accident, you're not supposed to keep using them. Thank you, USAA! We lived in a walkable neighborhood and with Covid shutdowns happening the next month, we just never replaced the second car. We went on being a one-car family for two years.

One of my favorite Christmas presents is this cooking grate.

All the Better to Tailgate with You, My Dear!

Now that we moved to Central Florida and are no longer in a walkable area, plus, my husband is back to traveling for work, we started to see the benefit of a second vehicle. But most notably, we were destroying our shared SUV driving up and down the uneven dirt drive and tossing tools and dirty boots and gas cans in it. So we finally broke down and bought a truck. Yes, I know, everyone says it's a terrible time to buy a vehicle. But David found a barely-used truck for a (currently) decent price and I can't say how happy we are! It's already come in handy on many occasions, from hauling the chainsaw and fuel in the bed of the truck (no longer filling the SUV's interior with noxious fumes, yay!) to driving back and forth with landscaping tools, we sure are glad to have this bad boy!

But if you ask me, the best part of having a truck is that now we can tailgate for dinner! We laid out a tasty spread last weekend: fish over the fire (the grate was my Christmas present), seasoned broccoli, hot dogs, baked beans, coleslaw, marshmallows, and strawberries we picked ourselves at a local farm. Mmmn, mmmn, mmmn!

The cooking grate we use in our fire ring.