The glass is half __________

If only Jim knew how to blog, he would be able to give better updates than I do.  As hard as I try, sometimes I end up being the "glass half empty" person and I focus on the fact that we are 3 months behind schedule and I miss all the little signs of progress.  For awhile, I was beginning to think that I needed to title a post:  "They know how to build houses in SEATTLE" because every time it rained nothing would get done for a week while we waited for everything to dry out.. just in time for it to rain again.  I tend to want to micromanage things and so it was all I could do to keep quiet.  I hope our builder appreciates the silence.  (While I was screaming in my head.)  

Here's a chronicle of the last few weeks: 

Robert checking out the heavy equipment. Thankfully there were no keys onboard.  People who don't do this for a living shouldn't mess around...  (When we built our house in Virginia someone started up the backhoe and couldn't figure out how to turn it off.)

This is all of the underground plumbing.  Someday I might want to look back and see where it all began.  Or maybe not....

Here is is all covered up and ready for the rebar and concrete,
as of April 26, 2012

After the recent tornadoes in the area, some people have asked if we are putting in a tornado shelter.  Well, this is our storage area below ground level, which is accessed through the garage.  So, I guess we have a tornado shelter by default and these photos from a few miles away make me very glad that we decided to put in the extra storage.

yes, that is a semi truck flying through the air.

This is the sewer line that runs all the way across the property

This shows the buried sewer line and how green everything is after all the rain

Mud.

More mud.  This is where the first concrete has to be poured, and that can't be done until it is dry.

Once it finally did dry out, this is how they prepared the foundation.  

After 2 weeks of waiting...

Yes!  We finally have concrete!  I never thought a piece of cement could make me so happy.  It's the little things, right?  This was poured on April 26, 2012.

Three's the charm... it took 3 tries to get our stone selection right.  We're going with the one in the middle.  Not sure about brick colors yet.

 So that's the progress.  It should take about 2 more weeks to get the foundation finished and then the walls can start going up.  The forecast is for dry weather and less screaming in my head!  All around me will appreciate that.