This weekend we spent quite a bit of time at the lot. We cut down one bushy tree, Heather played and swung on the swing, we staked out where the house will be, decided to remove four and maybe five trees… and Hayden sat in the van the whole time. I don’t know what’s up with him lately.
Tonight though, we went back out later. John and Rocko walked around looking at trees, and Hayden finally left the van. Yay! The kids and I spent quite a bit of time on the rockpile. We found quite a few fossils… mostly worms and casings. A few that looked like fish fin impressions and reptile skin type impressions… but one really nice one. A trilobite – the cockroach of the underwater world from 500-250 million years ago. Pretty cool!
We hope to have the excavator out there soon… digging by next week at the latest. Things should start looking different out there soon. 
I can’t wait.
We have enough numbers from enough sources now to KNOW that we can’t afford the plan we have been working toward for the last several months. After a breakdown last weekend, however, I am committed to building and living out there. I want it. So, we are going to put a lot of sweat into it ourselves this summer and we are making some changes to the plan. The good news is that the main part of our house plan will stay the same. The roof is simpler, the ceilings are only 8 foot and some of the angles have been taken out. But, we will be in a house and out there on that lot with all the beautiful trees.
This whole process has been amazing, difficult, fun, heart breaking and eye opening. John and I have done a lot of amazing things in our lives. I don’t say that to brag but rather to put things into perspective. Because, at this point, with me at home, and John getting less overtime as well, we are actually making the least amount of income that we have made together as a couple. Realizing that was hard. Very hard. To be honest, it wasn’t until a week ago that we finally figured that out. I mean, I have been home since September… and we just woke up to that realization. It was almost like we (I) were in denial. So, its been quite a journey.
So, the new plan is just about done. And now we will be going back to our subs. And when I say our new plan, I mean both our new house plan as well as our plan for how to get it built.
It’s going to be a long summer, and likely painful both physically and emotionally. Some dreams are being cut to allow others to continue. And it is no secret that we are not exactly in the best physical shape either. So the work will take a toll on us. I hope we live through it.
Buckle up and enjoy the ride. I hope to blog throughout the build so you all can do it win us. Sigh… here we go.
John is doing the Polar Plunge again this year. Please consider giving to support Special Olympics IL. Also consider coming to see him dive in the water again this year. LOL Giving box is in the column to the left.
Okay – so we finally have a new plan ready to go. We may be crazy – but rates and prices are down and we’re going to see about building in the winter. WHEE!
A little ADHD lady bug out for some fun.
“Sometime in the next week or so, the U.S. national debt will exceed $13.4 trillion.”
UGH!!!!
“Traditionally, federal spending has run around 21 percent of GDP. But George W. Bush and (even more dramatically) Barack Obama have now driven federal spending to more than 25 percent of GDP. And as the old joke goes, that’s the good news. As the full force of entitlement programs kicks in, the federal government will consume more than 40 percent of GDP by the middle of the century. That doesn’t even begin to count state and local-government spending.”
The Deficit Is a Symptom, Spending Is the Disease | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary.
By Jim Broadway, Publisher, State School News Service
The General Assembly was so sure Illinois would receive a federal Race to the Top grant that the legislature appropriated the anticipated $400 million before adjourning last spring to hit the campaign trail.
But when the U.S. Department of Education revealed its list of winners today, Illinois was not on the list. After coming in fifth in Round 1, and strengthening its application in the meantime, the State Board of Education has graciously accepted that it will receive no RTTT funding.
State Superintendents Chris Koch was to hold a news conference on the subject at 1 p.m. Matt Vanover, ISBE spokesman, expressed the agency’s “disappointment” about the outcome, but stressed that Koch believes Illinois education is “better because of the competition.”
The state will proceed with many of the programs included in the RTTT application – the longitudinal data system, the efforts to improve the teaching and educational administrative corps, for example – but “we’re just going to do those things at a slower pace.”
