Gentlemen, Start Your Engines...

For Matt's birthday(yes, back in May), the girls and I got him a pretty amazing gift...driving 16 laps around a track in a race car!! There are a few select days to take advantage of it and he finally got to cash in!!

For his racing experience....he got to wear a racing suit (there's probably a more technical term) and drove an actual car, not a passenger ride-along experience. His response: It was awesome!! 

Here is a picture of the car he drove and him in the car:

He looks pretty happy!!

Here is a small clip (about 1 minute) of his driving experience. You'll see (and hear) what he sees from the windshield camera and you'll see him driving the car as well. When viewing the video, click on the play button (the triangle) and then click on the full screen button on the lower right to see the action!

House Update

Here's the latest drama with the house...
The foundation was raised. We now need to wait 90 days for the company to come back and inspect. Then, the builder will come in to do the cosmetic work. So, for now, it looks like we decorate with blue painter's tape! We have it everywhere!! It will be there until mid-January. I should have used red and green tape. At least then we would have been festive for the holidays!
One thing that was repaired was the floor. They did come back to lay hardwood floor where it had been torn up. Also, new bricks were added to the front porch so the large gaping hole has been closed up...thank goodness!

Raise the Roof...er, the Floor!

Today brings the anticipation of our house's foundation being leveled. This has been a long and drawn out process. In June, we learned the foundation has settled and even prior to that we had suspected something was wrong. (By April we could no longer close certain doors and the cracks in the walls and doorframes kept emerging.) In August, a structural engineer came to assess the foundation. Based on his assessment, the foundation needed to be repaired. Ten days ago the house had 24 holes dug around it and 24 concrete piers put into place. The front landscaping was removed and our house was looking a little disheveled on the outside. Over the weekend we prepared for the inside work and we removed the contents of the study and put them in two different rooms. Then the family room furniture was pushed back and the rug was rolled up (and placed in another room). The inside of our house looks like we are either moving in or moving out. I am living in mild chaos. (On a positive note, the empty family room allows for about 4 cartwheels to be turned in a row...thank you, Alexa.)

Yesterday the flooring company came to remove part of the wood floor to expose a crack running from the front to the back of the house. Today, another company will arrive to shoot an epoxy to fill in the gap. Here are pictures:

This is the flooring that was removed in the family room.

This is the flooring that was removed in the study.

Here is a closer view of the crack; this part is in the study.

This is a view of the front porch. They removed the bricks to expose the crack. You can see the crack through the middle of the brick. It went up the front of the house. There is also one that runs parallel up the back of the house.

In order to raise the foundation, there were many measurements taken inside the house. Then, each section or area had to be raised by a certain measurement. The workers were laying on their stomachs, reaching down into the holes and jacking up the piers. The head guy was inside the house, communicating via walkie-talkie on how far to raise the piers. It was strange to hear something going on under the house since we are on a concrete slab! When all of the jacking was complete and the measurements were where they were supposed to be, I walked around inside and checked everything out. It's amazing how doors now close that didn't before and how large cracks in the wall now look like a hairline fracture. The baseboards now touch the floors again in the bathroom...and I'm very happy that door closes completely!! The head guy said to me he could not believe how big the space was between the floor and the baseboards. We could have almost rolled a marble in the gap; it was significant.
Here is the close up of before the adjusting and after.

Before                                                                          After

The gap is not as wide after the foundation has been adjusted.

Epoxy injection is the next step...stay tuned!

New Store Opened

Leaving a place that was familiar was undeniably difficult. I am so happy we finally have had a familiar store open here...somewhat close (35 - 40 minutes away) to our house. At least now I won't have to stock up the next time I venture back to Michigan!!

They converted an old theatre to a store. It has movie posters painted on the wall and the check out lines have the old brass poles with the red velvet ropes partitioning each lane. That was pretty cool!