We have a foundation!!

In my mind, I always thought that making a foundation, setting the forms, pouring concrete and all the finishing work was, well, rocket science! Well, after a very long week of doing all of this, it turns out that not only is it not rocket science, but you also don't need a law degree to do it either:)  Don't get me wrong, this was a LOT of work!!  My body has been sore for the last week - shoveling gravel, leveling everything off, and using the come-along to move around concrete.  But doing this as a DIY was very doable.  It just makes me so thankful that our house is not that big!!

We have already completed our first pour, but we were shy a bit of concrete and we decided to extend the front of the house by an additional 8' (adding 160 sq ft to the living room area).  We have one more pour to do before it's finished and I believe that pour will be this coming Wednesday. 

We were so thankful to have our neighbor Gordy help us out.  Here is a breakdown of our costs so far:

Materials (forms, plumbing, stakes, foam, etc): ~$1500
Renting the Bobcat Tracker: $300
Renting the Bobcat T55 (walk behind): $100
Gravel: ~$600
Renting the Bull Float and the Fresno (rented twice): $42
Concrete: $1676 +  (we have one more pour to make, and it will also be about $1,500-$1,600)

Total:  $5818.00

Doing it ourselves and probably saving $15k - priceless!!  And the best part, I learned something new and had the chance to work side by side my awesome husband:)


Now, I was going to make an entire blog post about the differences we've noticed between OH and WY life, but it seems that blog would be entirely too long.  Instead, I'm going to share one in each blog:
In Ohio, if you have animals you have to 'fence them in'.  Here in Wyoming that is not the case.  If we don't want our neighbors animals to be on our property, we can't complain to them to fence in their animals.  Here there is a 'fence out' rule.  We have to fence out their animals so they can't come on our property.  It's very common for 'open range' grazing around here.  Luckily, we don't have anything to worry about at this time, but it's something new that we learned!!

Side Note:  We've been told several friends and family were curious about my sewing.  Here are some links you can go to and see examples of my work.  First is my Facebook page.  You do not have to have Facebook to see these pictures...  The pictures at the top are the oldest examples of my work.  Toward the bottom you will find the latest examples.  You can see how over the last 10 years my work has evolved!!  This link is to the photo album: Examples of My Work
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.328887117201409.74924.328882213868566&type=3
Here is the link to my FB page in its entirety:
https://www.facebook.com/KLSDesignsShowClothing

And here is another link to view my work.  I'm not sure if you will need a Pinterest account to access this link, but the pictures near the top are the latest examples of my work:
http://www.pinterest.com/smitty2648/kls-designs-show-clothing/

I have sewn a lot of different things, mainly show clothing, but also my own wedding dress too (also below), and a wedding of bridesmaids dresses (shown below - photo by LimeLight Photography).  It's nice to take this sewing break, but I'm looking forward to getting back in the swing of things.

Here are some pictures for you of our first concrete pour!!