Some Assembly Required

It's official! We really have a house, right now, as I type this.

As the title of the post says, some assembly is yet required. What you see are all of the components of our house. The bundle on the left (with the yellow-edged boards) is our walls. The bundle on the right and further back (with the green-edged boards) are our roof trusses. We even have windows.

That's the good news. Aside from delivering our house, that appears to be everything they did today. They haven't braced the basement walls for back-fill so, of course, they haven't back-filled. They also haven't put in our 2nd egress window yet. I'm hoping tomorrow they put in our egress window, brace the basement walls for back-fill, get it inspected, and back fill. I know I don't ask for much, do I?

On the brighter side, it looks like they broke ground on another house. I'm pretty sure it is the house of another couple that we have met during this adventure. If I can believe the time lines, it looks like we will have new neighbors about 3 weeks after we move in.

Ranney's Final Post

Don't worry, I am not dying, or falling of the Blogging planet, it's just that the majority of the posts I will do from now on will be else where! Please, I encourage you to go visit my blog: Ranney Days at http://ranneydays.blogspot.com/. I will try to keep up with it as much as I have this one(A LOT), but I will most likely not be encouraged to post here anymore. My blog will contain a lot of what is going on with the family that I know of, but mostly the drama that goes on at school, and a lot less of the house building process(Come here for that!).
~Rayanna~

Chinese Food

I think this may be my second post by this name, and having to do with AP:World and Chinese food, anyway, here it goes.
I don't know what it is, well yes I do. Because the Americas hadn't been found as of 600 C.E (Common Era; A.D.), that we learn all about Asian beliefs etc. so, as a result, when we learn about the river civilizations, and classical periods, and Hinduism(last week) or Buddhism(some of last week, this week(two days) and some of next week), I want Chinese food!
Next year, once we finally get into the 1700s, I'll want American food, but as of my studies, it hasn't been founded yet! I am gona be wanting a LOT of Chinese food this year- well, more than usual anyway.
Thankfully, my parents are understanding, and love me, so that's what we are having for dinner tonight! YAY!
I'll post what my fortune says, maybe, unless I forget.
Merry Christmas!! I should be on a lot during the next 2 weeks, of which we have off!
~Rayanna~

Lemonade Award Tag?

The Lemonade Award
This award comes with a few rules and here they are:
Put the logo on your blog or post. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude! Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

One problem: I don't know any more blogs than the one Alicia has, and she sent it to me!

~Rayanna~

Yay! The week is half over!

Well, not really, it isn't Wednesday. But, Dad, Buddy and I all have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off. Then we have all the next week off, but Daddy is going back to work on Monday and Tuesday. I am so excited! Christmas is 2 days away!
~Rayanna~

YAY! Thank you YAYA!

Yaya, Alicia, posted on her blog to ask her readers if they had ideas for the title of my new blog! I found one! Once it's made and everything, I'll let you know where it is, what it is, and who came up with it! I am SOO excited!
~Rayanna~

Thank you Upstate New York, Our new Super Intendant AND the Weather guy!

Long title, short subject. We had a snow day today, if you've seen the roads, you know why. Daddy came home two hours early, and I am anxiously waiting for my brain to give me a really cute phrase for my new blog's title. I hope to get that up soon.
All MY Christmas shopping is done, but I am 14, what do I really have to get? I got my dad 3 presents, which is rare because he is IMPOSSIBLE to shop for. My mom got exactly what she wanted(never mind the fact we shopped together!). My brother, my parents have handled. My old BEST Friend Christina, amazing little violin (she plays the violin very well) I found at this little shop. My BEST friend Alycia, is almost impossible... I am getting her a gift card to the movies- good movies out this time of year- 8 movies coming out on Christmas I want to see! And my BEST cousin Alicia, is getting the BEST present EVER!! I can't wait for Christmas. The P.R.I.S.M. concert went well last night, didn't get home until 11:00.
DRAMA-RAMA! There has been 8 Freshman "episodes" this year. And the 4th this week happened last night! I didn't know what the fight was about, but it affected the entire choir. DURING the second show, one girl screamed at another, their topic of choice to fight about went to all of their friends, half the freshman were against the other half of the freshman, one girl puked she was crying so hard, she went home. Mr. Faccio, a vice principal, who was enjoying the show was forced to go back to the room we were in. One girl got punched, and by the end of the night, 6 girls had In School Suspension for at least all two days of school next week, and 10 were crying. Poor Mrs. Story stressed out as it was was forced to come back and told all the freshman that if they weren't there to sing, to get out. It was a very interesting night, especially because the only freshmen that weren't in any way involved were My BEST friend Alycia and I. All the upper-classmen hate freshmen as it is. There was supposed to be an assembly after the PRISM concert tomorrow in school about all the fist fights lately between freshmen- I don't know when that is gonna happen now!
~Rayanna~

Pay for a house, get a city

When I first saw this picture, I thought it looked like a flyover view of a city.

What this really is are the forms for our basement walls. They were delivered this morning. I'm a little disappointed that they didn't set them up this afternoon, but Marianne said she saw a Water & Sewer Truck there this afternoon, so maybe they had to wait for an inspection of the sewer rough-in (the blue pipe in the picture).

On the bright side, we already have our first window.

It's not installed yet, obviously, but this is our egress window. Hey, I guess it's that much less cement they'll have to pour.

By my memory, which is flawless (it's the recall I have trouble with), this puts us a couple days behind schedule. I'm hoping tomorrow they put up the forms and pour the walls. I figure the time consuming part is the forms. Once those are up, how long can it take to pour cement? I guess these are the trials and tribulations of building a house.

I'm hoping the rest of this week, they pour the basement walls and take down the forms. We'll see where we are on the schedule when we talk to Trent, the project manager, on Friday.

Disappointment

The title is a little harsh, but I didn't make the musical. I am not depressed, just disappointed. I know some one who CANNOT project, and she made it over me. I am happy for her, although, it does sound like I'm a little jealous. Now, thinking back, I wish I hadn't complained about spending a possible 5 hours at school on Tuesday and Thursdays. I am really glad I tried out because if some one doesn't sign by their name, their part will be given away.

Now it really makes me MAD when a senior cries because they didn't get the main role which they wanted. She is the teacher's pet, and I guess it hurt her self-esteem when she got a small SPEAKING role! At least she gets to speak. Although, she shouldn't speak because all I hear is "I love you Mrs. Story, You are so amazing Mrs. Story, Can I help you do something, Can I make All states Mrs. Story? You are the best!" Uggg. Okay, maybe I am a little bitter. I am shocked. I thought my 4 1/2 minute audition went really really well, when everyone else took 8 and 1/2 minutes. I don't know. Everything just might happen for a reason.
Rayanna

Blog Overload

Because the majority of the 84 posts have been writen by me, and I mostly don't write about the family, I write about me, Dad might be kicking me off this blog. I am NOT complaining, this means that I *might* be getting my own blog. This presents a problem. I always think of the best titles for stuff when I don't need them. I NEED ideas!
This is what I got: Rayanna's Moosepaper (Came up with this one from my Moose wrapping paper. It sounds like News paper....). What do you guys think? Feel free to give me some ideas by clicking the little comments button at the bottom of this post! Thanks in advance!
~Rayanna~

Dance Party

Okay, so the dance was pretty much a waste of time. It was fun, for the first hour. I danced, i looked really great, but they played the same 8(NOT kidding) songs over and over and OVER!! I spent the remainder of the 3 hours talking to an old friend and he told me something about the cast list. Apparently, Mrs. Story (Showboat Co-director) came into the school at 8 on a dance night. There was a kid that CHASED after her (my guess is they were eager to see what part (if they got one) they got) forcing her to SPRINT to her class room! We think that the cast list went up last night. It's not on the internet, so I don't know yet. I am soooo eager to see who got the part I tried out for. I have been told that the shorter your audition is, the better you did. We'll see! I find out tomorrow! I CANNOT wait! But, I am not too excited to chase down the director. HEHE!
~Rayanna~

R. P. O. Concert

Well, R.P.O. does not mean Rest Peacefully Oranges as some may think... It stands for Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. And one would think that this concert would be in... I don't know, ROCHESTER?!?! NO! We sold over 600 $20 tickets in our Academy's auditorium. The Orchestra, I am not going to lie, was much older that 35. Then, the director, who happened to look like he just came back from his Biology classroom doing experiments, came out and he couldn't have been much older than 25. He looked like he was wearing a lab coat because in the Orchestra, Guys wore white suits, and Girls wore Black sparkly itchy looking outfits. It was hilarious. We had TWO standing ovations and the concert went well. I was personally thanked by the people in the row I had to stand and sing next to(we sang in the aisles). It was a little weird.
Winter Formal is tonight and I am really excited! I will post pictures and stuff tomorrow morning. Oh, and the cast list for Showboat has a possibility of going up Sunday night on the internet! I am soooo excited. If it doesn't go up Sunday, then it will on Monday at school.
~Rayanna~

...and so it begins

For those of you that we haven't talked to yet, we had our pre-build meeting with the project manager on Wednesday. During the meeting, we met our project manager (Trent) and went over all of the options we ordered to make sure they all made it into the prints and the job package. We also found out our address and got our dig date. They started digging yesterday!! I stopped by and took a picture in the morning, before they started.

Early morning: Day 1

I stopped by for a picture on the way home from work:

Afternoon: Day 1

They dug the entire basement and got started digging the garage in just one day!

This is what things looked like this afternoon. There is not much difference from this perspective, but with no excavator in the way, you can see how much dirt they actually removed.

Afternoon: Day 2

It may not look like much, but today they finished digging the garage and poured the footers for the basement walls.
The lumps that you see covered by tarps would be our footers. They also put up our lot sign. I guess that means they are officially building our house.

If all goes according to the construction schedule, our pre-closing walk through will be February 27. We don't expect everything to go according to schedule, so we should realistically be closing in early March. The earlier in March the better. That way, we can keep this shoebox until the end of March and take our time moving stuff to the new house. That will also give us an opportunity to put up some paint before we put big, heavy furniture in front of the walls. Anyone reading this who doesn't want to help move or paint should probably not answer their phone for the entire month of March. You may want to think twice about answering the phone in April, too. :-)

Next week, they should be putting up the forms for the basement walls, pouring the concrete and might even get started putting in the first floor.

Now that they have started building our house, I should be posting pictures and commentary a lot more often. My intention right now is to stop by every day after work and take a picture of the house from roughly the same spot. That way, when they are done, I will be able to do a slide show and see a time-lapsed representation of our house going up. Thanks to my brother-in-law for the idea.

BUSY!

Okay, so you all know, I have had a busy week. It's not over yet. I did not get called back, but that doesn't mean anything, just that they want to see them again. We find out the cast list "next Monday." I don't know which Monday. That's the confusing part.
I have a concert tomorrow. The tickets were $10-$20 a piece because we have to pay each soloist $300 a song! The pressure is on. We start Rehearsal #1 at 3:40. Then, at 5:00, some kids get picked up, while others (like me) will be staying to eat there. At 7:25 is Rehearsal #2 until 7: 45 when we take the stage. Then, at 8, we go back, relax, and rehearsal #3 goes on. Then, at 8:30 we go on AGAIN. It is in Rochester, so I won't be home until 10:30. I have a fun day of school tomorrow.... Joy to behold!
~Rayanna~

I am a TAG MAGNET!

I always love filling out these "You've been tagged" things. This is one where I post 7 random things about myself. Here it goes.
1. We found out our new address today, and they are starting digging tomorrow!
2. I have seen Twilight twice. The last movie I saw that many times was long before the rising gas prices.
3. Showboat Call Backs are tomorrow (Thursday) but I may or may not be called back. But it's okay because that doesn't mean anything. It means they just want to see them again. I think I might be called back because my audition lasted 4 minutes... we'll see.
4. I have a lot of homework today.
5. I love curly fries(we had some for dinner).
6. I loved Horton Hears a Who.
7. I am not doing a movie review because it is to hard not to spill anything if I don't just tell you the Dr. Suess book.

Tryouts

Tryouts were today. Well, they were yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but I went today. There were four parts- Dance, Waiting, singing and acting.
The dance part was fun, I missed a step- my partner missed 6, the second time when we did the dance, I was perfect, my partner was... better. I don't mean to sound cocky, but I just got back from the tryouts.
Waiting- was not so great, after the dancing session, we had to get numbers- I was 46. With 10 minutes per person, it took like 5 hours. During that time I practiced, practiced, and practiced. I was pretty confident. In the play, Freshman almost NEVER make it, but that is the play. In the musical, Freshman are rare.
Singing- was exciting. It was all by my self. I walked in, handed my audition sheet where the director marks that he thinks etc. I set down my script, stood on the sticker marked on the floor and sang my heart out- for 2 minutes. I was amazed at how good I was doing, I hadn't sung out loud in a while. I was SURE I was gonna mess up. Just then, he stoped me. "Fantastic! We're done." He bellowed excitedly to me. I know it wasn't out of exhaustion from watching 45 other kids in front of me because of the look on the his face! When I was done, Mrs. Story left for a quick minute and the director asked me how I was doing. I felt like he was asking me what my name is- and I couldn't remember. I thought of saying the first thing on my mind- nerve racked with his replies. I couldn't say that! I said excited, which I was, and he seemed pleased.
Acting- They brought a very not cute senior actor in and we did our lines. I did well, even great, better than I had expected. In the rush with my song, I kinda forgot to Epractice my lines! Oops! When we were done, I shook his hand and wished them a good night and left.
I was extatic! A FRESHMAN walked in and got a FANTASTIC!! That freshman was ME!!! OMG! Mommy picked me up, and I explained. Call backs are soon, I don't really know when. If not the part of Ellie, I think I got a part. I hope!
Rayanna

Weird words of the day

These are some weird words I have thought about when we drove past a store called Peebles. These should bring you some laughs if you say them allowed.
1. Puddle (Poo-ddddle)
2. Bubble (BUB-ble)
3. Peebles (PEEE-bles)
4. Pudding (POO-DING)
5. Bumpkin (just a weird word from Hannah Montana)
6. Lilac(why is is spelled like that? Lie- lac)
7. Dunno (weird slang)

Well over due/more detailed blogging

Okay, so Monday, last week, we went to Charlotte Russe which is a store in the mall. I would almost NEVER step foot in there, but I was with my mom, and we were looking for the perfect Winter Formal dress, which we found. I also found a really cool hat! It kinda looks like a Nancy Drew hat, but it also looks like a hat I have seen on Demi Lavato, Hannah Montana, one of the Jonas brothers. That's not why I wanted it, not because of the stars having it, but because it is vintage, I make anything look good, and it was really cute. My Grandpa Gordy loves it too! I wore it to school and got stares... their jealous. ;~D I'll post a picture of the dress when I blog about the dance Saturday night.

~Rayanna~

A(n) ___________ time of year

Christmas. Usually a jolly time of year. NOT when you have a Salvation Army bell ringing in your ear every time you leave the house. I saw a commercial for them, and remembered last year... ugg. As I recall, they were low on their expectation meter, so they got cops to pull people over on the street and BEG for money! I totally understand that there are needy people that need help to have a Christmas worth living for. But come on. Really, how much of the money actually helps those who need it MOST. And how much of it really goes to the lazy sons of guns that sit on their butts while they could be working. Then the commercial just irks me because their motto is "Doing the most good." COME ON! Harassing people in the holiday isn't gonna make them feel good about dropping an extra dollar in the annoying bell ringer's red tins!
*** House Update*** We have our "Pre-construction Meeting" on the 19th. We are excited. I can't wait for our new house! It just doesn't feel like Christmas here. The presents, the dinner, the family, the time off from school, the cold, the ice, the accidents, the snow days, it all feels like Christmas, but, it just doesn't feel warm, and fuzzy, and you can't smell the cinnamon. I probably feel this way because we are still deciding where to put the Christmas tree in our shoe box.
~Rayanna~

Photo Tagged

This is a picture of Buddy, and here's the short story behind it. This picture was taken probably around last November, or maybe spring, well, it was before we decided where we wanted our new house to be. We went in to the forest, and he found a walking stick. This is not the property we decided on. However, he decided to play around and pretend that this is his "kingdom" and he is the leader, and to prove his point, he marked his territory. Boys.... I don't get it. Weird.

~Rayanna~

I have missed a whole WEEK of blogging!!!

Well, that's mostly because there has been NOTHING going on! Well, okay, we did do stuff, but nothing particularly note-worthy.
Monday- Long, it was Monday. We went to the mall, and I got a dress for Winter formal, a Nancy Drew hat, Showboat the Musical on DVD
Tuesday- I stayed afterschool to learn the songs for Showboat and had a blast!
Wednesday- I learned some of the dances and more about the characters in Showboat. Again, I had a great time!
Thursday- I got an email from my newspaper editor, she wants me to come back, when I quit a MONTH ago!
Friday-Today, longest day of the week, I've heard that Ghost Whisperer is new, I don't know if it is. I'll watch it and tell you later. Test in AP that I studied until 12:00 A.M. for. It was super easy.
Rayanna

Total Kodak Moment

Sorry, no pictures allowed in school. But, this is an embarrasing story I am about to share that I am sure will make you laugh.
Okay, so I was on my way to Math, and I saw this kid I've know since the 3rd grade. We have never really been friends, unless the whole "Can I borrow your pencil?" "Sure." "Wanna be best friends." kind of thing. Yes, kids did that in my 3rd grade class anyway. So, to the story. You know those moments, like in Mean Girls, where everyone is staring at the new girl, and she trips? Well, it wasn't really like that. He was looking at me, and no, I didn't trip, he walked into a locker. I quickly looked away so he couldn't see me laughing. It was quite hilarious. And for once, I didn't trip over my self! The funny part is, I didn't even look my greatest either!
Rayanna