This week has been one of stress for me. I started teaching, but they contacted me so late (I got the job at 6pm on the day before class started) that I have nothing prepared so each week is going to be a constant battle to get ready for the next class, trying to stay one step ahead of the students instead of 10 steps. Other things are going on too, but they need not be discussed here.

In all that, I've almost forgotten. Oh yes, we're building a house. Ah! It's much less stressful than people think. That is in part because we bought a tract home that the builder has built many times before. We already made all of our choices, so now we just sit back and watch them put the house up.

Before Thanksgiving they had not even dug the basement. Here is what the place looks like now:

(Click on Thumbnail for a larger view)

They are really moving right along. I have no complaints so far about this builder. Except maybe that they are going too fast! The longer we stay in our apartment, the more money we can save toward moving in and all the things we will need to do once we are in there, like build a deck and do the landscaping. It's pretty exciting though. I simply can't believe that after the year we had last year this is all going so smoothly. And in truth I can't wait to move in. Finally, something is going right.

Joy.