Day 6-Concrete

When I was in 8th grade my family moved into the house on the "hill". We moved out of what I would call my childhood home to fulfill my dad's dream. I am so thankful we did. My mom always would tell me that it was always part of "the plan" to build a house, but I had no idea what that entailed. 

I will never forget the day my mom and dad drove my brother and I to the lot on the hill. My parents were both filled with excitement, I could tell they were serious about this building a house thing. I'm not sure what image I had created in my head of what our "lot" was going to look like, but I can sure as hell tell you it was NOT what I saw upon driving up. We parked the car and I got out and looked out at a desolate, deserted woodland. What? We are going to live here!? Where will I put all of my toys? Where is the T.V. going to be? How in the HELL are we going to build on this hill???? Many thoughts, similar to those were racing through my mind. All I could think of at that moment is that my parents had literally gone insane. 

I sat through the entire mundane yet intriguing process of selling my beloved childhood home with my parents. I watched my parents do wonderful things to the house at Parkton. I remember asking why in the heck we were doing all of these renovations when we were just going to sell, of course my parents explained its all part of the process. We put our house up for sale, and it sold in one day. SERIOUSLY?!? You STUPID buyer! You couldn't have waited at least a week?! Will I have time to say goodbye to all of my friends? I was sad. Overcome with sadness. I noticed a similar emotion in my brother, and wait a second...my parents??! Yes, we were all a little sad with a sudden change, but I have to admit I was excited for this "dream" my dad had. 

A little background on my dad...he is an architect, and the best DIY-selfer a person could want--seriously the man could run the world if he wanted to. Anyway, his dream which he shared with my mom; was that one day, when the time was right, he wanted to design our home and be a part of the construction team. Timeout- I'm not sure that my dad actually wanted to be apart of the construction team...but he had no choice with his incredible unique design, more to come. My mom was all aboard and so where did we find ourselves in 2000ish? Living in my grandma Josephine's basement meeting with contractor after contractor to find someone who would build our house. FINALLY after many contractors saying something along the lines of "Ugh, we don't really have the brainpower to handle your wonderfully created design Mr. Kennedy." I'm not sure if it was exactly that, but it may as well have been! Anyway, we finally found a contractor by the name of Rich. Don't ask me his last name, because I have no clue...anyway Rich, his teenage help (which at the time I had a HUGE crush on) my dad, my mom, my brother, me, and all of our wonderful family and friends stepped up to the challenge.   

Challenge is not the right word...some synonyms: trial, test, encounter, contest, task, experiment...hmm I like that. Experiment. Our experiment got started and underway. Oh and what an experiment it was. Holy cow!!! Do you know how incredibly challenging it is to build a house with 6ish people?? I mean yes, we did have plumbers, electricians, dry-wall men, etc. but I can honestly say without a doubt that the four of us, my mom, dad, brother and I had a lot to do with the construction of this house! Of course my mom and dad way more than Keithie and I, but still it's an experience I will never forget

Once the house passed inspection and we were approved to move in, we could not wait! Now I must say here that we moved in with MANY projects still left untouched. One of them being the finishing of the basement. While my brother and I were in college my parents completed the bar and sitting area. These were both daunting tasks that my parents, to no surprise, tackled and conquered. The area still to be touched was the future two bedroom and bathroom area. Well needless to say, it is finally underway and it has been a project indeed! So this is where we are now, in this whole process of building this house, we are in the "finishing the basement" stage. 

I've noticed that I tend to tell the back story before I get to the "real" story, but hey that is how I write.  Anyway, back to the title of my blog "concrete," today I helped with concrete for the finishing of the basement. I of course was under supervision of my dad, but I learned how to mix, pour and do something with this cool tool to flatten it all out. It was quite the learning experience! If you ever have the privilege to come to my house, and get invited inside, I may show you the wonderful concrete work I did (with a large portion of help being from my Daddio). 

At this time I'd like to create an advertisement for my dad. It would say something like this:

Are you in need of lessons to become the best DIYselfer known to man kind? 

  Look out! Keith Kennedy is of one mind. 

Got a job or two that need a fix?

No worries, he knows the trick!

Yes, we know he's smart.

With the help of him, you'll definitely get a kick-start!

That was fun! Below are some pictures from our day! Enjoy!

Project Number 1

Concrete      

Daddio Mixing Concrete

Watching Dad smooth so I'll be ready!

  HANNIE'S TURN