Driving up to the lot every couple of days is kind of like coming down the stairs on Christmas morning.

Although in this case, you never know if you're going to get the Thundershift 500, or a lump of coal in a used sock.

The last time we popped by, it was somewhere in the Lite Brite/Etch-A-Sketch range of excitement. Pretty cool -- but once we walked around the site, the fun factor faded.

The interesting part was seeing the plywood forms in place on top of the concrete piles. We now have a specific view of how the back windows will line up with the trees.

Our design features three windows together in the living/great room, and we're mirroring those windows with a set in the basement. The forms that surround the basement windows were in place, and we could see that we'll be very happy with the sight lines.

The rebar for the concrete was also in place and lined up, and the steel beams had been delivered.

While this may seem lame, seeing a physical representation of your plan of more than six months is strangely hypnotic. Kind of like seeing Homer on a treadmill.

Even if nothing is actively happening, I can stand there and stare at the site for hours, much to my wife's chagrin.

Rosanne: "OK, we've seen the rebar, can we go now?"

John: "Ooh, ooh, look... they've delivered some two-by-fours to the site... I have to get a picture of that..."

Rosanne: "I'll be in the car."

John: "Aren't you going to come and look at the static pile of wood?"

Rosanne: "Uh, I'll wait until it's turned into framed walls."

John: "OK. I'm just going to hop into the crawl space and measure out where the home theatre is going to go using these cardboard cutout representations."

I'm figuring that once the walls are poured, we can start calling it "going to the house" instead of "going to the lot."

Oop, have to answer the phone... One sec...

How's this for an on-the-fly update: Just talked with Neo (I know he must love that by now... It's Trevor with Mannington Homes) and the pouring's done and the forms have been stripped off. Kind of eerie how he called just as I was writing about the basement being poured...

He really is The One.

Now for some random, sometimes even relevant thoughts from the past week:

• You get some interesting looks when you tell people, "I've finally got piles."
• Friends keep telling me they're eager to go and "check out my hole."
• You have to try the Grape Glacier at Sargent Sundae ... Vanilla soft-serve with grape flavoured 'Squishee' underneath. Like a Creamsicle, only better. (Hey, I warned you this would be sometimes relevant.) Home decisions are easier to make when you're soothing a Squishee rush.
• If I don't call you and tell you we've sold our house, it probably means you don't have to ask me if we've sold our house.
• It's wise to be VERY SPECIFIC when dealing with your financial services assistant.

Aside from our deposit cheque bouncing due to a "bank error," we've also had problems with our mortgage.

Our banker wanted a specific mortgage amount from us, which could only be a guess at the time considering we had yet to pick our cabinets, flooring or plumbing fixtures.

Not surprisingly, the actual total is "slightly" elevated from the original guesstimate, and they have to redraft the paperwork.

What next, will they erase our entire account?

Better not give them any ideas...