Updates!
Friday was a big day. The engineer came to the house a couple of weeks ago, and had preliminary plans to show us. Things are looking pretty good. We may not have to do a new septic, as they think we can do a system suitability determination and we've got a good chance of passing. That would be nice, as it's an expense we don't want to incur if we don't have to. The only upside of digging up the back yard is, well, the lawn would get redone. :-)
We're pretty much settled on a two-cars-wide garage with a pillar in the center. While I like the idea of a single large opening, the doors of that size are a lot harder to deal with, and you get that extra load-bearing support, so you don't have the temptation of using a steel beam.
They're going to have to do some finagling with the roof line -- I'm not sure how it's going to end up, but I just hope that the best engineering solution doesn't wind up looking insane from the street.
We'll hear back in a week or two with the actual specc'ed drawings, see if we like them, and then get the head engineer to sign off on them.
On a different note, we've also got all our wedding plans made. The judge, the location, the dinner, the hotel rooms -- even my invitation database. Invitations are being printed today (could it POSSIBLY be any later?), and now I just have a lot of sewing to do.
Speaking of sewing, Rich got me a wedding present a bit early. It does this. My old Janome New Home 5700 kinda did something sort of like that. But frankly? Two different worlds. The Baby Lock Ellegante CUTS THE THREAD for you. It trims jump stitches as you embroider. It has a TEN INCH HOOP.
I sat in front of it for several hours this weekend, and I giggled every time it cut the thread and automatically lifted the presser foot for me.
Doesn't take much, I guess.