Floor Update

After fits (by me) and starts (yes, plural), the kitchen floor is finally almost ($%^%#$@!#$%) finished. More about the almost in a minute.

Here is the floor removal halfway through.

The piano and pool table had to be moved into the den and everything had to be covered with plastic to minimize the dust. At least we had room for a Christmas tree.

All of the small items and chairs from the den were moved into the dining/wine room about a month ago. Good thing we didn't have any dinner party plans during the holidays.....

We now get to put everything back together. The goal is to have it completed by Christmas night.

oh - about the "almost" - there is a low spot in the area between the rooms. No idea how that happened, but they have to tear it out, level it and put it back together. Not sure when this will happen. They also did not fix the hallway in the master suite, so that will be fixed at the same time.

NO Floor this Week

I'm so angry about it that I can't post anything that my mother could read, so I'll post more later.

New Floor - Part 1

Here is the new floor in the den. No more buckled seams. Yea! Only 5 1/2 months after moving in.............

Phase 2 starts on Monday, December 13. Oh boy! They get to move both the piano and the pool table. Should be fun!!!

Finally!

Well, it's not the landscaping!. The floor guys finally showed up on Monday and after the Guy called Bob the Builder, he sent over more workers and they got the existing wood up from the den floor. That little exercise took all day and here is a photo of the results.

Naturally, Brix thought all the wood chips were there just for his chewing enjoyment, so it has been quite a feat to keep him out of there.

Day two was the removal of all of this wood and glue residue. That endeavor also took all day. Today was the laying of the new floor. Photos to come....

Oh, and we now have about 1/4 inch of dust all over the den and kitchen.

One Year Ago

I never thought I would be still posting on this blog about how we are not yet finished! NEVER - in my wildest dreams. But, alas, here we are. Over a year ago (by about a week) and we still have a mud pit in the back yard and warped floors. The floor guys were scheduled to be here Monday - Wednesday this week to replace one entire room, since the "replace a small section" method failed so miserably. On Sunday, I started talking to the Guy about moving things out of the den. He refused because he said he didn't think the floor guys would show up. But, I said, BOBTHE BUILDER said they would be here and I'm going with that. I ended up only moving a few of the more fragile items. The floor guys can move the big stuff - not our job.

Well, apparently, not their job either, which means that the Guy was right. The floor guys did not show up! They did drop by about noon and said they would come today (Tuesday) and get it all finished in two days (with one of those days being the Wednesday before Thanksgiving). Yeah, RIGHT. We may be slow, but we are not stupid. That will never happen. The Guy asked them if the wood was acclimating in some indoor location (which was not done before and is one of the alleged reasons it warped in the first place). "Ummmmmmm. We haven't ordered the wood yet.". AH HA! It was never going to get done. Why do they pretend? It is just ridiculous.

Well, we are now rescheduled for Monday - Wednesday of next week. Hummmmmm. The Monday after a long weekend holiday. Wanna place bets???

Oh, and the landscaping is supposedly scheduled for that same Monday. Let's go for a two-fer. Any bets?????

Stay tuned to see if you won your bet. I'm betting the landscaping doesn't get done and that the floor guys show up around noon on Monday.

It's Never Easy

Well, the big week has come and gone. The septic guy came on Monday and Tuesday and installed a new float in the first tank. That didn't work as the pipes still rattle. They tried some other things on Wednesday and we think they finally found out how to fix the problem (again). Haven't seen or heard from them since.......

The floor guys came on Wednesday (ah, I remember "construction time" - were supposed to be here between 8:30 and 9:00 but arrived at 10:00) Spent until about 4 or so, including lunch, and only replaced a section about two feet by six feet. At this rate, they will be totally finished by next June. Especially since they told me that they would work on our floor when they didn't have anything else to do. Supposed to come on Thursday around 10 - didn't show up at all. Came Friday morning and picked up their tools to take to another job site. Think we're a priority?????

Bottom line on the floor, some of the new joints are raised, the wood doesn't totally match and it has a different finish. Oh, and there are gouge marks in some of the surrounding boards. Well, THIS experiment did not work. Back to the drawing board. Fortunately, Bob is still very committed to getting it finished soon and properly.

Landscaping is unbelievably frustrating. Not done at all with continuous promises to get it finished. I'm ready to sue them.......

Good news - the weather is BEAUTIFUL and the dog is getting slightly better!

Stay tuned.

Should be a Big Week

Emphasis on should. The plumber and septic guy came by on Friday and think they have a solution (which is really a septic solution - not plumbing). The septic guy should be here Monday to fix the problem.

We hope to get started replacing the floor on Thursday. New wood is supposed to have been ordered....... I hope we do get going. I originally thought we were going to move everything out of one room and rip it all out, sand the slab and start all over again. Turns out they are going to replace sections at a time that can be replaced in one day so every evening we have total use of the particular room they are working in. This is MUCH better - both the inconvenience and the lack of dust from sanding the slab. They are replacing the most obvious place first and see if it turns out well before they start on other areas. Should be tons of fun with a new 50 lb puppy. Oh boy! He's going to love it!

Lastly, after many false promises, the landscape company promises once more that the sod will be replaced this coming week. Wanna place bets???

Once these three items are complete, we are officially finished. Can it really be true?? Only 5 months after we moved in.......

Stay tuned!

You Know it's Not Good When.....

Your plumber calls and starts humming the theme song from the Twilight Zone. We have had an issue with the plumbing/septic since we moved in. The pipes in the master bathroom, kitchen and powder bath all rattle at various times of the day. The powder bath specializes in gurgling in the middle of the night. The bathroom and kitchen pipes generally rattle after large volumes of water go through them, such as after a shower or dishwasher cycle. It is interesting because the powder bath already existed although the pipes were redone, and the kitchen and bathroom pipes are brand new.

The septic guy and the plumber have been out numerous times to fix what they think the problem is and nothing has worked. On Monday, the plumber installed some larger relief valves and said it would either make the problem stop or get worse. Guess which it was? Now they have to get together and collectively solve this issue - why didn't they do that before, you ask? "It's construction" is my only answer.

We have only three things that remain before we can say we are finally finished - this, the floors and landscaping. More to come. Stay tuned.......

New Addition

No, it's not the additional two car garage with the apartment above that we really want, but an addition of the four legged kind. Meet Brix. He is a 6 1/2 month old Vizsla we rescued from a family in Jacksonville who could not handle him. He is from our Illinois breeder and has the same bloodlines as Escrow and Equity. He is totally out of control - so his "addition" to the family is still a probationary one. We have a personal trainer for him, so are going to give him as much as we can to succeed, but if he doesn't stop biting me, he's going back to Illinois!

The Osprey are Back Already!

I was sitting in the back yard last weekend and heard an Osprey call. Not terribly unusual as there are some who do not migrate. I looked up to see one soar over the lake and land on the limb beside the nest next door. I was stunned and wondered if this was one of the local birds just stopping for a minute. Nooooooo! In another minute or so the other one flew up and landed in the nest. We grabbed the binoculars to get a better look. They were pretty scruffy, so we surmised they had just flown in. How cool is that - to actually see them arrive? It is about a month early from previous years, but they left early as well. Perhaps, the previous years were the exception and this is the normal timing. Only future years will tell. Regardless, we are thrilled to see them back!

Sorry for the terrible photo - early in the morning pointing into the sun, but the silhouette doesn't look that bad!

It's Official - New Floor on the Way

I finally put my foot down and let Bob-the-Builder know I was through with de-humidifiers that really are not doing a thing to help the floors go down. There is no discernible difference from when we moved in and my patience has run it's course. Bob couldn't be better about it and is fine with this decision. The floor guy is now looking for the exact same manufacturing lot of the wood. If we can't find it (and are certain it does not have too much moisture in it) then we have to pull up the entire floor as well as the baseboards. No one wants to have to pull the baseboards off - I just don't think it will ever look good if we have to do that. Perhaps I am wrong - we had to pull off many of the door frames and replace them and they are fine; however, I don't want to find out.

I think we are going to have one large section in the middle of the den replaced first so we can make sure that it stays down and does not warp. If that works, then we will go with the rest of the rooms and hallways. Yuck. I don't look forward to this process, but it should be the LAST thing we have done.

Then - PARTY ON - we can finally have our open house. A friend predicted in early August that the party would take place in January. Noooooooooo!! I said. It won't be that far away. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think he is right. We are getting into Halloween, then the holidays. January is generally a slow party month, so that might be it. 6 months after moving in. Wow (not a good wow).

Manatee

Before we were sidelined by the Halloween Spook House plastic door, we started hanging art - which is the last major thing to be done. All of the big pieces are hung with the exception of the den. I don't want to hang anything in there with the low humidity. It's not working on the floors, but I don't want it to ruin anything else. :)

When I told our designer what color we wanted on the walls, she noted that she was not surprised, given that the same color could be found in almost every single piece of artwork we own. I truly had not noticed - but it is really evident now! I was most surprised when we hung the Wyland Manatee Port Hole. The frame actually matched the walls - who knew?? It looks right at home!

Floored

What we hope is a last ditch effort to determine if the floors are ever going to go down is in progress. We have an industrial grade de-humidifier at work in the den with a really nifty drain hose that runs the length of the master suite into the shower drain. How much fun can you have? We cordoned off the room for two reasons - first, a piano consultant said that the piano should not be subjected to such low humidity and two, it will be easier to tell if the floors go down if we limit it to only one room. The plastic barrier looks like the entrance to a halloween haunted house - hummmmm is that prophetic? The vortex created by the machine working contrary to our HVAC system caused the plastic to come off the first day and now, after two days, it is coming loose again. Aggggghhhhhh. Not to mention, the machine puts out so much heat, it is almost unbearable to stay in that room for any length of time.

Oh, and we're having our first dinner party this coming weekend! Thankfully, they are all very good friends and the disarray will not matter to them (not if we have enough wine - which, thankfully, we do!).

Now, That's Entertainment!

After all the drama, time, two different groups to build it and two different painters to paint it, the entertainment center is finally ready! Whew! It is worth it, though, as it looks spectacular! Photos are difficult as we put mirrors on the back, which reflect the images from the window on the other side of the room. Anyway, you can get a good idea of the finished product. Whohoo - more boxes can be unpacked!

Faux What, Part Trois

The doors to the kitchen pantry were painted white and they stuck out in a turquoise room with mahogany cabinets and darker granite. Since we loved the work our faux painter had done, we asked her to paint the view out our back door on the pantry door. She incorporated all of our favorite things, Equity sitting on the dock, the boat (wine barge) heading out, a pelican sitting on the idle slow sign, the osprey nest, the shuttle and, if you look closely in the clouds, you just might see some mouse ears to symbolize the fireworks we see every night! Quite an improvement over a plain white door! Oh, and she painted the bottom to match the cabinets!

Faux What, Part Deux

In addition to the mural on the back wall of the wine/dining room, we asked our faux painter to paint the entrance, which is a small hallway under the stairs, to look like an old barrel ceiling with a few niches containing some of our favorite wine. Here is the end result. We think it is fabulous and hope you agree!

Is That a Light at the End of the Tunnel or a Train?

A couple of weeks ago, I drove to Tennessee to pick up a couple of pieces of furniture for the house. Many thanks to my mother (and to a prodding cousin) for the marble top table that fits perfectly in the foyer niche! I also took mother to VA to see the baptism of the twins. Overall, well over 2,000 miles in less than a week. Since I have been back, we have had multiple crews of people in the house almost every day - exactly 15 out of the past 17 days, thank you very much. It's enough to make you want to drink - oh yeah - THAT'S the reason!! Tempers are running short and we are damn tired of it. However, it is not over, but we think it's close - or it could be that train! I pray it's the Hogwart's Express coming to take me away!!!

The floor guy came by and tested the moisture again and it really is coming down. Verrrryyyy sloooooowlllllyyyy. He said he thinks it will be several more months. BIG sigh! We'll just have to have our open house party and point out to everyone that if we start dancing and stomp very hard on the floor joints that it might help flatten them out! Any excuse to dance, right?? It doesn't help the floors that this has been the summer of unprecedented heat and humidity. And yes, the biggest drop in the moisture was right around the dehumidifier. The dilemma is this - at what point does the humidity get so low that it negatively affects the 130 year old piano? No one seems to want to be the one to do that, so we will keep it slow.

Anyway, it's Friday after 3:30, which means no one else today. Yea! However, we get no reprieve since someone is coming on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and.......

I think we will hit the wine cellar this weekend!!

Where Are We?

We were out puttering around the lake the other day on the Wine Barge (nickname for our boat) and I was totally relaxed and not paying any attention to anything. I did realize we were getting close to home, but didn't really know exactly where we were. I kid you not, I looked at the house we were coming up on and said - out loud, no less - "Whose house is that?". That's either really pathetic or it shows what a tremendous remodel job we did - or, as I choose to believe - it's both! A friend came over for the first time the other day and said they missed the driveway because they did not recognize the house! Cool!

More Something Old

Here is a close up shot (ok - it's a bit out of focus) of the fantastic job the metal craft people did on the old wrought iron table. It really is an outstanding job.

Something Old

We are the new owners of the wrought iron table and chairs that my aunt and uncle had on their patio for as long as I can remember. They are heavyweight and very well made, but did have a bit of rust on them. Too much for us to try to refinish, so a friend who owns a metal craft business offered to refinish them for us. We got them back the other day and they look fabulous. The photo can't do them justice, but you can get the feel of how they look with dark green paint. It goes very well with the outside color of the house. It's also a good look at the railing on the deck.

Entertainment Center is not Entertaining

I thought this topic merited it's own post, so here goes.

We are still struggling with the entertainment center. The painters have mostly finished, but we can't find someone to assemble it and install it for us. The guy who built it, John Watkins who's company name is J & J Construction Services, totally flaked out on us and has refused to return numerous phone calls. He did a fairly good job building it, but since then he has totally let us down. No one wants to finish something someone else started, so that part is problematic. I will say that John Watkins was not one of Bob's people (none of them had the time to build the entertainment center for us). He is the custom cabinet guy referred to us by Lowe's in Winter Garden, Florida, and someone they use for their cabinet installations. I'm not sure I will ever set foot in that Lowe's again and I will take every opportunity to tell people that their guy, John Watkins is a first class jerk for leaving us in a bind. We did not pay him in full, so he is walking away from money and not fulfilling his contract with us. Once again - John Watkins, J & J Construction Services, and he operates out of Winter Park, Florida. We DO NOT recommend this man.

Update: Fortunately, through a series of referrals, we have someone starting on it tomorrow. We have the photo from Watkins of what the assembled product is supposed to look like, so let's hope it is not that difficult to figure out.

Stay tuned!

Goings On

Last week was a busy week. We had people at the house every day and, thankfully, I was out of town for most of it! But, most importantly, we rented the house-across-the-street to some great people who purchased a house under construction down the street from us. They need a place to live while they finish the house. Funny, this will be the third consecutive family living there while they are waiting for their house to be built or remodeled! It is the perfect temporary home (permanent also) and we are pleased to get it rented so quickly to such a qualified family.

The HVAC has been calibrated and now the thermostats more accurately reflect the temperature and regulate the house better. The jury is still out on whether we need two units or just the one, but for now it is much better. The electricians came and changed out all of the dimmer switches since we didn't like the ones they put in originally. They also hung the chandelier in the foyer, so that is the last of the light fixtures. Yea for small victories!

We are almost finished with the door into the wine/dining room, so photos of it will be coming soon. It is SO cool. Not at all what we first envisioned, but much better than the original plan. We finally decided on the size of the glass table we need and it will be ordered this week. Oh my, we might finally have one room finished! Of course, we have another idea of something we want to do, but it's not urgent and will not hold anything up regarding using the room.

It Might be my Imagination

I think the floors are coming down!!! We have one de-humidifier running 24-7 and I really think the boards immediately around it are flattening out. If this is the case, I will give up hearing anything for the next few weeks and get about 5 de-humidifiers! The guy with the probe - sounds worse than it is - it's not for humans....really! - is coming back early next week to measure the moisture again, so that will be the real test. So...we'll see if my eyes are playing tricks on me because I really, really want the floors to not be warped and I may just have conjured up an optical illusion of nice, flat floors. Keep your fingers crossed!

It's Around Here Somewhere, part 57

I seem to recall that I did a post many moons ago about not being able to find things when we (ok - I was the only one) were packing. Well, I am experiencing the reverse now that we have moved in. Since almost (emphasis on almost) all of the boxes are unpacked, I can't always remember where I put things. I needed to sew on a button the other day and looked high and low for my sewing kit. I remembered unpacking it, but it could not be found in the places I thought would be the logical home. Fortunately, I did find one of those sewing kits you get in hotels, so that sufficed for the immediate need. Naturally, about 2 hours later, I found the sewing kit no where near where I thought it should be. It was upstairs. What?? How in the world did I think it made sense to keep it up there? Oh well, now it is downstairs, so next time I need it I am sure I will head upstairs looking for it!

Double ditto for things in the kitchen. Sadly, I can remember where things were in the Dallas configuration of the cabinets, but have no idea where things are now! It usually takes about three tries to find the correct bowl or pan. Oh well, I'm sure I will eventually figure it out - or else I will just move it all!

Faux What!

One of the most exciting things we are having done is faux painting in our dining/wine room. Bob-the-Builder told us about an incredibly talented painting team, Anne and Hugh Meinecke. Here is their web site. Check it out. http://www.meineckeart.com

The wine room is the former den and the only main room on the lowest level of the house. This room has no windows, so we wanted to eliminate the total dungeon feel and bring a bit of Napa into it. I have hundreds of photos from our various trips to Napa, but we kept going back to one scene we really love, which is the road leading to Stags' Leap Winery (not to be confused with Stag's Leap Wine Cellars - but it is!) I have photographed the road in every season, but we loved the winter version because you can see the branches of the trees much better. So - that was the scene we wanted on our wine room wall. To be specific, the scene is actually heading out of the winery. Anne painted wine barrels on either side so that there is the appearance that one is looking out of the doors of a wine cellar and looking down the road. Here is the photo and Anne's interpretation of it. We love it!!

The Headboard Arrived Today

We purchased a headboard months and months ago so that we would have a new bed to sleep on even if we didn't have any other new furniture. It was delivered some time in April or May. When we finally brought it to the house and uncrated it, it was damaged. I'll spare you the saga with the shipping company (you SHOULD have opened it when it was delivered - not more than 45 days later.....) but anyway, our wonderful movers (yes, those are two words which rarely go together - more on them later) are great at furniture restoration. You see, I found them originally to move the piano and they also restore pianos. So, when I win the lottery, I'm going to get the Beckstein restored. Anyway, they fixed the headboard for us and delivered it today. Naturally, they were supposed to let me know when they were 30 minutes out, but they didn't call until they were at the house and we weren't. Oh well, fortunately, they waited for me to get home. They were also wonderful and assembled the bed for me. Yea! No more maneuvering around the footboard and slats that have been laying on the bedroom floor for the past 3 weeks. The bed looks marvelous and you can't tell at all where it was damaged. They did an amazing job. So..... one more thing off the list and one more room that is almost totally put together and finished. Note that there is not one room that is really finished, well maybe except for the powder bath - but I keep buying soap dispensers and matching tissue holders for that room that I keep taking back - so I guess even that, the tiniest room in the house, is not even finished. AUGHHHHHHHHH. Whew. Glad I got that off my chest.

A Sign of the Times

Even though it is not quite ready (translate - there is still stuff over there - lots more than I thought - mainly outdoor stuff), our town conveniently has re-routed all traffic down our street for two weeks while they work on a road project. We saw this as a perfect opportunity to put a for rent sign in front of the house-across-the-street.

It is astounding that so many people are being evicted from homes they are renting because the home was foreclosed and the lease was voided. How can the courts do that? Anyway, almost everyone has asked us if we owned the home. We thought it was a bit of a strange question, but it was not until later that we learned why that question is so important.

We hope to have it rented VERY soon. Send good rental thoughts this way!

Mid July Update

Okay, it's been two and a half weeks since the movers moved most of our things into the house. It is reasonable to expect that I would be totally unpacked and settled in. But NOOOOOO! I'm still unpacking - I'm in unpacking hell, to be exact, since it just can't seem to get finished. In my defense, the following rant is the cliff notes version of what's been going on. You may want to just skip to the last line.

So far, there hasn't been a day (except for last weekend) that we haven't had someone in the house looking at this that needs fixing or that which needs replacing. It takes several hours a day some days. It's unbelievable how unproductive it can be.

On the outside, many of the driveway pavers had to be replaced because they were deteriorating - apparently a manufacturing issue. Most of our grass looks great, but the St. Augustine is dying.....

On the inside, about 80% of the door frames have to be replaced due to a manufacturing defect that we didn't notice until we moved in. Odd that no one else noticed it....... I put blue painter's tape on all of the places that were a problem and it looked like we had blue spotted door frames everywhere. Anyway, there have been no less than 5 different people or groups of people over to look at them.

The floor is still warped. We'll still waiting, and waiting, and waiting.....

The septic system had a line cut (or something) so I ended up with standing water after a shower one morning. Was this a septic or a plumbing issue?? That took sorting out. Fortunately, the water was contained in the shower and did not leak out onto the bathroom floor.

The ice machine was not properly hooked up. That took two or three trips from the plumbing company.

We can't unpack many of the boxes because we are waiting (and waiting) for the painter to be finished with painting the entertainment center that will go in the den. It is huge and is the focal point of the entire room. It was custom built, and delivered several weeks ago. It just sat, disassembled, in the garage of the new house for a few weeks as the painter tried to figure out where and when they were going to paint it. We finally moved it to the garage of the house-across-the-street so they could spray paint it there. It's been over there for about two weeks and we learned today that it will probably be another week before it is installed and totally finished. After that, the electronics guy can hook up the entertainment system, THEN I can unpack the boxes of things that go on the shelves. (Beginning to get the picture???)

I could go on and on, but will stop here. Oh, the joys of a new house. It really is fabulous and we are really ready to enjoy it. NOW!!!!

Oh, an ironic thing is when I originally heard (back in May) the delivery date of next week for some more of our furniture, I thought it was wayyy out into the future and that we would be here and settled and just waiting for the furniture. Little did I know!

Whine, Whine, Whine, Wine, Wine, Wine. Life is good!!!

Thanks, Alice

My friend, Meghan, whose blog is iamaliceinwonderland, is the photo guru who changes the main photo for me. Thanks, Meghan! We are almost at the finish line - it keeps moving on us, but we have it in our sights.

STILL unpacking!

It seems it will never end, but the pile of boxes is considerably diminished. I do get depressed when I go over to the house-across-the-street, because there is still MORE stuff there. We plan to clear it out tomorrow. Really - we do!

I am very thankful for my storage closet. The Guy wanted the space for a workout room, but for various reasons, it kept shrinking so that it was not workable for anything except a storage closet. Yea! When we were packing oh those few short months ago, he asked me where all of those things in the boxes labeled "storage closet" were going to go. LOL, I just smiled and said nothing. Fortunately, the winds of change were blowing my way and those things did not have to go in the garage. I believe we will now actually be able to get two cars in the garage. Never mind that we have three......

Flowers

For unknown reasons, I packed all of my vases. Out of principle, I refused to purchase a new one, so I have had no flowers in the house-across-the-street, which really bugged me. Today, I purchased flowers and unpacked the boxes labeled "vases". They look beautiful next to the boxes and I love the color against the walls. They will look better tomorrow when they bloom a bit more. I suspect the boxes will still be there....

Miscellaneous Details

Our new mattress was delivered on Sunday (yes, Sunday) so that was our first night in the house. We both slept like logs - probably a combination of sheer exhaustion and a comfy mattress.

We finally ate our first meal here last night (Tuesday), but it was pizza (not home made). Tonight I am actually cooking - okay, it's steak and veggies steamed in the microwave, but it is a home cooked meal! The Guy is adding some sliding shelves in the island cabinets because those cabinets had fixed shelves in the Dallas kitchen. Once those sliders are installed, then I can put away the rest of the kitchen stuff and work on some fancier meals. I am really looking forward to having a gas cooktop. Yea! I've waited for this for a looooong time.

We installed the Elfa shelving in the pantry and it is great! Since the ceilings are 10', the top shelves are way up there, but I am sure I will fill them in no time. Nothing a fold up step stool can't handle!

We haven't moved any of the wine yet because it is safe and sound in the wine refrigerators (and a security system). We have enough boxes to unpack, so the wine can wait. Besides, it's easy to walk across the street to pick up a bottle to go with our steak dinner tonight!!

Full Circle Boxes

Here we are again, but I love this living room MUCH more than the previous one! Believe it or not, there is a pool table behind and under them. (It was a great buy on Craig's List.) These are not all the boxes, just a sampling! BTW, still packing and unpacking. It will Never. End.

Okay, it will end soon. It's sort of on and off again since we still have many of the trades stopping by to work on punch list items. They fix some stuff and then we find more - that's the way it goes!

The floors are still warped. We are still waiting for them to go down. The manufacturer says it will take a month for then to "start" going down. So...we wait. Fortunately, Bob the Builders has assured us he would take care of replacing the floors should they not go down, so that was what made us comfortable to move in.

The Bird is Happy

Our big bird of paradise plant seems very happy in it's new location and it said so by blooming for us just a few days after it was moved (twice). It is just a fraction of it's former size but what is left is very healthy and it actually has two blooms. Now, to those green thumbs of you out there, I know the bloom did not just crop up, but I choose to believe the plant is thanking us for it's new location!

Musings on Packing

All of our moves have been corporate moves except these back and forth across the street. For the record, corporate moves are MUCH easier! However, packing presents an opportunity for spring cleaning. I have heard it said that five moves equal a fire. Well, we're about there - definitely 5 moves, but still have some antiques that won't go anywhere else except with us.

Anyway, it is curious that I have three nearly full boxes of toothpicks. The only explanation is that there is this one recipe that I need them for and I obviously couldn't find the ones I had, so I bought a new box. Reminds me I need to make that recipe again! It is not curious that I have three cans of Hatch chilies. Definitely not enough, so need to add it to my grocery list! Where are the tops to that really cute oil and vinegar set? Where could they have gone? It's difficult to pack kitchen things in boxes that a mere mortal can carry. Everything is heavy. Why do I have so may boxes of tea? There is that bowl I have been looking for. Why do I have four sets of clear salt and pepper grinders. Probably because the salt grinders get corroded and I don't throw the old ones away when I buy a new one. Why would I do that? I am looking forward to the drawers in the old cabinets because they hold a lot of stuff. And goodness knows, I have a lot of kitchen stuff. I even use it all!

Where my magic wand? Haven't had a chance to go the new Harry Potter section at Universal. They have an Olivander's Wand Shop where "the wand chooses the wizard". I definitely need a wand to unpack!

Cell Phone Jammer

The Guy and I were just discussing that if we ever do another renovation or construction job (we would be nuts) we are going to get a cell phone jammer so that productivity will be higher. I swear if we had had one, we would have been finished at least a month earlier!

Trying to get finished to move in is not as easy as it should be!

Ready or not, here we come!

We are moving on Saturday no matter what! We have to wait out the floors to see if they really do come down, but we are not going to do it from across the street! We moved the first item yesterday - an oriental rug. It is old and stained, so we are putting it under the guest room bed where the stains won't show! Some things come out of storage today and the major move is scheduled for Saturday. Yikes! I envision a bit of chaos, but what is a move without a bit of chaos?

Landscaping FINALLY finished, so new photos soon. I promise!

'Hood Update

No, this is not an update of anything to do with the house. It is an update of flying things instead. The Osprey are leaving already. I think the ones in our nest are already gone, but there are still some in flight training and they were using our nest as a rest area. This is sad as I hoped they would still be there when we moved back in. It is also really early. Every year for the past 5 they have not left until after July 4. I wonder if this has anything to do with the upcoming hurricane season. Do they know something we don't??? I'm already looking forward to next November when they will return.

On the wood duck front, one of the storms that came through over the weekend (there have been several doozies) wiped out our wood duck box. It is totally gone. Generally, we can see things on the bottom of the lake as it is only a few feet deep around the dock. The box is nowhere to be seen. That is really too bad, but good that there were no longer any ducks using it for housing. It needed to be relocated anyway, so we can put the new one in it's new place whenever we figure out where that will be.

More soon about the house, but suffice it to say we still do not have all of the landscaping and the floors have not changed a bit. wait, wait, wait.......

Almost Finished

The title does not refer to the floors - that saga is ongoing - but I wanted to show you the house as it is now. We finally had some clouds, which cooled things down quite a bit and allowed for better photos.

We still lack the landscaping, which should be installed next week. Unfortunately, the main landscaping guy became ill which has understandably caused them delays. Fortunately, they did get most of the sod in so we could pass inspection. And no, that is not a sand trap on the septic mound! We will have trees and bushes there.

With the cloud cover, I was able to get a much better photo of the deck, which is also not totally finished - but it's close!

We are counting on things falling into place (namely the floor joints) so we can move in next Monday. Send good thoughts our way!

The Waiting Game

The floor guy came by and said the floors were warped or buckled or swollen, or whatever you want to call it, due to too much moisture. He took moisture readings from many places and declared it to be too high on the floor boards. The slab is fine and so is the moisture in the air of the house, so it is apparently only the floor boards that have an issue. He says this can happen when floors are installed prior to firing up the hvac and when they are immediately covered. However, this is a rare occurrence. Hummmmm. Anyway, now we wait to see if they dry out and go down. When I asked how long we have to wait (it is expensive to not be able to move) and he said he did not know. He is checking with several "experts" about the problem to see if he is on the wrong path and should let us know in a few days what they say. In the meantime, we wait.

Those of you who know me well know that waiting is not my strongest virtue.

Regardless, Bob the Builder indicated he will take care of fixing the floors if it comes down to it, but we do need to wait.

Colors - A Trend or Not?

Our designers told me this week that they read an article which said Turquoise is the new "it" color, so I must be a trend setter. Yikes! That's the last thing I want to be. For the record, I had this same color in our Dallas house, as my painter shorts can attest! Additionally, I became enamored with turquoise as a wall color (I have always loved it) about 10 years ago after my first visit to the Greenbrier Resort, which is decorated with bold colors throughout. It was designed by Dorothy Draper about 60 years ago. So there! The color is timeless and I refuse for it to be "trendy"! By the way, the designers know about my love for the color and they were kidding me about the trend setting thing. They know better!!

Deck and Wine Cellar

Although not totally complete, here is our deck that extends from the covered patio. The brick part is all under roof and the wood is open under the big tree. The wood is the same as our dock. It is called ipe (pronounced eeepay) and is Brazilian Hardwood (totally different from our floor). It is difficult to see what it really looks like due to the sun. I'll try to get a better photo if it is ever cloudy again. :)

We purchased our wine racking from Napa Wine Hardware in St. Helena, CA, so we needed to get someone here to install it. It is quite complicated if you do not know what you are doing. We finally found someone from Tampa who was willing to drive here to do it for us. It took him over 10 hours of work, but it is finished and looks wonderful. It will hold over 600 bottles. I'm not sure how many we actually have, but it is not that many! It will be great to have it fully operational and stocked. I now have to figure out how to arrange everything. That should be fun!

CO OBTAINED!!!!!

The inspector came around 10:00 this morning and we are officially, and legally, allowed to move in! This is a monumental day - less than 7 months from start of construction, but about 5 years in the making!

It is truly sad that we can't actually move due to the condition of the floor. The manufacturer's rep is supposed to be here today to look at it. I can't help but remember this is the same manufacturer who sent slats for the steps that did not line up properly in height, so they had to be ripped out and put back with a different method. Hummmmm.

I will keep you posted. There is still much to come! I'm still not packed!

Thursday before CO

Once more, a bevy of activity. Landscape guys STILL working. Moved the relocated palm tree three feet away from the house. One of the new palms needs to be moved as well. Most of the grass is down, but not all. Wonder what's up with that.

Railing is completed around the deck and patio, but it is unfinished. The railing guy, who was in a foul mood all day, said we had to take it down to finish and paint it. I think he is just not accustomed to making something work. He would have preferred to just delay the entire job because his railing wasn't finished when he said it would be. HA. He didn't know how determined the Guy was to get a CO.

Deck is pretty much finished. I guess the sprinkler still hits the steps, but it appears that this will just have to be the way it is because, otherwise, there is not full coverage on the grass.

The wine cellar was painted so the racking can go in Saturday. We finally found someone who will install it for us and not charge an arm and a leg!

The cleaners spent most of the day cleaning. I kinda felt sorry for them on how dirty the jacuzzi tub was since it has been sitting in storage for 5 years. However, they got it clean!

Unfortunately, we found a problem when the protective cover came off of the floors. About 90% of the seams had popped up. Check out the photo. Unbelievable.

Bobthebuilder totally agrees that this is not acceptable. We have requested a meeting with the rep for the manufacturer. The floor guy claims that this is a phenomenon known as "greenhouse" effect because the floors are too humid and once the humidity is taken out of the house by the a/c, the problem will go away. Odd. The a/c has been on for about 2 weeks and we have had no rain in our area for over a week. It's about as low Florida humidity as you can get for this time of year. Bob says he has used this same floor in other houses (on lakes) and has never had this problem.

Good news is that the inspection has been called in and should take place tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Wednesday before CO

Another busy day in the neighborhood. A bevy of activity again today. The floor guys replaced some boards that were scratched. The tile guys installed the backsplash behind the stove - one inch copper colored tiles to match the ovens and vent a hood. Looks great! Dry wall guys were working on touch up items and the framer was working on various trim things. That was inside.

Outside, the landscapers are STILL working. They planted four palm trees and laid some more sod. They also started trying to dig up a palm tree we are moving. It turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than they thought. It's funny, the tree guys who were here last week said that they had moved that same palm tree about six times! It must really be a survivor because it appears to be thriving. I hope it likes it's new location (only about 6 feet away from where it is now).

The deck guys were working on the steps, which we decided to move at the last minute. Turns out we moved them right on top of a sprinkler head, so needed to relocate that.

I only went to Lowe's once today and didn't go to Home Depot at all! It IS a good day! However, I was sent there to get a specific type of hinge to go on our attic access door. The guy helping me was dumb as a rock (and hinges are not my specialty) and, bottom line - I left after three calls to the Super - with no hinges. At least I didn't blow a gasket and yell at the poor guy at Lowe's - although I really, really wanted to!

We got word late in the day that the railing for the deck was not in and we have to have it to get a CO. After lots of wrangling, the Guy at least got them to bring out unfinished and unpainted railing so we could have something there and we will finish and paint it later.

One potential glitch is that the main person at the Town was out today and we do not know if she will be in tomorrow for her sign off on the back yard and the retention area in front of the lake. Yikes. This could derail (no railing pun intended) the entire schedule!

I wired the replacement crystals on the chandelier. They are very high quality and perfect matches for about four different sizes and types of crystals (on a 60 year old chandelier). I found them on line, so you never know exactly what you are going to get (Forrest), but they could have not been better. The company is Antique Lamp Supply out of Tennessee. They were wonderful to deal with and their product is superb.

Tomorrow is another day......

Tuesday before CO

This was a busy day. The landscapers (finally) showed up around nine, along with four palm trees and three 18 wheelers full of sod. There is still much to do, so I was curious to see just how much would be completed by the end of the day. They did get the sod down in the back yard along with on the septic mound out front. Turns out, we cannot get health department final approval until the septic mound is covered with sod. They don't care about the rest of the yard, but the mound is important. So, we will go for health department approval tomorrow. Can't call for the final County inspection until the health department has signed off.

Carpet was installed along with the plantation shutters in the bedroom and see-through shade on the big picture window. All components look great. The long cord for the shade didn't make it, so the shade doesn't work (it's electric). Bummer because the cover comes off the floor tomorrow and the purpose of the shade is to keep the sun from beating down on the den floor. Cord should be here on Thursday.

Let's see. Drove out to the granite guy's place to get him to cut the final piece of backsplash. Got it and it was installed. Received the shipment from Container Store (can you believe there is not a Container Store in Orlando? They are really missing an opportunity!) so we can assemble the pantry tomorrow. Love that Elfa! To digress just a bit, when we first moved here, the Guy asked me what I was going to do the first Saturday in the house. "I'm going to the Container Store" I replied. I got on line to see where it was and it turns out the closest one to Orlando was in Miami. MIAMI??? Are you kidding??? I was stunned. I haven't lived in a city without a Container Store since they first opened in Dallas in 1978 or so! Fortunately, I needed to go to Miami on business (really - I swear - I really needed to go) pretty soon thereafter, so I drove and picked up what I needed there. I email them periodically to plead that the open up in Orlando, to no avail. Fortunately, their shipping costs are not too bad. Still.......

The Super hung two of the mirrors in the master bathroom and they look wonderful. I found some frames with a small bit of the paint color in them, so really looks like they belong. We are waiting on the two-way mirror that will go in front of the TV. Hope to get it by the end of the week. - Yes a TV in the bathroom. Need to watch the news in the morning and can sit in the jacuzzi and watch whatever! I am really looking forward to getting back in the jacuzzi (it came with us from Dallas also).

Didn't see the deck guys. Hummmmm. Not good.

Here is a photo before the landscaping along with one of the wall of sod.

Monday before CO

Another day without landscape/irrigation crew. I think the Sunday work was just a smoke screen to lull us into thinking they would actually be finished when they said they would be (Tuesday or Wednesday depending upon who you ask). Bob the Builder says that they will be finished. We'll see.

The things that did get accomplished include power washing the entire driveway, finally! It looks fabulous! The insulation guys blew the final amount of cellulose in the attic, so they are finished. Carpet installation began, but only the pad since the carpet warehouse is not open on Mondays. What???

The cleaning crew started with the windows. It took hours because there was only one guy and he was glued to his cell phone most of the time. It was hilarious seeing him trying to clean the big picture window with one hand while the other held the phone to his ear. Nonetheless, the windows are spotless.

The granite company was also a huge disappointment. We have a piece of backsplash that needs installing that we were not sure about when the granite was being installed. After everything in the kitchen was completed it was clear we needed that other piece. The granite company said that I could bring the piece by today and they would cut it for me while I waited. We are going to get the Super to install it. Anyway, on Friday they told me to come by around noon. By 9:30 this morning that time moved to 1:30, which came and went. Long story short and several conversations later, they decided that I would need to come tomorrow. (After all, Tomorrow is Another Day!) Insert (in)appropriate rant here about work ethic and keeping your word....

I also narrowed down the color of the dining room/wine cellar room down to three choices, so I purchased the small test sizes of paint from Sherwin Williams - a very nifty idea, for sure - and painted them on the wall to see which we liked best. I pulled out my "painting" shorts and shirt, which I love since they have all of the colors from Dallas on them, and now some from Florida as well. Enjoy the photo!

Oh, and I purchased a mattress!

Sunday before CO

Let's assume we are still getting our CO (certificate of occupancy) next Thursday or Friday as planned. I'll give a daily play by play. Let me in on any betting pools - my money is on it NOT being Thursday or Friday (of this week).

The irrigation guys finally showed up today - at 7:30 a.m. no less. I know our neighbors will be as happy as we are when this thing is finally finished. Bought them pizza so they wouldn't have to leave for lunch and not come back (it has happened more than once).

Went shopping for a mattress - and I thought used car salesmen were bad..... LOL

Was driving home around 5:30 and saw the irrigation guys in their truck on the way out. Guess they did put in a full day. They hope to finish irrigation tomorrow. Still have trees and shrubs, etc. before sod. Oh, and the railing for the deck won't be delivered until Wednesday.....

Saturday before CO

HA. Lots was supposed to happen today. Landscaping guys haven't shown up yet to start on the irrigation (third day in a row). Tree guys finally showed up and are now finished. Carpenter who didn't show yesterday came today in a foul mood - gone already, but his truck is still here....

Superintendent came to assemble the racking for the wine cellar and the instructions were so poor (laughable, really) that he and the Guy couldn't figure it out (and the Super has built houses - a pretty smart guy). He gave up and left.

Guy so irritated he is taking a nap. Left a note to wake him when the house is finished. Guess he's Rip Van Winkle.

I had a great workout this morning and took the cable box back which didn't make it though the last storm. Got the guys Chinese food for lunch. Headed to the billiards store to look at bar stools.

Overall not a very productive day so far.

It's Summer in Florida

Which means that we have thunderstorms every afternoon. Every. Afternoon. This practice of Mother Nature ultimately causes delays because the primary items that need to be completed are the deck, fence, irrigation and landscaping - all outdoor work.

The irrigation was supposed to have been started today, but it wasn't because the horrible storms that came through yesterday threw the crew's entire schedule off. Unfortunately, this snowballs for us and means that we will most likely not be getting our final CO next week. The Guy is still optimistic, but I think this glass is not only half empty, it is also leaking. Oh, how I hope I am wrong.

Of course, I haven't even begun to pack - even though there is very little to pack. Some things, though, I am looking at and wondering why I ever unpacked them in the first place. Oh yeah - I was really thinking we wouldn't be finished until October. Oops!

Full Circle

There is a bit of symmetry today in that we had tree guys back on the property. The first posts of this blog were in August of last year when we were cutting down several trees in the front. Well, we are now cutting down a tree in the back and grinding the stump of the big oak tree that didn't get done by the previous tree guys. (%!%&*@%(&) They are also removing the spanish moss in the big oak and trimming it some for us. They are removing a tree, which is actually a bush gone amuck and several limbs which will open up our view to the west. Better sunset views from the deck - nice!

This is a good view of the deck, still under construction and the ultimate westerly view.

The Driveway

Sorry for the lack of photos lately. There just hasn't been anything significant to photograph. I happened to be upstairs for some reason this morning and realized that, from that angle, there was a good shot of the driveway, which still has sand on most of it as you can see. Our superintendent started sweeping it days ago, but became busy on something else and hasn't gotten back to it. It is not a priority at this time.

There is lots of activity, but nothing terribly photo worthy. We are getting the second coat of paint inside. The speakers and all the light fixtures are installed and the HVAC is ready to be powered up. All we are lacking in that regard is permanent electricity, which is being completed even as I type this. I can see the power company guy up in his cherry picker working on the power lines on the pole (no, we don't have buried power lines - sort of an issue with hurricanes, etc.).

The deck is under construction and the fence starts to go in tomorrow. Irrigation and landscaping start at the end of the week. We are nearing the end.

The exterior painting should be finished in a few days, so I will be able to show you the finished colors. I can't wait to see them myself!

Ciao for now. I need to start on dinner - Giada De Laurentis' Penne with Shrimp and Herbed Cream Sauce. Yummy! (but I use whole grain linguini instead of penne) It really is a 30 minute meal.

California Closets, the Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Another thing we dismantled and brought with us from Dallas was our California Closet master closet system. Our experience with them here in Florida has been interesting, to say the least.

The Good:

When we had the closet roughed in, I emailed the local store, located in Longwood, FL just north of Orlando and explained our situation. They indicated they would contact the store in Dallas and obtain the plans and layout of our closet from there. We were amazed that the information was still available - it's been about 13 years. How fabulous that they keep that information. A wonderful woman came out to measure and she laid out our existing system in the new closet so well that we only needed one small section about 2 feet wide.

The Bad:

Unfortunately, the cost was very unreasonable. I requested, and received, a breakdown between labor and materials and learned that the driving cost was labor. Depending upon how much time it would take them, the cost appeared to be somewhere between $125 and over $200 an hour based upon the price and the number of hours I was told it would take. Hellooooo! I am in the wrong business - I should install closets for a living! I realize this is a specialized item, but this is not rocket science. You drill a railing into the wall and the system hangs on it (a similar concept to the Elfa systems sold by The Container Store but higher quality). I went back and forth with them, speaking only to the woman who laid out the closet, who was very nice. The owner of the store, Mark, was the person calling the shots and it seemed to me that he was upset because we were not purchasing a brand new closet from him. I kept hearing "but this is a $9,000 closet system if new" as if I would actually pay $9,000 for a closet system. Really??? I felt as if I were being punished for bringing the Texas closet with us - as if I had done something wrong. That is how I was made to feel by what was said.

The Ugly:

After protracted conversations, I was told they would lower their price by $200 if I drove to the Longwood store and paid cash up front. It was not much of a discount at all (less than 10% of the total - whoopee).

I indicated I was not willing to pay their price for installation (I already had a bid from someone else to do it for less than 1/2 the California Closet price) and I asked if I could just purchase the materials from them. I was informed that they are not in the business of selling parts, so they refused to sell me anything. They indicated that if I had purchased the original closet from them, they might consider selling me the materials, but since I was not their customer, they did not want to accommodate me at all. They suggested I contact the Texas store and see if they would ship the parts to me. You've got to be kidding me. EXCUSE ME - I AM A CALIFORNIA CLOSETS CUSTOMER REGARDLESS OF WHERE I LIVE!!!!

Each of the California Closets locations are franchises so, apparently, each owner has the authority to do as they please. I get this, but if I were the CEO of this company, I would have a policy regarding how to treat existing customers. Is anyone listening????

The Good Again:

After I calmed down, I contacted the Tampa area store, located in Clearwater. The fabulous woman, Diana, who manages that location was appalled at how I was treated by Mark at the Longwood location and indicated she would be happy to sell me any parts and supplies I would need. She also indicated their installation charges were around $80 per hour if they were to do a re-install (which they really didn't do any more). How in the world could two locations so close to one another charge such vastly different costs for labor?

Anyway, I got a list of what I needed from the installers I was using and drove to Clearwater to pick up it up (a total of four hours I cannot get back). Diana couldn't have been nicer. She kept apologizing for how Mark treated me and she still couldn't believe how he acted. She totally agreed that it was terrible public relations for the company to have their customers treated so badly. She understood how his actions ultimately affected her store.

The Good Ending to the Story:

As I mentioned, I received another quote to install the closet which was 1/2 the amount from California Closets in Longwood. The company is Get Organized in Orlando. Not only were they able to install the closet, they added the few shelving parts I needed that matched perfectly and they charged a SMALL fraction for materials of what California Closets in Longwood was going to charge me. (As an aside, they told me they could do the entire closet, brand new, for about the same price as Mark in the Longwood California Closets was going to charge me for a few parts and labor. Really amazing!)

Bottom line - Always get another bid (or even two or three more). If dealing with a franchise, contact another location to see if you can get better service and a better deal. Clearly, it seems like Mark in Longwood is not looking out for the long term impact of his actions on the overall company - only his short term apparent irritation that I was not purchasing a $9,000 closet from him.

By the way, the finished closet looks FABULOUS!

Move in Date Postponed

The move date is pushed back about a week to the second week of June. Are you surprised by this? We're not, and I am actually relieved. I think this will give me the time I need to get everything ready in the house before we move and to better prepare for the move. (or not...)

More posts soon, I promise!

Driveway

I would show you photographs of the new driveway, which looks great, I think, but you can't actually see it. Bob-the-Builder was so excited about getting the driveway installed so it would eliminate the sand that was being tracked into the house. More than once, he told me that it would be great - no more sand being tracked into the house, so the house would be cleaner. Funny how he failed to tell us that the "grout" between the pavers is sand. To get the sand into the gaps between the pavers, they cover the driveway with sand and just let it sink in. We were told they would use a machine to vibrate it into the crevices, sweep it and then repeat the process several more times. Well, the pavers have been there for over a week covered entirely with sand (and now all kinds of things dropping from the trees). No one has used any type of machine (or broom) that we have seen and there are still many crevices that have no sand in them at all. The irony is that now the sand in the house is actually worse than before the pavers were installed.

Go figure.......

Another New Development in the 'Hood

We have another new family living with us these days. About a month ago we discovered that a wood duck was nesting in our wood duck box. This is the first year for the box and we are thrilled the ducks found it. I entertained thoughts of photographing of the duck flying in or out of the box (they fly in and out at full speed) and was very excited. HA! There was no way I could get near the box without the mother duck flying out before I got there quacking as loud as she could. I would think I was being so quiet that she could not possibly hear me, but out she came every time. So much for the great photo op. I am thinking that we might need to move the box to a different tree for next year since it does upset them when we walk out onto the dock. Anyway....both mom and dad were sitting on the dock posts right next to the box and I was able to capture them from the patio without disturbing them. Enjoy!

New Development in the 'Hood

I went over to check the boat this afternoon and saw something very interesting in the Osprey nest- there are now four birds! Two definitely appear to be juveniles. How can that be??? There have been three birds there for months. Is it possible that there were four all the time and for whatever reason one was always hidden down in the nest? In their flight training, there have been three circling around for several weeks - never four. It is a mystery. Did they adopt???

Nevertheless, I am happy to see them and so glad to be moving back closer to them in the near future. Yikes - STILL pretending that we are not moving in just a few short weeks!

OMG we're supposed to move in 3 weeks!!!

I kept thinking we were behind about a week, and I convinced myself of that for several weeks in a row, so now I am in a panic because we really need to be ready to move in about 3 weeks. (I still think it won't all be finished by then, but what do I know?).

We have things in our "house across the street", mini-warehouse, Bob-the-Builder's warehouse and the piano is at Bob's house. Additionally, we haven't even finished ordering all of our furniture. Oh man, I need to get busy. Why am I writing this blog - I don't have time to do this!!

Got to go.......to Disney World! Friends are in from out of town, so I'm actually going to the Magic Kingdom today. How's that for a fabulous procrastination excuse? Pretty darn good, I think!

Shuttle Atlantis

I watched the Atlantis lift off from the parking lot at Lowe's. I was trying to finish purchasing all of the lights. I set a reminder on my phone and in the middle of a conversation with the very kind man who was helping me when it went off, so I abandoned my cart and ran out to see it!

Shuttle off safely, I continued my lights shopping. We are using xenon for the under-and-over-counter lighting and it takes quite a lot of lights. They did not have enough at this particular Lowe's, so I had to go to another one to finish the purchase. I spent so much money at both Lowes that AMEX thought someone had stolen my card. When I got home, I had a call from the security department wanting to verify that the charges were mine. LOL. Sadly, they were!

Shutter me Timbers

Okay - I couldn't help myself with the title. Here is the front as it currently stands. The shutters were installed yesterday, and once they are painted dark green they will look much better.

Note the garage door has finally been installed. I was out of town when I heard that news and I asked the Guy to be sure and have the installer program our cars to open it. After a pause, he suggested that it might be helpful to have electricity to do that. And then he had a good laugh. I'm glad I can still amuse.....(albeit unintentionally).

Everybody Must Get Stoned!

Now that I have Bob Dylan's song firmly planted in my head, I'm sure I will be singing it to myself all weekend! I thought it was a fitting description for our front entry. They are not yet finished, but I wanted to go ahead and share it with everyone. They told me they would be "finito" today, but since it is past noon on a Saturday and they are nowhere to be seen, I seriously doubt it. Regardless, we love the stone! We selected it in a vacuum without the benefit of the slate to see if they matched, but fortunately they do work together quite nicely, thank you very much! We plan on having plants in the boxes between the columns. Yes, I know I do not have much of a green thumb, but there are some plants that grow like crazy here, so we will use one of those types which are idiot proof.

Here is the entry to the door. It's going to look a bit tight, but them's the breaks! It still will look great.

Teaching Scruffy to Fly

When I was leaving the house this morning after photographing the kitchen, I heard the Osprey overhead chattering very loudly. I looked up to see all three of them (two adults and one baby) flying around in circles. The adults were teaching the baby, Scruffy, to fly! Very cool. I was able to capture some images, but they were pretty high up and I did not have my long lens. That means the photos below are not as sharp as I would like, but heck - at least I captured them. It's pretty early for the babies to be flying. The Osprey usually hang around until after 4th of July, but I have a feeling that they may be gone quite a bit earlier than that this year. Too bad. I hope they are still around a little while after we move back in.

This is the Osprey dive position. They weren't actually going into the water - just practicing. Really cool!

We're Cooking Now!

They're baaaaack! Many of you are familiar with our beautiful and very old copper Chambers ovens. They're 60 this year. Well, they are installed and I had the opportunity to polish them this weekend, so they are back to their former glory. I'm happy to see my old friends ready to cook again! Of course, they need a bit of tuning up as they have been sitting in storage for 5 years.....but that should not present a problem.

And here are our other old friends - the cabinets. We are able to use all of our cabinet pieces except for one base from the original peninsula. Not all will be in the kitchen as the rooms are vastly different in configuration and size, but it is really gratifying that we can use them. The best part is that the Texas and Florida kitchens are really different, but the pieces and parts work well in both of them. When everything is totally completed, I'll show you both rooms so you can compare.