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.