Monday, March 31, 2008

one week later




I am sure the thousands of people out there that read this blog have been clamoring for more. Unfortunately, we have been busy. Thursday night we went to Dallas to see Caedmon's Call at The Door. Friday night we saw Bowling for Soup at the RBar in Denton. Although we have seen both of these bands several times, these shows were excellent. As for things at the house, most of the painting is done. So far we are pleased with the colors that we have chosen. The walls in the kitchen seem to go well with the cabinets and the trim. Things are once again moving at a really fast pace. I think we will probably have to go out there every day this week. I already have plenty of pictures for another post. Let's just say that currently this blog is about five days behind actual construction. I will try to bring you up to real time by the end of the week.

Monday, March 24, 2008

a case of the Mondays




I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter. It's a shame to have to go back to work, but I guess we have to pay for this house somehow. This is going to be a busy week for us. We have a few "house errands" to run between work and our trip to Dallas this weekend. We are trying to make some decisions on the appliances. I know we have to pick out the kitchen sink pretty soon. Also, we have to pick the backsplash tile for the kitchen. I have no idea when we will have time to do any of that, but somehow it will get done. In case you were wondering, we have superpowers. Mine is the ability to blow off work in favor of house errands. We are slow this time of year, so it doesn't seem to bother anybody. The painters have prepped the outside trim, so maybe that will get done this week. I also expect them to paint the walls inside. They have already painted the garage.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Crazy Train




This has been a crazy week.


Tuesday: Pick out paint and stain colors.

Wednesday: Meet with tile guy.

Thursday: Meet with granite guy.


No wonder people get divorced over this stuff. I'm pretty sure it is impossible to keep your sanity while building a house. Fortunately for us, we were crazy already. I have come to the conclusion that is impossible to build a perfect house. That said, ours is probably going to be perfect. At least it will be dang close. It's funny how you have one thing in mind, but when it comes time to make the decision you end up going a completely different direction. That in turn affects every other decision you have to make. I will be totally impressed if the paint, cabinets, countertops, tile, and trim all look good together. I was not informed of the need for a degree in interior design. Thanks to all people who have graciously shared their opinions. If it doesn't look good, I'm blaming you.

Tiffany agreed to be photographed for this blog. These pictures were taken on Wednesday immediately after work when we met with the tile guy. She doesn't usually wear her HEB shirt out in public. I think she looks good in red though, and these pictures show off the cabinets and trim work really well too.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy Birthday, Emily!






We were able to get a few pictures of the trim and the cabinets, but I was trying not to be in the way while they were working. They said they would be finished today, and the painters are coming tomorrow. We went and picked out carpet this morning. It was actually one of the easier decisions that we have made. I'm hoping that we are coming to the end of the decision making process. I'm sure there will be a whole new set of decisions to make once we get moved in.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

lockdown



We made it home from our quick trip to San Antonio. The primary purpose of the trip was to see the Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco. We also managed to squeeze in a little shopping along the way. The show was at the AT & T Center (where the Spurs play). This was our ninth Cirque show, and I would probably rank it somewhere in the middle. Some of these things never cease to amaze me.
We went to check on the house this afternoon and discovered that it is now locked. Fortunately, I still have reserve photos for the blog. I guess I will talk to Gene on Monday and see about getting a key. We were able to get a glimpse of the progress through the windows. They have delivered the interior doors. Some of the trim is up around the windows in the living room and dining room. The biggest news is that the kitchen cabinets are in. From what we could see, they look fantastic. As soon as we are able to get in, I will take some pictures.


Thursday, March 13, 2008

Whiskey River Take My Mind


First, I would like to thank Aunt Vicki for pointing out that this particular step in housebuilding is called Taping and Bedding. Also, I believe some people refer to it as mudding. Yesterday they were supposed to start painting the trim on the outside of the house. I will take some pictures today. This has been a pretty busy week. Tuesday night we went to see Willie Nelson at the Civic Center. It was a sold out show and everyone from age 5 to 85 was there. Willie himself turns 75 this year, but we thought he still put on a pretty good show. It's amazing that I haven't listened to this kind of music in 20 years and still managed to know quite a few tunes. Just to dispel another rumor, not a single one of the gray haired ladies in front of us was smoking a joint. I can't wait to see Willie at Bonnaroo this summer. I have a feeling it may be a whole different kind of show. In honor of my grandfather, I'll end this post with "Turn Out The Lights, The Party's Over."

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Let it snow!





We had our first snow at our new house--at least what passes for snow in these parts. Since the roof and walls are all up, they can still work inside. I realized that I have taken a ton of pictures in the last week, but I haven't put many of them up on the blog. I am thinking about putting all of the pictures up on another site more suited to that sort of thing. Let me know if you think that's a good idea. I don't know what this step is called, but I'm sure someone will tell me. Basically they have sealed all of the seams and holes in the sheetrock. The second and third picture are before and after shots of the guest bathroom. The last two pictures were taken in the living room a couple of days apart. That is speaker wire laying on the floor if you were wondering. This coming week we hope to nail down the colors on the paint. I had no idea there were 55 names for the same color. In elementary school we had three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and three secondary colors (orange, green, purple). There was no mention of anything like Frost or Canary. I think this is a serious flaw in our education system. Someone should probably look into it. Now that I think about it, maybe that's what they talked to the girls about when they separated us for that week in fourth grade.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

keep on rockin' in the free world




Here are some pictures of the rock on the fireplace and under the bar. We are really happy with the way it turned out. Now that the sheetrock is done, it is much easier to imagine the finished product. Tomorrow we will look at paint colors for the exterior trim of the house. We will probably make the final decisions for the interior paint as well.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

31

I was going to post some pictures that we took on Saturday, but I have no idea where the camera is. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's in Tiffany's car. We went to Dallas this weekend. Sunday night we went with Morgan, Josh, and Sarah to see Bowling for Soup at the Lakewood Theater. It's a historic theater in downtown Dallas that kind of reminded me of the Paramount, only it was painted in really crazy peach and teal colors. I'm sure somebody liked those colors when it was new. Anyway, we had a good time at the show. We spent all day Monday shopping, mostly for furniture. By the time we got out of town last night the weather was awful. Largely due to my superior driving skills, we made it home safely. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the house. Maybe later on tonight I can get that done. The sheetrock is up, so you can really walk through the house and picture how it will look. I have no idea what the next step is, but you can find out in a future blog.