No pix yet

I am struggling to find time to take pictures.  There are still doors that need to be put in and touch up paint.

My sister, her husband and son were over this past weekend.  Great weekend, but exhausting.  I just have not caught up from the hectic times these past few months. 

Between getting quilts done, homeschooling, unpacking, and the myriad of problems popping up - radio in truck gone - which means verbal commands are shot.  Sigh.

The new-to-us car has an axle issue.  Double sigh.

No internet yet.

I am running, running, running.  We still have not closed on the house either.  I just cannot wait until all this is over!!!!!

Sorry - you were last again today - so much to take care of when I finally get here.  I will try to write a blog off line this next time, so I can give you all the time I want to!

I will be back soon!

Giving it a try

Well, I bought more data for my phone.  $50 per month unlimited is not killer and without internet at our home oh, it is Paramount.

DH took a couple of days off work because I was having a mini breakdown on our Anniversary.   We have so much land that is literally blowing away in the wind and has started to erode around the foundation of the barn/shed.

I cannot put up books because the shelves need support.  Apparently,  we are the only people who have this many books.  I am down to bare level I will go with them.

So, I had run around today.

Joann's for thread for quilts

The bank to deposit the insurance check from the man vs deer issue, yes, we had to buy a new-to-us car.

Lowe's for shelf brackets, shelf hooks, a spreader and a set of lamps.

Got gas while in town.

Went grocery shopping.

Then loaded up at the feed store.   We are officially in the country now.  I picked up clover seed, elron rye seed and straw.

Add caption

Me loaded up with straw!  We are throwing out clover and rye seeds, then covering it with straw.  The straw will decompose and the rye will help the soil as will the clover until we can start planting and reshaping the yard for better water capture and drainage.

I am now lounging on the patio with a glass of wine waiting for DH to get home.  It is gorgeous, just cool enough to throw a blanket on.

I doubt I will do this often.  It has taken  me an hour to type this. 

Maybe tonight can be a better Anniversary.   18 years.  Time goes so fast, it feels like we have only been married a couple of years!

Quick Post

Sorry - last few minutes at Starbucks - had to take care of business.  Next week I promise - pictures and a big update!

Love you all and miss you bunches - I cannot even read your blogs right now - DYING!

Moved In and Internet

Ok, I hate typing posts on my phone, but we have not had Internet.

Still don't.   With a possibility of not having it. Yeah.

We are partially moved in.  Love it, but fraught with problems left and right.  I am ready for a morning without a contractor here and without a problem presented. 

I will post when I either have access to Internet or get it here in my home.

Shower Porn

I took a turn for the worse today - slept most of the day, voice is non-existent.  Feel like complete crap.

I packed one box of videos today.  You would think we were setting up camp here rather than moving tomorrow.  Thankfully, DH took 1/2 day vacation tomorrow.  I about cried, so very thankful!

Anyway, the builder was nice enough to send me this extremely sexy, to the point of soft porn picture of our shower. It is incredible!

Exhausting week

I am taking it slow this morning.  My back is seriously out from laying floor and just standing or walking all day - every day.  It is only where my life long problem is - everything other part is doing fine.  I have to baby that L4/L5 spot.

Today is the last big push.  The appraiser comes tomorrow and we are finalizing paperwork, getting the survey, etc.  The roll over to a permanent loan will happen soon - I hope - we are already talking about the title company.

Yesterday was a whirlwind and part of me wants to write it all down so I don't forget, but it is so exhausting, I don't want to remember it all - just the final product.

But, I will tell you a little bit.

All these contractors were there at one time yesterday.  The gutter installers, the plumbers, the electricians, the trim guys (think baseboards, etc), the painters, the propane guys, the tiler, the mason, my builder, his helper, and me.  There were 15 trucks in my yard.  Mine was on the street.  It was a mad house - the painter was sealing the stained built in shelves - only it was a spray sealing, so the air was thick with that polyurethane, I could not stay in there.  I had already turned off the air conditioner, opened all the windows and doors and turned on the fans, but it was overwhelming.  Once they stopped spraying, it cleared up quickly.  I was thankful for the temps being low with a breeze.  It was a gorgeous day!

Today, more painting - they will be there through Friday probably, the glass install for the shower, weather stripping all the doors as well as all the handles and locks, installing all appliances, cleaning up and level the land, graveling the driveway to the barn/shed, finishing the backsplash and hopefully sealing the back patio, some minor electrical changes and shoring up a few things.

Some work will spill into Friday and the screens for the patio are going in Saturday and Sunday.

Bummer thing about right now - I am a little sick.  I have no voice....again, and what I really need more than anything is a day of watching the entire Twilight series, sipping ginger tea and eating soup (with buttered crackers) in my comfie chair in my new home. 

Oh, our hot tub came yesterday and we though they were going to set it up - THEY DID NOT!  They did not even hook up the electrical!  I am so mad about that!  Now, we have an empty hot tub just sitting there.  Sigh.  I sure could use it to.

I really need to get out to the new house and open up the barn/shed, but they have not started asking for me yet, so... I really should start packing this place up.  We are moving out of it tomorrow.  Just sleeping here on Friday night with nothing but a tooth brush and a change of clothes. 

This is all almost over - back to the real life.  I wish I could say I was excited, but mostly I am just grateful it is almost over.  I am so tired and deeply in need of rest.

Short and Sweet

Nope, we officially do not need a permit to occupy. 

Yes, we are still planning on moving this weekend!  Our original plan stands as is.  There are a lot of little things that will need to be done afterward, but it is fine.  We can get back to our life - it was a difficult 7 months, but it will be worth it!

Hot tub comes tomorrow and the building trash gets picked up.

WOO-HOO!

Man vs deer

This morning my husband had a deer jump in front of him and basically shatter the front window, made a mess of the hood, side panel, passenger door and broke the rear view mirror AND the right side mirror.

He is ok, but was showered with glass, so he has lots of cuts on his face and arms.

The deer busted up the window.

We have no idea where the side mirror is.

This 10 point is what did the damage.

On house news, Noone is really here working today at all.  The tiler, but he is here every day.  A helper guy, but he more just puddles around unless the builder is here.

I went off on the builder.  He said they were doing their best.  Nope, I don't buy it.  He knew for 2 months this was our deadline.  There were at least 4 weeks where Noone was here but the tiler and the stone guys.  LOTS could have been done.

I am shaking I am so mad right now.

Sunday, bloody Sunday

Yes, stealing from U2, but it was bloody in a different way for us.

How so?  Glad you asked.  My knuckles, my knees, daughter's finger, hubby's fingers, and son, well, he lucked out.

You see, we were laying flooring - a simple, floating laminate.  LOL - I laugh at simple.

This is what we started with - a dirty, dead insect filled room.  Luckily, the air conditioner was connected 2 days ago, so the room was cool at least.

Looks are deceiving with this beautiful midway shot of the flooring.  Yep, this project with problems from the get go.  DH had to build his table saw, but that was ok because I swept and cleaned the room - which took more than an hour.  Then I laid down the insulated pad that supports the floating laminate.

Well, we started on the longest wall and tried to get through the rows, but it was frustrating and I said bad things to my husband. He did not deserve it and I cried feeling so bad.  We decided to take a break and eat lunch.  Then we decided to start on the shortest wall to give support to the longer stretches - this was the BEST idea yet - could have even been in the instructions.

We had a system for this first halve.  My daughter and I snapped each piece into place, son was the runner and DH cut.  

It worked until we got to the long, narrow part, but we worked through it - lots of precision cuts.  This room is about 300 square feet and it took us about 10 hours.  My back is killing me!  We are all hurting really.

To see what it will look like with the baseboards and quarter round, we set a strip down.  It looks fabulous!  We just could not do those today - no more energy.

This is the room above the garage that we added in the framing stage, but after the contract.  We decided to do the flooring ourselves to save money.  This room will be for guests and boomerang boy from college. 

 

What would we do if we lay another floating floor?

1.  Start on the short wall - hands down best thing.

2. Use MANY 1/4" blocks to keep flooring even and away from wall the required amount.  Believe me, it will be worth it.

3. A pull bar for the last row, so that row can be hammered in, just like the others.

4. Knee pads

5. Oil pencil for marking on pieces for cutting

That is it - very minimal changes really - it gets easier as you go, but the cutting can be tricky and as easy as it is, the piece do not snap together THAT easily.  It really took 2 people for each piece.  My daughter was fabulous at it.

My back is really out now, but DH can put in the baseboards and quarter round by himself - those are a lot easier with his new table saw.

I am so grateful that I had enough foresight to put a meal in the crock pot before we left.  I put carrots, onions, celery and potatoes in the bottom of a crock pot, tossed them in garlic, italian seasonings, turmeric, smoked paprika and thyme, then set a roast on top of them (salt and peppered it), poured beef broth over and let it cook on low all day.  We will all so grateful knowing this fabulous meal was waiting for us and we did not have to cook after the hard day.

We are very proud of how it looks.  Overall - good weekend!

Whew - I am exhausted

It has been a long week and next week isn't going to be better.  My back has been sort of out since the shoveling of dirt at the beginning of August.  It just needs time - I need to relax and do some long slow stretching after the tens unit.  There just has not been time for that recently and won't be this next week either.

We are on a tight deadline - next Sunday is the last day we can be in this rental, so my plans are to start moving Friday.  The kids and I will pack up everything we can - which will be the majority of whats here and move it during the day.  Then, we possibly might move the dressers and freezer that night.  Spend the night at the rental or wait until Saturday morning. 

However, on Saturday, we are going to start moving small and light things to the house - including beds.  My goal is to sleep at the new house on Saturday, clean up the rental on Sunday morning.

Then the next Monday, we are going to hire movers to move JUST the furniture.  Anything too heavy for DH to pick up alone or with the kids help gets delegated to the movers.  I just cannot lift anything very heavy right now.  But, we are moving all boxes, and loose items - round trip, it should take the movers about 2 hours max - there is not a whole lot when you take out the beds and 2 dressers.  But, again, it is needed.

Unfortunately, this has to happen regardless of if the house is done or not.  In being paranoid, I booked for an electrician to get power to the shed just in case we have to stay in the RV.


Last week

1.  The Driveway was poured Friday, so it is curing this weekend.

2.  All floor tile was laid down.  The patio still has to be grouted, but they are working on sealing the inside tiles today and hopefully grouting the patio.

3.  The wood floors should actually be done by now.

4.  Everything else has just made it a little further - there was some final paint, some final trim, some final cabinet work, a few low voltage things put in, most of the door knobs, etc.


This coming week - Due Date Wednesday - part of Thursday.

1.  All appliances must be installed

2. Whole house water filter must be installed.

3. All special doors and final knobs/locks must be installed.

4. Sheetrock finished (yes, there are areas without sheetrock! - small though)

5. All painting/staining must be done - there is a LOT to be done, but they can also accomplish a lot in one day as well.

6. Cabinets must be finished (this is a problem - their soft close is not working, so they need to figure it out!)

7. All trims must be completed - attic entries, mirrors, garage, touch ups

8. Driveway to shed rocked

9.  Final grade on land

10. Backsplash must be put in

11.  All plumbing finalized - sink faucet in kitchen and outdoor kitchen, master shower as well.

12. All low voltage completely installed - speakers, under/over cabinet lighting, etc

13.  Complete main electric work - there is a problem in the garage, some switches are super funky - like the one for the pendants light is under the sink in the bottom cabinet.  Really?  Also some outlets are not working.

14. Propane installed and coordinating appliances installed - grill, gas logs, range, hot water tank

15. Final accessories - toiler paper roll holders, towel rods, drawer pull, cabinet knobs etc.

16.  Garage door figured out.  Seriously - this is a MAJOR problem.

17.  Final work clean up


So, needless to say, I have to be there so I can make a quick decision for anything that goes wrong.  Plus, there are things getting installed that I have to be there for - internet, phone, electricity to the shed, garbage can delivery, pest control, etc.


DH wonderfully gave me today to kind of relax and putter around the rental by myself.  DD is at theater rehearsals, DH and DS are running errands.  I am doing laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, sweeping, vacuuming, getting organized, packing, etc.  Sitting down every now and then to just chill.  I may start commercial cleaning here in a minute.  Get my HGTV fix.

Hope you are all having a great weekend - a cooler one!

All Build, All the Time

You all are going to be SO sick of hearing about this, but this is my complete life right now.

We have to move into the house on the 15th.  This is a hard date because we lose our lease on this temporary rental.  Yes, we could move into the RV, but it is not ideal - no water, no electricity.  We cannot set that up without the house being done.

Yesterday was a rough day - it seemed like the builder was just la-ti-da about finishing the house.  However, the appraiser called me yesterday evening.  Yep, that changed his mind.  The appraiser wanted to come today, but I put him off until next week because the house is not done.  Like a lot not done.

However, today we were hopping.  

1. The garage door was installed.  Looks great - huh?  Well, there is a major problem.  In all likelihood the garage door opener motor will not fit.  The garage door is too big due to us adding a loft on top of the garage.  Now, this really is the builder's fault because I made this change VERY early in the process and the door was not ordered until about a month ago.  He should have made the adjustment - so we will see what happens.

2.  The trim work guys were there installing caps on the posts located in the patio, spindles and trim for the stairs in the garage, frames around the mirrors and finishing up any missing baseboards, trim, etc.  They did not finish and will probably take 2 more days.

3.  The cabinet guy was in making adjustments, touching up nail holes, etc.

4.  The electric company was in installing electricity for the entire house!  YEAH!!!

5. The HVAC guy came to hook us up with air conditioning.

6.  The tile guys were in grouting all interior tiled areas. 

7.  Shed guys showed up to replace a part - good thing I was there because I was not notified in advance.

8. I walked around with the gutter guy to develop a plan for gutters and got an estimate.

9. I walked around with the builder and concrete guy to decide and plan on the driveway to the house and also the shed, plus a parking space.  No estimate yet, but I hope to get that tomorrow.

10.  I spoke with the cleaners to see about getting us a clean before we move in.  The construction guys just won't do a good job - they are not about the cleaning. I don't think the cleaners come up to us now - I am still waiting to hear.  I am bummed because they have been with us for about 13 years.  I trust them and they do a great job. 

11.  I made a call to the pest control guys.  I would like the house and shed done before we move in.

12.  I set up propane for the house and made the appointment for install.

13.  Accepted a few deliveries as well.

Everything is functioning like we live there.  The mailman even searched me out amongst 20 people, 8 vehicles, and so much craziness.  He appreciated my oversize mailbox.  He is a great guy - one of the many reasons I love living out a bit - we know our mailman!

Just for fun - these are the beams in our living room - we will be painting the vertical area of the tray the same color as the walls - because it is just too white.  However, you can really see those beams now!  These are over 100 years old from a Mennonite Farm in Wisconsin.  I will get a better shot without the lighting before long.

Overall, I am a bit frustrated about the process.  Our builder is great, but he is unorganized and cannot keep the pace of this and so many things fall through the cracks.  For instance, we had a standing appointment that the electric company would be by to connect electricity on a certain date for about 2 weeks.  On that morning (yesterday), they could not connect it because we did not have the conduit available to run the wires up the pole.  Seriously!  The builder brought it by that afternoon, but we had to set another appointment to get the line up there and really get started.  Thankfully, the electric company came back today and got it going.  This stress could have been avoided by having the conduit there on the APPOINTED day.  Things like that are happening left and right.  Not very efficient.

That is why I am there day in and day out right now.  The contractors are coming to me even when he is there now.  As for the garage door - the builder is ignoring this problem and it is a problem, but tomorrow, it will come to light and he NEEDS to listen to me on this.  Even if they get the motor working, we will have problems.  We may have to leave it until after the appraisal though.  We will see.

Anyway, tomorrow, our wood floors get installed, more trim work done, hopefully the loft air conditioning goes in, tile guy can work on the patio, the garage guy will come and the forms for the main driveway will be set.  I need to set up trash pick-up and follow up with the maids and pest control people.  So much to do, so much to say.....

September Goals Revisted, New ones?

 OK, September was C.R.A.Z.Y. - with family deaths, a hurricane, a torrential flood, pending homelessness - I am not sure I accomplished much - lets see...

New House Related:

1.  Set new appointment with permaculture guy. If he will ever get back with us.  We may have to find someone else because we need to get a plan for the yard grading. - YEP!  We have a plan! We are excited about it - I will let y'all know with it another day.
2. Take one day to clean up the area around the house - Yes, and no.  It is a work in progress - we cleaned up, it got messy again, we cleaned up again, it is messy again.  I am ready for the dirt, building materials and guys trash to be GONE!
3. Refinish Front Door - A MUST! - We tried but could not because of humidity.  IF we get electricity this week, I will work on it this weekend.
4.  Begin work on Roll Top Desk - Nope, did not even start.
5. Purchase all lighting - A MUST! - YES!!  All of it, even the bulbs are purchased.

Kids/Family Related:

1. 1 Social Event for kids - teen dance at the end of September. - YES - it was fun!
2. Homeschool at least 15 days this month.  We have field trips, science classes and a funeral, so this will require tenacity. - We got 5 in and decided there was too much to focus.
3. Set a physical education schedule for family, even if it is simple. - Nope, no time to think about it.
4. Pick up and store beef side at rental.  At least we have food coming in. - Yes, we have the beef and have been eating it!  Delicious - we missed this quality of meat.
5. 2 dates with DH - I am going to count it, even though one was cleaning up and one was shopping for furniture.  It is our life right now.
6. 1 adult social visit - Yes, I did meet up with some friends while DH was out of town at his step-father funeral.
7. Start moving items from temporary shed to our garage/shop to cut down on expenditures.  We did start moving, but have not been able to move out of the temporary sheds completely because of the lack of electricity at the new home.

Me Related:

1. Lose 3 pounds.  I am starting small and slow. - Lost 2, but I am counting that as a win!
2. Some form of exercise daily, even if it is back exercises.  I am in lots of pain and need to get better. Not really, but I have been stretching more and walked a few times.  Pain is less.
3. Take planner one step further and schedule processes for goal completion. No, there is so many last minute things with the house that scheduling was frustrating.  I am going to wait on this.
4. Finish 2 Tshirt Quilts - Not even one.
5.  Make hooded blanket and stuffed lamb for 7 year old Harvey victim. - Did not happen - guilt is there.
6.  Make wolves for my Father-In-Law's family with his clothes. - Not this either - no time.
7. Talk to my sister once per week. - I have not talked to her once, but I am texting her.
8. Message/email/tell 5 people of my gratitude of them. - Not this either.
9.  Journal daily gratitude - Yes, I have kept up with this.
10.  Start 100 day of photo of something that makes me happy.  I reserve the right to do multiple on one day because of stress.  However, when I start, it will be 100 pictures in 100 days. - I started taking pictures - every single day something goes up on Instagram.  It is quite fun!

September was ok,  I lost sight of these goals, but it is no wonder really.  I think for October, I am going to let the goals go.  We are moving, setting up a new home, my sister is coming in, we are planning an open house - so much going on.  If I come out breathing and we are mostly settled in the house, I will be thrilled.