Bits and Pieces.

*Please note that I just spent many minutes of my Friday night writing an upbeat and cleverly funny post, only to erase it by accident. Now I'm sad and tired of typing, so this post is not at all what I had hoped and dreamed*

There's been more and more details taken care of this week. Lights have been installed. Shelving has been put up. Mirrors and towel racks are in place. Landscaping has begun. Electrical has been mostly completed. A bulging wall has been fixed. Smoke detectors are in place.

We met Mark the Landscaper the other day and he was more than happy to comply with our wishes for placement of the bushes in the yard. He showed us where the trees will go as well, which really is the best place for them. He spent the whole day tilling the soil and putting the seed down. Today he covered it all with hay. Trees and bushes will be planted soon.

The lights have been mounted on the outside of the house. This was a concern for Ted and I since the very beginning, as we noticed that half of the houses in the neighborhood had been mounted correctly (read: centered), while the other half were annoyingly off center. We called a special meeting just to discuss this issue. For real. It would have made Ted nuts if it was off center. At any rate, I'm over there every day nosing around so they made sure they were mounted correctly for us. The best part is, however, that they are so proud of themselves and made sure they pointed it out saying "We mounted them in the center for you! Just like you wanted!" As Chris Rock would say, "Whatchyou want, a cookie? They're SUPPOSED TO be mounted in the center!"

I briefly mentioned the bulging wall in a previous post. Basically they had sheetrocked around a pipe in our pantry, causing a bulge in the wall. They have since cut the sheetrock and shaved it down. They have more work to do on it, but I find the current pictures hilarious. It looks a lot better though.

Next week there will be more odds and ends. Chad is hoping to have some of the final inspections done, which is exciting. Once they get the power turned on and whatnot Ted and I will be able to have our final inspection as well. It will be so neat to see the finished product! I was having a nice daydream in the kitchen today which involved me baking things while wearing an apron. It should have been a daydream of me burning dinner and screaming as Ted calmly puts out the flames, as that would be a more realistic portrayal of my time spent in the kitchen. For some reason, however, a girl always thinks of baking when she is having a nice domestic daydream. And so I did.




Mark gets crazy rototiller style



Teddy inspects the outside lights

To our pleasant surprise, they are centered!

I'm obsessed with the idea of hanging out on these rocks in the back yard. You know, put some candles out there, enjoy a glass of wine on a summer night. We'll probably never do that, but I'm still in love with the idea.

Now these are french doors.

The wall that was previously hideous. Still a bit off, but better.

Click on this picture to see the larger version. The "NO" cracks me up and mystifies me. What does it all mean, Basil?

I call this "Self Portrait in Half Bath." Also known as "Hey, look! A mirror!"

The ugly vinyl flooring is totally my fault.

Well, I've finally found something I don't like about the house, and it's my own fault! When Ted and I picked the vinyl flooring for the upstairs bathrooms, we compromised and he let me have my choice. We were going to have his choice in the laundry area, but it turns out it's been discontinued, so they offered to put hardwood floors in there for free instead. When the vinyl I chose went into the bathrooms this week, however, I was not impressed with my decision. I'm not quite sure what I hate about it...I think it just doesn't "go" with the wood vanity and white sink/toilet. Looks like I'll just have to have a couple of rugs in there until we can afford to put ceramic tile in (a plan of ours all along anyway). Ted is very proud of himself for not liking this pattern from the start though, and I'm proud of him too! Yuck!

We stopped by the house on Saturday and did a quick walk through. They've started locking it now, so we have to get the key if we want to check things out when no one is in there working. The walls look great with another coat of paint. They still have a few areas of touch ups on the trim that need to be done, but overall it looks awesome. The dishwasher and sink have been installed in the kitchen, and the sinks and toilets are in place in all of the bathrooms. Hardwood floors are done except for in the foyer area. Doors have been put on, though there was a bit of a snafu with our much anticipated french doors. It seems the term "french doors" can be interpreted in different ways by different people. Ted and I were surprised to see two solid doors where we were expecting multiple panes of glass on the doors! The error has been communicated and they are replacing them. The kicker is that Ted and I specifically asked what the french doors would look like before we ordered them, and a 16-pane door was pointed out to us. "Two doors like that," we were told. At any rate, that should be fixed sometime soon. Landscaping is slated to occur tomorrow, but it's been raining here today, so it might be too wet for that to happen. The HVAC system has been all set up and all of the vent covers are in place. Looks good in there now that some things are being finished off.

Ted and I were errand-running fools this weekend. We made some key purchases for the house, the most important being our new fridge! I had no idea how fun it would be to shop for a refrigerator, but I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed opening and closing all of the doors and ogling over the "egg areas" and "crispers" (for crispy things). In the end we went with the type of fridge we really wanted even though it cost a little bit more. My thinking? When will we ever buy our first fridge again?! Let's get what we want! We deserve it! I'm the queen of justification when it comes to spoiling ourselves...
We didn't go hog wild, but we got a very nice fridge that will keep our food cold and shower us with crushed or cubed ice whenever we feel sassy.
We also picked up a full size bed for all of our future visitors, so get your bags packed and your maps out!


Eek! Gag! Sputter!