We Got Tanked!!

Hello Everyone! Happy Fall to those of you who are experiencing it.  Here in sunny Texas it is still getting into the 80's and the occasional 90's, so fall is but a dream.  I really can't complain, I love the warm weather.  It has also been conducive to getting a few things done around here!

Sorry about the long lapses in updating you all, but not much had been happening and then all of a sudden a lot happened.  So, here we go....

First of all, we finally got our water capture tank!!  It's 10,000 gallons and is just so darn cute!  It looks like a mini silo.  Not sure if the pictures do it justice.  It even matches the house!  That's the good news.  The not so great (but hopefully soon to be good) news is it is not hooked up to the roof run off yet.  Our builder is putting this thing together for us and it's his first time.  There have been a few visits by our builder and the plumber where they stand around the tank and the pipes and stare at it for awhile and then come up with a solution to whatever the problems seems to be.  I am told we need to be able to flush out the system so leaves and dirt don't clog up the whole shebang.  This appears to be the snag....finding the right pump/reservoir (what the hell ever!) to do the job.  I have been assured it will (maybe) go in next week.  I sure hope so because the rainy season is approaching.  I have to admit every time  it has rained in the last month - which has been REALLY slim, luckily for him - I have cursed my builders name for not having the damn thing up and running.  OK, with that off my chest, I resolve to be more patient.  Anyway, once it's working our water bill will likely be negligible, except of course when it runs dry in the "Rain? What Rain?" part of the summer.

We also have landscaping!!!!  We put in drought tolerant plants - mostly ornamental grasses - in the front along with some small tree/bushes, some sage and some salvia - all non-water sucking.  Some boulders - which we dug up out of our yard during construction - will be added in the very near future.  The grass is slow to come.  We put in some winter rye which seems to be doing pretty well, but is a bit patchy.  Hopefully, it will fill in so it's not so darn muddy out there.  Wiping Doppler's feet is not ours (or her) favorite activity.  In the spring we will plant the regular grass seed.  We decided to do seed since sod is UNGODLY expensive!  Who knew????  Chuck almost did a happy dance when they hooked up the irrigation system (which is hooked into the water tank, so we have been filling the stupid thing with water which I hate to do since it, to me, absolutely defeats the tanks purpose!).  He was very tired of moving a sprinkler around all day every day trying to get the grass to grow.  We were also able to use mulch that was created from the construction.  All the wood scraps from the house were ground up and we got a ton of mulch out of it.  We used about half of it on the landscaping, so we have a nice little hill of it in the back of the yard for later!  We used wood that had no preservatives (like formaldehyde) during building so it is safe to put it on the landscaping.  I am contemplating a few rain barrels on the gutters of the small portion of roof that will not drain into the water capture tank, also.  I figure we can wash  cars, give Doppler a dreaded bath and water pots with it.

One other little item we invested in was a pump to push hot water to the opposite end of the house.  Our hot water heater is in the storage room off the garage, so it took a bit of time (and wasted water) to get it hot at the other end of the house (the master bath and laundry room).  The pump was put under my sink in the master and there is a little wireless button that looks like a doorbell to push to start the pump.  You push the button, wait about a minute, turn on the shower and almost immediately have hot water!!  SO AWESOME! No more wasting gallons of water just to heat up the shower or bath!

A bit of possible unexpected good news has come our way.  Chuck called to check to make sure all was in order for us to qualify for a rebate on our solar panels with our electricity provider.  Well, come to find out, someone backed out of their previously awarded rebate and we might be able to get it!!!  So, instead  of waiting until January and just hoping they are still handing out the rebates, we might get it this year!  That way we can get it installed sooner than we planned!  I'm crossing my fingers.....

Most of the little "punch list" items have been taken care of (touch up paint, touch up stain, unclogging the guest bath, etc).  All we really have left to deal with is getting a ledge built, tiled and installed in the master bath behind the tub.  Oh, and finishing up the dang water tank!!!!

We are pretty much settled in and are awaiting the holidays and the long awaited graduation of the number one son in December!  It's going to be a great holiday!  Now to find the perfect spot for the new eco-friendly Christmas tree..........

Peace, Love and Recycle,
Lori

We're In!!

Hello Everyone!

I know I have been remiss in posting on this blog, but we've been REALLY busy moving!!  YAY!!  We were finally able to move into the new house on September 5th.  We moved that Wednesday and closed on the old house on Friday.  Quite a hectic week!!  We got everything moved in - that was not in the pod (which I will go on to say was the best decision we ever made!) - and were able to breathe a sigh of relief.  Admittedly, there was still several things left to do on the house.  For instance, the A/C was knocking up a storm, so our builder went up in the attic, figured out it was the dehumidifier and turned it off.  Early the next week, the A/C guys came in and fixed it and showed us how to maintain it.  Seems we have one of the most efficient air conditioners on the market - whoohoo!  There was also a weird knocking noise when the water in the master bath, guest bath and laundry room ran.  So, the plumber came out and tried in vain to figure it out.  He put big ole holes in my master bath - which will hopefully soon be patched and painted.  He went into the attic, added an overflow tank and strapped down some pipes up there....still knocking.  While in the garage he stepped on one of those plastic things filled with air that come with your Amazon purchases and the resulting POP sent him over the edge.  He said he needed to come back the following week and bring someone with him to help.  Seems I broke the plumber!  Well, he came back, messed around a bit, found out our water pressure was set sky high, turned it down and the knocking miraculously went away!!  So, holes in the master bath for no reason, but it's fixed.  Shoot, I was beginning to think the place was haunted with all the knocking.  But, it was new construction, so Chuck was thinking that was highly unlikely - plus the fact that "Lori, ghosts aren't real!"  Besides that, the house is too tight for any ghosts to get in.  We had the house measured for an Energy Star rating and the house scored so well that the inspector's boss called our builder in near disbelief.  He said that the inspector was amazed at the results; he had never seen a house score so well in his 15 years of doing the tests.  Our house is so tight that we have to run the bathroom fan for fresh air every time the dog passes gas (yes, it's always the dog).

The pool is done at this writing also.  We spent about 30 hours filling that sucker up.  Nothing like building an eco-friendly home that will (in the very near future) have a 10,000 gallon water capture tank using up all of the Argyle water supply to fill their pool (and water the crap outta the dirt yard where we have put grass seed - but, that's another story all together)!  It looks fabulous and I can't wait to swim laps in it next year.  Seems the weather has decided to go in the direction of fall and it is not likely going to be warm enough to swim in this year....bummer!  The concrete patio has been poured and now we are planning on putting some winter grass seed in the back inside the fenced area.  Yes, we put up a wrought-iron fence around the pool and a small grassy area for the dog to do her business.  Right now it is raining....nope, couldn't rain while we were filling up the pool.  Therefore, the backyard - and the front for that matter - are a muddy mess.  At least we are not having to water it so the seed with grow.   We are working with a landscaper who will be putting in the irrigation system - Chuck will not miss going out to move the sprinklers every 10 minutes - and the drought tolerant plants we have chosesn.  The mulch we will be using is from all the wood waste from the house that was ground up.  We certainly have a large pile of it, so should have enough for the landscaping.  We hope to get that moving along next week.

The water capture tank should be arriving in a few weeks.  Who knew it would take so long to get a 10,000 gallon water tank.  We are hoping it will be large enough to help us with the landscaping and keeping the pool full.  The trenches have been dug, the pipe laid and the gutters diverted, so all we need at this point is the tank.  It sure would have been nice to have it during this nice steady rain we have had for the last 24 hours, but hopefully it will be a rainy fall and winter so we can get that baby filled up!  We will continue to keep you posted on the unfolding of the water capture saga!

So far there have been few surprises.  We love the house and felt instantly comfortable and at home.  I guess it has something to do with being part of the design process and spending oodles of time out here while the house went up.  We are slowly, but surely, settling in.  Most all boxes are unpacked and some decorating has taken place.  Artwork will be the last thing to go up and I have asked an artistic friend to help with placement.  I look forward to having it all up although there is some merit to having nothing on the shelves or wall....less dusting!  We got somewhat used to the "clean" look, but I found it too neutral and couldn't help but start to put stuff out.  We are still fighting a little construction dust, but we will keep plugging away at it to get rid of it!

We are absolutely loving the polished aggregate floors!  They may be extremely hard - and cold in the winter - but they look great.  They are easy to clean - just a dust mop or a wet mop and special cleaner - and hide a multitude of sins!  Can't really see the dog hair - or my dark hair that appears to be falling out of my head in my old age - unless there are what I affectionately call "doggy tumbleweeds".  The floor has so many colors in it it's hard to tell when it's dirty!

Doppler is finally settling in.  She had a rough go of it for awhile there.  She was confused and cranky  (I can totally relate to that!) and would not leave our sides.  She paced and whined when either of us left, so we had to tag team her for a few days before leaving her alone.  She has finally calmed down and realized this is home.  She is back to barking at the workers (for awhile she would sniff them and walk away, which was soooo unlike her) and the doorbell (took her about a week to figure out that noise was the doorbell as it did not sound like the old one).  We are finally able to leave her alone and now worry she's freaking out.  Funny, the move never seemed to affect her appetite.....

We have met some of the neighbors and they all seem very nice!  They tell us Argyle is a very community oriented town and neighbors help neighbors!  Lovely to hear!  I have been taking walks out on the country roads and have been eyeballed by horses, cows and quite a few dogs.  I almost stepped on a small snake the other day, which kind of unnerved me for a moment.  As they say, "he's probably more scared of you than you are of him"....doubtful!  One of the neighbors warned us about the brown recluse spiders around here.  She said to make sure to keep your baseboards clear of dead bugs because that's what the spiders like.  Well, I honestly have no intention of there ever being ANY dead bugs in this house - those of you who know me and my cleaning compulsion know this would be very disconcerting for me!  We have road runners ambling thru the backyard, had a huge beautiful barn owl land on our temporary electric pole (which has sadly been removed) and watched the crows gather in packs on the electrical lines in the backyard.  It's quiet and peaceful here except for the occasional train crossing the tracks (which is much more preferable than being in the flight path for DFW airport!).

One last little tidbit before I sign off today.  It appears we have, in addition to the peach trees in the backyard, a pecan tree!!!  Yessireeeeeee!  Looks like I'll be making pecan pie for Thanksgiving!  Anyone have a great pie recipe???  Please share it!

The End Is Near.....

Hello Everyone!  Hope you are all staying nice and cool and your A/C is working!  It's pretty darn hot here, but nothing like last year when we had something like 70 or more days of 100 or more.  I'm taking full advantage of the pool, but it seems to be getting to that point where it is no longer refreshing, just wet!

Yes, the end is near....in a good way!!  The new house is getting to the point where it's looking like we might actually live in it in this lifetime.  I know it takes time, but it seems like its been going on FOREVER! So, lets get to it....

The cabinets are in (mostly), stained and look great!  I say mostly because there was some weirdness going on in the finish of several of the cabinet doors (if you want details make a comment or email me and I'll fill you in) and our builder basically rejected them, so the cabinet guy had to take them back, sand the crap  out of them and see if they looked better.  Some of them still did not pass our builder's muster, so about 10 or so will be replaced entirely!  Glad I'm not the one having to climb up a subcontractor's tookus to get stuff done!!  So, hopefully those will be done within the next week or so.  Painting is also done.  We are really happy with the colors we have chosen.  You just never really know what its going to look like (even tho' a large swatch is on the wall) until the whole room is painted.  Obviously, there will be touch ups later, but all in all it looks great! I also am super happy with the texture we chose for the plaster which I refer to as "cake icing", but I'm sure there is a more technical term for it - some texture, but not a lot (the only thing I knew for sure was I did NOT want that "orange peel" texture that appears to be so popular here....is it popular anywhere else?  Non-Texans, let me know.  It's a huge pain to repaint, this I know intimately).

We were out at the house today to meet with a landscaper so we would plan out irrigation and how much water capture we will want to put in.  While we were there a couple of young guys were there putting in the light fixtures (listening to classical music, I might add - this is for you Aunt Dawn!!!  They said it was relaxing).  It's really funny because Chuck took the light fixtures out to the house last night (they had been sitting in our garage) and came home and said, "I don't think there is wiring sticking out of the wall in the guest bath for the light fixture we bought".  I told him that maybe they put in a can light by mistake?  After talking about it a bit it dawned on us that when they put up the extra plywood for it to be the safe room they did not make a hole and thread the wiring thru it.  So, while out today, we pointed it out to our builder and I asked him if our guests were supposed to brush their teeth or put on their makeup by candlelight because that could get UGLY!  Good thing he gets my sense of humor because I laughed my butt off when we realized what had happened.  The builder assured us a hole would be drilled and the wire fished outta the wall!  Some of the stuff that goes wrong just cracks me up!  My builder also assured me that the problems with subs happen on each and every job.

Speaking of sub problems.....apparently the tile installer messed something up in every single room that had tile in it.  There was not enough tile for the kitchen (Chuck and I got it online because the tile place we were using had nothing I liked well enough) because he put a large backsplash in the PANTRY!  Really, Mr. Tile Man?  We were out there on Monday and told you to finish the kitchen tile before doing the pantry and to adjust the height of the pantry backsplash accordingly!  They ran out of bullnose tile in the master bath due to a measuring error - which doesn't surprise me since the sales guy they set me up with has been somewhat of a "dipwad" thru the entire process (my poor builder has dealt with him whenever he screwed up and has met with him several times to make sure things were ok).  They neglected to join the waterproof board that is against the linen closet to the wall, so in time water from the shower could permeate and rot the entire linen closet?????!!!!  So, all the tile on that waterproof board on the wall has to be torn out and redone!  Yikes!  Once again, unhappy builder!  Seriously, I have to laugh or I'd be crying a river!  I also know our builder will make them make it right!  I can't even wrap my head around what went on in the pool bath.....

Countertops were an adventure.  Not the fun kind.  I find as I get older I really don't have an adventurous bone in my body - maybe that's the osteoarthritis is my back talking, but I've never been one to find roller coasters or bungy jumping exciting.  Anyway, I have always wanted to use remnants in as many rooms as I could besides the kitchen and master bath - high use areas.  So, I had been approached by a sales guy while I was at the tile place - yep, the tile place where I was dealing with the dipwad and you don't have to tell me that I should have known better - telling me the company he worked for had a huge inventory of remnants and he'd be happy to hook me up with a deal.  Well, the dude was WRONG!  Chuck, the builder (who had not had any contact with this particular counter top dealer - heck, I should name names because they were a huge pain in the butt, but I shall remain dignified) and I went off to the warehouse to check out what they had.  I had looked at their website which had ALL the slabs online and had kind of narrowed down the ones to look at.  So, we get there and we are browsing and I come across some Vetrazzo which is basically recycled glass busted up and mixed with cement and epoxy stuff to make slabs.  It was BEAUTIFUL and about as eco friendly as it comes.  Well, the counter people were unwilling to admit it was a remnant because it was so large - even tho' it was housed with the quartz remnants - and refused to budge from retail price (which is kinda ridiculously expensive!).  My builder told them he'd give them the rest of the counters in the house to do and on and on.  This continued for about a week and finally I just said "nope, not playing this game and holding things up" - this is why I am sure my builder loves me!  So, off we went to another place, found some nice remnants for the guest bath, pool bath and pantry, no problems and under budget!!!  So, all's well that ends well.  Personally, don't put it in the remnant room if it ain't a remnant and please feel free to let that huge slab sit in your warehouse taking up space!!!!  Sheesh!

Our pool is kind of on hold at the moment.  It appears the city is giving the pool guy some grief because of our neighbors having pitched a hissy fit about drainage (I think I mentioned this in an earlier post that we had to meet with the city about this issue before getting a permit for the house) to the city something like 3 years ago!!!  The pool guy said he had built pools in Argyle before and never had this issue. It appears our 70 year old neighbor lady has them wetting their pants!  Well, I say, quit being wussies and stop pandering to one resident at the expense of another!!!! Apparently, they are not aware that "The Wrath Of Lori" exists! Cheez Whiz!!!!!

On another note, our current home went up on the market 8/2.  We had an offer, which we accepted, within 36 hours!!!  We still had several showings over the next few days (and kept them, in case the deal went south) and it kept us (and poor Doppler) on our toes!  Spent very little time at home last Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The inspection was Wednesday and now we await their request for repairs.  Cross your fingers this works out!!  We have met the people who made the offer twice and I really would like to see them in this house.  As I told them, this house needs a family.  Chuck and I are just rattling around in here and don't need all these bedrooms.  Just keeping it clean is a Herculean event!

I hope I have covered everything new.  Honestly, I'm tired and my brain is a tad fuzzy, so please excuse typos and a wee bit of venting!

Take Care and Stay Cool,
Lori

The Big Slowdown

Hello Everyone!

I trust everyone made it thru the 4th of July with patriotic aplomb!  I realized I haven't posted in over a month and have disciplined myself thoroughly for it.  I always intend on posting more often, but then life gets in the way!  Onward and upward!

Things seem to have slowed down a bit.  I think the holiday and the heat has affected things in some cosmic way.  As of the last time we were out at the house, the roof is done as is all the stone and brick.  We have doors, inside and out!  It seems finding interior solid core wood doors was a bit of a challenge for our builder.  Finding ones without formaldehyde was more difficult than anticipated, but he was able to get the job done and on budget!  Three cheers for his efforts!  The cabinets are in and hopefully are in the process of being stained as we speak.  The stainer/painters are supposed to be the only subs in the house for a little while as they get things done.  We were able to have samples of stain on a piece of maple - what are cabinets are made of - so we could pick the color we wanted.  Everyone who comes into the house says "wow, you've got a ton of storage"!  We DO!  We have lots and lots of cabinetry and I'm sure the stain guy is cursing my name!  We were also able to get paint samples up on the walls and picked our colors for all the rooms except Chuck's office.  We are waiting on a new sample to be put up because we felt the colors we had chosen earlier were a bit dark.  We are sticking with mainly neutral grays, beige and browns (except for the multipurpose room which will be my exercise/craft room and a guest room - this room will be a fabulous dusty teal!!)  Our plan is for the artwork we inherited from my dad and Karen be the pop of color we need in the house.

We went on another choosing spree last week.  We went back to the guy who helped us with plumbing fixtures and he was able to hook us up with door knobs, cabinet pulls and bath fixtures (towel bars, TP holders, etc).  I found out just how many doors/drawers we ended up with when we went to do a final count for the pulls.  HOLY MOLEY, we really DO have a butt load of cabinets!  We can't go without knobs or pulls due to the type of cabinet fronts we chose.  They call it a European style where the fronts are all flat and there is no space between.  They are all flush with  one another so every drawer and door needs a pull.  We still need mirrors as I totally zoned off that we might need to look at ourselves while doing our make up (if we use it), hair (if we have it) or shaving!  The last thing we have left to pick out (at least I think it's the last thing!!!) are counter tops.  I'm hoping to get to that this week.  My plan is to use quartz, as it is more environmentally conscious, in the main areas - kitchen, master bath - and to use remnants of quartz or granite or recycled glass for the rest of the areas still needing counters - guest and pool bath and the pantry.

We will be signing the contract to get the pool started in the next few days, so construction should begin in a week or so.  Our builder will be happy to hear it as he is saying he "needs the dirt".  For what I'm not sure, but I guess to help level out the yard and for under the driveway slab that will be installed in the not too distant future.

So far, it looks like there has been a ton of materials hauled off to the recycler.  We have a guy, his name is Moe, and he comes by frequently and takes stuff off to be recycled or brings a wood chipper and grinds up all the leftover wood so we can use it for mulch once we get landscaping!  There seems to have been very little waste at our site, which makes me really happy!  One of the funniest things was when the brick was going up that was going to be covered in mortar for a kind of stucco look.  The brick was a hodge podge of leftover brick, some of it a bright ugly orange.  It was all very mismatched!  I can imagine what the neighbors were thinking!!!  It looks great now, but while in process it looked a bit schizophrenic!

Guess what?  We have peaches coming out of our ears at the new house.  It seems we have 2 or 3 peach trees up against the back fence.  I was not even aware they were ready for picking until I watched one of the workers walk back to the tree and pick 3 or 4!  I have so many I have encouraged all the workers to take as many as they can eat and take home.  I have brought some home and they are really good.  Guess I'm going to have to learn how to make peach jam!  And cobbler!  And pie!  So, if in the future you come visit in June or July, be prepared to take home peaches!!

Chuck and I have also been busy getting our current house in order so we can put it on the market.  I have to say this thing about  "staging" your house is for the birds (not nice birds, either!!)  We have boxed us a good portion of the house and have some stuff to sell on Craig's List....anyone need a 1920's rustic farmhouse cabinet??????  Or a humongous desk??  Downsizing certainly makes you get more brutal with your attachment to things!  I have learned one VERY important lesson from this packing up experience....take Spring Cleaning seriously EVERY YEAR!  I can't tell you the stuff I found in the back of cabinets or in Alex's old bathroom (Nyquil that expired in 2007?  Holy toxic, Batman!  Or a dog medication that expired in 2002?????  What the....)  I think the local charity organization is in love with us.  They have come out and picked up 2 loads of stuff already and we likely have at least one more.  We have also given a bunch of stuff to friends, especially ones just setting up new households.  We are also saving a few things for Alex for when he gets a bigger place.  That old adage that you grow to fill your space is so very true!

Peace, Love, and Recycle,

Lori

Leaps and Bounds

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!!!

Things have been hopping here as the house begins to really take shape!!  It seems every week is filled with meetings with subcontractors.  It is amazing all the details that have to be attended to.  Chuck has been able to participate in these meetings, but it makes for a lonely evening when he has work left to do at the end of the day because of it.  I guess it leaves me more time to surf the net for more stuff for the house.

So, what has occurred since my last post?  I'm not really sure where to start since so much is happening.  We had to make a small change to the facade of the house as the metal contractor the builder usually uses was being difficult - I'm immensely glad I do not have to deal with all these contractors and their varied personalities, would make me crazy!  So, the builder was able to talk with the metal roof guy who punched out a prototype for the metal on the facade.  It came back a wee bit expensive, so we elected to only put metal on the section that is the clerestory (the three horizontal windows up high) and not put the section on the front.  We decided to just use the stone we are currently using to finish off that front part.  It's looking really good.  Our plan had been to paint the metal, but have decided we like the look au naturale!  It is the same color as the roof and the trim on the windows and soffits will make it pop!  Suffice it to say, the stone and brick are going up quickly!  I imagine it will be finished this week!  The only things left for the exterior are painting the trim and exterior doors.  The doors, much to our builder's angst, will not be in until the middle of June.  It will be nice to get the doors on and have less crud blowing through the house.  It's been super windy here and between the plaster dust, mortar dust and general outside dust (it's dry as a bone here) the interior of the house is a dusty mess!  The builder has some thick cardboard put down on the floors to protect them, so we haven't seen the floors since they went in. Can't wait to see how they look with the walls up.  This stuff will have to be pulled up in order for the trim work to be done which is not that far into the future.

Inside the house there have also been plenty of changes.  The sheet rock, taping and plastering is almost done.  Will surely be done this week.  The pocket door frames are in.  We have done two walk thrus of the house with the cabinet makers to make sure we are all on the same page.  We are going to have tons of storage.  Since we are losing about 800 - 1000 square feet, storage is going to be important.  We are even having a Murphy bed put into one of the extra bedrooms.  This room will be my craft/exersise room on top of serving as a guest bedroom.  The tile people came out and measured for tile in the baths and kitchen.  I was happy that all the tile I ordered has some recycled content.  The glass accents for the baths and glass subway tile for the kitchen we will be using are all 100% recycled!  Also, they are all made in America.  So far we have had pretty good luck getting items made here in the good old USA!   We also ordered all of our appliances two weeks ago.  Our Sears Appliance Store was having a huge sale - one of those where the more appliances you order the more off you get - and we were able to come in waaayyy under budget!  (I keep asking myself why the stuff I have been given allowances for are coming in under budget, but the stuff I have little control over is not?  HMMMM?)  All the appliances are Energy Star.  Since we have no natural gas in our neighborhood, I was a bit dismayed I could not have a gas range - I love my gas cooktop I have now - but was pacified by the fact I was able to get an electric range with 2 ovens, one being convection.  I will have to read the instruction manual front to back on that one!  Chuck went out and picked up all of our ceiling fans and a few of the outdoor lights we ordered a few weeks ago.  Alex's old room is filling up with all kinds of stuff for the house, a pile of stuff to donate and a stack of boxes I have already packed (yes, my friends, I have started to pack away the low priority stuff - when you have a bad back, you need to do stuff at a different pace.....slowly).  Good thing he doesn't want to move home.  We have also ordered our other lighting for the house and it is trickling in.  Once again, all made in the USA!

One other thing we were able to accomplish is to find  someone to build the pool.  The first bid we got from them was so outrageous I almost had a kitten right there in front of him.  It appears I did not express my desire to have a "simple lap pool with fence and some grass for the dog to do her business in".  Not sure what's hard about that, but the design he brought had fountains, a spa and fancy landscaping - which would totally clash with the house and cost a mint.  I put the kabash on that, went into detail about "simple" and got a much better design the next round.  It's going to be really nice, understated and functional, as requested!

We have come up with a bit of a hiccup concerning the cabinets, extra refrigerator and the pantry.  The design calls for the extra frig to be in the pantry, but in order for it to be placed in that small space we might have to make the cabinets quite a bit shallower in order to be able to spin the frig into place after sliding it sideways into the pantry.  Not sure I want to give up that much cabinet space.  The other option is to put the frig in the mudroom and move what cabinetry it replaces into the pantry.  Any thoughts?  The architect and builder are convinced we can get the frig in the pantry without a problem, but I have concerns about the cabinet and walls getting all banged up (and the builder and architect certainly aren't going to be around to help us move in!) and the loss of cabinet space.  The architect was actually concerned Chuck would have to see the frig every time he went from his office thru the mudroom into the house.  Cracked me up...Chuck nor  I have any problems aesthetically with looking at the frig in the mudroom.  Also, Chuck will have to pass the darn kegerator every time he goes from his office into the rest of the house!  I tell you what, my frig is MUCH cuter than the kegerator.

Well, I guess next up in the never ending decision making process will be countertops and paint colors.  Up to this point, Chuck and I have been pretty much on the same page about all the decisions that have come up (either our tastes are extremely similar or the fact I told Chuck to "do whatever you want in your office" has given me extra points and consideration?!!!!)  I'm sure there will be some serious discussion (nope, we don't fight, folks, ask Alex) and one of us will "prevail" in these discussions.  I have a feeling hearing "I just can't picture that" from Chuck repeatedly might get a bit tedious, but he's "very visual" (aren't most people?).  I have heard is said that if a couple can survive a remodel or building a house your marriage will be stronger for it!  I'm going with that premise as I have found most of this process to be fun and wouldn't do it with anyone but Chuck.

The builder seems to think the house will be ready late July, early August.  I have to say I was expecting September/October as a move in time.  So, I am in a bit of panic mode.  Guess we better get a real estate agent out here and prepare to stage the house.  This will be my least favorite part.  I may have to get one of my decoratory friends out here to assist me.  The housing market here is on the upswing, so that is a huge positive and we hope our house will go fairly quickly - not so fast I go into a panic driven coma, tho'!

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and takes the time to think about all the men and women who have served or are serving our country!

Love to all!
Lori

The windows look great!

Hello everyone!!

The last 3 weeks have been busy and productive!  The house is really starting to come together.  All of the electrical, plumbing and HVAC are in and we will be doing a walk through tomorrow. We have a few things that need to be addressed - Chuck thinks the HVAC ducts in his office and the mudroom only connect to each other and no the entire system (he's nothing if not detail oriented!) - as things tend to change on you as the process progresses.  The majority of the metal roof is on and it looks fabulous!!!  The windows are in and they also look great!!!  We used Anderson fiberglass windows because they are the most energy efficient and cost effective.  The house is "wrapped" with the usual Tyvek insulation panels, but also with an extra layer of FlexGuard sheeting to seal the gaps between the panels.  We are making the final decisions on the brick and stone which will be ordered later this week.  The stone is coming from Oklahoma which is about as local as you can get.  An audio-visual guy is installing all the cable and stuff Chuck needs (I guess I do, too, since it provides our cable TV, computer access and telephone service).  For some reason I was included in this meeting although I had no idea what they were talking about half the time (how many of you know the difference between cat-5 and cat-6 and how many of you really care? I must admit  I'm not even sure what a coax cable is, due to having my own live-in Geek Squad and I have no need to educate myself - yep, geek damsel in distress when the computer does something I feel it should not be doing!!!).  Seems a huge amount of cable will be laid and things will be set up so we can add outdoor speakers and a satellite dish in the future if the need arises.  Chuck has informed me that the receiver I bought with money from my first job in 1982 is not up to snuff and we will be needing a new one (my response, "but it's a Pioneer and it still works!!!" did not fly at all).  The pre-wiring for solar panels is also in.  It appears the rebates are all gone for the year, so we likely won't get our panels until early next year.  The solar guy came out and did an assessment as to what would be the most cost effective and efficient system for us.  He said that since our electric company will only pay us for extra energy from the panels up to a certain  point a system that provides 60% of our electricity makes the most sense at this time.  We will easily be able to add on more panels in the future if Coserv (those greedy electric company jerks) decides to join us in the 21st century and change their policy.

After watching all the tornadoes flying thru the area over the last several weeks we decided it would be worth the extra expense to make the guest bath into a safe room.  Three layers of plywood were bolted together for the walls and ceiling and hurricane clips were added to the framing and the framing bolted to the slab.  Our builder said this room should withstand a Category 2 tornado and for sure protect us from flying debris if not directly hit.  If directly hit by anything larger, we are all goners, but the likelihood of a direct hit is probably pretty low.  It is worth the piece of mind!

Last week we were able to talk to a pool installer/landscaping company about an eco-friendly pool.  It seems UV and ozone are all the eco-rage!  UV light and ozone are used to purify the water so you don't have to use as many chemicals.  We would only have to toss in some chlorine when the pool gets really dirty from rain or after a really smokin' party with lots of bodies in the pool (and spilled beverages I'm guessing).  Sounds pretty cool!  Our hope is to be able to hook the pool up to the water capture to keep it full and to use solar to run the whole shebang!  We also discussed xeroscaping so there will be little to no maintenance and little reason to water (except for that pesky period when the plants first go in and have to establish themselves).  We haven't received an estimate for the pool project yet, but I'm guessing we will have to do it in stages. As long as I can get the pool in, a little grass for "poopland" for Doppler and some fencing we can wait to put in the plants and the large patio area with a fire pit. We've got a lifetime to put all the finishing touches in!

I have to give the Super Hubs props where they are due!  Yesterday we went out ceiling fan and light shopping.  He was a real trooper and very patient as always.  I have to say, ceiling fan and reasonably priced are mutually exclusive terms!  Who knew it was going to eat up 1/2 our lighting budget to get 5 ceiling fans???  We were lucky enough to find one that was a display model and got a great price on that one, but the rest were not.  Problem was, we got  to the store on the very last day of the display model sale.  We had been out a few weekends ago and were not impressed with the store we went to (as suggested by the builder), so we asked the builder for another option and he sent us to Light Fantastic in Dallas (waaaaayyyy on the other side of Dallas).  The people were very helpful and knowledgeable, so that made it relatively painless (until we had to PAY FOR IT!)  Anyway, another box has been checked off the list and Chuck and I agreed on all the choices we made.  I find it easiest to narrow it down to 2 or 3 I like and then present those to Chuck so he's not overwhelmed.  (I found this out intimately at the tile store when I got so frustrated I just started showing him practically every tile I found remotely interesting and he appeared to go into a glazed over haze!)  I had surfed the net until my eyes were bloodshot to get an idea of what he might be open to and it really helped with the process.  The same can be said for the other lighting.  We found some really cool sconces (marine lighting style) for outside - mainly  outside all the doors and on the back porch.  We still have to order some of the other inside lighting and the front porch light.  We are awaiting finish samples for the vintage barn lighting I found on the internet.  It's better to get it done than to wait until the builder says "we can put in your lighting next week" and you find out it's on back order for a month.  I found a really cool woven bamboo (renewable material, yay!) chandelier for the dining area that has already arrived and is safely ensconced in our "staging area" otherwise know as Alex's old room.

On tap for next week....final brick and stone choices made and a "sample board" made with our choices to make sure we like it - who knew mortar color made such a difference?  Insulation should also be blown.  Audio visual stuff installed.  Possible sheet rock starting to go up!  Seems every time we go out to the house 2 - 4 sub contractors with 10 - 12 workers are there!  It's been so interesting to watch things progress and learn in the process!!!  We have never built a home before and let me tell you, the devil is in the details and there are a multitude of details to address every week!

I hope the pictures give you an idea of what is happening here.  If you would like to see the 944 pictures Chuck has already taken of the house (his philosophy is "it's digital, so it's free" has caused him to take 80 - 100 pictures every time he goes to the house, whereas I on the other hand took only 25 the one time I was there alone with the camera!) let us know and we should be able to hook you up to our web album.  Suffice it to say some of the pictures will cause you to go "HMMMM, wonder what that is"?  I do believe Chuck is a closet artsy fartsy photographer!!  I have to give him credit for discovering things that needed fine tuning while taking all these photos!!!

On a personal note.....you can ignore this if you don't want to participate in our "I'm so proud of my kid I could bust" moment.  Our brilliant, talented and handsome son, Alex won an award at UNT for "Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Communications"!!  I'm not sure what I'm more proud of, the fact he won the award or that he was so humble as to say "I'm just doing what I'm supposed to and happened to win an award for it."  Honestly, this kid is gonna change the world!!!!  I'm so lucky to be his mom!!

My love to all and happy recycling!

Lori

photo album: click here for the photo album

Framing

Hello friends and family!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter and add a few photos to show the progress on the house!  It is actually starting to look like a house!  The framing went quickly and the weather has been relatively cooperative if you ignore those pesky tornados and storms that blew through our area last week.  I went out to check on the progress on Wednesday to see if there was any damage and thankfully not a 2 x 6 was out of place!  Whew!  We were very lucky all we got at our current home and new one were buckets and buckets of rain!  It's very green here and the bugs are having a great time!  I can attest to this as I received multiple bug bites and have been scratching/itching like crazy for a week!

May your Easter egg hunts be fruitful!

Love to all
Lori

( click the pictures for larger images )

When a Lot Becomes a House!

Hello everyone!

polishing the office floor

We have a floor, we have a floor, we have a beautiful floor!  Yes, my friends, the slab has been poured and the surface ground down to show the aggregate in the concrete and polished to a lovely sheen!  Super hubs and I are really excited how it has come together!  It's hard to explain and hard to see in the pictures below what it really looks like.  This floor is going to be extremely low maintenance.  I was told by the installer there will be no wear pattern or fading.  How cool is that!  The look is not for everyone, but I think it suits our plan for the house nicely!  When the concrete for the slab is poured you never really know what you are going to get, so we expected the size of the aggregate to vary throughout the house and it does.  It is a very unique look and I think it will really provide some visual  interest and a neat foundation to build on.  Now that I have a better idea of the color for the flooring I can begin to refine the search for the right color tile, counter tops, cabinets and trim.  The aggregate ended up being more in shades of brown than the grey I expected which is actually a good thing since most of my furniture is in the brown family.  The whole idea behind the style of the house was to showcase the art collection I was given by my dad and Karen.  I really think all the beautiful and colorful Cuban and Haitian art I now have will really pop in this house whereas in my current home it is really all spread out which I feel lessens the impact.

pre-polished slab

Next up is the framing!  Within the next week it should really start looking like a house.  Our builder said the roof will likely be on in the next 3 weeks!!  Our builder is also considering making our house a "show house" which means we would open the house up for tours for a weekend or 2.  There are pluses and minuses to this. The minuses are it would delay us moving in (although this might not matter much because we have to sell our current house and who knows in this market - but Dallas/Ft Worth seems to have weathered the housing crisis better than other areas), people touching our stuff (I'm kinda weird about that stuff) and pissing off the new neighbors by having cars lined up all over the street (the builder had a show house that had 800 people visit in 2 weekends!) and having them hate us before we even move in (and as you know we are actually quite fun people!).  The pluses include upgraded stuff at a discount, the house would be 100% done (landscaping, pool, water capture, solar) when we move in (our plan had been to do the landscaping and water capture a bit later for financial reasons) and educating people on what is doable if you want to go green (I LOVE this idea most!  If one person puts up solar panels or does rainwater capture because they traipsed thru my house it would be worth all the hassle).  If you can think of other pluses or negatives I might not have considered, please share!  I respect your input!

I'm so glad we are only about 20 minutes from our new house (I can now call it a house instead of a lot!!!!) because Chuck and I are out there constantly!  It's actually kind of a nice drive past horse farms and wide open spaces - although I don't think those spaces are going to be wide open for long the way this area continues to grow!

So far this process has been pretty exciting.  I'm not fond of  the hurry up and wait part.  We had a bunch of rain, 3 or 4 inches a few weeks ago, right after the slab was poured which delayed the grinding and polishing that needed to  be done before the framing could go up.  In a normal build, the framing could go up while the slab was curing, but the equipment to grind and polish won't fit (especially into corners) if the framing is up.  So, now we are off and running.  Be expecting posts more often and I look forward to sharing this process with all of you!

Much love and please recycle,
Lori

When Dirt is No Longer a Pile

Hello everyone!  Just wanted to send out a quick update on what's going on with our house.  As those of you who have built a home know, things seem to go at a snail's pace, but there are many things going on that add up to progress!  Since my last post, we no longer have piles of dirt.  The dirt has been leveled, forms are laid out so we can see where the house will sit, plumbing and electric has been started, piers have been poured and last I heard (I have not seen this yet as hubs and I were at the lot Saturday and it was done on Sunday) we have rebar!!!!  So, what's next?  Foundation!!!  The builder hopes to get the foundation poured later this week, weather permitting!  Yes, we live in a drought stricken state, but it seems this this spring it has decided it's time to fill up our lakes and reservoirs.  Now, don't get me wrong, we need the rain, just not this week!!!  I'll just have to send out a special plea to Mother Nature to hold off a day or two!

When we went out to the lot on Saturday it was a beautiful sunny day and the horses in the pasture behind the lot were out casually eating grass and enjoying the lovely weather.  There were 3 pregnant mares right near the fence and I had such an urge to go pat them on their beautiful heads, but refrained as I don't know how friendly they are.  I am really looking forward to seeing the babies once they arrive!  We walked around the lot and got a feel for where the rooms will be.  It's so cool to see it at this stage and imagine where the kitchen will be and where Doppler will look out to bark at the squirrels.  I think once the foundation is poured it will give us an even better idea of how things will look.

Chuck and I took the opportunity to drive around a bit to see what might be close by.  Well, I'm hear to tell you there isn't much.  This city girl is going to have to get her ducks in a row about grocery shopping and eating out (or ordering in for that matter!)  You have to remember I am used to living in an area where there are 3 grocery stores within a few mile radius.  Due to my dad having owned grocery stores, I am a wee bit picky about where I shop, so this could pose a challenge.  I will have to start planning better, that's for sure! The good news is that there is a nice liquor store that will order kegs for Chuck not too far away (I may have to take up beer drinking).  I could tell when we walked in he did a big sigh of relief!  The area is  really growing, so who knows what might  pop up in the years to come.  There are a few little restaurants close by, so Chuck and I are hoping to try them out soon!  Sometimes the little hole in the wall joints are the best!  One thing I'll really miss is a Starbucks close by.  Think of the money I'll save.....I don't want you to get the idea we are way out in the boonies or anything, but for me it is a whole new experience.  Our goal is to drive out in all four directions from the new house and find the treasures!  One great thing we are aware of is there is a snowcone stand within walking distance of the house that sets up in the summer!  Oh, and Argyle has a farmer's market that can't be too far, so fresh fruits and veg (I don't remember if I mentioned it, but the neighbor said we have peach trees along the back fence, so who likes pie?  Cobbler?  Jam?  Can you really see me making jam?)    So, if you know of any hidden treasures near us, let us know and I will share my peaches with you! (Shoot, now I'm wondering  if I can get a good pizza and Chinese delivered....hmmmm!)

So, right now we have pipes sticking out of the ground, a temporary electrical pole and rebar (at least I have been told we do)!  My plan right now is to go out and watch the foundation being poured, hopefully on Thursday or Friday!  I'll take plenty of pictures to share....but don't hold your breath because my understanding is there is an 80% chance of rain (well, crap!) But, if you are at all familiar with Texas weather, the weather report changes on an hourly basis!  Cross your fingers!

Love to all
Lori

click here for: graded lot and partial forms

click here for: post-forms, post-piers, pre-plumbing, pre-slab-prep

click here for: master bedroom (from the back yard)

click here for: view of the house from the master bedroom (West looking East)

click here for: view of the house from the garage (NE corner)

click here for: horses!

GOT DIRT!!!!

Hello family and friends!

After a much needed visit to the Christensen clan in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, I thought it was about time I provided an update to those of you who are so graciously following the building of our dream eco house!!

Things were delayed a bit because the City of Argyle had many hoops for the builder to jump through.  As a matter of fact, the city called Chuck and I, along with our builder, in to have a discussion about drainage.  Yep, it was as exciting as it sounds.  It appears our neighbor to the east had drainage problems a few years ago and blamed the city quite vocally (I'm being nice here, it seems she had these three grown men sweating).  They wanted to make sure we had adequate drainage so we would not be pushing any extra water on to the neighbors property leading to said neighbor renewing her rant at the city about drainage (and likely also at us!)  It was a cover yours and our butts kind of deal.  Our builder was able to reassure them to the point they finally granted us a building permit!!!  YAY!

I went out to the property today and was able to see our piles of dirt (see pictures for evidence!) along with a port-o-potty and a temporary electric pole!!!!  Whoohoo, progress!   While I was out there, our builder showed up and we had a nice chat.  He said that the dirt guy, barring any weather issues, would be leveling the dirt over the next few days.  Wouldn't you know it, we live in an area of drought, but it has decided to rain on my dirt parade and is supposed to rain again overnight.  Where's a drought when you really want it????  He also said he is hoping to have the forms in by Friday.  Next stop, foundation!!

Ok, so a lot has been happening in the "Lori finds these things fun" category since my last post.  First, we went to look at windows and doors.  It was a pretty easy and quick thing since the builder had basically picked out the windows that were the most efficient already and the selection of doors narrows when you go eco-friendly. We picked out a beautiful front door and some pretty basic doors for the back.  We will have 3 point locks on the doors, meaning a deadbolt and locks at both the top and bottom of each door.  This is to  make sure there is a tight seal on the doors (and the added benefit of security, altho' answering the door will be a 3 step process).  Second, we went to look at brick and stone for the outside of the house.  The stone was an easy pick and it comes from Oklahoma.  The brick was a bit more challenging.  The brick guy was very patient with us and we were able to narrow it down to 3.  To give us perspective, the brick guy gave us the addresses of several homes with the stone we liked mixed with the various bricks we liked.  So, one Saturday, Super Hubs and I set out on what he called "The Stone and Brick Tour" which he plotted out carefully (could he do it any other way?) and took 4 hours.  We were able to discard one of our choices and will talk to the brick guy about the other two which happen to have different qualities we like (one is textured, but uniform in color and the other flatter with more variation in color).The painted brick will be either reclaimed or what I call "seconds".   While on our "tour" we stopped by the tile place to pick up the samples I ordered a few weeks ago and ended up there for an hour so I could show Chuck the tiles I liked and the direction I was going on the bathrooms.  By the process of elimination we came to an agreement and ordered more samples.  Third, but not lastly, we went and picked out plumbing fixtures.  It was a relatively painless process as the man helping us was very knowledgeable and fun to work with.  It seems finding faucets and shower stuff that is all made in America is virtually impossible.  I guess China has cornered the market on making almost 100% of the parts.  Some are assembled in the US, but they tend to be on the high end of the financial scale.  The most efficient toilets are made in Japan.  The salesman said Dallas County (where the store was located) is only allowed to sell 1.28 gallon tank (or less) toilets which makes them extremely efficient (maybe a drought will get us all somewhat efficient?).  We decided on a 1.28 gallon toilet instead of a dual flush because it had other features the dual flush did not.  We found a nice acrylic soaking tub.  The acrylic apparently holds it's heat better where a cast iron tub seems to cool off faster.  Long story short, it was a pretty painless experience and Chuck and I agreed on style (whew!  I had been researching long and hard on the internet so I would be educated when I talked to this guy and he actually had all the stuff I had found on the web and liked at a comparable price!).  Lastly, (I know this is a bit long winded, but stick with me because this part is interesting!) we had a meeting with the polished aggregate guy (the flooring we have picked to go throughout the house).  It was an informative and interesting meeting.  Our builder is new to this technique so we all had questions.  Anyway, once the foundation is poured, this guy comes out after it has hardened to his specifications and polishes the concrete to expose the aggregate (the pebbles and rocks used in the concrete).  He uses a diamond embedded buffer machine to polish.  The end result can be shiny or not too shiny (our choice is not too).  There is no sealer, just a stain guard-type material that is infused with the concrete.  The guy said it is inherently not slippery, but is extremely hard.  He let us know there WILL be some some cracking as in all concrete but it does not affect the integrity of the concrete it just gives it a "distressed" look.  He said he can come fill in and repolish dings and cracks (but, I'm guessing that ain't cheap!) but for residential use it is unlikely we will need it. This part of the building process will happen early on (before the house is even framed!) and likely in the next 2 - 3 weeks (so, keep an eye out for that because it's gonna be interesting).

Well, that about covers it!  Suffice it to say, we have been busy running around doing all the stuff listed in the last paragraph.  I have to send out a big shout out to the Super Hubs for taking time out if his busy work day to participate (and only having to postpone one meeting!!)  His work schedule is crazy and he ended up having to work some evenings, but I think in the long run he will be happier with the result if he helps me with the decor choices!

We are very psyched about our dirt piles!!!!!  Wish you all were here to share the joy!!!

Love to all and please recycle,
Lori

Paperwork Purgatory Comes to an End!!!

Hello everyone!  I trust everyone survived the holidays and I wish you a wonderful start to 2012!  I apologize for the delayed post, but we have been buried in paperwork for the last few months (getting the contract from the builder reviewed and revised and searching for the best deal on a construction/permanent loan).  I have to give props to Super Chuck as he dealt with most of that detailed stuff knowing he could do most of it on the phone and acknowledging the fact I will likely be doing most of the running around looking at tile, fixtures, cabinetry, paint colors etc.  I was happy to dump most of that on him, but I had forgotten HOW detail oriented my husband can be!  Wow, he found stuff in the contract I never would have picked apart!  Here's to finding stuff to cover our butts if the contractor or subs flake out!!!  Gold star for Chuck!  So, anyway, we closed on the loan today - the title company came to the house and how great is that?????  We will be funded by Monday.  Let's get this show on the road!  It appears we are only waiting for the permits from the City of Argyle to get things up and running.  Seems they wanna keep out the riff-raff, so there are some hoops that must be jumped thru, but the good news is those hoops are to be jumped by the builder!  No real work for us to do there.  Just another case of hurry up and wait.  I dislike this stage intensely! I look forward to the first hole being dug which should happen - according to the builder - within the next 10 days or so depending on the city.  Come on, Argyle, we are fun and earth friendly, let us in!!!!!!

So, since our last get together here in blog world, Chuck and I have been doing some preliminary searches for house related items.  Once we got our revised budget - which DID come down to a more comfy level, thank you very much - we began to look to see what actually fit into that budget.  Well, come to find out, there is not a lot of recycled product out there that is not budget-busting (by a mile, I might add) or not available at all.  So, we will be trying to get products with some recycled content and if that isn't in the cards I have insisted it be made in America.  So far I have found tile that is made in America.  I really wanted to do ALL recycled glass tile, but it is prohibitively expensive, so it will be used as accents along with porcelain.  I have surfed the net for lighting and found a site that has vintage barn/industrial lighting.  I love this stuff, it's simple and fits the overall look we are going for with the house.  I have surfed for plumbing fixtures, counter tops and hardware until I'm blind, but have not settled on anything yet.  I think Chuck and I need to sit down together and really look at the options and figure out what we can agree on.  I have been given the names by the builder of companies to visit here locally to get some help with our selections.  I know Chuck is cringing internally at the thought of spending hours upon hours looking at sinks and faucets, but I am really looking forward to this part!

Chuck had an opportunity to talk to the guy that will be helping us with "all our solar needs"!  Chuck was able to pick his brain and find out we can go net-zero (attempting to have no electric bill and actually sell back to the grid) with relative ease.  We have made an agreement with our builder that he will not participate in the solar stuff so we don't have to pay him a commission on it which makes it more affordable to go net-zero.  The builder was nice enough to furnish us with a contact and Chuck seems to like what the guy had to say.  I think maybe part of Chuck's liking of this guy was the fact he would possibly be the guy who would also sell us a battery back-up for the solar for when the electricity goes out.  With Chuck working at home almost exclusively, electricity is vital!  Also, it gets damn hot here in the summer and A/C is truly a wonderful thing to have ALL THE TIME when it's 106 degrees!  We have come to understand that the electricity goes out "kinda often" on our new property.  One day we were out looking at the property while Chuck's mom was visiting and got to meet our new neighbor.  He's an elderly gentleman who is a retired pilot and quite the character.  He told us the electricity goes out frequently when there are storms.  He also told us he and his lovely wife have had flooding problems (it appears when the city paved the road they did not put enough of a culvert in to protect the homes on the south side of the street, so they flood - we have made adjustments to the house plan to raise our house so it doesn't become a problem for us).  He kindly let me know of all the critters that can be found in the area.  I won't go into which critters but suffice it to say, a fence will be of great importance to me early on!!!!!!  No coyote is gonna get my pooch, that's for sure.  I'm thinking it might also be prudent to get a firearm of some sort even tho' I hate them with a passion. Lori becomes Annie Oakley if Doppler is in danger!  Lastly, our lovely neighbor let us know that his pilot buddies like to do "fly-bys" of his home (so, I guess ours will be in that flight path).  I look forward to getting to know this and other neighbors.  I just hope they don't hate us because of all the noise and possible mess involved in the building process!  Guess I better start baking cookies!

At this point, Chuck and I are beyond ready to get this party started!  The next update will hopefully state that the first shovel of dirt has been tossed.  Photos will accompany that post and I'm sure you all will bear with me while you look at pictures of piles of dirt and holes in the ground!  For us, they are the most exciting holes/piles in the world!  The updates should pick up in frequency once things get moving.  I look forward to your comments and questions as we go thru this!  Your support is invaluable!

Love to all and don't forget to reuse and recycle!
Lori