Geeeeeeeezzzzzz!   XM called us just a bit ago, with a canned recorded reminder that the trial period on hubby's wheels is about to expire and suggesting we speak with a representative to continue our service and avoid the re-activation fee.   So....I decided what the heck, might as well do it now and add it to our account.

Nope!   Since the trial doesn't expire until October 14th, I'm supposed to call back then. 

So if they don't really want to do this, then why bother calling me and wasting my time?!?! 

Yeah, like i'm gonna remember to call them the day the trial is set to expire.   Maybe I've got nothing better to do than mark my calendar and count the minutes till then .   What.ever.

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Yesterday I met with the lighting place and got a few ideas for lights.   Sometimes it is very good to have actual items on display in the showroom......I do believe I've found the perfect solution for the upstairs hall/staircase area.   By looking at it in the book that I brought home for hubby to peruse, it sure doesn't look that spectacular.   Think I'm gonna have to drag him along to see the real thing.

I also jangled the flooring guy again about the carpet samples I want to see for the bedroom.   It looked as though I'd be waiting another week, but the samples arrived on his desk during lunch time yesterday...yippee!!    And I'm extremely pleased that the one I was most interested in seeing looks wonderful.   Nope, I don't have any pics of it...maybe later.    But it'll go so well with the wall color we've tentatively chosen.    I also set flooring guy to work on tracking down more info (and prices) for the tile options in the shower.   Now I've gotta break the bad news to hubby.....the pewter is about triple the cost of the black.    But I love the pewter!   However, the black would look good too.  This is one of those deals that I'll be happy either way, so I'm gonna let hubby make the decision.

We took delivery of the new appliances on Saturday.   With several appliances around here being loaded up and trucked south, we were advised to get our stuff now or be prepared to wait and/or select other items when the rooms were ready.    We've got the space, so why not get what we really want and let it sit.   Nope, again, no pics.....yet.

Roofers are working today....and probably will be back tomorrow.   It'll be so nice to see a completed roof on the house.   But it'll sure look so much better once the siding is done LOL.   The look of Tyvek covering the house is so.......unfinished

Another Monday.....more stirring stuff for me!    I'm off this afternoon to meet with lighting folks.  I've called the flooring guy  to stir him up over getting the samples I need.   Already checked in with plumber; still need to call about a faucet though.

Ahhhh.....Monday morning.   That means I'm busy busy busy keeping everybody else busy and hopping .   I've dispatched hubby to town to run a few errands since we had a decent bit of rain overnight.....that means the combine won't be rolling till this afternoon.   I've got phone messages waiting for the rep at the appliance store and for our builder.  

The appliance guy will get our order finalized and placed for our new appliance as soon as he calls me back.   Now that the walls for the pantry have been framed, we've got exact dimensions and know just how much space we've got in there.    Good news for me, though!   I'll have two upright freezers and I'm keeping the small fridge from this house to put in there.    After having two fridges for the last few months, I've decided I'm keeping that going when we get back to the big house.   It's so much nicer to be able to buy a week's worth of milk, vegetables, fruits, and food at one time and not have to become creative at cramming the fridge .   Plus the food situation will just get worse as these children of mine grow and begin demanding more food...guess it's something to with that growing body thing ....not to mention that one of the children is a boy child and I hear that by age 12 he'll be eating everything in sight!

The builder needs to call me back so we can set up a meeting to go over my staircase information from my recon trip.   We need to get this going as it's a custom order kinda thing because I'm so darned particular over the shape of the landing.  But hey, I compromised on just having the landing so I reserve the right to demand it follow the shape I want for the opening

I'm awaiting a return phone call from one plumbing supply place with information on a faucet.   As long as it's available and not outrageously priced, I'll say "Order it, please".   I'm sure they can get it, it's just a very new item that they didn't know about just yet...but it's on the manufacturer's website.   Yep, me and my little computer can find all kinds of goodies

I need to call the other plumbing place and give the final "okay" for the bathroom cabinetry to be ordered.   I also need to talk to the other gal at that site and see if they ordered the tub surround for the kid bathroom.....I'm not seeing it on the list of what's arrived, and I suspect we need to get that moving.

Me and my little computer did some searching and found another tile option for the master shower.    I finally spoke with the floor guy and sent him the link.....he actually likes this tile more than the 2nd one we'd chosen!  Whoo Hoo!   This is the color I was really hoping to find and had "settled" for black...but the pewter is more of what I want and will be great blending with the wall tiles

Ya know, the internet is a wonderful thing.  Really it is.   I've found so much great stuff just by researching different things related to this renovation.   It was looking around on websites that I found the shingles that are now on my home.   Website searching found two of my bathroom sink cabinets (really cool ones at that!), and the bedside tables and mirrors that I ordered just yesterday.   Plus I've found a few options for carpeting in the master bedroom that have me skipping in glee...again, thanks to internet searching.    It's helped me choose brands for laminate flooring (and even find THE pattern).   Yaaaay me!!

Nothing hugely major to show on the house front.   The crew has framed in the walls for the pantry, laundry room, and downstairs bathroom.   Apparently they've also started the attic stairs and framed what will be the cedar closet in the storeroom.    They also made some of the doorway modifications and moved a few interior walls over a few inches. 

Barring any emergencies the plumber needs to take care of, he'll be starting tomorrow on our house.  Whoo hoo!

I met with a landscaper on Thursday.   I think he may have more grand ideas than I do.....his grand ideas = lots more $$ than I intend to put in the yard.   We'll have to see what he comes up with but I may have to knock him down a step or two or ten to get this front yard more of what we can justify.   I had to keep reminding him that my yard would not be able to remain a "showplace" because (1) I have 4 young children; (2) we have a large dog; and (3) don't forget all the outdoor cats that hang around.    I'm not about to dump an extravagant amount of funds into landscaping that will be ravaged by the above-mentioned souls within just a few months.   Let's make this place attractive yet durable.....and child-friendly.   

Yesterday we selected what we'd like for the spiral staircase and have a proposed plan to show the builder.   He'll need to see it tomorrow and we need to get final measurements together quickly so it can be ordered this week.    Since there's some custom components, we're told to expect 12-16 weeks for the staircase to be delivered .   ACK!   Who knew it would take so long!   I expected more like 8-10 weeks.   eeeeek!

Kerri - oh you betcha!  I'll probably be bombarding everybody with the house pics, and the before and after shots comparison will be pretty dramatic.

As for the size of the house, well I'm not exactly sure.    We've got approximate footage numbers from the architect, but we've made a few changes since then.  Okay, we've made several changes to his plan.  I keep teasing that we need to call the architect to come see the house progress and tell him to not worry about any constipation....'cuz he's gonna shit when he sees what we've done! 

Seriously, though, we moved the kitchen out a few feet one way and a few feet another way (which affected everything around and above it).   The master bath got a foot added to it, and we did some serious modifications to the shower  (I'm thinking the floor guy said it's 62 sq. ft.....geesh, I can't remember if that's right).   And the storeroom got WAY bigger than the architect had planned.....and I mean way bigger.    It's nearly full height instead of steep sloping ceiling (6 foot at the shortest place) and it extends over the full length of the dining room (instead of only reaching about half).

I'm hoping that the building crew will get one the east exterior door installed this week.   The new front door should arrive this week (&&fingers crossed&&) and I'd love to see it go in.    The plan is also to get the porch roof created too, which will really help me in deciding on an attic window.   Right now, I'm leaning toward not putting in window.  The architect put it on the elevation drawing, and while it looks okay, I'm thinking it'll just be a pain in my butt.   So what if it's in the attic?   What happens when that window needs to be cleaned....hubby ain't about to go clean it and I don't wanna be traipsing up there a few times a year.   And then it'll be a clear view right into the attic.....another of hubby's domains....translation:  all the crap he piles around the attic could be visible from the driveway.    Nope, I'm thinking we really dont' need that window and I can add some ornate decorative molding type of thing in that gable.

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So.    Advice, please.     Hubby has agreed that I can have a new washer and dryer.  The old set is working fine (once we had it serviced twice) and it's really a good work-horse type of set.   I'll have a mud room on the main floor at the house, which is where the laundry stuff is going to go.    Mind you, I like having laundry on the main floor because I despise having to run up and down the stairs all day long to switch loads, etc.   BTDT when the washer/dryer were in the basement.

So what I'm thinking is put the new washer and dryer on the main floor.  That would be the main set I'd use....first of all, it'll be a nicer set, it'll be more energy efficient as well as water efficient.   I'd keep the old set and put it just inside the storeroom on the 2nd floor and use it as an auxillary and for doing the bath towels.   The towels are the heaviest and bulkiest of the laundry items, and I already wash them separately from the clothing type items.

What do you think?   Should I keep the old set as a second washer/dryer option for towels???

Windows.    It's so amazing what a huge difference a few windows will make to the look of a house. 

Hah!   Yep, that's what I said.....HAH!

Late yesterday afternoon as the framing crew were preparing to hook up their equipment trailer and leave, the foreman's phone started ringing.   Wanna guess what 4 men will be continuing their work on my house?     They'll be there for about another week...Yaay!!

This morning they cut the new attic access and were going to start working on the new steps.    We modified a bit of the storeroom plan to really take advantage of the stair wall, and we'll have a nice cedar-lined storage closet for clothing.    In walking thru with the plumber, a few changes are going to be made in the master bath...just simple stuff like moving a wall three inches, adding a few inches elsewhere, etc.   Good thing as I had to be the heavy-hand and tell them to figure out how to make it work .    Not my problem that the setup wasn't going to be the best for the faucet configuration I've chosen....the faucets were decided on a year ago and I'm not changing .    It's an easy solution once those three guys did a 10-minute brainstorm session.

Next week we'll play with exact placement of everything in the downstairs bath.   The cabinet is one that calls for it to be the focal point of the room, so we'll play with everything to be sure the room looks good and has optimal function.

We'll still need to make a few decisions on heating.....after we get some number crunching figures....but I think it'll not be hard to do.  We know what we like and what we're most comfortable with.    Ya know the saying.....if it ain't broke, don't fix it.    If one system works just fine for us, the second system shouldn't be a radical change from it.

The framing crew will leave after today.   That means that by this evening all of the framing work should be done.  That means all the interior walls as well as that last bit of roof next to the storeroom.

So why am I skeptical?

Because as of yesterday morning one bathroom still needed most of it's walls; the powder room hadn't even been started; the master bedroom needed a short wall and doorway; the master shower didn't have half it's walls; the downstairs bath wall and doorway haven't been done; and the pantry hasn't been started.   Hmmm.   I think either these tasks won't all be finished (and the next crew will be finishing them) or this crew will stay an additional day.    I really hope they get the walls all done because I'm meeting with the plumber and heating/air guy tomorrow to do our walk-thru....and we're hoping to get them going next week.

Yesterday I met with the flooring rep and firmed up some of our initial decisions.  The biggest hang-up we'd had was the tile for the master shower.   As much as I liked the floor tile he'd suggested, I worried that it just would be too slippery when wet.   I had a few other options that I dearly loved, but yowzers! the pricetag left me looking for something else.   One tile....$1100.  And that's just the shower floor....only the floor.  Not the shower walls, not the rest of the bathroom, not the tub deck...just the shower floor.   Okay, just for kicks and grins, what about another option.....approximately $3000.   Hmmmm, didn't have to think twice about ditching that one either.    So then I spied a style that I thought would work; M replied "it's not for use in a shower".   Really?  Look at the display picture...sure looks like a shower to me.   M's responded "Well it can't be used on the shower floor".   Look again, M!    I like it, now find it in a different color.   So he didn't find it in the differenter color, but I sure did .  Sometimes you've just gotta be a woman on a mission.    Hubby likes going with this tile for the shower floor and bench AND it's much cheaper than that sticker-shock $1100.   Way cheaper  .       M will be here on Friday to do a walk-thru of the rooms and do his measuring so he can figure out just how much of everything we need.   Yaay!

Ooooooo!   Look what I bought today for my soon-to-be new kitchen!!

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I also found this for the bedroom.....one for hubby, one for me.

Best of all.......it was all clearance priced!!    The mixer was ridiculously cheap because it's a discontinued model.   So what if the brand new, just-arrived model has a slightly bigger motor, this one is just what I wanted (and then some!) and it's the color I wanted (the newest one doesn't come in Onyx).

Same goes for the bachelor's chests......the store isn't going to carry this style anymore, so they are priced about half what they were originally asking.   My local store doesn't have any more.....someone beat me to to the last one just a few days ago......but they are having mine shipped in from another store.   Actually, they are coming from two different stores.  WHOO HOO!!!

It may be Labor Day and a holiday for lots of folks, but apparently the roofers decided it's a good time to work.  They're at the big house right now!

I've started the shopping for appliances.  There's some great sales/deals going on right now, and hubby's pushing that we should be getting serious about things now.   He's been doing online searching, then I chose a few items in store, then he did online searching of reviews and options of the choices I gave him.   The appliance store we're going with is closed today, but I'll be heading in one day this week to do the last bit of comparisons and make our final decisions.  This store will price-hold our selections and keep everything until we're ready for delivery.

This afternoon sometime....well, as soon as middle daughter gets her bedroom cleaned to her father's satisfaction.....I'll be going to D-town and checking on some bedroom furniture for the master bedroom.   I spied a gorgeous chest on clearance a few weeks ago, finally found online information to show hubby, and I'm on a quest to see if it's the same chest and what is the current price.   Hopefully the price has dropped, and hopefully it's still in the store.   But if it's not, I've found it available elsewhere with free shipping (whoo hoo!).    I need to keep looking for coordinating nightstands locally.....though I've found two styles that I'm really liking.   One style would be perfect and the price is about what I would have expected.  The second style is one of those that took one look and left me going "OMG!  I LOVE IT!" but the price tag made me gasp.   Yikes, $589......each.  That's why I need to continue my search.  Or be a suck-up to my father and beg for him to make those nightstands for me.  Heck, if he'd do the woodworking, I could to the sanding and finishing.    It could be a plan, but I've already asked him to make the antique-look buckboard bench for the foyer.  I hate to take advantage of his hobby and his time, especially since he's having to provide so much care for mom and manage the household by himself.   *sigh*