Good Morning

I received this email from my mom this morning. It's a picture of my dad and his favorite cat, Puff Daddy, saying "Good Morning" to us. I thought it was so cute that I wanted to share. :) I'm not sure why my dad is squinting so much.

We passed!

I just talked to Andrew . . . and we passed our final electrical inspection! Yeah, no more electric!

Crazy Weather!

In a perfect world, we would have had our grading done today, Andrew would have built outdoor steps this weekend, and we would be having our final inspection next week. However, February has been quite a brutal weather month for us. We've had three fairly large snow storms in the past two weeks and today we're having "freezing fog" or whatever that is. All of this weather has delayed on of the major things we need to accomplish before our final inspection, our yard grading. I spoke with the inspector this morning, and he said he would let it pass if it weren't perfect, as long as water couldn't stand near the foundation. So . . . um, we have some work to do especially since we have two very large holes next to our foundation.

Things to finish before our final inspection:
Banister (I think will be done this week)
Carpeting (Middle of next week)
Grading (Whenever the snow melts off our yard)
Steps or landing out the back door (After the grading is done)
A "sidewalk" from the front porch to the driveway. I think we're going to use some crushed gravel. (After the grading is done)

We're having our final electrical and final plumbing inspections today. I'll let you know how those go. Originally, our goal was to move in on March 3rd, but with all this weather, I believe it's more realistic to think it will be on March 10th (ish).

Water!

We have running water!! Yeah!!

We had a little scare this morning, because the plumber couldn't get the water meter to turn on. So, I called the county, they came out and helped him! Yeah!

I also met with the carpet guy today! Decisions, decisions.

Sorry this is short. I'm swamped at work! I'll write more later with updated running water pictures!

Picture Update

Pictures I took last night, after our plumbing fixtures were installed:

Kitchen sink area. Notice the dishwasher, sink, and fixture! The dishwasher isn't actually pushed back into the cabinet yet.

Our messy kitchen! Notice the new lights, which I LOVE!

The bathroom shower tile. I'm not very happy with my job, but it works. We just need to decide on a shower curtain.

Toilet! We put the seat on last night, but this picture was taken before that. Andrew was in charge of getting the toilet. He got an elongated bowl, of which, I'm not a fan!

The bathroom sink fixture.

A different shot of the kitchen sink!

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day

My wonderful valentine is giving me the best present ever, hard work on our house. He has asked me for several weeks what I want for valentine's day, and I told him that I wanted him to move some appliances into our house for valentine's day. Next year perhaps I'll want something more "romantic" but this year, the gift of working on our house, is the most romantic and loving thing I can imagine!!!

I've finally got my camera back in my purse, so I'll take pictures of our progress tonight.

Also, the plumbers decided to venture out in the ice today to work in our house. They said that they won't be done with everything until Friday, so we still had to push back our geothermal schedule, but that's ok. It's finally supposed to warm up next week (into the 40's) and I have our excavator scheduled to do grading on Wednesday, we may have to push that back a bit, but it looks promising.

New Business?

It's snowy, icy, and cold here today. Our plumbers called and canceled this morning, as did the drywall guys (they are touching up a few spots). So, hopefully they will be able to "make it" tomorrow. The plumbers are putting in our finished plumbing (toilet, sink faucets . . . running water!!). I made it to work just fine. I even left a little later than usual (I blame scraping my car, although the laying in bed and watching the weather didn't help) and got here just after 8:00 am.

I am thinking about starting a little side shopping "business" after we are moved into our house. I would mainly focus on grocery shopping (someone will give me their list, I buy the groceries and deliver them). I need to start out by thinking of a good name. The only one I've come up with so far is Schechter Shopping. I don't particularly like it and neither does Andrew. If you can think up a cute or meaninful name, please post a comment and let me know.

I Love Survey's!

Since I love survey's and love my husband, I thought I'd fill out one about him! Enjoy!

All About My Man

His age: 26

How tall is he? 6'4" (tall!)

How long have you been together? Six years or so (we met Fall of 00 in college)

How long did you know each other before you got together? Not long, a month or so.

What physical features attracted you to him first? His build. I don't like scrawny guys!

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: Mango (red)

Hair style: Buzz (which I cut every few weeks)

Normal Outfit: khakis and a nice shirt- ‘business casual’ or jeans and a sweatshirt

How did you meet? Music Theory 1 Class at Sterling College

How serious is it? I'd say it's pretty serious! Actually, we do like to have lots of fun together!

Are you “in love”? Yes!!

Do your parents like him? Like him? They LOVE him (not to mention how much my Gparents LOVE him).

Do his parents like you? Yes, I think so!

Do you trust him? Yes, 100%.

Would you share a toothbrush with him? It would take a VERY dire situation for me to do that.

Would he let you wear his pants? Yes, I actually did wear his pants once to class, after I had gallbladder surgery! It was funny (since he's 6'4" and I'm 5'3").

Do you have a shirt of his that you sleep in? Lots of them actually, every night.

Do you like the way he smells? Yes, except when he farts :)

Can you picture having kids with him? Yes.

What bothers you the most about him? When he ignores me. I know it's unintentional, but still, it's not fun.

Does he have a temper? Very very rarely. I've seen it maybe once.

Are you happy to be with him? Yes!

Does he embarrass you in public? Not usually. I can't think of anything.

Does he smoke or do drugs? nope.

Does he have any piercings? nope.

Any tattoos? nope.

Does he have any scars that you know of? Yes, many from his childhood "adventures."

Is he a Party dude or Stay at home? Stay at Home guy, no doubt.

Is he Outgoing or Shy? He’s friendly, but I wouldn’t call him outgoing.

Does he love his mama? Yes! He's very much a family guy.

Would he hang out with you and YOUR friends? yeah he has before.

Sing? Yeah, the boy can sing. He doesn't anymore but I still swoon to hear some of the recordings he made for me in college. Hopefully he'll sing again in the future.

Domestic Bug

Yesterday I caught a bug. The domestic bug. I have not felt this way in a LONG time, over a year, perhaps. For example, yesterday at work, I planned out a menu for a week (yes, South Beach Diet "y") that looked so incredibly yummy to me (I'll post the recipes as soon as we try them out). I also keep day dreaming about all my cooking equipment that is packed away, about to be unpacked, and where it should all go in my kitchen. I also signed up for FlyLady again and I can't wait to shine my new sink (www.flylady.com). I read all of the reminder emails today to "declutter" and I can't wait to start all of that again! It didn't help that Andrew thinks we may be able to call in our final inspection the week of the 19th. Most of this all depends on getting our yard graded and steps built out the back door. I hope we can get lots done this weekend because I have certainly been infected with the domestic bug again, and can't wait to do that stuff again! It's been so long since I've shopped, cooked, and cleaned my own place!!

We should have some appliances moved in this weekend, which will be totally exciting! I'll take pictures.

Another subject: Last night we headed to Lowes to buy our shower tile. After about an hour of deliberations, we decided on matte finish white tile (6x6), with an accent border running through about 3/4 up the shower stall. After Andrew consented to letting me get the accent piece I wanted (a.k.a Andrew dislikes it) I decided to ask the Lowes-tile-lady's opinion. She said she loved it. When we were checking out, two Lowes people said how much they loved that tile piece. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=190688-74035-DE4038DECODCC1P&lpage=none

Click on the link above to see the tile piece. The bathroom is nautical blue and will have brushed nickel fixtures and a silvery brushed nickel framed mirror. I thought this tile would be beautiful with it. Please give me your opinion!

Home Improvement: For Women

I decided, after looking at the power tools in Lowes the other day, that someone should come out with a line of pink power tools. I would certainly be tempted to buy something like that. Someone told me that they had already been invented, but certainly aren't available at your local home improvement store . . . believe me, I've looked. We'll be making a run to Lowes tonight, to buy our shower tile, and some painters tape for me, so I can paint the trim in the house.

Since our hardwood floor guys weren't able to make it out yesterday, due to the snow, I was able to walk on the floors last night. So, while Andrew was writing his paper, I went out to the house and wired up a whole circuit . . . by myself . . . . and it even works . . . . I tested it all! I wired up 9 plugs (outlets) last night in the living room and they work. I am quite proud of myself. My plan is, when Andrew is putting up the backer board for my tile in the shower (much to heavy for me to lift) then I am going to help him out by wiring a few more plugs upstairs. Hopefully this will save him some time, since he's got a long to-do list before we call in a final inspection. We're still hoping to complete the tiling and electric this weekend so we can call in plumbing and electrical final (whoo hoo) inspections early next week. I'll post pictures after the weekend of the shower, and the electric.

Cancel(l)ed

I discovered today that cancelled can also be spelled canceled. I was in the process of making signs for the church saying the evening activities were "cancelled" due to snow and I couldn't figure out how to handle the second "l". The dictionary told me it was acceptable to make the choice either way! Imagine that!

We are supposed to be having our hardwood floors finished however . . . due to circumstances that would be too long to go into here, the heater in our house does not keep it warm enough for the second coat of polyurethane (sorry for the misspelling) to go onto the floor. So we put some heaters out to the house, hoping to bring it up to 70 degrees! My desktop thermometer says 13 degrees, which is fairly warm considering the last 24 hours.

Our goal this weekend is to finish the shower tiling, kitchen counter and sink, and electric. That way, next week, we can have the plumbing finished, our geothermal heat hooked up (again, long story), and have a plumbing and electrical final inspection!

We are currently being hammered with a big snowstorm. I hope the roads are cleared by tomorrow, so that the hardwood floor guys can get out and finish our floors!

2/3/07 House Pictures

We broke down and hired a guy to hand doors and run baseboard. It was the best decision we've made thus far. Two guys hung all our doors, and ran all of the baseboard in about seven hours today. We're leaving the windows to be done after we move in. Here are pictures from today!

Walking into the kitchen from the mudroom. All cabinets are in, and notice trim on the downstairs doorway! :)

Closet doors in Andrew's "office". I still have quite a bit of door and trim painting to do. I got several doors painted but not all of them, as you can see in this picture!

Bathroom lights and sink were installed (by Andrew) today. I LOVE this kind of sink because it is so easy to clean, no lip on the sink!

The door to the hallway and closet in the bathroom all trimmed and pretty! :)

Baseboard in the living room, looking into the kitchen. You can see two of our IKEA stools. We need to store those downstairs before the inspector sees them!

Andrew opening the pantry door. You can see more cabinets this way. Andrew just has to install the countertop and sink along the wall with the window.

All the cabinets are in the kitchen. We're missing a backer board on the pennisula, but it will get done. Andrew's standing where the fridge will be.

Our house today. It is SO windy and cold!

Memories and Poems

I got permission from my sister to post a poem she has recently written about the Walter home in Downs, Kansas. She is so talented!

You have been an immoveable friend of the truest kind

You have held us through bitter winter winds and glorious summer evenings.

Your air is thick with innocence.

Your walls echo with the laughter of children and the comforting, familiar voices of the old.

You have a fire, ever burning—Started by the old, but fed and tended by the young.

In you, the simplest of things became majestic, grand events,

And the simplest of people were seen as royalty.

You sat humbly in a small corner of the world—scarcely recognized,

watching beautiful stories unfold—untainted by the world.

You saw how the true greats lived, And witnessed giants in the ways of love.

You beheld one of the greatest love stories ever told— Truest love of God and fellow man.

But you have seen sorrow, yes you have seen sorrow.

You saw death come like a thief in the night and take before it’s time.

You saw us sit by your ever burning fire and ask, Why?

You have watched the glowing embers of youth slowly die

And stood strong and steady as the old became weak and frail.

You have seen a thousand goodbyes,

Some fraught with tears and filled with wishes that we could stay in your sanctuary.

Yet you saw with us the truest beauty that exists on earth

And held it humbly and gently for these many years.

You have been an immoveable friend of the truest kind— We depart in reverence.