TWO STEPS FORWARD, THREE BACK...

They are making great progress with our house and we are ALMOST there, but not quite.  A few snags have caused delays, but things are moving along in a most exciting way.  The floors are done and they finished the fireplace today--quite a change from our old red brick one.  And the floors look just lovely!

The kitchen now has a microwave and I could boil water because the sink also now has fixtures and water that will come out of the faucet.

The claw foot tub we rescued 15 years ago from my husband's aunt's backyard and had refinished is now installed in the hall bathroom.  Note the 1881 railroad rail installed above the tub--it is also an antique from my husband's family.  I can hardly wait to take a bath in that huge tube and sink all the way into the bubbles!

Our bedroom now has carpet and the bed is supposed to be delivered this afternoon.  Unfortunately, there are too many unfinished tasks and inspections to obtain a certificate of occupancy next week, so our move-in date has been moved from next week to another indefinite date. I was disappointed to hear that today.  Perhaps by Christmas??

Meanwhile I am trying to figure out how to get organized for Christmas.  Thankfully, one of my sweet daughter-in-laws has offered to host all of us (all 4 of my boys and families together???) for an early Thanksgiving on Wednesday.  That is so exciting!  I plan to take lots of pictures and will post a family update next week sometime.

WHAT HAPPENED TO OCTOBER??

In the month of October we saw all of our children and grandchildren and met our first great-grandchild.  What a whirlwind month!!

First, I went to Dallas to keep Son #2’s children while they went to Kara’s high school reunion.  We had fun at the Magnolia Hotel and at the Dallas Arboretum Pumpkin Festival!!

When I returned home, Son #4 and family were waiting for me at the airport and we had a great day while they looked at our house and played in our newly landscaped yard.

And my new pond…

And then Son #3 came for a visit and we had a great time exploring new restaurants in town (since my kitchen is not ready yet)!

Then we took a quick trip to the coast to meet our #1 Great Grandson.  He is a real doll!

To wrap up the month last night we had a combination birthday party and Halloween celebration in our nearly finished house. 

The birthday boy and wife on our back patio.

Picture-taking on our patio during the party.

I am SO READY to be back in our house—probably sometime towards the end of the month (November)!!

INSIDE AND OUT

Large crowds of workers are busy, busy painting inside our house

and working on our yard outside this week.

No toilets in the house yet, though!  Bummer!  But maybe it is a good thing since they broke the water line this afternoon and that took a while to repair.  Seems like there is always something!  But I do believe there is forward progress being made.

SO MUCH IS HAPPENING…

So much is happening at our house right now that I have not even had time to take pictures.  They are painting the rooms today. 

And we finally have a real stair rail!  Whoopeeeee!

Below is a picture of the accidental “pass through” that the sheet rock people created from the upstairs bunkroom into the bathroom.  It caused many, many questions…

It has now been covered by a nice medicine cabinet “treatment.”

Virgil’s office is the loveliest color they have painted so far!  It is a soft blue grey and it is so restful to walk into the room now.

Our granite was installed last week and has been covered for protection ever since.  Occasionally I go in and lift the cardboard cover just to admire it and dream about cooking in my kitchen again.

 

Below is the counter in the master bath.

And the picture below shows the colors I have chosen for my kitchen.  The red color looks like paprika.  It makes me think that it is time to put a pot of soup on the stove (which is here but not installed yet.).  I can hardly wait!

A little more each day and slowly the house is beginning to come together.  Whee!

HOUSE PROGRESS REPORT…

Our house is really beginning to come together!  This afternoon we talked about the landscaping plan which should begin later on this week.

Yesterday, we talked about a bench and shelf for our mud room.  I found a picture in the Pottery Barn Catalog and showed it to our builder and he said that was exactly what he had in mind.  He tacked the picture to the wall…

…and about three hours later our very artistic carpenters had created this.

Note the picture still tacked to the wall in the photo above!  They also finished the arched openings between our entryway and dining room and they look neat and clean with the wood that arches across the top.

At the end of the day they were putting the stair treads and risers in under the admiring eye of our builder, and the rails come tomorrow—thank goodness!  The upstairs and stairs without rails give me a bit of vertigo and I have been so afraid someone would step off into thin air. 

And I finished one more painting and packed it away for yet another move.  We have been house sitting for wonderful neighbors who were gone for most of the summer.  They are returning and family members are gathering for a wedding, so we are making, hopefully, our last move before returning to our own home.

I took photos of the hibiscus flower at the suggestion of my granddaughters when we were at the beach in July.  Thank you, girls, for calling the flowers to my attention.  I think the painting turned out just lovely!

ART AT OUR HOUSE

Son #2 came with his family this past weekend and we got to keep the girls both Friday afternoon and Saturday.  My husband and I had several suggestions for activities:  movies, Imax, shopping, museum, etc.  However, they said that what they wanted to do the most was art with me.  I was so surprised and pleased, so off we went to Michaels to purchase supplies since mine are all stored away (I can hardly WAIT for my art room to be finished so that we can “do art” together with adequate supplies!).  The girls each selected a project and we got to work.

Below is a picture of their projects plus a painting by Little One.

After the wooden art projects, we got into water colors and they produced some lovely paintings.

After being so creative we went out to eat hamburgers at a place my cousin introduced me to a couple of weeks ago.  Yum!

On Saturday we went to a small gallery in the area and looked at pictures by local artists.  We had a wonderful discussion about the different kinds of art and our different tastes in art.

And, lastly, here is a picture of my latest painting.  I am very pleased with it (but, of course, my photo of it does not quite do it justice).

I am so glad my granddaughters enjoy doing art with me.  I fully anticipate that they will grow up to be artists in their own right from what I saw over the weekend.  And we had a great time!  

SUCH A BUSY DAY…

We got up this morning at 4:30 so we could drive down south to Grandparents’ Day for Son #4’s children at their school.  We had a great time at school with Miss Ella Bella and Colty.  Miss Ella Bella is on the left with a friend.

Colty is enjoying his snack while his other grandmother snapped pictures.

We had a quick lunch with Son #4 and his wife before we headed home.

On the way back we stopped to take a picture of some beautiful clouds and my very favorite oak which may appear in a painting one of these days.

 We arrived back home in time to consult with our builder about lighting fixtures and to see the latest progress on our house.  There he is surveying the work being done on the area that will be our entertainment center in the living room.

They installed cabinets in our bathroom and kitchen today.

 And now we have doors and door facings for all the rooms upstairs.

And now it is early to bed so that I can rest up for another busy day tomorrow.  Yawn!