Too Much Blogging?

I have been posting about once a day lately. I am not sure if that is good or if my blogger friends are tired of hearing from me..........oh well.

We have the ceder shakes in the gable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are also putting them in our screen room around the back of the house. I will post those pics as soon as they are up. Also I think our shutters are going up today......Yay!!!


Also, our insulation is almost completed......figured you didn't care about pictures of insulation. I spared you.

Flash Back

Have you ever had one of those days where something happens and you flash back to an earlier time. That has happened to me today. I am currently auditing a local board of education. Well this morning the band was practicing. I hear the quad drums playing that infamous tune and where do I end up???? You guessed it, high school. To be more specific, in my dance line uniform marching into the stands.

This memory sets off a whole line of memories...............



Man I miss high school. However the next few are from around the time of our wedding.....I just love these pics..............

This ones for you Krystal

Please take note at how skinny I was......too bad im not that size now

Rock, Pantries and Tile Showers

I came home yesterday and noticed that our little Vinyl Man did not return to finish our house. I called to find out the skinny on the whole deal. I left a polite message on his voice mail asking when he had planed to come back and finish it. I wasn't mad I was just curious. He later called back and spoke to Justin. The first words out of his mouth were...."Brandi sounded mad, Is she?". Justin responded by saying "If she was mad you would know it!!!!"  When I heard this I realized I'm that person. You know the one that every one is afraid to tick off. Its like I am on edge and can be pushed over any minute.....a ticking time bomb if you will. But hey if that is what gets my house, done so be it. :)

I did see some rock yesterday. I must admit its not what I pictured. I'm not sure I like it. What do you think??????

I also got to see my pantry take shape. Its my fault this little nugget is just now being built. I could not decide what I wanted. I could have a small pantry with a built-in buffet (to display the china I do not own yet) or I could have a double pantry. I realize the pantry would be something I'd actually use but the buffet would be so pretty. I chose..........................

The double pantry. I guess I can be one of those people who busts Sam's wide open. I have always wanted to buy stuff in bulk. Now I just need an upright deep freezer. (hint hint if anyone wants to buy me one).

Also our shower is almost ready for tile.......

They plan to begin hanging Sheetrock tomorrow or Friday (if all goes well). Justin said we might pick up the tile for our shower Saturday. Maybe they can start on that soon :)

Distractions

I know I promised to take pictures of the flooring we picked out. However I was distracted by.......

VINYL.....we have the start of our vinyl siding today!!! Whop, Whop. I am excited :)

Choices Choices Choices (Part I)

Justin and I are from the school of.....pick it out now don't worry about it later. So even though our walls don't even have Sheetrock on them yet, we have been picking out counter tops, cabinets and flooring.

Last Tuesday, Adam Robertson (Also known as A-master) and his two best girls, Elena and Reese came to measure, price and bring samples of counter-tops. These are my two picks.....

The wood behind them are my Cabinets

I loved the one on the left but the more I handled it the more I noticed the very visible finger prints. So having said that we will be getting the one on the right.We picked a travertine tile for the floor and back splash. (I'll post pics of those tomorrow).

We also received our Vinyl Siding Friday.....

All in boxes

The shakes for the gable and the screen room

The vinyl for the rest of the house

We also began getting the brick on the house...

The rock going on the columns is still to come but this is what we picked out....

Also I realized I haven't posted our installed tub......

I haven't taken pics pf the flooring we picked out. I will do that and post it in Part II.

Rain Rain Go Away

My friend Allison has told me from the beginning......"Building a house is a game of hurry up and wait". Lord was she right!! At first it goes smoothly. You have your general contractor there to do the work and you don't have to fool with anyone else. After you get it dried in, its a different story.

If I wasn't a huge wad of nerves before I AM NOW!!  Building is all about timing. First siding, then plumbing, duct work and wiring, then insulation, then sheet rock, so on and so forth. I went into the game knowing that I was a MAJOR planner. This would be no trouble. However if one person ONE single person can't make it everything is out of whack from there. I believe its called "the domino effect", or more formally known as "The driving Brandi CRAZY effect". Seriously, I hope we come under budget with this project because Justin will need some money left over to have me committed!!!!

I know I bring most of it on myself because lets face it I am what happens when anal retentive control freak breads with a hot headed penny pincher. (And dad if you are reading this you know which one you are so don't ask....you may be called alot of things but a penny pincher isn't one of em...lol)(Mom....sorry to call you hot headed but who are we kidding, I've seen you mad:) Back to the point, If any one of you has spoken to me lately and I seemed "ill" and negative. I apologize. I really need to work on my stress management. And the good Lord know just how to help me with that...................RAIN!!!!!! We have had more rain this summer in longer than I can remember and its forcasted for ALL of next week. Maybe we will get the outside finished one day :)

Top 10 Things to Look Foward to When Building A House

As I proof read my last post I became inspired to post The Top 10 Things to Look Foward to When Building A House....

1) Random strangers driving by at one mile an hour breaking their neck to see what you are doing

2) Little old men stopping to say "What are y'all doing, are ya building something"? (Nope why do you ask?)
 
3). Having to hear from every person entering your home "That's going to be a big house, you'd better get ready to pay that high power bill?"

4) Explaining the floor plan for the seventy fifth time to the same person.

5) Hearing the words "I'll have it ready for you first the morning" and 7 mornings later you still haven't seen or heard anything.

6) Hearing someone whisper to their spouse "That's ugly I don't like that" After you have just shown them samples of what you will be putting on/in your house

7) Responding "Because its MY house and I want it that way" to everyone who says......"Why are you doing that"?

8) People you don't really know showing up unannounced at your construction site wanting to walk through your house

9) Those same people pulling up at your current residence (after not being able to find you at the work in progress) and laying on the car horn until you come out and give them all of the details.



 The last one is probably just in our case since we began to tear stuff out right around the end of April 2011
Drum roll Please................


10)  People asking "Did the tornader's get your house"? (Why yes, yes they did, in fact we are the only ones in the Clay County who got hit and the "tornaders" were kind enough to leave this giant stack of lumber here for us to fix it with)



Note -  I realize I am technically remodeling a house but you've seen the pictures, who are we kidding)?

Slow Go and Pet Peeves

Here are the most current pics of the house......

As you can see not much has changed from my last post. We do have tin (on half the house). The crew that is installing it only works in the afternoons and we all know when the rain showers come.

We are supposed to be getting the brick and rock laid soon but we are still waiting for materials to be delivered. Also I think our mason of choice is working on the new high school. Bigger job + more profit = us waiting. **Note: Yes I said brick. We decided to save some bills by putting brick over the block foundation instead of the ledge stone . We figured that will be covered by bushes and plants (eventually) anyway. We will put the rock on the bottom half of the columns. 

We have picked out our vinyl siding and shutters but the vinyl guy can't do anything until the brick work is finished so you guessed it......we are waiting for that too.

On top of all of that our contractors main helper is having back issues so pray that clears up soon because I am getting desperate. I need my house finished. On that note I will now vent about ONE of my current pet peeves.............

If you come to my house DO NOT say to me something like...."there aint no way they will be done with this in 3 months", "It'll will be a year before they are finished" or "I just don't see how the will ever get done".

I have been responding by saying "they better, or I will be so hard to get along with they can't wait to finish my house". Now I will be saying "Hellloooo??? I am aware it may take longer than promised but continuously saying that to me is not helpful. Are you are incapable of telling uplifting and positive things???? 

Ahh, that feels better :)

Notice I said one of my pet peeves......All you future home builders out there, trust me when start your project you will develop lots!!