August already!

A PICTURE OF THE FIREPLACE BEFORE IT WAS FINISHED

So the fireplace people we went with were very reliable & fast. It was done when they said it would be done. It looks really nice, not exactly what I asked for (I had imagined square pieces of brick making the arch instead of the rectangles, and then squares of brick surrounding the fireplace itself) But it does look very nice. I am happy with the outcome and color. Now I have to decide whether I want the mantle to be stained to match the wood floors, or painted white to go with the woodwork (I am 85% sure I want white).


Mike, his Dad, and brother-in-law JP have really been putting the hours in over there. I've been there alot, too, but usually with the kids so I don't really do anything. I've cleaned up alot of garbage, sanded railings, did some staining. But thankfully Mike's Mom came over the weekend and got the staining done (she's really good at that kind of thing). Tomorrow is cleaning day...I actually don't know what that entails entirely; but the painters (the guys who will be painting the doors and woodwork) are coming Weds. and there can't be dust or dirt anywhere. Thankfully we have some helping hands (Mike's Mom, sister Jill, and me) to get it done. This will be the second painter to come into the house for the job. The first one came last week, and Mike's Dad went to the house and I don't know exactly how it went down, but the painter was asked to leave, because he was doing such an awful job. Our plumber ordered some items incorrectly, so now we are waiting to get the right items for him to finish installing (nothing much appears to have been done; no sinks or toilets are installed, no faucets are in. I don't think I mentioned the plumber failed to plan for outside water--that's right, no plan for hoses. Luckily there are spots that it was figured out we could connect to the outside from inside, so as of now, hallelujah, we have 3 spots for hoses. The electrician, well lets just say our lights in the great room are permanently on as of right now. Yep, no switch turns them off. Two of our kitchen lights and the light over the dinette doesn't go on at all. What a freaking headache. Good news, though...we have a completed porch floor and white posts on the porch!! No railing or ballusters yet, those will need to be painted. It'd be nice to paint them before they are put on, but it doesn't look like we have the time to paint before hand if we want to get in ASAP. What's left?? Well, besides the electric and plumbing fiascos, the carpet is being installed next Monday. The runner down the stairs is set to be installed next Thursday. As for appliances, I haven't heard. Electric needs to be done first. Oh, and we are missing doors to our cabinets, though we don't need those to get our occupancy permit, but it would sure be nice to have a house that looks finished. Hopefully the house will actually be ready for carpet come Monday. Our yard has been completely graded, so it is nice and flat. We have to get someone to come out and power rake it to get rid of large sticks and lots of rocks and stones that are out there but the yard looks really nice, and big without the big piles of dirt and rocks all over.

Hard to believe school starts up in 4 weeks. We still haven't decided whether or not we'll put Maddie in the 3 year old program at the Lutheran school down the road from the school the kids go to. It's only 5 hours a week, it would be lots of fun I'm sure; but 3 is so little...baseball is over for the summer. The kids were very excited to get trophies. Fall means soccer for Kaycey and Football for Cal. I am contemplating whether I should sign Maddie up for gymnastics, dance, or both. I figure both, if she doesn't do the 3 year old school program. We'll see....

Not too much else to report. I'll be back with more pictures after I upload them.