We Got a Real Door

I hear there are a few devoted blog followers interested in the minutia of the few little projects we still have going on at the house.  This is for you, Uncle Gary!

So, this is the craftsman syle door Erik put up sometime in October.  We had to wait until the temperature cooled down below 85 degrees to stain the door according to the directions that came with the fiberglass stain kit.  Erik did a great job minus a minor mishap involving a dent that now exists in the hood of my car.  Doesn't it look great?  Hey, Regan!

Here are our holiday decorations in the casa:

Here's our table in the breakfast nook.  Erik is currently building a built-in hutch to fit in the recessed area there.  It's going to be awesome.  He's already built the cabinets over the washer and dryer and they're hung and funcioning well.  I'll have to get pictures of those, too:

Here you can see part of the backsplash Erik did in the kitchen along with all of my Thanksgiving baking:

These are the smaller tiles on the island:

Here's the new dining room table from Craigslist:

The tv armoir I got at the thrift store here in Rockwall:

Here are the rocking chairs I got for the front porch:

And since this post is dedicated to Uncle Gary, a lake-faring man himself, here's a picture of Erik cruising us around in our fixer-upper pontoon barge this summer:

Water, Water, Everywhere...Again

This is the second house we've owned to which we have come home only to find water in the garage where it shouldn't be.  This time it wasn't anything like the Flood of 2006 when it was raining from the ceiling in the downstairs of our home in Round Rock.  But that's another story for another time.  This is the Minor Water Gushing of 2009.  May that is.  This is late in coming, but cannot be overlooked and deserves it's own post.

We came home to water in the garage floor, followed it to the source, and found water streaming out of the breaker box.  Electricity + water = can't be a good thing

Thankfully, there was a hole in the dry wall where the electrician did something so we could see that there was water actually POURING inside the dry wall from somewhere, but just a little bit was making it through the breaker box and down the wall.  You can tell that I immediately jumped into "take pictures for insurance" mode as we have been through this before.  Drama.

What I don't have pictures of are the scenes between the discovery moment and the final moments when we realize what is really going on, is when we go to the side of the house to see where the water is coming into the breaker box.  It was just too dark.  What we found is water gushing out of the pvc pipe in which the wires run into the house.  What made it into the house, made it into the garage.  That was when the lightbulb went off.  Gravity, right?  It had to come from a higher source for that to happen.  Our electrical box, seen below, is up on top of the retaining wall, yes, higher than the breaker box.  The lid to said box was found to be unsecured and filled with water.  Thanks, Oncor.  Thanks for not taking care of this issue. 

There was also some issue with the actual pipe connection which I really don't remember (maybe something about foam or sealing up the pipe), but I spent the next day on the phone with that silly company trying to get someone out. We were afraid to leave our electriciy on due to all the water, so slept without air conditioning and power that night. We finally got the problem solved and our box is nice and tight.  There had been so much rain and such a bad storm that they were dealing with power outages before getting to us.  As far as I was concerned, this was a power outage, since I couldn't use my computer : )

Erik installed a French drain along the retaining wall to help with the drainage and has one planned for the side of the house.  He runs outside to check if water is coming out the end of it by the greenbelt every time it rains : )

Springtime at 5903

The pansies we finally got into the ground are slowly starting to come up.

These guys are still going strong...

And everybody looks a little nicer with some pretty topsoil. (Mulch to come soon.)

These little beds got a border of stone.

And the grass has a nice hint of green to it. Erik will probably give it a first mow this weekend.

I'll have to get a picture of the lush green side-yard Erik planted with rye/fescue/wildflowers. We'll see how the wildflowers fare, and how Chandler's feels about that. : )

Inside the house:

Furniture = 2 beds, 1 couch, 1.5 desks, 2 ottomen (?), and a kitchen table.

Stuff = just about everything but no where to put it

TV etc...still at my parents' much to our dismay

Erik was chosen for a jury case which doesn't start until 1:00pm tomorrow, so he says he'll do some caulking in the master closet. Hal-le-ba-lu-jah! Maybe I'll come home and put away some things and do laundry. Once the nitrous wears off! (we are giving it to each other tomorrow ; ) )

We're Still Here

Well, we moved the cats....
It was quite the adventure with one kitty losing control of their bladder leading to baths for all, leading to freaked out cats in a new house hiding under our bed. For 2 days. Now they're fine, except for Reagan's incessant crying at night and climbing on our heads. It WILL stop soon.

Here we are camping out in the front kid room. We have moved our bed, and once we have covered windows and clean off the mattress a bit (a little dirty from storage) we can actually sleep in there. But then we'd have to walk across the house to the bathroom. Whatever. It works.

And no house is a home without laundry.

Mom gave us ligustrums for a house warming gift and we planted them over spring break. I'll show you soon. I've been accused of neglecting this site post move-in, but I'll post as we set up shop : ) Promise.

Big Steps

I would just like to say that I'm in our new house right now, in my comfy pjs with the cold wind howling outside, under my down comforter...on the internet.

It's starting to feel like I live here : )

Mid-Move

Erik and I made 3 big trips to the storage unit on Saturday. We got a ton of boxes, the big brown couch, the kitchen table, the desks, one of the full beds, and some random lamps and other decorations. We set up the bed in the front "kid" room and put up the table in the kitchen. Everything else went into the garage. We slept there that night (much better), went to our new trial Sunday breakfast spot, and then to church. This afternoon, Dad and Erik took our fridge from my parents' garage to our garage and then went back to storage and got the washer and dryer. I brought more clothes and school necessities to the house and started unpacking clothes into the closet in our temporary bedroom. The plan is to hang out there until Erik can totally perfect the master suite (and I can get curtains up!) so we can move in. Then we can perfect the kitchen and order the fridge. Then it's on to the rest of the house.

At this rate, we might have the storage unit emptied by next weekend. There's still a ton of stuff here at Mom and Dad's. I say here, because we're still spending evenings here so we can watch a little t.v. and use their internet. I think we're going to take the t.v. out tomorrow and get on Netflix again so we can just watch DVDs for a while. I, of course, will still be watching my shows on the internet as they air during the week. I certainly can't miss LOST!

Pictures of the First Night

As exciting as it could have been, I had an endodontics test to study for, so this is all you get from last night's camping adventure. We slept on a blowup mattress, listened to the howling wind and road noise (we forgot to bring the ever necessary noise-blocking fan) and tossed and turned all night long.

Tonight, we sleep at the folks'.

The Move

So, we've put off the move for another night. I hoped I'd have the energy to get some stuff moved over there, but a trip to Walmart for Claritin D was a bit too much for this sicko. I hope one more good night's sleep will do it.

I was running errands in Rockwall the other day and it kinda hit me that we really would be living there. That may sound funny to some of you - I mean, I went to Rockwall High School, right? But I've never lived in Rockwall. Only in Rowlett, the red-headed step-child of Rockwall County. Even at that, I've lived in my parents' house longer this time around than ever before. Is that right? It's close. We moved in this house in Feb '98, and I went off to A&M that fall. Anyway, it's just a little odd for me. Especially to be living in Chandlers. I spent a lot of time there in high school over at the Kentopps' and babysitting and going to brunch after church. But now I'm a grown-up living there in a house that my husband and I built. A house that wouldn't be there if we hadn't made it. Craziness.

So tomorrow, I hope to wake up at a decent hour and make that house as comfortable as possible for our first night's stay. I'll get some pictures.

We passed!

Hallelujah!

A few more details:

We are planning on moving in slowly - probably slower than I thought since I've had the flu. We'll sleep there tomorrow night, but as we really think about what that entails, we realize we'll want tv and internet which means cable which we don't have. We also won't have a fridge which makes me a little uncomfortable. And no couches. How will I study? We'll basically be camping for a while.

Erik hopes to close with the bank on Friday. He's had all of that rolling this whole time.

I really hope I start feeling up to a lot of movement soon, because I'll need all the energy I can get!

Are we there yet?

Erik pulled up more grass today. Re-graded more dirt today. And put the grass back today.

This is our real front door. It's not stained yet. Not sure how we're going to go about that. I think we should get Polo at Dad's shop to do it. But that's just me.

Apparently the inspector's boss thinks that this area also needs to be re-graded. Thanks, city of Rockwall!

Erik laid another palate of grass today because the city of Rockwall said so.

And he moved the pile of rocks and bricks to the other side of the back yard because they said so.

Some of you may wonder, "Why didn't you help? Why is Erik doing all the work?" Because he won't let me. He accuses me of trying to get out of studying by helping with the house. Whatever. I just want to move. But, he would also like to have clean clothes next week. So, alas, I'm forced to stay in the warm house and do laundry and quilt : )

So anyway, we should be finished following orders tomorrow and they will hopefully call a truce on Monday and pass us. This is not a game I want to play anymore.

Strike Two

Well, our inspector decided to bring his boss with him today. Therefore, despite all of Erik's efforts to cross everything off inspector #3's list, inspector #4 created an entirely new list for Erik to work on tonight. All doable silly stuff, but annoying, nonetheless.

Oy.

Done, now?

Erik's been out at the house tonight crossing EVERYTHING off the final inspector's list!

He should come out tomorrow and hopefully pass us.

Please!

Working on That List

We started to tackle the list on Saturday. Erik got a pallate of grass and went out to the house to start grading the yard on the right side of the house (by the neighbors). I came out to help and he made a 3x1 measuring device to determine where the slope was greater and we needed to regrade. This meant pulling up already planted grass, moving dirt, and putting it back down again. When he told me this, I told him, "You realize I'm going to cry." He suggested that I go home in order to avoid that. I stayed. So we kept moving that thing around and the bigger the area got, the more upset I got, and I fulfilled my prophecy. I got ahold of myself and we started pulling up grass. Not 5 mins later, I decided that I did, in fact, need to go home and did just that.

Regrading just about done:

See, I was ready to plant this grass, not pull up grass that was already planted and then replant it.

Thankfully, the Manns came out to replace me and they did a great job regrading the yard. Erik finished grading the side yard for the most part, too. They also did an amazing job cleaning inside and Evelyn planted the rest of the pansies with my broken spade (which I also had to use to plant pansies - apparently no one is willing to make the drive to Lowes to remedy that problem : )). I'm pretty sure it was sacrificed in the Great Mann-hole Fiasco as the two giant holes were trying to be connected. Anyhoo, it was a huge help and especialy nice since we had some friends coming out to see the house that night.



As it was Valentine's Day, Erik and I had a picnic of Vietnamese noodles by the fire in our house later that night : )

Today, Mom, Dad, and Erik laid the grass on the side yard and Dad started prepping for shelves in the pantry and linen closet. Erik fixed the cut-off thing and Mom and I did a number on the kitchen. I also painted the pantry so we can put the shelves in and finished cutting in on the linen closet.
Just a little bit left. I'm picking up one *hopefully* last pallate of grass after school tomorrow.

That bottle on the counter is the sealer I need to use on the counters after I get all the residual glue and what-not off of them.

I also cleaned up the counters in the bath and found the other mirror on the wall!

Failed - As Expected...But we have a list, now!

• need trash bin (obviously, he is mistaken)
• drain plates under gutter spouts (I'll go to Lowe's tomorrow)
• cut off needs to be done right and level with grade of land (easy fix)
• grass on side of house (he said this was the biggest overall issue - that's good!)
• dirt on water meter (seriously?)
• incorrect drainage (side yard - we'll do it before we plant)
• get trash out of garage (ok)
• remove t-pole (working on it)
• termite report (it was in the permit box, silly)
• energy audit (we passed, just need a few fixes and the report)
• bath tub motor needs to be accessible (listed about 4 times on the printout. Obviously a serious issue - or computer glitch. And we have a panel...the painter just painted it shut. Done.)
• grade of land exceeds 3:1 requirement (Erik's pretty sure he's mistaken)

So, Erik will call the guy tomorrow and talk about the issues. Did you notice what wasn't on there? Yup, no tempered window issue. That's nice. Gunna have to cancel that order and apologize to the window guy for all the phone calls and nagging. Oops.

We got off pretty easy! Next week, I predict a PASS and a lot of moving in our future!

So close it hurts.

Just a few tiles on the sides....and some grout. And the mirror actually hanging on the wall.

If you didn't already know that Erik is amazing, here's proof. He put up all these doors in one night. By himself. All 26ish of them. He's working on the door knobs tonight.

If you've ever helped us out at the house or come for a visit, you'll understand the value of a door on the bathroom here. Ok, maybe everyone understands that, but we're sure happy about it.

The first flower bed is still looking good...

And the second one is well on its way. Need a few more pansies and some bushes in the back.

Guest mirror:

ONE master mirror. The other, well, let's just say that gray dot on the wall is a couple of washers covering a somewhat inconvenient hole that was created when one of the dry wall anchors did not perform well in the course of its duties. But Erik's a genius and has a plan to make it work.

So, update time...

• Erik did not call in the inspection. He said he will do it tonight. We'll see about that.
• The big trash bin is gone! (a necessary step for passing)
• We passed our energy audit (pending a few minor fixes - weather stripping on the attic door and some paper posted in the attic)
• The window guy is ordering new tempered window panes for the window in the master bath that will be here next week. We'll see about that.
• The electric company should come tomorrow and pick up the old t-pole meter. Then our electrician can come get the t-pole and hopefully fix the outlets in the master bath that mysteriously stopped working.

Done?

Well, that's the word Erik keeps using. I respectfully disagree, but as far as "biggies" for final are concerned (except putting on doors) he seems to think we are. I think we still need to put on doors.

The inspector will, too, when he comes tomorrow.

We filled in the hole, started grading the side yard, I made a new flower bed under the master windows and planted 3 flats of pansies (and used a tiller, I might add). I caulked baseboards, we put up a few mirrors, and put the real locks on the garage door and back door. When the real front door comes in, we'll put that one on, too. Oh, and Erik started the tile surround on the fireplace. And we capped off some pipe at the street.

We still need shelves in the pantry and linen closet.

There's just a tad of baseboard left to put on and then caulk. I mean an amount so small it hurts that it's not done.

So that's where we are now. Once we pass final, we will "move in". Right now, that means blow up mattress and some suitcases.

Yay for carpet!

It actually feels like a house now. A house that needs a lot of cleaning to keep the pretty new carpet from getting super dirty ; )

Still working on the window issue. Erik wants to put in for final inspection on Monday anyway. We'll see. You've heard me say that before.

Erik wants to tile the fireplace tomorrow, grade the side yard, and fill in the remnants of the Mann-hole in the back yard. Since it should be a nice day and all. Mom and I are anxious to clean for realz now. Since there will not be any more subs coming inside the house, we can better control the dirt that gets tracked in (ie take your shoes off when you come inside!)