It's a Mann-hole

Erik spent most of Saturday Sunday after church digging a Mann-sized hole to connect the electricity. This was taken around 3:00. By 4:00 I was going to Home Depot to rent an auger and Dad and Bret were coming to the rescue. After near carbon monoxide poisoning via the exhaust put out by that thing, they gave up and came home to hot showers and fajitas. 1 foot to go, so hopefully tomorrow? So close, but so far....and so cold!

To back it up a bit, our new plumber arrived on the scene last Tuesday to rescue us from certain watery demise after Bill. He brought a crew of 5 or so and wanted to complete everything in a day. They got to work like crazy, installing faucets and toilets and waterheaters and even fixing things they deemed unacceptable work per the previous plumber. Unfortunately, the fiber optics line could not be located and Charlie needed a big back hoe to dig as deep as he thought he needed to, so they had to hold off until today to try to connect to the sewer. Here's what he got done:

Anyhoo, he came back out today with the big guns, and lo and behold, the sewer was only 5 feet deep but next to a $20,000 magic fiber optic line. Bill's 8 ft. No, not even close. So he connected everything and we called the city and they came out and inspected it! Only to tell him to change something that he didn't have the equipment to change today, so poor guy has to come BACK out tomorrow, fix, reinspect, and fill the hole for us. He has been a savior! I thank him profusely every time I talk to him. If our house floods with water when we turn it on, it will only be because he didn't find something Bill did wrong.

Connected to the sewer! (and the super-expensive line)

Grading and Gutters!

I know they're dark, but by the time I fight traffic to get out there, I'm racing the sun. I think you can see everything pretty well. So today we got gutters and Andy graded the yard. I am one happy girl! Erik has to finish tiling the shower in the master before the plumber can come out, so that's where he is right now...tiling away. My wish is that he can come this week and connect to the sewer so this weekend, I can start on the yard. I at least need to draw up a plan and have a chat with Mom about appropriate plants. I spent so much time learning about deer-resistant/Hill Country flora and now I'm in North Texas, so I must begin anew. I really need to dig those trees back out and build up some wells around them so they can breathe ; )

What happens tomorrow? I have no idea. I do know we still need to dig a 5 ft hole for the electricity.

Painting Doors

We went professional and Erik learned from the pro at my dad's shop how to paint doors. He painted all the doors and trim in about one day, with very little help, which is amazing! At the beginning of the video, please note the entertainment center built and partially stained by Erik all lonely and forgotten in the shop.

Andy is coming tomorrow to grade the land. Hopefully that means the plumber can come the next day and solve most of our problems. Erik still has to dig that hole under the retaining wall to run the electricity to the house. That would be a big deal, too. I'm just excited to see a real yard in my future!

Let there be light! Kinda.

You can barely see the new addition to the house here. There are two lights on each side of the garage. Everything else is either in the shadows or inside.

The fluorescent light in the garage:

The light in the closet under the stairs:

The pendants in the kitchen:

The oven that doesn't fit? We'll see about that.

I don't think I ever put a pic of the dishwasher up:

The light over the kitchen table:

The many pendants in the kitchen:

The entry hall light:

The light over the dining room table that is missing one light socket. Something else to take care of:

Potty light in the master:

Master vanity lights:

Master fan and recessed lighting:

Laundry room light:

Kid room:

Kid room:

Kid vanity:

Upstairs fan:

Living room fan:

And there's still a hole:

Finally some action.

I went to the house after school to see what was going on and ended up spending the evening helping Erik get stuff done. Job #1 was labeling the lighting for the electrician who is coming tomorrow. Note the orange stickies...

Granite is in! Isn't it shiny?

We got a great deal! Sink = free! So that made up for the undermount...

Master bath, too!

This is Erik starting to tile the surround.

These are the vanities in the other bathrooms.

And the travertine in the master bath...

Erik met with the plumber today and we are facing a few issues before things really get going. He actually fixed one thing Bill did incorrectly, but doesn't want to start until the land is graded so he can get his backhoe in. Andy didn't want to grade the land until the hole made by Bill was filled. We're going to have to explain this dilemma to him and see if it changes anything. If we have to get everyone we know out there with a shovel to fill the hole and get this going, we will just have to do it.

The HVAC guys came to put vents and the outside unit in, and weren't able to do the unit because of the trench Erik had Angel dig so we can connect the electricity. So there's another hole that needs to be dug (under the wall, that is) so we can run the wire and have TXU connect it to the house so we can fill the trench and get our air conditioner. Holes.

But the electrician will come tomorrow and put in lighting which is way exciting. And Erik's on the job to get the above situations under control. One thing at a time.

Word on the Street...

We were going to get countertops tomorrow...but....

Erik and I went to every home improvement store imaginable this weekend looking for master bathroom sinks and a kitchen sink so the installer could cut holes in the granite. Since we bought 8" faucets for the master bath, it made it a bit difficult. In the midst of all this, Erik showed me the granite he picked out. And I didn't like it. So we just decided to head out to Seconds and Surplus today to look at all the options together and make a final decision.

While we were there, we picked the prefab granite we liked, and also looked at the custom (that we couldn't afford) and decided on one we liked. As we waited for the salesman to finish helping another couple, I overheard him say that some of the granite would be going on sale tomorrow. My ears perked up! Turns out, the custom granite (including the one we picked out) will be the same price as the prefab. Fabulous! It'll take an extra week for the new installer (yeah, we had to change installers...sorry Clemente...) to come out, but it will be so worth it! Thicker granite, a custom bull nose all the way around AND the color we really wanted. Perfect.

Next we asked to see the bathroom sinks. The 8" were hard to come by. The salesman, bless his little heart, saw some black sinks and asked if we could do black. No no no no no. But wait! The boxes underneath the sink said "biscuit". Score again! And at 1/2 the price of the sinks we were considering!

So glad that's taken care of! In the mean time, I really pray that the plumber can start this week. All we're waiting for is the ok from the city. Apparently we got an email from the HOA asking us to take care of the hole in our front yard. Don't worry. We are on it! Believe me, I want a yard as badly as our neighbors want us to have a yard!

Saturday I went out to help Erik. I cleaned up and vacuumed all the dust out of the master, guest, and living rooms. I even helped Erik dry out the joint compound on the wall extension he did with...a hair dryer. In order to make the sink island more symmetrical and allow us to open one of the under-sink doors all the way, Erik added about 4-5 inches to the wall and had to learn how to dry wall to do it. We may have to cover up most of it with molding, but everybody likes molding! Right? He finished tiling the kid bath and will grout what is done and start the master bath today.

This weekend, we plan on taking all the doors off the hinges, then we'll haul them to the shop along with the molding to spray in the paint room where it's well-ventilated and we won't make a mess. Once molding is up, all the bedrooms and the room upstairs will be ready for electric and carpet. Then they are done! Crazy? Yes.

It's a bit bold, but I'm going to start a countdown checklist....it'll be over before we know it!