Productive Day

Saturday was a very productive day in terms of the house. It was another weight lifted off our shoulders. We're beginning to breathe somewhat easier, and might get another minute or so of sleep tonight! We bought our appliances, and we're pretty happy with our purchases. We're starting to see things coming together, and it's such a relief. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Fridge
Kenmore Elite Trio with in-door ice and water dispenser


Dishwasher
GE Elite Stainless Steel interior


Range
Kenmore Elite Dual Fuel


Washer and dryer (you have no idea how excited I am to have a new washer and dryer of my choosing!!!!)
Whirlpool Cabrio in Dust

Update

Thank you to my loyal readers (all 3 of you, hehe) for pointing out that I haven't blogged in awhile. I'm well aware. It hasn't been because of lack of action or subject matter, but more because of this guy:

How cute is he?!?!?! My best friend and her husband, and their absolutely adorable little boy, came down last week for a visit for Spring Break, so we were hanging out with them. We hit San Antonio and Old Town Spring and had a great time. I couldn't get enough of the little one! (and his parents, of course!!) I was sad to see them leave, but we had a really great time with them.

Mom and dad's house in The Woodlands officially went on the market this past Saturday and they had a showing on Sunday! If any of you know someone who is looking to move to The Woodlands and is in need of a great 4,200 square foot house, I know just the one!

Now, updates on the house. Things are moving along rather quickly. About 90% of the siding is up, HVAC and electrical are being installed this week. We picked out the granite (so excited!) It's very rare that Jay and I absolutely, 100% agree on something, and we both fell in love with this piece when we saw it! We bought interior doors and outside lights this weekend. We still have to do the inside lights, but most of those are recessed cans, so that'll be easy. I guess that's it really. I'll leave you with some pictures.

More house pictures

I don't really have anything "profound" to say tonight, so I thought I would just post some more pictures of the house. Things are coming along nicely. Hopefully this week we'll get the electrical and HVAC put in, plus the siding put up on the exterior. Then things should really start picking up. I'm on Spring Break this week and actually excited to be able to go by the house during the day to check up on things. Enjoy the pics!

New siding.

New back door.

Jay standing in front of the new french doors leading into the master bedroom.

New french doors from the inside.

New hardware for the back door and french doors.

This is the ONLY time Jay will ever be allowed to do this in the living room.

6 months ago today

Hurricane Ike started to make it historic landfall across Galveston and push a large amount of water into my house. The storm was huge. It was the worst day in my life to date. I remember it like it was yesterday and I still am not over it. I still have a very hard time dealing with it. I feel like a part of me has been lost. For whatever reason, I've been dreading this day for some time. Of course, the media doesn't help, as they've been hyping it, but maybe that's part of the healing process. I don't know. I just know that I don't wish something like this on anybody. It's horrible. And it won't go away for some time. I've been fighting the federal government since the hurricane hit, and I will continue to fight them until I am satisfied with the outcome. I'm now fighting Reliant Energy for an $800 electric bill for last month (explain that one for a house that had all of the electrical outlets fried by saltwater), and I will continue to fight them as well. It's just all very real and still quite fresh. I think it's ironic that the plan is to be back in our house the first of June... just in time for the 2009 hurricane season!

East Texas

So I'm in Tyler right now for the Region XIV basketball tournament, and since we won yesterday, we don't play again until tomorrow, so I've been doing a little exploring. I love Texas! This state is amazing. Where else can you be in a city (yes, Tyler actually has some tall buildings and people walking around in suits and ties downtown), and drive 8 miles south and be in the middle of the country? That's what I love about Texas. And East Texas specifically. The hills are beautiful! Parts of West Texas are like this as well. And there are wineries here! I'm making notes... this could be a fun girls trip.

Some other observations from my first-ever trip to Tyler:

• All of the churches. They're everywhere! This isn't a bad thing, just an observation. I never realized that they were so prevalent in this neck of the woods. I saw a beautiful church sandwiched between the post office and a hamburger joint right on the square downtown.
• Tons of antique shops, which I am loving. Lots of "mom and pop" shops, which I like even more. Don't get me wrong, Tyler has its fair share of chain stores and restaurants, but when you get on the outskirts of town, it's all about the mom and pop stores.
• Brookshire Brothers. I was first introduced to this grocery store chain won my first trip to Hemphill, but this store is everywhere up here. I think the main office and warehouse / distribution center is in Tyler. I saw a complex that looked like it could be the main hub. Just like Starbucks is on every other street corner in Houston... Brookshire Brothers is almost just as bad.
• And here's my favorite observation... Every weather report on the television news starts with the fishing report and then the burn ban update. You don't see Gene Norman, Frank Billingsly or Tim Heler doing this on the Houston news channels. Apparently the crappie fishing in Lake Palestine is really good right now.

That's it from Tyler for now.

Update on the house: the slab was poured yesterday. Wahoo!!!!

House update

I've been a bad blogger of late, and for that I apologize. Let me give you the SportsCenter edition of what's been going on at the house. I think the last time I posted something about the house we had a hole in the side wall. We still don't have a slab in the guest bedroom. That got postponed because of city politics. Supposedly it's happening Thursday. Yes, I think I'll write a book (because I can't make this shit up).

However, since then, we knocked down the two faux walls on either side of the fireplace, and replaced that side of the house with plywood. We'll eventually put up Hardie. Mom and I - by ourselves - scraped up the tile in the kitchen and bathroom. It was a good way to release some frustrations, but talk about gross. It was still wet and very moldy. Yes, my hands still hurt.

The new windows are in the front of the house, including a completely new window in the living room, so we now have 4 windows there. The other windows are in the garage waiting for the framing to be completed so they can be installed. The hole has been cut in the bedroom for the french doors. I'm very excited about this. They were ordered today. The rest of the side of the house where the "original" hole was is tore out because there was some pretty good damage to the boards there, so they had to re-frame the wall in the office. For those of you that know our house, basically the whole side of the house where the office and guest bedroom are is completely open at this point. We were trying not to have to re-side the whole house, but at this point it looks like we're going to have to.

Plumbing went in today. When I left the house tonight I actually locked the front door, and then had to laugh at myself.

That's about it. I'm going out of town tomorrow, so I've instructed Jay to take some pictures of the slab. We'll see if he pulls through for us. For now, here are some pics of the recent action. Enjoy!

The new fancy, expensive plumbing. Can you guess which is the hot and which is the cold???

New windows!

New windows from the inside. Notice the totally new window to the right...

Mom and I ripped up tile until we could no longer feel our hands and many other parts of our body.

This sight freaked Jay out a little.

No more cinder block walls!

We apparently like making holes in the sides of our house...

It was kinda fun tearing down the walls.

This was right after we got the cinder block out.

Buh-bye!

Ready to pour the slab.