Home Building Update

I can't believe a whole month has gone by--summer is flying by! On the home building front, things have been moving along without too many bumps.

All the fabulous hickory cabinetry has been installed and sealed. We chose not to stain the cabinets so the vibrant variation in colors would really stand out. I did have the cabinet makers change the side the dishwasher sits at the kitchen island. We had told our builder earlier to make the change, but somewhere along the line the communication broke down. Otherwise the cabinets went very smooth.

We designed each of the closets with the carpenter and they look great as well. My mom is thrilled with the dresser in her walk-in closet and her built-in dresser/entertainment center in her room. Of course we have to make mom happy. :)

At the beginning of the week the patio concrete was laid. The exterior color coat was applied yesterday. We chose an almost milk chocolate color. I think I may end up calling this house the chocolate house.

The painters should be finishing all the trims and doors today. Monday will begin the week long process of installing granite counters in the kitchen and baths and tile on the floors and baths. The following week the finish plumbing should be completed. We hope everything will be done in a month; we'll see.

All I know is I want out of this rental!!! The owner repaired the swamp, but there is STILL no a/c. :( That is not what I'm paying for. If you can't make repairs to a house, don't rent it out!! A couple nights ago my hubby came home from work at 3am, sat down at the computer and began to hear scampering. What was all the commotion? Only two field mice playing tag!

My mom suggested to the property manager that she could get an exterminator real cheap (i.e. cat), but they haven't taken us up on that offer. We hadn't planned on having any animals at the new house, but I think we will review that choice in light of this new experience. My hubby and I previously had two cats, one has been given to a neighbor (who have always loved him more than their own cats) and one has been given to my in-laws.

So that is all on the home building front. So far so good, but never fast enough! :)

Fireworks

Tonight we watched fireworks from the backyard of our home under construction. We also invited my hubby's brother and his family. We weren't sure if the view would be too good, but it turned out quite well. One joshua tree ate into the view so we moved to a different location in the backyard, but otherwise we had a great view. So our new home has been named the official 4th of July home for our extended family.

At this point I am SO ready to move! We returned to the rental to find that the ac was not working. My husband tried to run the evaporative cooler earlier in the day and discovered that it leaks into the house. :( We are so done with this house. During the winter months the heater would give out on occasion. The problem would be "fixed" one day and then the heater would give out yet again. Very Frustrating!!

The windows are open and the fans are running. Someone will be out tomorrow to "fix" the problem. As long as it is fixed for the next two to three months we live here, I guess I'll survive. If not, I'm booking a hotel!

Building Update

I didn't write during the beginning of June because there wasn't much activity on the home building front. We had to wait for the roof tiles to arrive for the next inspection. By the second week of June the roof tiles were on the roof and the inspection had been completed. Things started moving along quite well from there.

Insulation was installed and drywall went up. We also had a chain-link fence installed around the property. The backyard is fully fenced, but the front yard only has a temporary fence to be used until the completion of the project. We now question whether that was money well spent because the front gate is usually left open. I'm sure they will lock it when the more expensive items are installed, right?

We had the drywall inspection and have moved on to the taping and mudding of the walls. The stucco has been applied to the exterior walls and today we found our septic tank sitting in a giant hole in the front yard. My contractor anticipates having the drywall complete by Tuesday and the undercoat applied by the end of the week.

The cabinet makers are hard at work building the cabinetry for our home. We have a ton of cabinetry going into this home. We picked out and bought a kitchen sink that requires a custom cabinet so our contractor made sure to deliver the specs personally to the cabinet maker.

We have accumulated a multitude of items for the new house. Some have found their way into the already packed garage. The rest sit in the formal dining room. Home Depot had a ceiling fan sale this weekend so we bought almost all the ceiling fans we need for the home. We also have three bathroom faucets (for every room except the master), vanity lights, a pedestal sink we special ordered for the powder room, kitchen faucet bought on e-bay and kitchen sink ordered through an online vendor, and a track light system for the kitchen that was bought when we remodeled our previous home's kitchen but was never installed. Our goal is to clean out the garage so we can put the rest of the items there until they are installed (my contractor is planning on 3 to 4 weeks, perhaps less, for the lighting).

So that is how the home building front is panning out. I will try to be more dutiful in my updates so I don't have to write long posts like this one! I will try, but it is summer...

Swimming Lessons

I know, I know. I have been lapse in updating my blog. Summer has started, what can I say?

I did have to write a little bit about the swim class adventure. The first Saturday of June was swim class sign ups. Sign ups started at 9am, we arrived at 8:45am to find a monstrous line. As dutiful parents, we stood in line for nearly 3 hours before arriving to the counters to sign up for the swim classes. Thankfully the classes we wanted were not full. I then left with the kids, leaving my hubby to stand in another monstrous line to pay for the classes--poor hubby.

The first day of swim class went less than swimmingly. We had signed up both children for the Saturday "Parent & Child" swim classes. The pool was cold! I didn't even want to get in, so I can understand the dissatisfaction my son and daughter voiced in getting wet. Then the instructor said that everyone was going underwater today. My poor little girl wailed for the next 40 minutes, getting dunked several times along the way.

I did appreciate what lessons the instructor was trying to teach the older children. She would have my son get out of the water and throw him in with either my husband or I catching him after he was submerged in the water and turning him back to grab onto the side of the pool. In this way, he could learn what to do should he fall into a pool. She also wanted the younger children to learn to hold their breath when submerged. The parent would hold the child and count to three. On three both parent and child would submerge. After enough submerging, the child gets the idea--even if they don't like it much.

However, I didn't really feel that my daughter learned much from her lessons except to start crying as soon as her legs touched water. It amazes me because she loves bath time and the time spent at my in-laws in ground pool. Then again, we aren't dunking her underwater on a regular basis in either situation.

I don't think I will do another formal swim class with my daughter until she is older, but my son had fun and learned a few things as well.