Tomorrow can bite me.

We did not close on the house today.

On Monday last week, they told me the painters were coming tomorrow. On Tuesday, they said they were coming tomorrow. On Wednesday, they told me they were coming tomorrow. On Thursday, we were temporarily distracted by the flurry of activity, so we forgot to ask when the painters were coming. Friday, no one was there to ask when the painters were coming. On Monday this week, they told me the painters were coming tomorrow. Yesterday they said that because they weren't quite done with all the things they needed to do that the painters needed to paint, they were coming tomorrow. Today was the day we were supposed to close, but before we did, we went out to see if they painters had come.

Chris called to talk to me about what he wanted to do with the front door surround so that it would better match the cedar posts. He made it sound like he was out at our house getting ready to rip down some cedar and finish trimming out the door. I said, "That sounds great! Will you be able to do the shutters today, since the painters are coming?" He said..

"Weeellll, eye gotta go down ta Midilothian today. Eye got this geye whose got this staircase that eye gotta work own. But I might be able ta get back this evnin. It's gonna take me about an hour for each shutter, so that'll be about two hours. But if I don't get back tonight I'll do it tomorrow."

Then when we got out to the house, not a soul was out there. My garage doors were up, like somebody had been there.

So we went to the bank and told the builder we thought he could have his money, tomorrow.

Actually we did a fifteen day extension, because the house probably still won't be done tomorrow!

Annie you are cordially invited for peanut butter and Big Brother, below are the dates for Trade Days where we can also have Taylor's Homemade Ice Cream, Funnel Cake and Fried Oreos. (Actually, I think fried oreos sounds nasty, but hey, who am I to say?)

September Market August 28, 2008 through August 31, 2008
If my house is done.

October Market October 2, 2008 through October 5, 2008
If my house is not done, I will be toilet papering somebody's house.

November Market October 30, 2008 through November 2, 2008
Reserved by my In-Laws, If my house is not done, my family and I will be forming an angry mob and burning down somebody's house.

December Market November 27, 2008 through November 30, 2008
If my house is not done, I will take down the tent city that I've formed in the driveway and move in.

Where's My Orange Moving VAN!!?

Well the appraiser came on Thursday and we're "mechanically" done. We passed as far as the bank is concerned and we're online to close on Wednesday next week.

Tuesday and Wednesday the house was full of workers, they were kicking A and taking names.

On Friday....crickets chirping. What a surprise, eh?




Charlie and I came up with our own punch list of things that need to be done. We're at about number forty-one. (There are six things just in these pictures) Not including the landscaping, because it's probably too hot to try to grow grass anyway. Now that we are ready to close and start paying for this puppy, I'm getting nervous and Charlie wants to go buy a new sectional for the bonus room. Easy for the guy who has a job to say. Not so easy for the girl who has to stay home and eat peanut butter and beans. But since my philosophy is that Charlie's always right, we'll probably end up with a new sectional. If only my philosophy were, Charlie and I agree on all decorating decisions. I'm confident we'll find a compromise, but he started with a sectional that looked like seven recliners lined up in a row. Uh, honey, I've already got seven recliners, all you have to do, is line em up in a row!

We also didn't agree on when the truck should come. We're going on a mini-vacation and he wanted to have our stuff delivered before we go and I want it delivered after we get back. I know, shocking isn't it. But once that truck full of stuff comes, I'm not going to want to leave for a while.

This has been just like having a baby. It's taken nine months and I've gained 30 pounds. The beauty part is I can sell this baby when it gets old enough to talk back.

Losing Steam and My Enthusiasim is Curbed

It is going agonizingly slow in the "building" department. I guess technically we're done building and are now finishing out. One. Frickin'. Thing. At. A. Time. Oh, it looks like lot's of pictures, but if I was taking pictures of the things that still need to be done, it would take me a day and a half. (Man, these pictures take forever to load.)

That's right. I'm bitchy. You noticed. Get in line.



Last week the electricians were here. They installed our lighting fixtures. Except for the nine that didn't show up in the shipment. And the two I bought at first Monday. And the two sconces in my bedroom. And the fixture in the powder room. Which really isn't their fault because they don't know where to hang it yet. Because the pedestal sink wasn't in. And because the sink isn't in, we don't know where to hang the mirror. Can't finish the baseboards in the family room because the mantel isn't in, because


the tile in front of the fireplace hasn't been laid. Tile in the master is not done where they had to finish pouring concrete where they had to move the drainline for the tub. Light over the kitchen sink isn't installed because they had the hole in the wrong spot. They made another hole where it was supposed to go and the sheetrock guys covered them both. (Which is what the electrician wanted him to do.) Then for some unknown reason, knocked another hole through where he thought it was supposed to go. It was in a good

spot, but it was too big. So then we had to wait a couple more days for them to come back and fill it in again. They were supposed to move the plumbing for the pedestal sink over about four inches, because it was too close to the shower. When the plumbers got there, they told me they couldn't do that. That should have been done before the walls were in. (Ya think?) Too bad, so sad, I need to you to move it buddy. (Of course I said "Oh.")

They made an attempt to move it over by torquing the PVC over, but I think the only person who's going to be able to get through the shower door is Flat Stanley.

We have a garage full of trash and appliances. We missed one of the holes in the concrete in the family room. Charlie will be fixing that one on his own, because I'm off to Ft. Worth to pick up my Mom at my Aunt's house. Won't I be good company? The odds are good we're going to Joe T. Garcia's where the odds are equally

good that I'll be having a frozen adult beverage.

Bah, humbug.

I Heart You Wipeout

How can a person get so much enjoyment out of watching people fall down? My cheeks hurt from laughing and I've only been watching for forty minutes, I've still got 20 minutes to go. It's not only watching people fall, but also the sophmoric commentary that accompanies people falling off huge red balls. I also squee with joy as I watch people get there legs kicked out from under them on the sweeper, because they usually rebound face first before they fall into the water. I know it's wrong to laugh at people's misery, but in my defense, I think the dreadmill is evil. Right know, this is my favorite hour of television - bar none.

He Got a Flap Top

Isn't he SO CUTE! He'll be barber shop fodder for weeks. The barber said "Well, I've never done a flap top before, but I'll see what I can do." All the old guys agreed he was the most serious four year old getting a haircut that they had ever seen. He'll be five in August and I'm still debating myself as to whether or not to put him in Kindergarten.

(NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

When we went to the birthday party last weekend, My brother's wife's sister's daughter had gotten two parakeet's for her birthday. Guess what Ace wants for his birthday?

Charlie says "NO." "NO BIRDS." "SAY IT WITH ME, NO BIRDS." "I'M TOTALLY SERIOUS." "LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND SAY 'NO BIRDS'." "SAY IT!!"

COULD YOU SAY NO TO THIS FACE?

Just Call Me Gladys Cravitz

On Saturday, we got ready to go to Maypearl. Where we were going to my brother's in-laws for a birthday party and waterslides. I packed towels and extra clothes and sunscreen, that's when I started looking for the camera and of course, couldn't find it. I finally gave up the hunt and figured that I would continue hunting when we got home. I misplace a lot of things, but I usually come across it in a day or two, so I wasn't too concerned. When it didn't show up on Sunday, I started retracing my steps to the last time I remembered having it. I take it out to the house every day and it usually is hanging on my wrist. That would have meant Thursday evening when I took some pics of the countertops. Long story short (or shorter) by the time I had gone over both cars, the dog house and the Sunset house, I decided someone had to have stolen it out of one of the cars when they were parked in front of the doghouse. But I knew if I said it out loud, it would show up.

I found it today out at the Sunset House on one of the new countertops. It was not there yesterday, which means someone has been keeping it safe for me.

So NOW my addiction to taking and uploading loads of badly taken photos can continue!

I've had some time to look around and have discovered to my delight, that I have views of everything that goes on in my neighborhood. This is a view out my laundry room window.

This is my view out my kitchen window.

This is my view from the kitchen, straight down the hallway. I can see all the way down and see what everybody is up too.



Also a view of the bar!









Kitchen Island.








Corner Sink







This is the cultured marble. First the powder room shower. (It was a powder room before we added the shower.)












My laundry room counter and sink. This is the only place I had the cabinets painted rather than stained. My Mom likes these best. I however am tired of cleaning off red food stuffs off my white cabinets. Yes, I understand the food stuff needs to be cleaned off regardless.




The kids bathroom.

(There's still plastic on top of the counters)

Here's to you Mr. Johnson

It's official...



SOMEONE HAS STOLEN MY CAMERA!



Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I can get on to finding the darn thing. I can't show ya'll any of the updates! We had electricians there today. It was very anti-climactic, there were the two ceiling fans on the porch, one in the masterbedroom, a light in the utility room, the two over the kids sinks, and the entry way. That's IT! of course there were four outlets in every bedroom, light switches, and all kinds of electricky things. One thing about building your own house, you have the opportunity to appreciate every single tiny thing that goes into it. And it's ALOT!



In the meantime, I'm thinking about having Ace evaluated for Kindergarten. Thursday we were outside filling up the pool and Ace turned to Melee' and said "I'm assuming you'll be getting in the pool with us." And Melee' looked at me and busted out laughing and said "Did he just say ASSUMING?" So yesterday I was trying to repeat the story to Charlie, but I couldn't remember what word he had said. So I called him in and we were trying to remember it and I said, "Was it assuming?" and he said "You ARE CORRECT and I'm Harold Johnson!"



Ya'll I laughed for 30 minutes.



We can just skip right on up to first or second grade right?

Happpy Fourth!

Hope everybody is having a Happy Fourth of July and three day weekend! We went to the big fireworks show here in town last night. It's sad to say that our old neighborhood show outdid what the city did, but we're in the country now. We drove out to someone's recently mowed pasture and lined up with hundreds of other cars. I'm not a fan of fireworks, but I try to take my medicine for the sake of the pyromaniacs in my family. The kids got the folding chairs and parked them in front of the car and we spent the better part of an hour trying to keep Melee' and John from playing on a giant haybale.

A couple of other kids were climbing around on it and by the time it was over with it looked like I was watching an episode of Wipeout.

(Which by the way is my favorite new game show.) So we waited impatiently for the festivities to begin. When they finally started, Ace and I curled up in my chair and covered our ears. It was about three giant explosions into the show when he said, "The fireworks are falling on me!"
and sure enough, he was right. So here we sit, in the middle of a field FULL of halfdead and dry hay, blocked in from every angle by hundreds of cars, and firework debris is falling on us and around us, with no route for escape. Mommy was not a happy camper. Charlie says, "Oh, don't worry honey, that's what the firetrucks are here for." Thanks Hon, that calms my fears! Anyway, it was all over in about seven minutes, and nothing caught on fire. We went to the fireworks stand and bought a measly $30 worth of artillary and went and shot them off at the new house. (Afterall, we live outside the city limits.) Thankfully the other children in the neighborhood were shooting off ordinance and we have a giant dirt yard. Perfect for exploding thing on. We had so few and tame items this year, that I actually stood outside and watched. When it was all said and done, Ace went home crying because he didn't get to"'shoot" anything, sparklers and smoke bombs didn't do it for him. I've lost the last one to the darkside.

The BEST part of the day was that it was First Monday Weedend and we got up at six o'clock and went SHOPPING! I got four barstools, a "closet" for Ace, and some cool old hardware that I'm going to use for the pocket doors. We took them out to the house and admired the new COUNTERTOPS!!! Yes the COUNTERTOPS are in! And the powderoom shower is done and MAN does it all look SWELL! I'm going to compile some new pictures and give ya'll a peek on Sunday. We are getting down to the finish line. Fred says he needs two good weeks to get it finished. I have the electrician coming Monday, they set my airconditioners Friday (along with my countertops), I've got tile guys coming back next week for my backsplash and to finish my tub, and put down some tile at the front of the fireplace. I've got a mantle in the works, the tape and bed guys are coming next week to finish the fireplace surround and I have to go around with a roll of blue painters tape and mark everyplace in the house that needs texture touchup. They're coming to put in the septic system and to bury the propane tank. Then final grade on the front and backyard, and landscaping. Plumber has to finish out the toilets and fixtures, carpet, and some final paint touch-ups. And the list of things I have to check on is getting longer and longer!

Today we're headed to Maypearl to go to a birthday party and visit with my side of the family. It's a two hour drive so I've got to go find the dramamine. See ya'll LATER!

Man, are we bored....

Here at the house of chaos, we are quite familiar with toilets being stopped up. So when we had a malfunction in the master yesterday, I didn't think too much of it. And thankfully, I am not normally the person who works the plunger. But when Charlie got home yesterday and had no luck unstopping the facilities...we weren't sure what was going on. Today, I got my answer. When the Littles wandered into the master I yelled "Ya'll don't use my bathroom, the toilet's stopped up!" Peach said "Oh! Ace flushed a block down there yesterday."

Of course he did. A giant plastic leggo block. Ideas anyone? And please don't say, call the plumber.

Here are the pictures of the flatwork that I forgot to post. See my curvy, sexy sidewalk? It ends with a big, backwards, "What UP?" question mark.

Always in the middle of things.

The extra 15 feet of sidewalk we negotiated, last minute.

Pa-DOW!

(Insert wolf whistle)

Nice gutters eh?

Today? Still watching paint dry...