Garage doors up

They have put up the garage doors and installed the light fixtures on the outside. I was up on roof the other night outside the 3 windows washing them. Hard to control all the Georgia clay being tracked in and out.

Nick added Chairrail and trim

Diningroom - it looks orange, but its really gold

Lights are going in

This is the light that hangs over the stair window going down the landing stairs from upstairs.

We are getting close. We have been working hard getting rooms painted. Still no color chosen for master bedroom. Waitng on back ordered bedspread to match that. Fireplace went in yesterday as you can see. We go over everyday now.

Have had another glitch with the front porch and the steps sinking but Lloyd has assured us that that will be fixed. The closets shelving has been installed too.

Think the thing that is taking the longest is the trim painting. That is a never ending thing.

Imagine, many a romantic fire!

Almost forgot this one.

This is the pantry and cabinet where the refrigerator will go. The cabinets turned out beautiful. Tony will be coming back out to fix them and put trim all the way to the ceiling seeing there is a gap that is useless and our builder said - fix it. Notice too the floor is in.

Wedding Last week

We were invited to a wedding that required us to dress in cowboy gear. Now us ex-Floridians had nothing of the sort. Jeans, yes but forget the rest. So here we are - we did the best we could. I don't do hats but I opted for the string so I could hang it off the back and not wear it all day long. The service was in Gaitlinburg TN in a chapel and then did dinner at a steak house. It was a nice day but we were up at 3 a.m. and on the road at 4 a.m. and bushed by 8 p.m. We had a nice time.

Permanent Stairs

They put in temporary stairs and then rip them out and put in thin ones to cover with the carpet. Nick had to straddle the edges to get to the top in order to paint the one night because all the slats were gone. That was a sight. He did it though, me, I said forget that - I stayed downstairs and hoisted the paint cans to him.

Uppers and Lowers and I am not talking Dentures

It's Back and it locks toooo!

I stopped the one day at the house only to find out the front door was back and had a dead bolt on it. Wow - what a dilema that was - but fortuntely, I was able to crawl through the downstairs window to get in so I could see what they had done for the day. We were happy to see that our front door finally came back! We are thinking it went on vacation or something of that sort. Maybe it had a makeover out in California and we will see it on TV one day.

Pumpkins

I envision it will be like laying in a pumkin patch while relaxing in the garden tub in this bathroom upstairs for our guests. It is quite bold but with a candle for ambience, it will be just right. Maybe a picture or two of Charlie Brown or Snoopy to add to the effect - maybe - maybe not. I just liked the color. Wow. Remember, I like color - I think.

Half bath off foyer.

These are more cabinets

They had not laid the floor in the kitchen so these are sitting in living room waiting to go into kitchen. Notice gold paint!

Kitchen uppers

Got to house yesterday and there were the cabinets. Uppers in kitchen were in. And yes there are colored walls. We are painting. Note the gold in the background too. Thats the diningroom you are seeing. I told you all that this girl loves color. No one will fall asleep in my house.

Guest-Mom L. Vanity in basement

The Cabinets have started to be put in

This is the master bathroom vanity.

The Target

Be not afraid. She does know what she is doing - I think

See it and weep all you marksman!

We do do other thing than just clean houses and mow lawns. Nick took me out for target practice and I hit a bullseye! This was hit with a 38 handgun - not the rifle with the scope! Nick says that's good.

Low and behold- They brought it back - well sort of

Previously on the blog we stated that we showed up one day and the front door was missing after they had put it in and took it out. Well it's back - sort of. They installed the sides AGAIN. So that must mean the rest of it is gonna come back too. I told Nick that it looks somehow smaller this time around. I feel sorry for whoever is doing it. They must be one unhappy camper with all the trouble they are having putting it up. By the way - when its all said and done - this door with be a beautiful rusty RED and it will be open to all who want to come and visit.

First ones installed - our bedroom

This one leads to master bathroom.

Behind Door Number Uno

Here they sit, ready to be installed.

Ibis White, white white

I chose Ibis White by Sherwin Williams for my wall color. And NO it won't stay that color. You who visited my home in Florida know that this girl does NOT like plain colors. The walls will be a bright hue of all different colors once we sign on the dotted line. I plan on going in with colors of golds, greens, rusts and many more once we are proud home owners. But it was gonna cost an arm and a leg to have them do it so we will be doing it ourselves. For now its, yes, WHITE.

Let the painting Begin

This was the first step to begin the paint process. They went in an blew orangepeel on the walls. Now where they get that term from who knows - must have been a Floridian.

Blanco

This is spanish for White! If I was to take pictures of the ceilings that they painted this week, you would see nothing but white. The painters are out there doing just that. The floors have been started. I went by today (Wednesday) and the floors of the bathrooms have been laid. Found out the tile I picked for the kitchen is on back order so I am having to pick another one so they can get in there and get it laid asap. I am OVER that. This will be choice number 3. I will take pics tomorrow and upload all that gets done on Monday or on Saturday if I make it to the Library. So hang in there for more to come.

Update on Our Lives

We are both working full time. I am now working at MACA (Mountain Area Christian Academy). We are officially back in session. It's going well. I am getting to know all the teachers and staff. I am office manager. It is a challenge but I am using all the skills I have been trained on over the last 5 years at OCS so it's nothing new. We have over 180 students. It is a 30 minute drive for me each way but they are building a new building that will be 4 miles from our new home at Knox Leila.

Nick, he is still at Mountain Building Supply. He is doing some mowing jobs on the side and we are cleaning new construction homes as well to earn extra money.

We go out on the Harley every weekend and see the sights. We went to TN this past weekend and traveled along the Ocoee waterway. It was breathtaking. It is going to be awesome in the fall. Nick was a little tense on those winding roads and hairpin turns. I was glad I was NOT driving. We wore our chaps for the first time as the temps got a little lower and I was able to tighten the knotches in 3 extra since March when I wore them last. That was exciting for me, means I've lost that much more weight. YEAH.

Family room

This again is more drywall. This is combo family room and kitchen. Leads out to back deck. We went this weekend and purchased ceiling fans for all the rooms. Nick said he didn't like that part of building a home. Too much decision making. We still have to pick all the rest of the light fixtures. That should be LOTS of fun.

A Brief update

This is a view of the garage being drywalled. When I uploaded this picture I had to sit and ponder as to what room this was. Allllll dry wall looks alike. This was a bonus. We were NOT suppose to have this drywalled. Builder made a mistake and did it, at no cost to us. Nick was thrilled with that, one less thing he has to do later.

SHUTTERS

Shutters went up on Friday or maybe Thursday of last week. Found out the front door was hung wrong so they are having to redo it and it will be put back on Monday. We have an official address too! 260 Knox Leila ___, Blairsville, GA 30512. But we don't know if it's Drive or Road or Ridge. So Nick has to go to the Post Office on Monday and find out.

Nick insisted I get in pic with the workers!

On our way to Atlanta Saturday to go see Sarah and the girls, we stopped to get pictures and they were working on the drywall. Nick insisted I get in the picture with the workers. We are standing in what will be the kitchen with them. We weren't sure they would want their pictures taken. They are quite messy when they do the work but fast at what they do. We were amazed at how much they accomplished in such a short amount of time.

Look closely at this picture at top

I noticed before the dry wall went up that someone had a sense of humor. I told Nick I had to get a picture of this one. For all you people who shop at Walmart or love to SMILE - take note. See if you can see what I was taking a picture of.

Secar Muro!

Secar Muro! Spanish for dry wall! That's what we have! Now think about it. Why do they call it dry wall? Is there such a thing as wet wall? And what would that make a house look like? This view is standing in the living room shooting into the diningroom. We have a tray ceiling in the diningroom.

Spanish lesson for the Week

Ok, Some other exciting news, All of the insulation is in. We were happy to see that. The dry wall has been delivered and is sitting in each room waiting to be hung. That was a much welcomed sight.

I learned a new spanish word last week. Azul bayas! (Blueberries) I went with our friend Diane and picked them fresh off the bush. AND only got a few Chigger bites this time. It was raining when we did it and it was grand.

In Florida, ha, that doesn't happen (picking blueberries that is). Rain yes, blueberries NO. We will freeze them for all you friends and families that will be visiting us and we will serve them on the belgian waffles for breakfast. Yes, I will cook them - have to buy the waffle maker yet though.

Coming to the front

This is actually further along. They took the front door off for some unknown reason when we showed up this week. Not too sure why.

This is outside mom's room at basement level

The siding is coming along

These are actually behind pictures. I kept missing the library opportunities. Then the bathrooms were out of commission at the library so they had to shut it down and that put me behind.

Today at work, the girl I work with told me about coming to North Georgia Tech and using their library which is right on the way home. WOW and I don't have to have the librarian yell at me! This might be a cool thing.

Nick used to do this kinda work at one time, he was trying it out for old time sake.

Rowie & Granny on Porch

A visit with Harvey & Rosa

We had dinner with Harvey and Rosa, the people that lived in our culdesac in Florida. They are the couple responsible for getting us up here to Blairsville. Harvey's mom and dad have a cabin in Blairsville and they were up on vacation and they asked us to come for Sunday dinner. We had Rhubarb and Peach pie. Harvey loves to cook and he is a good one. So much for watching our trim waist lines. Sarah said we blew our Weight Watcher points right out of the water that day.

A Thirsty little Rowan

This was hysterical. There was water on this dirty table on the porch. Rowan LOVES water. She walked out in her pj's and proceeded to lick the water off the table. What a Kodak moment. She is such a sweet little thing to watch. Always into something!

Our newest motorcycle rider

Emily was like a pro, getting up on that cycle after she would get her gear on ready to ride with her grampa. She loved it. Her legs are so short, she proped the up on the saddle bags. She told her granny though that at one point she didn't hold on and granny told her that that was NOT what a gramma wanted to hear.

And she loves her Granny

She was beaming!

Emily and Grampa

Emily loves her grampa!

Peek-a-boo

Rowan -ChiiiKKKK!

This is the word Rowan says. She is the sweetest thing. Sarah and I hoisted this antique baby buggy up onto a pile of chairs to make room for Sis and Emily to sleep in the spare room and make room for Rowan's portacrib and that baby cried because we put that stroller out of reach.

The next day we took pictures of her getting in and out of it. CONSTANTLY!

IT WAS AWESOME

Emily came upstairs from riding the motorcycle with her grampa and exclaimed - IT WAS AWESOME! Her hair looked like a cyclone hit it. She had pulled her helmet off and stood there with the best look on her face. It was priceless!

OUR VISIT WITH SARAH AND EMILY & ROWAN

Sarah, Emily and Rowan arrive last Friday. I drove to Atlanta to get them. We came back Friday night. Sarah has a great camera so we have been able to capture some wonderful Kodak moments with her and the girls.

We went to the Georgia Mountain Fair on Saturday with them and my twin sister Barbie and her family as well as my sister Melissa's two girls Madison and Maris who were in GA. We had a great time seeing all of them and seeing the sights and eating fair food.

Emily has been taking daily rides on the motorcycle with her Grampa. She is loving it. Puts on her very own leather vest, borrows my helmet and gloves and off they go. She was put in time out last night for not obeying and begged her mother to get out so she could get "dressed to go on her ride" with Gramps. She knows the drill and LOVES her grampa. She even gets to use the intercom system with grampa and they talk while riding. They saw dear and turtles while traveling the other night.

She is a grown up 6 year old to say the least.

LA CASA ES GRANDE

New spanish words for today, La Casa es grande. Thats what the sub contractor said (he did say it in English) when I went out to the house yesterday to take pictures. He said the house is big! I think I would have to agree although I started out with plans that were only 1795 sq ft. and ended up with 2700 sq. ft which includes the finished basement. How in the world did I do that? Now I will have to vacuum more rooms. Yes, can you tell I hate cleaning!

As you can see, the siding is going up and up and up. It's tooo cool to watch. I had to walk down the hill of clay to get a good shot. It's exciting but it will take them into next week to finish the siding, it's ALOT of house. LA CASA ES GRANDE!

LA CASA

OK, I am learning Spanish. Nick says I have too many irons in the fire. But I decided to learn Spanish because if you are bilingual, you can make more money at jobs around here. So I looked up in my book "Spanish for Dummies" for house and the phrase for the day is - the builder says La CASA should be ready by October 10th! Not great news but news.

We went out to the house last night (Monday) and they have begun putting the siding up! I am going out tonight with Nick and we will be taking pictures and posting tomorrow. It was exciting to see it happening.

Exciting Find

No pictures to post today but wanted to let you know that when we went out to the house on Friday last week, low and behold sitting in the garage we found boxes of siding and soffiting! We were discouraged last week because it didn't seem like alot of progress had been made throughout the week. I had been in tears that day, discouraged because, living out of the boxes and suitcases is getting old and it put a SMILE on my face to see, yes BOXES - goooood ones with siding in them.

We have good weather today and we are hoping they are out there working on putting that siding up. We will no doubt take the motorcyle out there and check it out after he gets off work. I will post pictures if they later this week. Lets hope for the best.

We have been driving around subdivisions looking at lights. Didn't realize picking light fixtures would be such a monumental task either. Shoot, this will be the last house we build! I would rather be home eating chocolate. By the way, I cleaned and froze peaches last night. Am I becoming domestic or what?

One more thing to add - WE NEED COCKROACHES! I got bit by a spider in bed the other night - no lie 25 bites on my torso where he or she marched up and down and punched a hole in me 25 times. In Florida, we didn't have these! What is up with that? They did not touch Nick. Must be my blood.

The Front Door is in!

It's amazing how you can go away for a day, come back and you have a front door! We took Eddie over to the house (that's my sister's dog - we are dog sitting) to sniff around. He actually enjoyed the view from ALL the windows!