Happy Birthday to Me!

Carpet was installed 4/13 as scheduled and we started baseboards the same day. I moved in on 4/15/07, 2 days before my Bday! Happy Birthday to ME! Yea! Other than finishing baseboards and handrails for the stairs, we're done... It's kind of hard to believe, that we're done. I've been unpacking and cleaning and realizing that I need to do some decorating, guess that's going to have to wait until I win the lottery or something because building this house broke me!

It's beautiful even without being decorated, the breeze is awesome as I sit on the porch and to think... my dad and I built this house.... what an accomplishment. I think a nice road trip to the beach is in order!

I Have a Move in Date!

Ok, This may seem a bit repetitive, but seriously folks... this time I'm almost done! I can laugh now, looking back at how many times I said that... how many times I thought I had "a month to go". Silly me!

I spent Easter Weekend by myself and it was awesome! My daughter was with her father and my parents had escaped to South Carolina. For the first time since January, I had the house to myself. Well to myself and the 2 dogs, 2 cats & 2 horses that I fed and entertained in my parent's absence.

I got quite a bit done at the "Work House". Installed ceramic tiles on all my window sills, put the final coat of polyeurothane on my Red Oak Stairwell treads, installed the mirrors, towel racks and toilet paper holders in the bathrooms and did a MAJOR clean-up. My carpet for the loft is being installed this Friday and I'm hoping to finish the baseboards this weekend. I've already told my dad - once the carpet is in, I'm moving in! So, getting the baseboards in this weekend would be good... then I will begin moving in after the weekend.

I have very little to finish: handrail for the interior and porch stairwell, loft carpet, baseboards and closet systems... that's it. Then I have to sod 3 feet from foundation and I can get my Certificate of Occupancy..... I am so glad this is almost over, I really need my weekends back!

Primer and Paint... Repeat!

OMG - If I never have to paint another porch railing it would be too soon! The porch is finished and it is incredibly beautiful and I can't wait to sit outside while the wind blows and just enjoy the beauty of my 3 acres and the woods around me......

Now that you have that peaceful thought in your mind, let's bring you back to primering and painting that porch! The entire porch system is pressure treated wood - all except the new composite type planks that are supposed to last forever, never warp and never need painting. I love them, they are awesome. The pressure treated wood needed painting though, and there was a LOT of it. The "base" of the porch, posts that are part of the porch roof structure and all the crazy railings, which I give major kudos to my dad for making them from scratch - my dad is AWESOME! I had to primer them with the nasty oil base primer and then paint them - it was a long process but I got it done and it looks fantastic!

I bought some post top lights for my porch entry area and then some clamshell type lights for lighting the porch area, as well as the walkway to the porch - writing about it just doesn't do it justice and I am hoping I will be able to link my pics to these blogs so you all can see just how beautiful it turned out.

Baby Steps...

There is a flu epidemic in Tally - I was the first to be flattened by the beast... I couldn’t work, shoot I could barely walk from my bed to the couch for 4 days all while toting a 102 fever. It's been 2 weeks and I am finally feeling like I am back in the world of the living - Baby Steps. My dad, mom, daughter, ex-husband and several co-workers have all been stricken with it as well. I have been working on my own at my house for the past week, trying to stay away from those sick folks and not having my dad well enough to work. I've gotten a lot done though - or at least it feels like it. After recessing the nails in the door trim, I puttied, sanded and painted those as well as painting the doors. The stair treads are completely installed and after recessing those nails, they have been puttied - sanding will happen this week (sometime) and polyeurothane will be applied. I cleaned up the house in preparation of the next big job. I hired a tile guy to tile the walls in my master bath and my stand up shower (which is tiled all over - roof too) he did that yesterday and let me tell you - it looks FANTASTIC! Ok, so it doesnt seem like I've done a lot, but we're really starting to narrow it down - Baby Steps. Sometime this week, I go buy a shitload of stuff to finish the bathrooms (sinks, sink cabinets, drain and connection fittings, etc.), I'll order my tile to do my window sills and then I have (2) more doors to install as well as baseboards but it's coming along - Baby Steps........

I Love My Friends

I start this blog knowing that my dear friend Richard will kill me when he reads this. I've known Richard since 2nd grade and oddly enough I don't think he has a bit of dirt on me ha ha ha However, the same cannot be said for him. Richard has been nice enough to help me several times over the past couple years... he helped me tile at my townhouse, install some insulation at this construction house, move my heavy stuff to my parents, and he even helped me change my mountain bike tires from slicks back to knobby tires just so we could hit the trails! Most recently he helped me putty the nail holes in my door trim and is supposed to come back and paint. I say supposed to because last night while we were hard at work puttying, he decided it was time to take a "break". Being the good contractor girl that I am - of course I have working facilities at the construction house. After being gone for a few minutes, I hear what sounds like talking - keep in mind, we're the only ones there. I just think he's down there talking to himself again and go back to work. All of a sudden, up he comes with this look on his face like someone stole his bike or something... dare I ask??? "You're never going to guess what I just did", he says. Ok, so I have to ask "What's that?" At this point, I can see the beads of perspiration beginning to accumulate on his forehead... "I flushed my keys down your toilet!" After about five minutes of laughing and coughing (mind you, I'm still sick) uncontrollably, we venture to the basement to see if they can be retreived from the errr uhm, plumbing. After struggling to get the toilet off and then back on, covered in toilet water - and not the perfume kind - we come to the conclusion that 1. I have some serious drain suction and 2. Richard's keys are in my septic tankIt's all good, we get cleaned up, I take Richard to his office where his spare keys are and now I have one more thing I can laugh at... I mean with, with Richard about! What are friends for!

Back From the Dead

Since my last writing, we've managed to get a few things accomplished. The porch is 90% complete. My dad fabricated and installed the railings - they look fabulous! The only thing left is a small section of porch that was already built - we have to tear off the wood and replace it with the composite planks and then build and install the railings... it's a small area, so it shouldn't take that long. We completed installation of the oak stair treads - so the next chore is the handrail (UGH). We installed all the toilets and the kitchen sink fixtures, as well as final installation of the dishwasher and stove. The Corian dudes came and fixed my counter-tops - they look good. I happened to fall deathly ill on Thursday 2/22/07 and had a 102 fever through Sunday. I was able to drag my butt to work on the house for 4hrs on Sunday and then slept for 7! I'm slowly coming back from the dead, but now my dad has it. So it looks as though I'll be working solo for awhile.

What was That!?

No great acheivements, but the porch roof is 100% done and the remainder of the porch base is done, now all we have to do is the rest of the composite planks and the porch is DONE. This past weekend was spent building the steps for the porch (they look great!) and cleaning the yard, which included a HUGE fire ha ha!

I was in charge of the fire.... yea, fools ha ha ha! So, here is this huge pile of construction debri which included a LOT of cardboard from my siding installation and here is me climbing to the top of it to light it... I'm crouched at the top of the pile with my little lighter trying to light the corner of a cardboard box.... I'm thinking... "this is going to take a while to get going, so maybe I'll light a few corners of boxes to help it along". I get the one corner lit and try to manueaver to the other side of the pile, trying not to fall through -when all of a sudden a flame the size of Florida erupts and I nearly fall off the pile. Ok, it wasn't the size of Florida, but when it was huge, hot and close to my ponytail... I wasn't thinking about anything other than getting off that pile. Staring at my fiery acheivment I realize I hadnt called my burn permit in - yikes - so I get on the phone with Dept of Forestry only to remember I dont have pertinent information that is needed to process my permit. Since I'm supposed to have this called in BEFORE I start the fire, I'm on the phone with them trying to get the info... throwing more wood on the fire - it's called multi-tasking - when all of a sudden an explosion erupts from the pile... WTF WAS THAT! After I get up off the ground and masking my laughter, I'm hoping the dude is too busy digging up my info to pay attention to the blast. Finally, he gets me my number and I'm off the phone -phwew! That was close.... I look over at my dad who is laughing his ass off - he thinks its funny to throw paint cans in the fire when I'm not looking.... I'm reminded daily how much my dad and I are alike.... I worked my butt off cleaning up the yard of all debri and it looks much better now. Took apart the scaffolding, grouted the final bathroom floor and organized all our tools for the next "big job".Corian dudes came back out today because they didnt do my countertops right but they say they can fix them. I've got to go buy my bathroom cabinets, counter tops, sinks and faucets because they are next to go in. Still working on the stair treads - those have been a chore. Dad's been busting his butt on the porch railings... he is cutting out the slats from bigger peices and he's got a good bit of them done... I'm guessing that's what we'll be working on this weekend, as well as getting those toilets in that we didnt get to last weekend. We'll also have to get to the baseboards. There is a lot left to do, but its close and we're working hard.....

Working

It's been interesting at the parents... Ive been there a week and I'm ready to rent a hotel room ha ha ha! It's all me, I know.. I'm just such a solitary soul that it is tough going from a 2 person household to a 4 person household.. not to mention the other 2 are your parents ha ha ha! All is good and at least I'm working....
This weekend my father and I finished installing the interior doors, the drip edge around the porch roof and started shingling the roof. Dad worked on the shingles again Monday. Tuesday was spent finalizing cabinet spacers because the Corian installers are out at the house right now installing my kitchen countertops - yippie! This weekend we'll hopefully get the toilets, sinks & cabinets and all plumbing fixtures in at least two of the bathrooms... yes, we're working... moving right along.
It seems as though my blogs follow my moods - this one and the last couple have been boring and seemingly uneventful. I'm sad, can you tell? No biggie - just sad... this too shall pass.PEACE OUT!

Holding Pattern

I'm kind of in a holding pattern - I figure it's better to say that then to admit everything has come to a dead STOP ha ha! I havent done any work at the house other than move my crap over there. Started moving 1/26 and finished 1/28. Now I am living with the parents temporarily until the house is finished. Never got to grout on 1/29 - I was way too tired from moving. Thankfully, my friend Richard helped me move the big stuff - thanks Bud! My goal is to try to grout tonight. The siding guys are done and it looks soooooo good! I will post more pics soon, when I take them. All this rain has made it crazy up there - MUD MUD and more MUD! Counter top dudes came in on Monday and my Corian should be installed next week - yippie! I'm still trying to pick out the tile for the master bath walls around the jacuzzi tub/shower - I think I might have found which ones I want - we'll see.
Since I dont have internet at home anymore - I can only do this at work, so I'm ending this for now... hopefully the next time I write, I will have gotten some things Done.
PEACE OUT!

Glutton for Punishment

Ok, so it's been almost 20 days since my last writing and I have done very little to the house. It's not that I'm not working... I started back to school at night Jan 9th - Archaeology - it's interesting. I finally rented the townhouse I've been living in, so I have been packing trying to get everything out of there by this Sunday (Jan 28th). I must be a glutton for punishment because even though I rented my townhouse, my new house is not done... so what does that mean for me? Well if you've ever undertaken a chore that takes up every weekend and every single day off you could even think of - not to mention a lot of nights after working a full day at your regular job - you will know what an impact that can have on your social life. Literally - I have NO social life. Yea, and if a year of no social life is bad enough... I'm moving in with my parents until my house is done - ha ha ha, yes... I truly am testing my limits! Actually, my parents are great and I'm not dreading it too much... plus, It will make me work much harder to get it done!
Quick update: bought the grout for the bathrooms - will grout Jan 29th, finished installing all the planks on the front part of the porch - it looks fabulous! I went with the composite planks - you know, the plastic & saw dust extruded stuff... nice stuff! Finished a lot of misc. framing and woodwork that needed to be done before the siding guys could start. Siding guys are working and they should be finished this week, finally finished the kitchen cabinets (had to re-order 3 times becuz of Home Depot's mistakes) and the counter top buys are coming on Monday.Thats about it - next time you hear from me, I'll be living with the parents - but heck, at least I wont be paying (2) mortgages anymore... a year of that nearly killed me! Gotta Jet - PEACE OUT!

Woo Hoo New Year's Eve, Let's.... Lay Tile!

Ok, so laying tile isn’t what most people had in mind for the New Year's weekend, but with all the rain, what else was there to do? Believe me, I'm sure I could have found at least 10 other things to do that would have been much more fun than laying tile but, the tile can't lay itself! I worked Saturday morning (12/30/06) with my dad, finishing the odds and ends of the porch roof and cleaning up a bit then Saturday night the real work started. 8:30pm-2:30am was spent installing all the whole tiles in all (3) bathrooms and marking the tiles for the (2) smaller baths for cuts. When I woke up Sunday (1:30pm) I headed to Lowes to have the tiles cut (I dont really like those cutters). Come to find out, their saw was broken and had been for 2 weeks. I ended up at Home Depot renting a tile cutter. This thing was HUGE - I've got a pic of it in my pics. It ended up being the best thing though. Went to work at 9pm New Year's eve and worked until 4:30am New Year's Day - got all the tiles cut and laid for all (3) bathrooms. Now I just have to pic out my grout color. I'll grout all (3) in one night, it's not that hard. Tiling is not that hard and I like to do it at night - dont ask why because I dont know... I just know I like tiling at night!

The house is within a month of being done. All that is left is: grout floor tile, install wall tile in shower and bath surround, install toilets, bathroom cabinets, sinks and shower hardware, install baseboards throughout house, install interior doors, finish installing oak treads and trim on stairwell (we're working on this now), install carpet in upstairs bedroom, install final cabinet when it comes in and have Corian folks install counter tops, finish porch then move my crap in! Not a lot, but it seems like FOREVER.
Oh yea, and I started back to school today... school, regular work, building this house, being a mother... yea I can do it all! Gotta jet PEACE OUT!