Phew - Finally!

We'll close at 2 p.m. central on Thursday. That is cutting it close! We'll sleep here for the first time that night and then up at 4 a.m. to go on our trip! Maybe I'll at least get to take a bath!

Ok, back to packing!

p.s. Yes, Debbie! You and Izzie are welcome anytime! Maybe mid-late July????

p.s.s. Elle, if you're reading, I don't know if we'll have an opportunity to meet up - the time is going to be super tight! I'll try and e-mail you.

Some pictures - Yay!

Dining Room part of kitchen, just waiting for us to come eat there!

D's room, moving in.

D's bathroom finished with accessories.

Here is the garage door, we're still waiting on the "carriage door" accessories. This picture was taken before we laid the Saint Augustine sod. Big job! Hot - Texas - 95*!

We're about 90% moved in and HOPE to close by Wednesday, still no confirmation. We leave Friday morning at 6 a.m. to go to Alaska! This is stress, let me tell you! I need to pack for the three of us to be gone for 8 days and our lives are topsy turvy. I don't even KNOW where the big suitcase is!

Calgon, take me away! Oh wait, I can't take a bath here until we close!!! Aaaaghhh!

Still not in!

No, we're still not moved in - really. We've got about 80% of our "stuff" moved over, but we're not allowed to live here yet until we've closed. We're having all kinds of aggravations paperwork wise. It's all going to work out, but getting all the people to work together in a timely manner is maddening! Kind of like adoption, right??

You'd think we'd be good at maddeningly slow paperwork and waiting, huh?

So, the telephone was switched over last Friday as well as the DSL (yay!), but then our old computer wouldn't work with the new DSL/wireless modem so finally hubby brought his laptop over on Tuesday night and got it going. It's been crazy in my world the last couple of weeks!

The house was "finished" on Friday the 30th and the cleaners came and cleaned it all up. But there was still a list of little details and so the painters, plumbers, carpenters and electricians dirty the floors all up again. Actually a plumber is here working right now to finish up the water line to the ice maker.

I'll try getting some pictures up soon. I haven't had any computer time with all the moving and laying sod we've been doing. As well as swimming lessons for D and her final dance rehearsals before recital. We had her recital this past Sunday so all that is behind us as well.

I'm ready to just finally get moved in here and take a nice long soak in my big tub and hibernate for the rest of the summer!

I'm sorry I've left you all hanging with no info. It's been beyond hectic. But I'm soooooo glad to have fast internet again! Yay!!

An Exciting Day (house-wise) !!!!!

YES! The Kitchen appliances were delivered this morning!! I am so ecstatic over this! I hugged the fridge! It's the oven that I am going to kiss - once they remove the wrappings! I can't wait to get my hands on it!! Now all I'm waiting for is the dryer vent to be installed so my new washer and dryer can be delivered and then I'll truly be in appliance heaven!

The pile on the left is the cooktop, with the dishwasher underneath and the microwave/vent hood in front. To the right of the island, the big box is my ovens!!!

More to come! I'll have to go take more pictures this evening after the workers leave. Hint, hint - the plumber came today!!

Wow, I've not posted in a while!

Life has been really hectic. I've got lots of pictures to upload of house progress, but there has been no internet access. I'm at the library right now, that's how desperate it has become! Hubby's new offices are having terrible internet problems since they moved and networked on a new system. Plus he's on vacation this week so we've not been up to the office all week anyhow.

Let me just say, we're about one and half weeks from move-in, or so it looks! They're laying flooring as we speak! All the painting is done, all the lighting is in. The countertops are in. You've missed so much, I'm sorry! I'll get you updated soon, though, I promise!

Hubby's parents are here until tomorrow. Plus yesterday was our 13th anniversary. Add to that daily trips to the bigger town 45 minutes away to go to L@wes, etc. for this or that and I've not had time to post.

You'll be amazed once I finally get time to post pictures!

Hang in there :O)

Weekend House Update

It looks like we'll have lots to update from now until the house is done!

They got the desk stained:

The color on the dining area wall:

The beadboard painted and the wall color in D's room:

The vinyl guy came back and has just about got the dormers and final trimwork done:

It's really beginning to be exciting to see many things being finished each day. The painter said they should be done by Friday. He also said that he overheard that the counter tops should be in this week too.

I'll keep you posted!

A little update

Not anything to update on OUR adoption front.

There is good news out in adoption land, though, for Debbie, a good friend of mine and I look forward to hearing more about her wonderful news!

Last Friday we got an updated e-mail from our agency saying that the accreditation paperwork is still in active review, but no official word yet as to being complete.

In new house news, the staining is finally complete as well as the prep-work on all the walls and trim such as caulking and filling in all those hundreds of little nail holes. They’ve got all the windows and doors and cabinetry all covered up with plastic now and have done a primer coat on D’s beadboard. We just stopped by and they were painting in my closet and prepping doors for painting. I am so glad they’re finally moving forward on the actual painting part. It took a long time for the staining and prep-work. Over two weeks for that phase. I wonder if I can dare to hope that they’ll be done with painting by the end of this week??

As I type this, we are on our way to a larger town about 1 hour away to go to Kirkland Home and see if we can find mirrors for the girls’ bathroom and the powder room. I love Kirkland Home! They have great decorative items at a very reasonable price.

I got some photos of the new desk yesterday before it was stained, but now it’s stained and covered up with plastic wrap, so I’ll have to wait to get more photos of that later. I also took some up close photos of the front porch after the railing was painted. Maybe by the time I’m able to post this to the blog, I’ll have some colorful photos of the new paint.

The outdoor shutters were delivered last week, and I’m anxious to see those put on. I think it will really make the outside look more complete. Of course we’re still waiting on the vinyl siding guy to come back and finish the dormers and the trim work over the front porch. I hope he comes soon!

I ordered the cabinet pulls last week, they should be in soon. I was so surprised how expensive those things are. I ordered 75 of them and will do some from L@wes or H@me Dep@t for the girls’ bathroom and the laundry room.

I am anxious to see the colors on the walls. I’m so afraid that the main color I chose is going to be too dark!

Blah, blah, blah.

I feel like I’m sitting here talking about cabbages and kings. Inconsequential things. Pretending the elephant is not sitting right in the middle of the room, or blog in this case.

I so very badly wish I had some adoption news to share. I’ve been kind of down about it lately. It’s just taking a ridiculously long time no matter how you look at it. I guess since we’re coming to the end of the house building it is becoming more evident that we still don’t have our child home.

Good grief! We’re waiting for an already born child (according to our dossier age range!), it’s not like we’re waiting for a child to be conceived and gestated! And here, during this time, we’ve built an entire new house and still haven’t managed to bring this already born, waiting for a family, child across the world and home.

Ridiculous.

Updated pictures of the house

I've got a couple more new pictures of the driveway and sidewalk. Not too extremely exciting, but OH so nice not to have to wade through the mud and the muck! In the top picture, see all the garbage in the background? They finally hauled it all away yesterday, halellujah! You can see the new improved yard from the picture today!

The computer desk was delivered and installed today from the cabinet maker. Now it has to be stained as well. At first we'd decided not to have it built in, but we shopped around and couldn't find anything in the right size for that spot that fit our needs, so we had the cabinet maker build it. It took him a while. I forgot to take a picture of it today, I'll add it in later.

Oh! And they also got the porch railing painted, you can just barely see it a tiny bit in the second picture, I'll have to take a picture of that too and add it in. It is satin black on top and bottom rail and the middle spindles are white.

** It looks like we're about a month away from completion!! We're hoping for the week after mother's day. Hubby has taken that week off for a vacation week. The 13th of May is our 13th anniversary. Maybe we'll get a GREAT anniversary present this year!!

More House Update News - No Adoption News

Well, at least there is good news with our house progress. I guess there will be lots of activity from here on out now that we're down to the nitty gritty.

Yesterday they began the forms for the driveway, sidewalk and patios!! This was a huge surprise to us. We went to meet with the stain guy first thing in the morning and the cement guy was already there. We had a huge mud puddle in the morning and these nice neat forms by evening!

Front Sidewalk form.

Back Patio form.

The first coat of stain on the kitchen cabinets.

Cabinet doors and drawers with two coats of stain. Next comes 4 layers of laquer.

They added the front porch columns and railing and although you can't see it very well, the top of the porch now has its arched detail

They added the attic pulldown in the garage.

My bathtub was finally removed from its box and the plumber got it installed! He had to move the drain pipe. They had installed it in the center and this tub has a side drain, so the cement had to be jack-hammered.

The beadboard detail was added in D's room:

So much progress on the new house

The last couple of weeks have been very busy with the new house.

• Early last week the brick work on the outside was finally finished.





• Then they moved inside and finished the fireplace rocks and placed the mantle.





• Next the cabinets were delivered and installed.


The cabinet maker came on Saturday and delivered and installed the corbels to hold the island counter top. I really like them, not too foo-foo, not too plain.



• Next the finish carpenters arrived and installed all the interior doors and trimmed them out.





• Baseboards were installed.





• Monday work was begun on the closet shelving and little extras inside there.







• Yesterday they trimmed out all the windows and did the window sills.







• Today they were installing the crown molding.







• The painters came yesterday and began the caulking and prepwork before painting begins. This will take longer than we expected. Probably the rest of this week.




• We met with the painter this morning and told him the colors we want and he will bring us some cabinet stain samples later this week. He says that on a house this size their part of the job will take about 3 weeks.

So, we're getting to the end things of the house. It's coming together quickly. We'll probably be in the house in about 5-6 weeks! Hallelujah!

Found the camera - more pix!

Ok, I found the camera. I had left it on the fireplace bricks when we met with the cabinet man - oops.

So, here are a few more up to date pictures.

The fireplace mantle

Up close view of the texture of the walls

Long time no post - sorry!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted an update until last night when my mother in law asked on the phone why I hadn't posted any new pictures of the house in such a long time!

Things are happening on the house which is wonderful! They began bricking last Friday and they're doing a great job on it too. I'm picky about bricks and didn't want any messy brick work. Smudgy and lumpy mortar is a pet peeve of mine. I'm very pleased with their work! They've come a long way since I took these pictures, but I can't find my camera! I'm sure it'll turn up, but here is a glimpse at the brick work...




They also got all the texturing done inside and did the primer coat on the walls and the ceilings. Here are a couple pictures of that...



We met with the builder and cabinet maker two days ago. It took about 2 hours to walk through the house and hash out our ideas and for him to work through them and come up with a workable plan. I thought I had the kitchen all planned out, but we had to re-work several things to make all the drawers etc. fit. I think it's going to be beautiful. I really like this man, he reminds me sooo much of my uncle, my dad's youngest brother, that I felt like I already knew him. D and I went by the house this afternoon after school and were so surprised that the mantle was already there! Just two days after meeting with him! The builder estimates that the cabinets will be delivered by the end of next week! And we have a lot of cabinets!!

On the Adoption Topic: We got a report today that our agency's paperwork is actively being worked through by the ministries to determine accreditation. The multiple regional representatives have been notified that the "powers that be" have inquired as to our agency's reputation in each region and have been giving positive remarks. In addition, the Russian Consulate in Houston has also given our agency positive reviews. So, it looks like we may be close. I've not been reading FRUA and have tried to just take a step back from staying right on top of it. I had gotten a good bit discouraged so this new report at least encourages me a smidge. I'm trying to just "let it be." Yeah, right!

House Update and Adoption News (not good)

Do you want the good news or the bad news first??

Ok, I'll start with the bad news and end up with good news.

We received an e-mail from our agency on Friday evening letting us know that our casemanager is on her way to Russia to hand deliver a document to the Ministry of Justice which they had requested be done before our agency can complete accreditation. Yes, I said the MOJ!? Yes, we were waiting on the last signature, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. What is going on? I don't know. This is Russian Adoption after all and you just never know what is going to come next. OUr casemanager is from Russia, so while she is there she will visit her family who she hasn't seen in 3 years. She'll also meet with the Moscow and St. Pete in-country staff while she is there.

That's all I know right now. I'm not feeling very cheerful about this news. Nope, not cheerful at all.

*******************************************************************

Ok, now onto the house update. All the sheetrock is up and is taped and mudding is done. From what I understand, they'll begin the texturing this week. I didn't realize they had to do the mud two coats so they were applying that today. It's looking good, though.

The vinyl is almost finished, finally! I guess they're about 3/4 of the way through. Once they finally get finished with the vinyl bits (there's not much at all, they guy is just sooooo slow!). And once it quits raining and snowing the bricks can get started!

We went and ordered our countertops this morning for the kitchen and baths. My big bathtub was delivered on Friday, but I can't see it since it's all wrapped up in the box and has saran wrap stuff all around it.

New House Update

At least this is a little more pleasant news.

We are getting sheetrock and we have all our ceilings and some walls. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have all walls sheetrocked, taped, bedded and textured.

This is our master bedroom. The door on the left side is my closet and the
other door is to the bathroom

The vinyl people finally showed up and they are S-L-O-W. Think turtles here! Their every movement is slowness personified! It took them a full day to do just the back side of the house's soffits!

Thursday Things

Not much to update. The house is just sitting for the last two days - ugh. I don't like these nothing days. They delivered the sheetrock on Monday and the plumber finished up his work for now. Got the Shower and D's tub plumbing "roughed in." We woke up to huge rain this morning and hubby stopped by the house after dropping D off at school. There were 4 leaks! I'm so glad we learned of them now, though, instead of after sheetrock had been hung. The hugest leak is coming from the chimney and then the others are around vent things. The contractor came out and hubby showed him everything. Hopefully they'll get that taken care of and this rain will leave! It's supposed to be pretty tomorrow (clear and low 60's).

Our lighting plan has changed a bit. We ended up about $750 over our lighting budget after our shopping spree at the Light Gallery. So we went to Lowe's to compare. We ended up getting about 75% of our lighting on Saturday! It was so fun. They were so much less expensive and very comparative in quality. Our biggest find was the hall lights and toilet room lights that were about $30 each at the Gallery were available for virtually the same exact light in a 2 pack at Lowes for $16.50 per two pack! We also went ahead and got our blinds for the whole house and our mirror/medicine cabinets for the Master Bath. It all fit into our van, believe it or not! We drove home in a torrential downpour, though, so we didn't unload it that night and I had to drive to church with my van loaded down LOL!

Here is D in the van on the way to church Sunday morning surrounded by lights!

This is the two-pack of hall/toilet room lights from Lowes
that is comparative to that at the gallery.

This is the light from the Gallery which is comparative to the Lowes two-pack.

Still nothing new adoption-wise either, not a peep about pending accreditation. I did read an update in ITAR-TASS about a flu epidemic that is in our region. So pray for those kids and caretakers and especially for our little one!