Finally! Some real progress!

I am so excited! We actually have a fully functioning house! Everything in the kitchen works! Everything in the bathrooms work! Most everything is in our house! It's so wonderful!

Yesterday, the countertop people drilled the holes in the counters for the sink. Then, the plumbers came and hooked up the plumbing in the kitchen for the sink, the disposal, and for the dishwasher. I made dinner last night in my new, fully-functioning kitchen! :)

That's not to say that we are finished with the house. I finally found the right paint for the kitchen last night. Sherwin Williams had the right formula for the Slate Green paint that I wanted. So, we bought some and started painting the kitchen. It looks much better. I have to finish touching up the paint and finish painting one of the walls in the kitchen. I also have to do touch up paint on the walls where the baseboard heating was in the hallways. And then I have to do some cleaning. Then, I think we will be finished. :) It's so exciting!

I'm going to take some pictures tonight and I'll put them up hopefully tomorrow. I can't believe the end is in sight! Finally!

Other exciting news: Connecticut ruled in favor of gay marriage! Yay! One step back for California, but a huge step forward for Connecticut! :)

Closer

I don't really feel like blogging. That's why there hasn't been an update in the past few days. I get irritated and stressed out when I do an update. So, I decided to wait until some good things happened for me to do an update.

Friday, the countertops were promised to be in. They weren't. No one knew what was going on. We finally got a hold of someone. They promised that if they didn't make it Friday, it would be Saturday morning at the absolute latest. Well, the plumbers came to do the bathrooms and kitchen on Friday and since they couldn't do the kitchen (since there was no sink or countertops), they just left and didn't even do the bathrooms. I was not a happy camper. They came back on Saturday. Well, the countertops still did not arrive. No one would call us back. I was beyond pissed. But, the plumbers hooked up the bathrooms.

We got most everything moved in and I got a lot of organizing done. The house feels a lot more like home now.

The countertops were installed yesterday morning. Finally. They look okay. Not as good as I had hoped, but at least they are in. Unfortunately, the paint does not match. You might remember that Lowe's formula for Slate Green is incorrect. They give me a paint which is not Slate Green, but instead it is a yellowy green color. It's not good. So, I picked out another color a lot like Slate Green, but darker. I thought it would be okay, but it doesn't match the countertops. So, Joe and I are going to try to match the Slate Green color. We're hoping that Sherwin Williams can help us. ** Fingers Crossed **

The light fixtures in the kitchen and the bathrooms are supposed to be installed today. Also, the countertop people have to come drill the hole for our faucet because they didn't do it yesterday. They better get it done today. I'm sick of having to wait. We can't do the plumbing for the kitchen until they finish! Grrr...

But, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Please, don't let a train come before I reach the end. :S

Blahhhhhhhhhh

I am depressed. I thought I had a home for a pup that I fell in love with at a shelter earlier this month (a previous post is devoted to her), but it fell through today. Now I just want to cry. Her time is about up and if she doesn't get adopted, she will be put down. It's very upsetting. If you know anyone interested in adopting her, please, please, PLEASE, let me know. She's incredibly sweet and I'll pay for everything she needs to get started. :)

My mom called about an hour and a half ago. My sister is out of surgery. She was supposed to be in recovery for about an hour, so she's probably awake now. She had breast augmentation. She's only 20, but she's wanted this for a long time. And she paid for it herself. She worked hard to earn the money for it. I would NEVER in a million years do this, but I support her decision. We come from a family of large breasted women. I am a C cup and I am one of the smallest breasted women in my family (except for my sister). She is a small B cup. She just wanted some boobies... lol. Anyone who met my sister would tell you that she is a strong woman and secure in who she is. She doesn't take crap from anybody and she loves her body (she takes care of it). She is doing this for herself (ligitimately... her boyfriend and several of her male friends do not support her decision), and no one else. So, I say go for it.

In house news, we are no longer using Paul. He's about as worthless as handymen come. It was pathetic. But, we have someone who is doing an excellent job. The tile guy has finally gotten going and the half bathroom is about finished (he's slower than Christmas!). Joe gave him until Monday to finish the tile in the kitchen (as of yesterday, he hadn't even started on it). Our cabinets will be arriving on Wednesday. They will take all day to be put in and then the countertops will be installed on Thursday. Our appliances are in. As soon as the kitchen is finished, we'll have them deliver the appliances (so probably Friday). So, by this time next week, our kitchen should be finished. :) And then the only thing that should be unfinished is the master bathroom. I have hopes that even it will be finished, but it's not likely with as slow as Buddy is. We'll see.

This weekend is homecoming weekend at Catawba. Joe and I will hopefully be going. There is a wine party in Salisbury that we will probably be going to. Especially now that the dog thing has fallen through. :( And after the game tomorrow, we will be coming back to work on the house. I will be painting all of the doors in the house (except the entrance/exit doors to the house -- they will stay the way they are). The doors are ugly, so I'm painting them all white. We can't afford to replace all of the doors in the house, so we're just giving the old doors a new look. They'll go much better with the wood floors and white trim then. :) Also, I have to paint the places in the hallways where the baseboard heating was. Luckily it is low to the ground so it won't matter that the paint won't look exactly the same (no one will be looking that closely at the wall a few inches from the floor!).

Samples

So... Since everything is already picked out, I'm putting up samples! :)


This is the color of our countertops (Dupont Zodiac Quartz in Black Forest).





This is the color of our kitchen floor tile (Ozark Sand).







This is what our dishwasher is going to look like.





This is basically what our microwave/vent will look like.

This is basically what our range/oven will look like.









This is basically what our refrigerator will look like.

I hope that everything is going to look nice together. We put it together on a small scale and it looked great (I don't have a sample of the cabinets, but they're cherry wood with a ginger finish and a chocolate glaze. Also, the paint pulls it together better... it's Slate Green but I can't find the color online). I'm worried that it won't look as good together on a larger scale. I guess we'll find out very soon.

Oh. Joe told me that we have to paint the upstairs bathroom immediately (I was going to put it off for a while since we have so much other stuff to do that's more important). Apparently that's on the list for the appraisal to come back correctly, so it has to be done. It doesn't look like we'll be going to Texas this weekend after all, so I will probably start on that this weekend (and hopefully get it finished!). Wish us luck!