No Training Wheels

We thought we would take advantage of the fact that we have been in town all winter and spring to teach J to ride a bike without training wheels. We even gave her a new bike for her birthday, which occurred during the crazy week in November when we moved out of our old house. It never really happened, however. So today, after the girls slept in until well after 9 (which afforded me some much appreciated time to read), we tried bike riding out in the empty parking lot next door.

L became extremely jealous that she didn't have a bike to ride, so on the way home from violin rehearsal today, we stopped by the garage to get L's bike.

The house was quiet, but there was completed flooring in 3 rooms! The tile was grouted in the Mud Room. This shot also shows the casework in there.

Here is the completed tile in the Master Bathroom.

The cork flooring in the Library looks really nice. The incomplete area is for our built-in bookshelves along the whole wall.

They have begun putting baseboard trim downstairs.

The chandelier and big fans for the great room are expected by truck on Wednesday.

The Sky Came Down

It was a humid evening, with light showers all afternoon. We were anxious to see the kitchen cabinets, so planned a picnic dinner out at the house. We have been doing that at least once a week for the past month or two. The mist was heavy in the valley. This picture was taken just down the road from our place.

The kitchen cabinets were all still in boxes, so unfortunately they remain a mystery.

Most of the light fixtures and smoke alarms have been installed. I spent an hour on line last night and approximately $500, ordering compact fluorescent lamps for all of the light fixtures! This is the fan in the library.

Several of the window sills and trim have been installed too. They look really sharp.

This wood on the back porch is for the window trim in the Great Room.

All of the interior doors were delivered today as well. A bunch of them are in storage in the Master Bed Room.

These ones have been painted and are out on the porch.

The wood ceiling in the Kitchen/Dining Room is nearly completed. The builder was there late finishing the solatube. Even at 7:45 PM on a cloudy evening, it was generating a lot of light.

We put the girls to work filling their little red wagon with scraps of wood and taking it to the burn pile. They had fun, but got very muddy (as did the wagon) in the process.

If there is a front door, we can move in...right?

Oh yeah! We have a front door! Of course, none of the doors have any door knobs yet, but they are there...hooray!

In addition, the siding is completed on the front of the house

and the driveway side.

The ceilings are finished. This is in the master bedroom, showing the finished ceiling against the tray. The tray will eventually have faux tin tiles (I think).

The great room, kitchen and dining room will have wood ceilings. They have been working on staining the wood.

They have also been painting trim in a buff color.

The well man finished connecting the well to the holding tank to the house.

Now he is working on digging a hole for the (much smaller) rain water cistern. This water will be used for watering the garden and washing cars, etc. Or we could use it for a swimming pool!

The builder is working on installing our on demand water heater. He tells us that we are the "greenest" clients that he has ever worked with. We are still sad that many of the "green" things that we hoped to incorporate were too expensive to seriously consider.

Some seedlings are sprouting in the pig garden, despite the nasty horse hooves.