Plan C

Today, instead of preparing to move into our new house, we went strawberry picking with friends. I got over 20 pounds of luscious red beauties, but now I am procrastinating on the jam part of the equation.

The propane tank was to be installed today. This is (hopefully) a temporary feature so we can run our furnace, gas range and gas water heater until they drill for natural gas here. We drove up to the house after strawberry picking to check on the progress. No tank. I got a call a few minutes later from our contact person, who said they were unable to get up the driveway, is there another way up? (Um...by helicopter.) Apparently even though cement trucks, delivery trucks, and other folks with trailers have made it up without problems, they seem to be transportationally challenged. I referred him to JP to get things figured out!

The carpet is installed downstairs and in the Master Bedroom, with the exception of the guest room downstairs, for which we are still waiting on the carpet. Here is the Family Room...

...and the stairs.

The shower in the Master Bath is finished with the exception of the door, and looks great!

The guys are painting outside today. They finished below the deck and on the porch, and now are working on the remainder of the front of the house. The color looked a bit dark yesterday, but it appears lighter where it is not under the prow roof.

We got a free 6-pack of annuals from the greenhouse for each box of strawberries we picked today. I chose marigolds since the critters don't eat them. The girls and I planted them around the edges of our pig garden.

Next up...more garden???

Cowboy Take Me Away

This evening, the girls and I were dancing to the Dixie Chicks. This song just about sums up how I feel about living in this apartment:

I wanna walk and not run

I wanna skip and not fall

I wanna look at the horizon

And not see a building standing tall

I wanna be the only one

For miles and miles

Except for maybe you

And your simple smile

Oh it sounds so good to me

Yes is sounds so good to me...

...I said I wanna touch the earth

I wanna break it in my hands

I wanna grow something wild and unruly

Oh it sounds so good to me

I spent quite a while this afternoon, rummaging around in the garage looking for my jelly jars. I was only partially successful. I did manage to pack up one box from the apartment and deposit it in the garage: J's school stuff.

The carpet guys (more neighbors) were hard at work downstairs putting in the new carpeting.

These library bookshelves look too pretty to cover up with books (but we'll do it anyway).

Here's some of the "portobello" paint on the front of the house...lookin' good!

L picked up poison ivy somewhere...time to plant a lawn!

Strawberry picking we will go

Well, our moving date has officially been moved back to the end of June...somewhere around the 25th or 26th. I'm very disappointed, but not surprised. I'm trying to think of the positive aspects of this new revelation, and I've come up with a few:

-J has a couple of extra weeks to practice bike riding on flat ground

-I will now have time to go pick strawberries at Simon's Farm, make jam, and freeze some berries

-I'll have 2 more weeks to be right next door to the Farmer's Market

Today, at the house, they finished laying tile in the Master Bathroom shower.

This crown molding in the Master Bedroom tray ceiling will hold indirect lighting.

The shelving in the Master Bedroom closet is started.

The Library bookshelves are stained and sealed and drying out on the porch.

The pocket doors are installed in the girls' rooms. Look, it can be one room...

...or two!

I signed the girls up for swimming lessons in July. Summer...here we come!

Ooooh...shiny!

We recently realized that our 2 year old cookware, while it is stainless steel, is not magnetic, and therefore will not work on our new induction range. We have been scrambling the past few weeks, trying to find a good deal on All-Clad, a brand of stainless cookware guaranteed to work with induction. In the process, we learned that All-Clad is manufactured right here in Southwestern Pennsylvania. This morning we got up bright and early and drove to the Washington Fairgrounds for the annual All-Clad factory clearance sale. We managed to put together what we needed for less than usual, and before it got too crowded! This roasting pan was not on the list, but something I've wanted for quite a while.

The crew was nearly done putting in our shiny new oak flooring by the time I arrived this afternoon.

Our handyman/all-around-good-guy found this box blade for the tractor. JP has been shopping around for one since we got the tractor. This will be used to keep the driveway smoothed out, and to smooth off all the ground before we plant grass.

New tile in our Laundry nook

I also managed to get 2 coats of sealer on the cork flooring in the Library, and take a walk in the woods with the girls. The girls managed to rearrange everything in the van.

Spent

Today I feel like this Poplar "tulip" flower...tired, spent, done.

Our builder told me today that he is sceptical that he can get a temporary occupancy permit by next weekend. He said that we could probably move stuff in, but not actually LIVE there. I managed not to break down until I got down the hill.

On the bright side, I finished these drapes for the girls' rooms today. They are quite bright. I was thrilled to find enough fabric for all 4 windows in the clearance rack at Joann's this week.

The chandelier in the great room is pretty bright too. It looks great up there with the fans.

The wall ovens are in and working. The builder says he baked a moth today!

The shower in the Master Bathroom is ready to start tiling.

This weekend we plan to put sealer on the cork flooring and plant tomatoes. Someday we'll live there to pick and eat them!

Excess

Today was delivery day at the apartment. This is crazy because nothing fits in here, I have to head off the UPS guy at the door and re-route him to the van. I think he actually prefers this option to carrying boxes up 26 steps to our door! So is it a good sign when the UPS man approaches you in different settings (ie the doctor's office) to report how many deliveries on that particular day? Brown came first with 14 boxes, including fans, light bulbs, curtains and blinds. Next came the semi-truck, which parked across the street. I drove the van over to accept the chandelier. Finally, just after lunch, Fed-Ex knocked with a small box (cabinet knobs) and asked "Where do you want the BIG one?" The BIG one was heavy (basket ball hoop), and didn't fit in the van, so we had to make 2 trips up to the house.

Our builder seemed pleased that things arrived today. They have kept the scaffolding in the great room, waiting to hang the chandelier and fans. Once it is out of the way they should be able to work on the flooring.

Meanwhile all of the pocket doors are in, and most of the other interior doors. A couple of guys were working on touching up paint on the trim and doors, and installing door handles.

We are thinking that perhaps we should paint these white doors (yep...they were less expensive than wood) a darker shade of the wall color so they blend in a bit more.

The tiles are down in the girls' bathroom.

The cupboard under the stairs opposite their bathroom is meant to be a small linen closet.

This area will be for games...and for the girls to play in.

Here is the cabinetry in the Master Bathroom.

I also started cutting out fabric for drapes in the girls' rooms today, and worked on address changes on all of our periodicals.

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.