The Final Countdown? - Tuesday, November 20, 2007

And the countdown begins...again. But this time it's a real countdown...Four more days until we move in.

We went to the house Tuesday night after supper and hooked up...or I should say tried to hook up the satellite receivers in the living room. We had wire problems, again. We're not sure if it's the connectors we're using, or if it's the way we've connected the connectors, or what, but it was not a good night at the house for general conversation. Hopefully we'll have better luck when we go out there on Wednesday night.

On top of that, the plumber that is hooking all of the water and plumbing up, will not hook up the hot water take to the desuperheater in the geothermal unit. So now we have to find a licensed plumber to hook it up for us, because the "plumber is old and doesn't want to do anything new" - Lyle's words. The only thing that the plumber did on Tuesday, that we noticed, was stand the base of the pedestal sink up in the bathroom. That's all. So we still have no hot water, and there is only four more days until the big move. Ryan has called Don the Geothermal Guy to see if he can recommend anyone who will simply run a pipe from the hot water tank to the desuperheater and then from the desuperheater to the hot water tank. That is ALL this guy will not do. Hopefully Lyle can convince the guy to do it, and if not, hopefully Don can recommend someone to do it that won't charge us a whole pile of money.

Glen the Finisher was there on Tuesday, and I'm happy to report that he did do a lot of work. He cut all of the baseboards for the walls and placed them where they are to go. The upstairs ones he actually nailed on, and he also hung all of the doors and installed all of the shelves and rods in the closets throughout the house and installed the shelves in the linen closet and in the kitchen pantry. It took about three trips to the basement before we realized that Glen had also installed the hand railing leading to the basement. Talk about not paying much attention.

Someone also cleaned up the basement and cleaned up the garage, and did a wonderful job. The windows in the basement and on the main floor were also cleaned, and they look very nice. Hopefully they do more cleaning on Wednesday, since on Thursday, Ryan, Dad and I have all taken the day off to move the stuff that we have stored at Mom & Dad's into the house. We'll probably also move some of the stuff that we have at Ryan's Mom's place, just so that we can get a bit of a jump on that, so that we don't tie up the whole day on Saturday for those whose help we have enlisted to move.

Before the countertops were installed, I had asked Ryan to move a cupboard door that they had put into the cupboard when they were adding some drywall in the kitchen to build something out that they didn't do before the cupboards were installed. I can't remember why, but Ryan didn't do it, and I just left it in there as well. I think I just wanted to see what the drawer looked like when it was installed. Anyway, we get to the house Tuesday night, and we're looking at the pantry door, and Ryan says "Oh ya, that's what else I found out from Lyle...". I asked him what he was talking about, and he points to that door I wanted him to move and says "Um, ya. That door there is stuck in there and won't come out". I don't know who's fault that was, whether it was the guy installing the drywall who put the door in there to begin with, or if it was the counter top guys who didn't move it before they installed the counter top, but either way, it's kinda funny. But not really. When the cabinet guy comes out to adjust the other doors so they aren't crooked, he'll have to figure out a way to get that door out of there without wrecking it. I tried, and couldn't, which means that it must be next to impossible to get it out without cutting something...

Hey Charles...The Time Has Come - November 16 - 18, 2007

The toilets are finally in. All of the taps are in with the exception of the sink in the main floor bathroom. That sink won't be set up until Monday, when the water will all be hooked up and all of the toilets and faucets will actually be working. The dishwasher was also installed, as well as the hot water tank and the two outside taps.

The carpeting is also done. When I first saw it, I didn't think it was the right stuff, because it looked pink, like it had a pink undertone to it. I was sure it was wrong. Then we looked at it again during the day on Sunday when we were trying to find the satellite signal to make sure that the satellite would be working when we moved in, and it looked like it was the right stuff. I guess the lighting makes it look different. But the carpeting definitely makes it feel like an actual home now. It was a weird feeling walking on the carpet when you're used to just walking on a plywood floor. It made a huge difference to the feel of the upstairs.

We are now just waiting for Glen the Finisher to come in and install the baseboards, hang the doors, and put up the shelves in the closets and in the pantry. Then the duct guys have to come back and clean out the ducts before we can start up the geothermal for good, and they also have to install the vent covers. Then the cleaners can come in, as well as the painter to do any touch ups (not sure whether he comes in before we move in or after...after we make some marks, I'm sure), and then that's it. We're done. We're going to try to move stuff in each night this week, just so that when Saturday comes, there's not a huge amount of small things to move. Ryan and I are both off on Thursday, so we're going to pack up the stuff that we have at Mom & Dad's place and move that stuff in, so that on Saturday we will only have one house to move things from, instead of two. We're just keeping our fingers and toes crossed that the weather will hold out for us...

Oh, and one more thing. GO BOMBERS GO!!!! This year's Grey Cup game should be great. It'll be like the SUPER Banjo Bowl...

I know of at least one household that will be split down the middle when cheering...Simone will be cheering "GO RIDERS GO!!!!" and Charles will be cheering "GO BOMBERS GO!!!!". Ryan and I assume that one of their kids will be painted green, and one will be painted blue...or both of them will be painted half and half...Should be a good game. GO BLUE!

There Is An End In Sight!! - Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The granite is in! The granite is in!!

And it's about time...although if you recall, it's been nowhere near the 5 weeks that they said it would be. It looks great. It's weird to have a small piece of the granite (the sample that we were given at the beginning) and compare it to the large pieces of granite. The small piece seems so much thicker, but it's not, it's exactly the same thickness. The kitchen now looks like a kitchen...or it will, once, the cooktop is installed and the fridge and dishwasher are installed. I can't WAIT!!!

The vanity upstairs...

Now we just have to call the builder to tell him that the countertops are in, and they have to get the plumbers in there now. The carpeters can come in at any time now and get their work done, and then it'll just be the cleaners and the duct cleaners...

Everything looks good for us to be moving in on November 24th! That's NEXT WEEK!! All of a sudden I'm panicking, because it's actually next week...I've been ready to move for months now, but now that the time is here, I wonder if we actually are ready...I'll be working on packing the rest of our stuff on the weekend...and possibly moving it so that it's ready when the time comes...we'll see.

The "After" Pictures - November 9 - 12, 2007

We went out to the house Friday night after work to see if Paul the Floor Refinisher had done anything to the floors, and the only word I could mutter when we opened the front door was "wow".

He had gotten out to the house Friday at some point, and sanded the paint off of the floors and put on the first coat of whatever it is they put on. Stain? Lacquer? I'm not sure, but it smelled the same way it did when Norm the Painter was lacquering the wood in the house. I couldn't believe how good it looked. What a difference from the day before when the lines were still on it. It looks so good. Ryan wanted to get a closer look, so he took a 2x10 out to the back of the house and walked up in and opened the kitchen door with the key...it was a little hard to turn, but it opened the door. We didn't want to walk on the floor yet, so we couldn't just walk in the garage door or the front door. He got a few pictures of the living room floor as well as better shots of the dining room floor and the hallway.

The garage door was also installed on Friday at some point. The picture I took didn't really turn out all that well. I guess that's what you get when you take the picture in the dark from inside the car. We went home after that to get ready for the work that we were planning to do on Saturday at the house.

Saturday morning we got to the house at 10:00, and Paul the Floor Refinisher had already been and gone. He put the next coat of whatever on the floor. He must have started pretty early, or else he's just that efficient.

Ryan had a hair appointment at 12:00 in Lorette, so we started to spread the straw out onto the septic field to keep it from freezing in the winter. It was pretty windy, so some of the straw was blowing as we were putting it down, but it wasn't that big a deal. Ryan left for his hair appointment and I continued on spreading the straw. We had also planned to install the satellite dish on the roof and put up the Christmas lights. When Ryan got back, I had all but two bales spread out, so Ryan finished those off while I cleaned up the ties from the bales. Ryan then started to work on the satellite dish stuff, while I started on the Christmas lights.

Ryan soon realized that he needed a few more screws, so I had to run to Lorette to pick some up from the hardware store. I decided that I was going to go and get some lunch to bring back with us. I ended up going to Chicken Chef and getting chicken burgers and fries. Before I left, I asked the girl if there was ketchup and stuff in the bag, and she said yes.

When I got back to the house, Ryan was on the ladder at the roof, working on bolting down some boards to mount the satellite arms on. He came down off the ladder and we had lunch. I opened up the bag, pulled out the chicken burgers and fries, and surprise, surprise, there was no ketchup. I was so mad!! Ryan's asked why I didn't check when I was there, and I told him that it would have looked rude if she had just said yes, and I opened up the bag to check. I'll definitely do that from now on if we ever order from there again. I was not happy. But then I remembered that there was ketchup in one of the cupboards in the kitchen from when we had installed the floors. Ryan decided that he would go and get the ketchup, using the 2x10 and using the kitchen door (since we still didn't want to walk on the floor, since it was so recently done). It was taking him a while, but I could hear him at the kitchen door, and asked if he needed help. He said that the key was stuck, and that he couldn't turn it or get it out. He came back into the house through the garage and I decided that I would go and try it. I tried to get up to the door, but I couldn't. After about 10 minutes, Ryan came out and asked what I was still doing, and he said that I should just forget about the ketchup and that we'd have to walk into the kitchen to get the key out.

Being me, I decided that I didn't want to wait until later to get the key and ketchup, so I tip-toed across the hallway to get the ketchup...and went back to the mudroom where we were eating. Ryan THEN asked me if I got the key. I asked him why he waited until I was already back to ask...I tip-toed across again, and tried to get the key out of the door, and couldn't. It was really stuck. Then I heard Ryan calling from the mud room, saying "This is the ketchup that we had to have!? There's only three packages!!". LOL. All of that work for just three ketchup packets. I gave up on the key stuck in the door, and went and finished lunch.

After lunch, I had to take the whole deadbolt off of the door, and really force the key to turn. I guess we know that we won't be using the key for that door anymore. Ryan went back to his satellite dish and I continued to put up the Christmas lights. I then put up the driveway reflecters, to hopefully stop people from driving off the driveway in the winter. Ryan soon realized that he also didn't buy enough coax cable, so we would have to buy more and come back again on Sunday. We didn't end up leaving the house until about 6:15, so it was a pretty long day already, and we were going bowling with some friends for Glen's birthday, and then to Boston Pizza afterwards for drinks.

On Sunday, we got to the house again at around 10:00, and Paul the Floor Refinisher was no where to be found, and no other work had been done, so we assumed that he was finished the floors. We got to work right away, and of course it was raining and windy, and Ryan was working outside. My job was to vacuum the kitchen floor and the mudroom floor, lay down some of the extra kitchen floor so that when people entered the house during the week, they wouldn't be walking on the floors, and to make signs telling anyone who was entering that they had to take their shoes off before hand and stick to the matting and cardboard that I had put down. We did all of that and then headed out to Mom & Dad's for the rest of the day.

On Monday both of us had the day off, so we celebrated our 2nd anniversary by doing nothing...I made 9 batches of Butterscotch Confetti (the peanut butter, marshmallow, butterscotch bar) for a baking day that a bunch of us girls are having, and that was about all I did. Ryan went outside for a bit and put up driveway reflecters down his mom's driveway, and that was about all he did.

After they were done work, Mom & Dad called us and we went and met them at the house, since they had yet to see the floor when it was finished. Ryan's mom came with us too. As soon as we got to the house, we realized that most of the straw that we had worked so hard to spread out on Saturday had blown almost completely off of the septic field. There was still some left on the field, but there was also quite a bit in front of the garage, and in the weeds at the front of the driveway. We decided that we'd go home and then come back with some snow fence to lay overtop of the straw that was still there, and then try to pick up as much as we could and put it where it belonged. We also brought over some patio stones to make the first step onto the porch not as high, and brought the cooktop so that they can install it once the counter tops are in.

We are pretty sure now, after speaking with the builder (who is still in New York), that we will be moving in on November 23rd. I don't care what's done and what's not done, we're moving. We've been lucky so far with no snow...maybe it'll hold off until we've moved everything to the house...wishful thinking, I know.