Little by Little

Here are some updated pictures of the house. The plumbing is finished!

The toilet! And yes, it works! It's a dual flush, which saves water. So, it has a #1 and a #2 flush. :) You can see the button on top.

Here is a glimpse of the red oak window trim. It looks gorgeous! Matthew (with a couple of other guys) planed, sanded, cut, stained, and bug sprayed ALL of the trim from large, rough cut red oak.

The floors were purchased as prefinished #2 red oak, and they are finished! I only have a picture of the "under construction" floor. The next step is a banister/railing for the stairs in the back hall, and we should get our C.O. (Certificate of Occupancy, aka final inspection).

Now, for my favorite part of the whole house... The kitchen! I LOVE my kitchen. It's so fancy (read that with a long "a"). Matthew did an awesome job with the tile backsplash. The last picture is my Delta Leland faucet with diamond technology. :) It's a pull down faucet with a switch for the sprayer.

Addison Marie King

I'm very excited to announce the arrival of the newest memeber of the King family. Addison Marie was born Saturday, March 14 at 3:05am. She is 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 inches long. A perfect little size. :)

After an 8 hour day of judging 100+ 6th - 9th grade violins attempt sight reading, I finally got to go see my new niece, and she is beautiful! Matthew and I didn't get to the hospital until late evening, so everyone was already gone. I decided that I should hold the baby to let Zack (Matt's bro/new dad) and Leah (new mom) eat. I didn't mind. ;)

Adventures in Boone

~Friday~

I drove a bus of 6 students from three schools to Boone for Western Regional Orchestra. This is always a fun weekend because I get to see my old Greensboro friends. It rained all day Friday and Saturday, so we were just stuck in the music building at App State.

~Sunday~ Concert Day

The weather forcast was calling for afternoon snow. Our fearless leader, Sabrina from Winston-Salem, called putting our concert at 12:00 instead of 2:00. Good call!

The snow started around 9:30am. The students were finishing their dress rehearsals. I hauled them back to the hotel to check out. We go back to Farthing Auditorium for a WONDERFUL concert. This was the best program and the best sounding orchestras that I've heard in awhile.

With the concert finished, we gathered our students, and hopped back onto the bus. There was about an inch of snow on the ground, and the roads were getting messy. I had a voicemail from my assistant principal to call him. A few phone calls later, we are headed back to the hotel! The kids were so excited... I thought I was gonna cry. I was so ready to go home, but what could I do?

So we went to the grocery store across from the hotel first. We got enough food for the night and lunch for Monday. It was funny to me, because in Boone, people don't panic and go to the store.

I couldn't get the bus all the way back to the hotel, so I parked it in a lot about 100 yards away.

We had all our luggage, the kids had their instruments, and we had our groceries. We had to make two trips, uphill, in the snow, both ways. :)

I get us checked back into the hotel, and the kids commence to having a snowball fight with a church group from Alabama (who was also stranded). They had a blast! There were three teachers, and we stayed dry and warm in our room.

We have a student teacher who goes to App, and he brought over some quartet music and the kids went into a meeting room and played for a couple of hours. I couldn't believe they wanted to play after such and intense weekend of rehearsals!

~Monday~

The outlook for going home was not good. I called the Sheriff's Dept. and was told unless I was an emergency vehicle, I should not be on the road (especially in a school bus). We really thought we were going to be in Boone until Wednesday. The kids talked to their parents, and it sounded like the roads in Hendersonville were pretty nasty anyway.

So we all went about our day. The kids were out and playing in the snow...again. We had lunch and walked across the street to Big Lots and the grocery. Upon our return to the hotel, we realize that the roads are melting. It's about 2:00pm at this point. I call the Sheriff's Dept. again and was told the road was clear from Boone to Blowing Rock! WOO HOO! I told the kids they had 45 minutes to get their stuff together.

I walk down to the bus. After kicking away some plowed snow in front of the doors, fighting the frozen door open, I cross my fingers as I turn the key. It cranks! I let it warm up for a minute, and I had no problems getting it up the hill the the hotel. The kids are totally bummed because they wanted to stay and they had just bought more food. They got over it.

We had a nice trip home. I forgot how pretty 321 through Blowing Rock was, and the roads were clear. We arrived back at school about 5:45pm. Yay! Home!

It's was a trip that we will all be talking about many years. When those students go off to college and come visit, we'll say, "Remember that trip to Boone?"

This picture was taken on Monday when we were going shopping. You can see the parking lot had been scraped and was evaporating.

Progress!

The opposite of "congress", of course! (Sorry, bad joke)

Anyhoo... we had A LOT done to the house today. It's amazing how much can get done when it's not just me and Matthew. :)

Last night, Matthew and I grouted the shower in the guest bath. It looks even better than the last posted picture. And today, someone(?) grouted the master bath/shower!

The plumbers came and installed the toilets! They also installed both bath/shower faucets, one sink faucet, and the kitchen faucet (which looks AMAZING!) The water is not actually hooked up yet, but when we get some power... (we have well water.)

The electrican came and was putting the plates on the outlets. He will be back tomorrow just to finish up the last of it.

We received interior doors! Most of them have been hung, and they look awesome! Now I need to go buy the handles (which I will probably install).

What else??? OH! They also worked staining the trim. Lookin' good!

Sorry there are no pictures, but I did not have my camera with me. Plus, it doesn't look too terribly different from the last pictures.

I'm beginning to think that we might actually get to live in it one day! ^_^

Let there be light...

Here are our lights in real life. It's always scary when you choose the stuff, take it home, and then there is a brief period of panic. What if I don't like it when it's installed?

Well, needless to say, it looks great! Here is a shot from the edge of the bar looking into the kitchen/dining room.








This the light in the "foyer."

Choosing ceiling fans is another overwhelming task with the looking up and craning your neck. Anyway, Matthew liked what I picked, and they look nice!

Master Bedroom

Guest bedroom - I really love the colors in here. It's very warm.

Blogger is acting kind of crazy, so sorry for the weird layout. There is still a lot to do in the house: the plumber is supposed to come this week (yay toilets!); we need to order interior doors; the cabinets need to be finished; the hardwood floors will be one of the last things (so they don't get messed up); and the trim around the doors and windows.

We may reach the one year mark before we actually move in, BUT we will be in by the Spring. We can't wait! We have spent so much time in there that it might feel a little strange when we start sleeping there! We haven't camped out (yet), but I have a feeling that if we get some propane and the gas logs hooked up...

Lady (and her Gent) of Bath

Since the last post: we have painted; the electrician has installed lights, switches, and outlets.

Here is the guest bathroom. Matthew stained the wood to match the trim.



Saturday, the boys spent the day installing the tile in the shower.

the master vanity...

So not only am I a painter, but apparently I am a tile installler now. This is how Matthew and I spent our Sunday. I was on tile cutting duty. Matthew had to do some of the measuring, but I cut all of those little edges for the square tile to fit.

The tile on the walls match the tile on the floor.

The recent progress on the house is slow, but steady. For the last month we have been telling everyone that we should be moving in a month. So, I think we'll be in in a month.

Drywall is finished!

Finally, our drywall is all sanded! Matthew and a couple of guys worked on priming the walls and ceiling on Friday. Saturday, Matthew and I finished priming and put the first coat on the living room walls! He is great with colors.

Here are some pictures of the primed walls.

This is the drop-down ceiling. (Not primed yet).

This is the guest bedroom closet. Matthew had tried a sample of the color he picked. We liked it! I'm getting ready to go work on it this morning.

This is a look at the brick tile that will go on the shower walls in the guest bath.

OK. So this picture is just a teaser. Our kitchen cabinets and countertops are in, but they will remain covered until we are finished painting. If you peek at the floor next to that bucket, you will get a glimpse of the tile!

I will post some updated pics soon. We worked hard all weekend painting. We have almost finished the first coat on everything. The ceilings are done! Matthew will be calling the electrician to put up the lights and finish all the electrical.

OK. We are trying to get it finished, so I'm off to paint this morning before school!