Me and Bobby McGee... and Dennis and Denny and Steve and Robert and Eric. . .

Up until this past week, building this house has had us making decisions about one week at a time.  Ever since the roof went on, it seems there has been some type of major decision to be made every day.  We have been told that this will slow down some when the painting and dry wall start going in but all of these decisions HAVE to be made before that.  A lot of the time spent with the cabinet man on Tuesday had to do with where major appliances would go as well as the cabinet placement. This was to be ready to make decisions with the plumber, Big E, on Wednesday. We needed to know where dishwashers, sinks, refrigerators, bathtub fixtures, shower heads and outdoor faucets would be going.  Some of these were obivious, others needed some thought. This is what greeted us when we joined Denny on Thursday in my master bedroom!

There were  3 or 4 plumbers all over the place. In the attic, laundry room, all bathrooms each needing to know where things were to be placed. For instance, in order to "plumb" for the washing machine, we needed to know where it was to be placed, but in order to know where it was to be placed, one needs to know which way the door would swing on the front loading washer and dryer. Who would have thought?  Thank goodness, Denny was there to help us. Since I have mentioned Denny several times... this is where I will give a "shout out" to our builder's son Dennis, Jr. (hereafter referred to as Denny). Denny works with his dad and either one or both of them are on the site every day, pretty much all day, overseeing all this work. I have already praised Dennis Sr. and I now want to give equal time to Denny. He, too, is teriffic and we are so pleased that he has been there to "walk" or "talk" us through some of these decisions whenever Dennis was attending to other matters! He has put a lot of FUN in this process as well as his professional input. Thanks, Denny. What a delightful family to work with!
   Meanwhile more decisions are being made.  Since H wanted a rainshower head in the master shower, and I wanted some type of hand held shower that is long enough to use while sitting on the bench and also to clean the glass shower, we now needed to go to Birmingham to pick out just what type of shower heads we wanted and this needed to be done ASAP since he, the plumber, was there working for the next few days. This is now Thursday..remember we returned from Memphis on Monday, worked with cabinet man on Tuesday, and fulfilled our obligations at the church on Wednesday. Looks like a road trip to B'ham on Friday! 
    Also, during this visit to the site the heating and air conditiong ducts were going in. This is what was in the foyer, kitchen and great room since the plumber had already claimed the bedroom.  So much for my nicley swept house with all my cabinet drawings on the floors. Robert, is the H/AC contractor for our house and he is a talker.  In fact, he informed me that if we were both there on the job, he may not get much done, because he realized that I, too, am a talker. Who would have thought? H talked with him and pretty much had made the decisions that we needed  three separate units to handle this house (I was off the hook about these decisions). I WAS asked how I felt about losing some closet space for a duct.  Works for me! I said.  I DID have a say about where to put the thermostat downstairs and nixed the plan to put it on a wall that would be a great place hang a picture.



Found this in one of the bathrooms!

       So now it's Friday and another major decision day. We drove back towards B'ham to meet with Steve who had designed the entire layout for all the cabinets since our meeting on Tuesday. I now have a computer layout visual.Yea!  All of this was great, NOW what color and style of cabinets do you want? he asked. As I looked around his showroom at all the colors and styles he had available, my eyes glazed over.  As I mentioned in my last post, I had only thought about kitchen cabinets, so I am now faced with picking styles and colors for all bathrooms, both bars, the laundry room as well as the kitchen!  (Mind you , I have not even started thinking about cabinets, etc. for the caft room.)  Steve was wonderful and patient as we "discussed" what we liked and disliked knowing all along that we had no clue what we really wanted. We DID decide we did not want all the cabinets throughtout the house to be the same. BUT that just gave us more decisions!  After several hours, we finally picked out several styles so that he could price them with stain, with paint, stained with a glaze or painted with a glaze/wash.  Maybe the costs will help with these decisions.

   After leaving Steve it was now time to drive to downtown Birmingham (a place neither of us have ever been) for an appointment at a very large plumbing showroom to pick out faucets for 12 sinks, showers or tubs.  I was also able to take a look and "get in" several soaking tubs. Surprise to our plumber, builders and H, I do not want a tub with jets! Why, you might ask? Don't get me started.
    After this fun filled day, we headed back to Clanton so we could attend our very first HOBO meeting.
Out of the 7 full time families living on the Ridge, 6 of us were present to see one of our own installed as president.  We look forward to meeting all the other Lake Mitchell families we have yet to meet. So far, we have found there are some good folks living on the river.
    H finished out his week by joining Ralph for another trip to Tuscaloosa to see Alabama beat Mississippi State.  ROLL TIDE! It really has been a treat for H to go to these games with Ralph and a really nice way to end a very busy week. They donned their crimson colors and hats and were off! Jane and I went on an adventure as well. We found ourselves in a newly opened Scrapbook Nook where, after chatting with the owner for a while, I was invited to teach a class there after the first of the year!
      I hear the much needed rain coming down as I write, so I am not sure about work tomorrow.  Even so, next week is already being scheduled. We will be meeting with the electrician on Wednesday.  This will be another long day trying to decide where to put all the plugs, switches, recessed lights, ceiling fans, etc. It would be helpful if I knew what furniture I was going to buy, where I was going to put it and if it needed a light or not. :)  H and I plan to sequester ourselves all day Monday and go over each room together.  Hopefully we will have some idea as to what and where to tell him to put them, but just in case. . . Dennis, Denny, HELP!