Week 11

Another week of furious activity!  Monday we arrived home to find stone on our stairway columns

 and the foundations being prepared for the stucco -

 plus continued work on the stone in general.

 The sheet rockers finished their work inside on Wednesday and I quickly began the priming process the next few days

Jason (the builder) completed the installation of the sliding door for the new addition (LoVe It!)

 as well as the rest of the hardy board installation (exept for the north side - Jason's waiting for the new electrical main to all be connected)

Our company completed the standing seam roof over the....whatever this little overhang is, that's what I'll call it - an overhang!  It's almost my favorite part of the new addition.  We also got the garage door ordered and it's all framed in for when the door arrives

here's another view for good measure.  I realize it's only the underside of the overhang --- I thought I took pictures of our beautiful little standing seam roof but apparently I didn't, you'll have to wait until next week, it's nice - trust me you'll want to see it!

In case you missed this (because I SURE did), I "insisted" on having a keystone installed over the garage door.  Well, here is it - it blends in so perfectly with the stone that you NEVER see it, yea - I'm good like that!

We also had a quick, fun weekend visit from these cutie pies.  So good to see them - Ezra can NOT figure out why we still don't have the Wii hooked up yet or how we are even existing day to day without it!  :)



 We were sad to watch them pull away but were grateful they made the time to come pay a little visit (see you at Thanksgiving!!!)

 Meanwhile, the stone work did progress, the caps are on the columns  

our mailbox is finally started, still waiting for the cap AND our address plate, which they forgot to install

 here's a view of the south side of our home - all stoned in to protect us from the barage of golf balls that broke out our garage windows and smashed our siding to death.  I think we'll be protected now (by the way, did you find yourself looking for that "essential" keystone over the garage door that I just HAD to have, yea - like I said, I'm good like that)

 So by the end of this week (Week 11), here is an overview of how the outside of our home is looking now.

We narrowly escaped a HUGE color calamity with our home on Saturday - and had it not been for the rain we experienced this weekend it would have been a very costly error to correct.  I'm talking about the stucco color. See that sample piece that nearly blinds you?  Curt and I picked out a lovely "whole wheat" color from the tiny micro color sample they give you to choose from and the guys came up on Saturday to install it.  We told them we were concerned with the color when they installed the sample, it looked way too light (and yellow) but they assured us it would dry 100 times darker and match the tan in the stone.  Relying on their expertise, we left for the day.  When we returned home in the late afternoon we were surprised to find the concrete hadn't been completed as expected - and then we saw the sample --- still WAY to light!  We frantically called the contractor to report this color would NOT work for us.  Unlike my beautiful keystone, this color really would be noticed. A new color will be installed, and hopefully will compliment rather than detract, whew!

 I didn't take pictures - and I don't think my camera would do it justice - but we did get the first coat of paint on the inside too.  Marisa came and helped us out with that (THANK YOU!), and...typical as she has done throughout her life, she brought to my attention the simple beauty in our surrounding.  As we were checking things out in the back yard and all I could see was the MESS, she simply looked around and brought to my attention how beautiful Steven's trees were with their rich fall time colors.  Yes, it truly IS beautiful!  Another day or two and this will be gone and I would have missed it - I wouldn't even have noticed it (thanks again Marisa)

On to another fun filled week!