Several things are happening....

We met with the builder's son tonight. We thought we were just going to do a walk through and decide where to put the electical outlets. We were pleasantly surprised to see that most of the outlets have already been put in!! Dave and I had marked most of the places when we were there on Sunday. We just needed to talk about some of the "extra" places and choose where the data lines would go.

Yippee -- we'll have power all over the place -- even 2 outlets in the island. We are already talking about setting up some yummy buffets and being able to keep the food warm!

Here's our kitchen "sink".

We made plans to have the wiring for the surround sound to be put in the family room. We also decided to put 2 speakers out on the back porch.

There has also been quite a bit of work with the plumbing system. 2 of the shower units were delivered late this afternoon. They will be installed tomorrow.

This is where the guest shower will be.

The duct work has been started.

The roof is finished!!

Here is just a small pile of our rock. It will be around the front door. The brick will start tomorrow!!! Whoo Hoo!!

 The builder is estimating about 10 more weeks. OMG!!!!

Riley visits our new house

Now that there's a real "house", we decided to let Riley check it out. She sure seemed to have fun. Of course, she kept trying to walk through the walls -- ha ha! The house has now officially been "marked". She put her wet nose on every closed window.

Checking out the scrapbook room. She won't be able to look out the window when she's laying down, and I'm sure she'll be disappointed (kidding, of course.) She loves looking out the bay window in my current scrapbook room. This window is low enough so she can still see outside when she's sitting.

Guest bedroom. The shower and toilet are on the left. The sink will be in the middle, and the closet is on the right. She's looking towards where the bed will probably be.

I think she will be very happy in her new home. : )

House Blessing

Tonight was very special -- we invited several friends to help us bless our new home. We asked some people who are important to us as a couple. It was a small and intimate group - just perfect for us.

We joined hands and one of our friends offered a beautiful prayer. Then, everyone grabbed a Sharpie and started writing scriptures and blessings all around. It was such an awesome experience!

I really wonder what the construction crew will think when they get there tomorrow! I hope they read everything and the messages to speak to them just as they speak to us.

Dave is writing on the kitchen wall.

Good friend, Anna Phillips, is writing in the Dining Room.

Anna's son, Sam, is writing on the wall leading from the kitchen into the Family Room.

Good friends, Steve and Carol Boothe, are writing a Hebrew blessing on the fireplace. We laughed when he said it had been too long and he didn't remember how to write in Hebrew. We can't read Hebrew, so we wouldn't have known what he wrote anyway! He just wrote it in English - lucky us!

Dave's mom is writing a special scripture in our Master Bedroom.

It's beginning to look more like a real house! See the pretty arches? I'm standing in the Family Room. The big arch on the left is looking into the kitchen. The smaller one on the right is going into the Master Bedroom.

We had doors and windows when we got there tonight!! This is my Scrapbook Room.  I'm loving this big, 7-ft-window!!

It's definitely feeling more and more like "home"!

Here we go, Steelers!

First of all - yes, we lost. The team played horribly and it was disappointing. Still, the overall experience was AWESOME and I'm so glad we did it!!

The hubs has been a life-long Steeler fan. It's great hearing all the stories about his growing up loving the Steelers. Of course, he raised his boys to love them, and they are raising their boys to love them. When we found out that they were coming to Houston, well it was a given -- we were all going to the game!!

Dave's oldest son and his 10-year-old son drove about 4 hours to our house. The four of us loaded up in Dave's truck and drove 8+ hours to Katy, Texas, where his middle son and family lives. The entire trip, including the football game was a complete surprise to the 10-year-old!! We had literally just walked through the first ticket line when he realized what we were doing. His reaction was priceless -- just like the reaction of ALL the "big boys." :-)

Our seats were HIGH, but they were great. You could see everything......every sack, missed-place ball, missed tackle, etc.....

Big Ben in action.

Get 'em Troy!

Our 1 and only TOUCHDOWN! (Convenient that it was at our end of the field!!)

Wish I could've gotten close enough to see his smile!!  Ward always seems to be having so much fun.

We had a great time!

Lots of updates!!

Wow - I miss blogging for a few days and now I have lots of things to cram (I mean, gently shove) into this post!!

First of all, OUR HOUSE IS LISTED!!!

The real estate agent came on Monday to take all the pictures. By late that evening, we were on the internet. We have our official MLS #, so now anyone in the world can look at our house. Maybe someone from Singapore will love it and want to move to West Texas!!

Here's the link -- check it out for yourself. http://www.coldwellbankerlubbock.com/default.cfm/page/forsale/cat/display/mlsid/mls_lubbock/propertytype/residential/ml_number/9983182/referer/Search%20results.htm

If the link doesn't work, search for MLS # 9983182

Be sure to grab some popcorn and take the virtual tour.

On Tuesday, we had a big sign in our front yard!!

Since we hadn't been to our lot in several days, we decided to go on Wed night. We were pleasantly surprised to see......

YEAH!! The slab is poured! That first shot is my scrapbook room back through the guest suite. Did ya see how thick that concrete is?!? That's a LOT thicker that our current slab. The second picture is looking from the front of the garage to the back of the master bathroom.

Well, we thought surely nothing would happen for a few days -- the concrete would need some time to cure. On Thursday evening, we decided to drive by, "just for a quick look, even though nothing has happened."

WELL.........

The exterior walls are framed!!! OMG!!!! I was totally surprised!!! I really hadn't expected to see any progress today. It was so crazy to see parts of an actual house standing where just dirt had been only a short time ago!

This shot is looking through the kitchen, master bedroom, and master bath.

This picture is of the scrapbook room. You can see that the interior walls have been built and are ready to be raised into place. Whoo Hoo!!

Guess we'd better stop by on Friday night. There's no telling what we'll see!!

So, that's a lot, right? Wait -- THERE'S MORE!!

We had our first showing today. A differnet realator brought some people by to look at our current house. We haven't gotten any feedback yet. Hopefully, we'll get some good feedback soon. I have to admit, it was really eerie coming home tonight, knowing that strangers had been walking around, critiquing everything. Yuck. Still, it's worth it........ Maybe the people in Singapore aren't studying this house too much. They'll just love it "as is"! : )

Weight Watchers

So -- Dr. Dave and I joined WW on July 30th. I'm happy to say that I have now lost 10.4 pounds!! I have to say it's MUCH harder to lose weight when you're over 40!! I've heard that forever, and now I can officially say it's true! Ugh!! I want to lose 10-20 more. Still, 10 is a great start. I even had someone ask me if I've lost weight. Talk about boosting your confidence.....

My darling husband has lost 21 pounds! I'm so proud of him!!

I have to admint that our weight loss has been thanks to him. He prepares lunches and suppers and does his very best to keep me "on plan". I would still MUCH rather eat the sweets and junk food.

So, how did we celebrate our current weight loss??? We went to Sheridan's, of course!!! Guess we'll start counting our points again tomorrow.....

We have water!!

Tonight, in addition to the white pvc pipes, we saw all the water lines!! It makes it a lot easier to see where everything is. Also, very reassuring to see that we have both hot and cold water! This chick does NOT like cold showers!

We also met the neighbor across the alley........A family that attends the Preschool! How funny! Guess I'd better be careful about all the wild parties I throw. Ha Ha!! : )

Wonder what will happen tomorrow???