The pavers arrived this week 'paving the way' for our deck to be installed! (thank you! I'm here all week!)

Now that the holidays are upon us, it's really hard to tell when the actual work will begin. Can't seem to get a firm answer out of anyone right now. So in the meantime, the pavers sit on the driveway as a mock reminder that the backyard is a sandbox!

Since everything in the backyard isn't leveled out yet, a little bit of rain puddles up pretty badly, so it needs to be filled in a little sometimes.

Stay tuned for the next installment, soon hopefully!

I know you are all on the edges of your seats, waiting for new updates, but you may be in waiting for a bit longer. We are now waiting for the pavers to arrive and the work on the deck to begin. As you may know, a very big holiday is approaching and I'm sure it will make the wait even longer since the crews will most likely get a few days off.

Stay tuned and enjoy the holiday music!

Lots of stuff to report since the last post! Some inside stuff, some outside stuff, a little bit for everyone!

First off, we passed our second round of inspections and hopefully today will bring closure to the huge moat dug around the soon-to-be-deck area. We are so paranoid that someone, either human or canine, is going to break a leg while out back. So far, everyone of the canine ilk thinks it's really great fun to sail across the ditches and pretend we've built an obstacle course especially for them!

Progress was made in the bathroom/dressing room this weekend as well!

Jen can now add to her resume, installing a toilet, laying baseboard and installing frameless shower doors! Isn't it all coming together nicely?! That girl is a jack-of-all-trades I tell you! She really did a great job!

Now that the first inspection is clear, everything got leveled and prepped for the footers to be poured. We expect that the pavers will start going down sometime next week.

We passed!

One down, two to go!

Since there won't be any work on the pool for a couple of days while we wait on inspection, we thought it might be nice to see a cute montage of Karly and Mason's feelings regarding the demolition of their backyard---enjoy!

Karly is not at all sure of what is happening in the yard, but has decided to focus her attention on the big blue thing which has taken up residence right where the bird feeders used to be. She walks around the pool and looks in, goes from side to side inspecting the leaves and dirt. Eventually she retreats back to higher ground and ponders her next move. We think she may suspect it is a huge bathtub and at any moment we may try to bathe her, so its best not to get too close! She is so sweet and full of wonder!

Mason, on the other hand, is absolutely overjoyed that we have gotten rid of all the grass and he is able to snoot around in the dirt, dig in the dirt, wallow in the dirt, and occasionally help pull up the roots that the crew so sloppily left behind!

In this pose, Mason skillfully models the latest trend in sand lipstick!

Look at this form! The ears...the lips...perfection!

Have you ever seen a happier face? Oh! I love this dog!

The pool arrived bright and early, on time and ready to find it's resting place in our backyard!

Unfortunately, we hit a snag which brought the progress to a screeching halt... the hole wasn't deep enough! Soooo, back to the digging and leveling and then it fits nice!

Earlier in the week we had gotten an estimate of $500 to remove the brick patio which you see in the photos. By the end of the week the quote had changed to $750 and Jen and I were starting to feel a bit swindled, so we began to use the wits our dads taught us regarding these matters and contracted the job ourselves! One guy offered to break it up for the price of a six- pack (we gave him $80) and another guy is picking it up and disposing for $300. So for the low low price of $380, we have gotten rid of a buttload of brick!

The next morning all the plumbing started and now we are just awaiting our first inspection on Monday!

The vista that once was our backyard looks a bit in shambles, but with a bit of imagination a vision of relaxing spring evenings and quiet mornings with coffee and the paper are starting to emerge.

Much to my surprise, the pool digging began today! That's right!
They showed up and digging commenced!

They removed a large portion of vegetation first, then began to level out the yard.

Then it started to get serious when the spray paint came out! Now it is easier to imagine the pool!

Drum roll please......the first shovelful! The guy running this piece of machinery was an artist! He was taking loads of dirt and gently dumping them right underneath our floor-to-ceiling windows! He was very talented and very conscientious of our house and yard! Eek!
The day ended with a very big hole, a little gravel and one very excited Boxer! Look closely for who was taking the first unofficial plunge in the pool!

I had hoped to post pics of the first shovel of dirt scooped out for the new pool, but as it happens, I don't have any.

Yesterday morning we met with the people who were going to start later in the day to map out the position, which plants were going to be sacrificed, blah blah blah...

I even worked remotely from home so I could be available for questions should they arise.
At the dark hour of 7pm, I gave in to the idea that they weren't coming. So, Day 1 of pool construction has yielded us officially one day behind schedule.

I think I understand why everybody keeps warning us that we will hate our pool company before its all over. Stay tuned.

Drum roll please......

We have officially finished ONE room in the renovation!

It's the room formerly know as the laundry room/litter box room!

Introducing the room to be henceforth forever known as

Kitty Shangri-La-De-Da!

After moving the laundry upstairs, the idea of the cats having their own space, far away from our noses was just a bit exciting and enticing! We gave the old space a fresh coat of paint,(which matches the kitchen and den), new easy to clean carpet squares from FLOR, little mini beanbags from Corda-Roy's and an upscale espresso and sisal cat tree!

I know it sounds minuscule, but this is progress people!

I know it has been a bit since I posted any progress on our renovations, but to be honest it is going rather slowly and the progress made is kind of boring, so that being said here is a recap of what happened last week!

Earlier this week, we had some trees trimmed and removed in preparation for the start of the pool in December. Only one tree was in the direct path of the pool construction, but we thought we'd take the opportunity to clean up a few others that were either in peril or of the invasive type. The guys that worked on the trees were great and the actual guy cutting was nothing short of an artist! Very respectful of our existing landscape!

This is the result of four trees and some unhealthy limbs leaving our canopy.

This is the remainder of the Magnolia that will go down in history as having sacrificed itself for our pool! (Don't feel too bad, it had a fungus!)

Today was spent working on the dressing room. We finished sanding and texturizing the new wall areas and doorway. Dad I hope you know that we talked about you a lot today while we executed our very best "feather-edge"!

Of course, after all the spreading of joint compound and messy sanding, it was time to see the color hit the walls! It took a lot of test batches, namely 7, to finally decide on a color, but we finally did. To top it off, we chose paint that has no VOC's so we will be free of a toxic headache tomorrow!

Stay tuned! I'll try to post as quickly as something happens!

Shimmy Shimmy CocoBop!

This post is dedicated to Larry, our favorite contractor!

Dad, you will be so pleased to see that in this picture, Jen has a handful of shims. She will be handily using them to level the new doorway she is reconstructing into the dressing room.

(She came out to the yard to have me take this picture just for you!!)

Leveled Up!

We have called Solid Waste Removal three times so far, but somehow we still keep accumulating more and more junk. Good thing the neighborhood likes us!

We are coming dangerously close to looking like a certain comedy duo of the 70's
wah wah wah wahde wah...

Day...okay let's dispense with the counting...it's just depressing

Since Dad left, the progress has been slow because it is hard to get us to do much after being at work all day! The weekends seem to give us opportunity to get some things done and this last one was no exception.

Feeling all HGTVish we started the process of picking the paint color for the bathroom. Let's just say that it is much easier and faster on TV! After a few trips to the local Sherwin Williams to get samples that looked great in the showroom, but quickly turned to a shade of old coffee or some hideous too-fleshy-foundation makeup, we settled on one. Can you guess?

We also started the process of coating the quarter round with polyurethane. You have to wait 24 hours between coats so this is not a short process! I really liked how the pictures turned out so I couldn't help sharing. Enjoy the wood that was destined for a pallet factory but was rescued by Goodwin Lumber and milled to one day be in our new bathroom! Yay!

Day 47

Right after we finished the trench, cleaned up the tools, and swept the carport, we went around back and found this little beauty! OMG!!

Yes, this is an Eastern Coral Snake. Yes, red does touch yellow. Yes, it will kill a fellow.

Yes, I almost crapped my pants.

We snapped the above picture and ran inside to check on the Internet to make sure it was indeed a Coral Snake and not one of Florida's two impostors. This photo confirms it. A Coral Snake. All of my elementary school fears came to life in one instant as I remembered being warned repeatedly by my science teachers to look out for this very snake!

I'll be staying inside for the rest of my life, thankyou.

Day 47

Okay, so while the last coat on the floors cures and we wait for the trim work to be completed, it's time to address the long narrow hole in the front yard that was created last weekend!

After nearly tearing her shoulder to shreds, Jen finally got a concrete blade to cut the curb so the pipe can empty rainwater right out onto the street just like all the other kids in the neighborhood!
Look at this girl go! She's gone mad!

I want you to know that water trickling out of a pipe never looked so good!
We cemented over the pipe and integrated it into to curb so as to look as inconspicuous as possible. Once the cement dries, it will look like it has been there forever!

Jen did an incredible job!

This is the grate where the water will drain off the carport and begin

it's journey out to the street!

Just look at this! You can hardly even tell that we dug a shovelful!

Okay, Mother Nature! Bring on the rain! We are ready!