Mr. Giggles

The best day of all!

We headed to the house early this morning to meet Andy and "punch out" ( I think that's a construction term...) all the details that needed to be attended to, when we received the phone call we had been waiting for....
A quick change of plans! Enjoy a minute or two of the best day we've had in over 21 years!!

Christmas Every Day!

One of my favorite gifts of all time was a book that my Grandma Mo gave to me. It was a collection of Christmas stories along with pages and pages of Norman Rockwell paintings. I still have it (I hope!) and 35 years later it is still one of my favorites. One of the stories is a really cute one called "Christmas Every Day" by William Dean Howells. It is about a little girl who tells her dad that she wishes that it was Christmas every day! Her dad proceeds to tell her the tale of a time when that actually happened. Well, you can imagine the story even if you haven't read it... the first few days were amazing, but then the romance quickly fizzled out. Too much of a good thing and all that, you know.

I am tending to disagree with that father, lately! We are in the final stretches of our house journey and... every day IS Christmas around here. The house has enough nice things inside now that I feel it is necessary to go unlock each morning and lock again at night. So... each evening I get to go out and see what Santa has brought today! It is FUN!!

Watching things like slabs, framing, wiring, etc... was amazing. But now it is the ultimate Christmas gifts every day, but I never know what I will see! I come home (yes, home!) to new tile, new built ins, new cabinets (take THAT, Loser Larry!), granite, bathtubs (that was exciting!!) driveways, outdoor kitchens, door hardware (so pretty!) and who knows what is next? I am adding some pictures to share with you all some of my latest Christmas presents. Hope you enjoy!

A few BUMPS and it seems to GRIND to a halt....

God truly has a sense of humor when trying to impress upon us the frustrating fact that HE is in control... not us. Whew! Tough lesson!

I know, I know! How can I whine when so many people are losing homes and jobs. We are all truly so blessed. I have, however, just come to appreciate the frustrations that Andy must deal with on a daily basis. We tease that he is such a grump (okay... sometimes it's not teasing... he needs to be told!) but if I had to put up with these millions of hiccups that happen every day, then I might be a tad crabby too.

Just to share a bump or two with you all. I am assuming that in a year or two these will be humerous... maybe...

1. We have a tile guy that promised it would take a week to ten days to install and we are on week 4 and just found out that the entire shipment of master bath tiles were shattered during shipment.
2. Our brick guys keep running out of brick (not sure where all the brick is disappearing to) and we are pretty sure that they are the ones who busted out one of our door frames to steal the speedy tile guy's tools.
3. We have a bank that won't give us OUR money until said tile guy and brick guy finish up their projects. Who made them the boss of us!?
   
4. And last, but not least, our beloved cabinet guy (I will refer to him as Loser Larry) called us 4 weeks after the cabinets were promised to tell us that not only was he not finished, but he really hadn't even started and he hasn't bought any material because he spent our $12,000 on something else. Loser Larry... please meet Lawyer Lenny!!
   

Needless to say that the calendar for moving in has stretched a bit. BUT... we are back on track and my hero Andy has things movin'! Every day, there is something new. It is so much fun, again!

It looks like we are going to move in around the end of February, which is actually great timing. I will have all of Spring Break to get settled and pictures on the walls - hopefully getting Kristen and Terri and my baby Jackson to come visit and help me! The first part of February can now be reserved for birthin' babies (I CAN'T wait to meet my new grandson!!) If you were wondering why I didn't include Michael in the moving crew, it is because he is now an official Academic Advisor for Texas A&M University ...WHOOP!