So Close, Yet So Far Away

 

Sorry,no pictures this time.  I am having issues trying to load them on to the computer.  Promise new pictures next week!  So those of you who just look at the pictures will need to do a little light reading this week. :)

We are seeing progress and lots of little things are being completed like connecting the power so we can test light fixtures and connecting the plumbing at the man palace.  Next week they are to pour the concrete for the carport and the landing off the back door that will gradually slope to the carport.  Currently it is like a 13 inch step down from the slab to the ground) not really what we had in mind when we said NO STAIRS at the new house.  

Michael finished the shower and it looks great and Jay has finished the frames for the mirrors in both bathrooms.

All the cabinets have been installed and painted but we needed to meet with our Builder to discuss the fact that I am still not happy with the kitchen cabinets.  To add insult to injury there was a $4,500 CO from the cabinet maker for my specialty cabinets.  In my real world where people respond when you ask them for things like the plans or a return of a phone call or email, I would not have not had a problem with the change order as we added a lot of specialty cupboards and drawers plus cabinets in 3 extra rooms but the kitchen still didn’t work and now I noticed that the cabinet designated to be my china cabinet was not built as I wanted and covered up the light switches for the kitchen. 

OH and the biggest issue of ALL… the center island being too big also makes it impossible to get my stove or fridge into the kitchen, let alone ever move them to make any repairs or cleaning!!  Had I seen the plans (my favorite tag line of late) I would have known that to get everything I wanted in the island would have created this massive counter and would have said we need to redesign.  I’m not a builder or a designer so I expect the professionals to notice things like this and bring it to my attention.  Guess I’m back to my version of the real world and not the real world I live in!!  Anyway to make a very long story shorter, the builder agreed to get AJ to rebuild the center island about a foot shorter and a few inches less wide.  It will still be tight, but at least now we will be able to get the appliances in the Kitchen (small details….) He is also getting AJ to rebuild the cabinet to be used for the China Hutch and surprise surprise we found the missing light switches when we removed the top half of the cabinet.  

We are about a month behind, but should be moving in the first week or so of November.  The other disappointing situation is the sale of our Dallas house.  It has been on the market for 3 weeks and zero showings.  We have done 3 open houses and have had good traffic, but no one interested in making an offer.  It seems the other 3 similar houses listed in my neighborhood have also had no traffic.  We are all priced in the same price range and the smaller homes in the area are even more expensive on a price per square foot basis.  Looks like it is going to take us a while to sell this place.  Just want I wanted 2 mortgages!  Guess I need to keep working!  Good thing I am enjoying what I’m doing and having the House in Dallas will give us a place to stay when we come to the city for work or play.  So I think this is called making lemonade out of lemons!!!!!!!!

WE HAVE CABINETS

They say good things will happen, have patience.  I am a little (okay a lot) short on patience, but AJ called me on Tuesday to ask me a couple of questions and said he would be there that day to start delivering my cabinets.  Sure enough at noon Jay called to tell me the first load had been delivered.  When I got there on Friday the house was full of cabinets.  We did have some issues.  Issues that wouldn't have been issues if we had ever seen the plans but since we didn't we had to make some adjustments.  One issue was that my center island was way bigger than I had envisioned it.  It had all the items I wanted in it, but because of that it became this behemoth.  To correct the problem would have meant redesigning the entire cabinet and to make sure I got all the elements I wanted it would have most likely meant many of the others too.  I did not have the time or the patience for that exercise.  So now my spacious kitchen will be a lot less spacious but it is still a great kitchen.  We did have to change one set of cabinets, because the design now didn't leave enough clearance to get the refrigerator or the stove into the kitchen.  I'm still not sure about the stove, but we did fix the side where the refrigerator slides through. 

The offending cabinets have been removed to be reworked- it will still be tight.

The entertainment center in the bedroom looks great but i forgot to take a picture.

Here is my seat with storage for shoes in my mud room  I LOVE IT!.

There was also an issue in the bathroom.  Turns out the bathroom specs were for a standard tub and it was built out and plumbed for a standard tub- however the granite and marble guy who made the tub and bathroom countertop made a bigger tub.  It didn't fit.  So everything had to be modified to make it fit.  The plumber was really not happy!  If it looks okay in the end and I am assured it won't leak where they had to cut the drywall I will be okay, if not................  

The next interesting story is our tile guy Michael.  He is a perfectionist so as a result he seems really slow, but I would rather have slow and right than fast and problems.  When I got to the house and went to see how it was going in the shower I realized that the seat he was doing was not what I wanted.  I got a little upset, not at him but at us for not providing a good picture of what I wanted.  Michael said he was at a spot that if I wanted him to change it he could, we would need to order more tile and that would delay his completion, but he could make it like I wanted, no problem.  I love guys like this!!  He was so sweet and came to work on it on Saturday just to make sure I liked what he created for me.  So as a thank you I steamed some of my Tamales and we all (Michael, his assistant, Jay and I) had Laynie and Belinda's homemade tamales for lunch.  It was a good day.

The Millers finally commit to being short timers in Dallas

We did it.  We put the house on the market yesterday.  Here is a youtube video of our house in Dallas.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8QlHuDqEEw&feature=share 
If you can't get the video to play try searching YouTube for Home for Sale at 5402 Morningside Avenue, Dallas, Texas

We have lived here for almost 25 years (December 12, 1989 is when I closed on the house).  The day we moved in was one of the coldest in Dallas without any precipitation that year.  We could never warm up the house that night and the next day we had to use extension cords and hair blowers to unfreeze the pipes.  But Christmas that year was really fun, here I was a little Jewish girl stringing popcorn and baking cookie ornaments for our rush bought tree so that when we brought the girls to the house for the first time on Christmas day it would look like Christmas.  Now 25 years later we will be having Christmas and Chanukah in the new house.  Time to start new traditions, but still keep some of the old (like the annual Chanukah party where we eat way too many potato latkes and brisket or Kumbaya Casserole and tamales for Christmas eve dinner).  It’s been a great house, we have watched our girls grow up in this house and hosted parties for their friends and our friends and family.  Such good memories! 
 

Labor Day weekend at the Ranch

Well folks, life is getting better!  Cabinets are being made and some should be delivered next week.  My husband is my hero, he was so upset that I was upset that he traveled down to the cabinet makers shop to confront them on this matter.  He was successful in finding them open (that has been a rarity of late) and met AJ's father Artero.  He looked him in the eyes and said (something to the effect of), "I can't believe the position you all have put us in. My wife is in tears because she loved the design your son did for her and the kitchen is the most important room in the house to her and now she has nothing and has to start over again. I can't stand to have her this upset. Also this delay is going to cost us a lot of money in delayed completion".  Then Artero explained that they had been buried with work from a national home builder.  Jay proceeded to say "and what is the excuse for not returning phone calls and emails."  There wasn't a good answer for that.  Artero then promised Jay they would get started on the cabinets Monday morning (meaning last monday).  I wasn't holding my breathe but really hoping they would.  Well they did and we should see our first set of cabinets sometime this week.  YEA for Jay.  Also now my friends Marsha and Steve don't have to worry about seeing me on the nightly News and visiting me in the County Jail.

When I got there on Friday the painter had finished staining the ceiling.  It looks awesome.

We towed the smoker back down this weekend and decided it was a good weekend to do some smoked meats. I brought down a ham shank and a brisket from the freezer plus some of my special spicy rub and away we went.  Jay started the smoker at 9:00, added the hickory wood about 9:30 and we put in the meat around 10:00.  Then around 1:00 we wrapped it up tight in foil and let it slow cook for another 3 hours.  Both the ham and the brisket we delicious and we will be eating on them for the next week.  We are improving our BBQing skills every time we use it.  Our repertoire includes ribs, pork loin, chicken thighs and sausage in addition to the brisket and ham.  We are getting to the point where we say, if it's meat, we can smoke it...

I didn't harvest any pears this weekend because we are putting our current house on the market this week and I am trying to make it look it's best for showings.  That is really tough when you are still living in it and have extra guests staying with you (one who sheds continually).  Wish us luck on selling the house, I think we are going to need it.  Seems like the market has cooled off a bit.  Actually the house looks so nice right now if's almost hard to believe its our house.  So next week I should be able to add adventures in selling ones house.