still bricking & insulation complete!

They are still working on our brick. (Well not actually working today.) They are SUPPOSED to be finished on Monday. But then again they were supposed to be finished a week and a half ago as well. The whole two brick color thing really set us back because they are having to tear out and redo several sides. On a brighter note our insulation is completed. It looks crazy! We used a blown-in cellulose material. Our walls look like they are covered in grey fur! The cellulose is made of mainly newspaper but contains other paper as well. It's been treated with a fire retardant and pest retardant chemical. Dry-wall begins on Tuesday! :)

countertops

Here is a picture of our solid surface countertops. It's called Aztec Granite and it's made by Meganite.

New Camera

I got a new camera today. Don't get me wrong I love my digital SLR. But I get so tired of having to lug it around everywhere. It's so cumbersome! My other digital point and shoot had pretty much stopped taking pictures awhile back. So I got this Nikon Coolpix camera from Office Max. We ended up getting it for a pretty good deal as well. It was marked $179 but we had a $30 coupon off so that made it $149. And then we had another coupon that was $15 off a $50 purchase so that made it $134. And then we returned 5 empty print cartridges for $3 each (total of $15) so our final cost was $120. On top of all that I have a teachers reward card that will give me money back on my purchase later! :)

Un-freakin-believable!!! part 2

Okay, we had run out of bricks the other day and had to order more. And apparently we received the wrong color in our second batch. Because when we looked at the house today we realized that there are two different colors on it. Apparently the brick company has 2 different batches of the same brick and we were lucky enough to recieve both! So now we have brick guys coming tomorrow to finish the job. But they can't finish until we settle our little problem. So now they will have to remove all the wrong bricks and then replace them with the new bricks once they are delivered. We have realized that nothing will be easy with building a house. Fair warning to anyone considering building...be prepared for everything, and I mean everything to go waaaayy wrong. Here is a picture of our two different shades of brick. If you look at the top of the wall you can see the different color. It's much easier to spot in person. Here are a few pics of the only good thing today...our insulation is going in.

The walls are moving in on us!

Here's a post dedicated to my friend Julie. She recently asked if we had stuff everywhere for our new house and here are a few pictures of our living room in our tiny apartment to prove that yes, yes we do. We currently have box after box of lights for the new house. Since I'm still home sick with the flu...for the second day...she knew I was at home bored..she called and we had the best conversation. I love her so much...she's truly been one of my best friends since like kindergarten. She always keeps me laughing...her stories are truly like no other. She is quite possibly the funniest person I know. I miss being around her so much! Here are a few pics of us from high school...graduation and prom. Yes, she was my prom date. The best date I could've ever had! :)

reading material

I'm currently reading the book "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. I got drawn into it by several girls at work. I think that there are currently at least 5 or 6 of us who are reading it now or have already read it. It's truly a fantastic book! Anyone who has not read it should definately check it out! Here is also a pic of Maggie sleeping with her head against the wall last night. Love it!!! :)

Exhausted Pups!!!

The dogs have been so cooped up in our little apartment lately! So when we went to my parents house Friday night they ran and ran and ran. The loved being outside and roaming around. Then pretty much wore themselves out! Here is Tucker last night completely zonked out. If you look closely you can see his beloved elephant next to him. :)

heat and air work/electrical stuff

They've been working for a week to get our hear/air work done. Our electicians are still not finished either. Here are a few random pictures of the crazy happenings inside our house right now. There is also a pic of a tic tac toe game that I discovered on a stud inside our bathroom. It made me laugh...even though these guys should be working, not playing games! :)

the CORRECT windows

We finally got our correct windows in for our garage and bonus room. They ordered the wrong ones and then it took like 3 weeks to get in the correct ones.

coins and ribbons

Here's some bricking terminology for you. The brick trim around the windows and doors are called "ribbons". We have a triple ribbon on all our front windows and doors and a double ribbon around the sides and back ones. We were really impressed with the ribbon work done today...our guys did this layering ribbon effect where each ribbon sticks out a little further than the next one. It looks incredible! We've never seen it done quite like that before. Then on the corners of the house there are "coins". This is where there are little brick squares that stick out a little bit further than the rest. Here are a few pics of our ribbon and coins. Also a few of just the shear amount of brick work that got done today!