It's been a long time.

I've never been very good at journaling or keeping a diary so why should blogging be any different? Sorry that it's been so long since I updated.





We have been in our house for about 6 weeks now and I'm so happy to be in my own home again! We love the location and the house is wonderful. No new pics of the house yet. We still don't have everything put away! I'm working on my craft room. Scott took the closet doors off in that room and put some shelving up for me so now it is up to me to empty the boxes and get it organized. I'll still be sharing the room with the birds. The will be sleeping in there so I have to leave room for their sleeping cages. Not too much of a problem except when I want to be in their after their bedtime they can get pretty cranky. We are havin solar screens installed on the windows tomorrow. He has most all of them made except for a few so it will be good to have them on--it should really cut cooling costs. They are pretty common around here.





Lacey is doing great. She is growing fast. Two weeks ago at the vet she was 29 lbs! Her feet are HUGE!! It makes me nervous just looking at them. Daisy has adjusted to her very well. They play well together; sometimes it seems a little rough but their tails are wagging and no one is crying. We had a dog door installed after we were in the house about a week and it has been great; Daisy seems happy to have one back and Lacey is potty trained. We have no accidents since the door was put in. Daisy is a good teacher/role model for good behavior. Lacey already has run of the downstairs when we are gone. The one thing I hope she outgrows is throwing up in the car. I don't know if its motion sickness or excitement but she does it most every ride. We never had that issue with Daisy.





I think I can finally say that I like living here. Its taken 18 months but I do like it. There is so much to do here. It is pretty cool to live in a city where people come on vacation. We can take an evening and go up and do or see one thing on the strip and go home. For my birthday we had dinner in Paris and a gondola ride in Venice and no passport required!





Enough chattering here are a few pics of the dogs


This is Lacey. She sits very well and is pretty patient for a puppy! Those sweet eyes look at me and she can get whatever she wants.


Tug of war. A frequent game in our house!


Playing with some Mardi Gras beads from a Casino


Napping together on a recliner. They do get tired after playing hard!


I like this pic. Something startled Joey and her flew off of his cage and landed in the flowers.

A new addition!

This is Lacey!


Already playing with her new toys!


Lacey plays hard and she sleeps hard but she has to sleep close by to one of us.


Lacey's first bath.


Lacey and Daisy getting accquainted.

Call us crazy but with 2 weeks to go before we move we go a new dog--a puppy no less!

We had been talking about getting another dog so that Daisy has a playmate and company while we are at work. Scott was researching various breeds even though we knew we wanted a mixed breed from a shelter or rescue. He first decided on a Black Russian Terrier but there are not many breeders in the country (3 I think) and we couldn't find any information about rescues. So he kept researching and discovered that many of the traits he liked in the Black Russians are also traits in Airedale Terriers. So that is what he set his heart on--an Airedale mix. He searched the web for them. On Sunday he found a litter of puppys on petfinder.com. The litter was and airedale lab mix and located in Kingman AZ. We contacted the rescue and learned that the puppies were due to be transported to a larger facility in Southern California Wednesday morning at 6 am. If we could get to Kingman on Tuesday we could have one. So Tuesday morning we packed the van and prepared to get a new puppy. We narrowed it down to two puppies and came home with Lacey. We originally thought her name was going to be Sophie but on the way home it became Lacey--it seems to fit her better with that little tiny white patch on her chest--like a piece of lace. She is 8-9 weeks old and very cute--at least we think so! Daisy isn't too sure about her yet. I think her puppy energy may be a bit much for Daisy who is pretty calm and quiet. She will come around though.

New House update

The outside with most of the front landscaping done. Just waiting for some "astroturf" for the yard.


The niche in the front of the house. Any suggestions for decorating this? It is fairly deep about 10-12 inches I think although I haven't measured it.


Sorry for the glare here. This is looking through the back window at the carpeted stairs.

Ever wonder what is under astroturf? This is it. I don't know what it is but it looks like kitty litter to me.

It's been a while since I updated on the house. We haven't been able to get into the house for some time now; so all of our info is from looking at the outside and through the windows. I have no idea what the upstairs looks like right now. We have our final walkthrough scheduled for May 23. (any advice for what to look for/do is appreciated!) and we will get the keys on May 25 so it looks like we will be spending Memorial Day moving. Of course both of us are working that weekend too. Movers will be here on the Tuesday after to move us. We are hiring movers through Catholic Charities. The price is right and they do the screening.





As far as changes to the house this is what is going on: The front landscaping is pretty much done. The back landscaping is left for us to do--shouldn't be a big deal since the backyard is so small. LOL The outside doors have all been painted. The wrought iron embellishments are up. The wall is built and the gate is on. As far as the inside, the floors are tiled and the carpet is installed. We have only seen the carpet on the stairs from looking through the windows. So for all we know the upstairs is still bare floor. LOL The appliances are scheduled to be delivered and installed on May 21. We are still waiting for the window coverings to be installed. Then I think it is all done! Looks like things are right on target for us to get the keys; we have already signed all of the paperwork. We did learn that real estate transactions are handled very differently here than they are in Texas. The bridge that we were waiting for is open, we have used the bridge to walk over to look at the house since it is open.





Since I'm new to blogging I didn't realize that there were some comments--sorry I didn't answer them before but here are the answers: Here is a definition of a Demarc(I spelled it wrong before) courtesy of Scott:
A demarc (an abbreviation for demarcation point) marks the point where communications facilities owned by one organization interface with that of another organization. In telephone terminology, this is the interface between customer-premises equipment and network service provider equipment.
A synonym is network terminating interface (NTI).


I don't know who made the cabinets.

Lots of changes inside!

There have been lots of changes in our new house. I put these pictures in backward. Starting with what I wanted first and of course that is last. Sorry about that. Things are moving right along!



Scott's pride and joy--The D-mark in the master bedroom closet!

Lots of changes inside!

We called the construction supervisor today to see if we could go in the house and see all of the new changes. We met with Derrek and he let us in and talked to us about the house. All of the light fixtures and cabinetry are in. The electrical outlets, light switches and network drops are installed. Smoke detectors are in too. The have recently been working on touching up the texture on the walls an paint--that's why the brown paper is around.

Light fixtures in the master bath. Hanging down while they do some wall repairs.

Kitchen cabinets. they are maple with crown molding at the top. Counter top should be
installed tomorrow. At the front of this picture will be a breakfast bar with a counter top matching the kitchen.

Dining room light fixture.

Entryway

Our house. Waiting for the fence to go in.

Lots of changes inside

Stairs, showing the two light fixtures.

Built in cabinet at the top of the stairs. There is an outlet and a network drop (for the computers and cable tv)

Cabinets in the laundry area above the washer and dryer.

Vanity in the master bathroom. The faucets are brushed nickel.

Garden tub in the master bathroom.

One of the things that needs to be completed is a bridge that connects the current part of the plan we are in to the newer construction. According to Derrek the bridge is ready for black top and should be done by May 1. He thinks our house will be done by May 9 or 10. He tentatively gave an anticipated walk through date of May 17. I like Derrek's dates!

The outside is painted!

April 17 we arrived to find the outside of the house painted. It's finally starting to look more and more like a house than a construction lump. I was so glad to see that the color wasn't reddish color they use or green. Again we had no choice in the color. The doors were locked so for the first time we couldn't go in the house. We looked in the windows and it didn't appear that anything had been done inside. The hot water heater and garage door have been installed.