Well....

Literally and figuratively.  Let me explain:

Literally, our first well is going in!  

This well is going on the south side of the barn.  

We're looking for a suitable location for well #2.

The guys said that they hit water at 70 ft.  

Figuratively, "well..." is about all I have to say for the current timeline.  Despite what our builder said last week about trying to get us in by November 12, the project manager said we are still on the same timeline as before, which has the final inspection on December 7.  "Well ______."  Add your own word.

The trim carpenters are still busy every day.  What was supposed to take 3 weeks is now stretching into... 5?  I can't even remember!  There are about 6-8 guys working at a time but I guess there is just  a lot of trim.  Here are some of the things they have been working on this week:

Building the trusses in the family room.  I did not know beforehand that they actually build them rather than shipping in large beams.  

 

Finished and awaiting stain.

Plaquing around front door

Columns in what I call the "gallery."  It is basically the hallway that separates the dining room and kitchen and leads to the back staircase, mud room and laundry room.  

Detail on Jim's office ceiling

Wall columns in media room.  

And the closets.  I met with the carpenter last Friday to go over specifics.  Before the meeting Jim said, "now don't micromanage Jesse--he does this for a living and he knows what to do!" So, I tried very hard not to micromanage.  I did give him a stack of pictures of ideas.  So they got busy... and... guess what we had to do?  A tiny bit of micromanaging! The hanging rods were going to be too close together to fit Jim's long shirts and suits and his shoe shelves were going to be too short.  (a size 13 or 14 shoe will not fit on a 12 inch shelf.)  Overall, we are happy with how the closets are turning out. 

Master closet early in the week

My side of the closet.  Michelle has informed her father that I will need to get more clothes to fill it up.  Probably not.

Jim's side of the closet.

Joe's closet

Joe's bedroom showing built-in cabinetry

Laundry room (my office and play space)  Sometimes I tease Jim about his fancy office and how I have to share mine with the laundry... but this is going to be an awesome place to have my desk and all my stuff for scrapbooking, etc.  When I get tired of playing in here I can always go out to the barn!

Speaking of the barn... baby steps there this week:

This area on the west side is where the stalls will go.  It is dug out so that they can reinforce the concrete along that edge and then layer the rock that goes under the stall mats for drainage purposes.

same area a day or two later with framing up

this is the area on the north side that we are adding concrete to.

Other progress on the outside:

Chimney caps installed

Getting ready for the pool deck

I went on a shopping trip for granite this week.  No word yet on how far out of budget I went... but here were some of my favorites:

This is one that I really like for the guest bathroom, called Opereta Gold.   Of course, we don't need a whole slab in there, so it may not happen.  The cool thing about this granite is that it has a little bit of the blue-green color that is going on the walls in there.

here's the paint

This marble is called "Dark Emperador Cafe Select."  It is one option for the tops in Jim's office and possibly the powder bath and media room.

This beauty is called "Crema Bordeaux. "  I walked by it a few times thinking, "hm.  Too bad I don't have any rooms with red or pink."  And then I had an "aha" moment:  I DO have a room with pink!  The laundry room!  Remember the chair I designed with that gorgeous raspberry color?  Of course, this happens to be a "Grade 3" granite... which tends to be pricey, so it may not be in the budget.  But is sure is gorgeous.

There was one section in the granite warehouse that the creative director kept steering me away from.  The "exotics" they are called.  Well, I snuck over there anyway.  :-)  Big mistake... because I fell in love.  This is called "Azul Fantasy."  This particular slab has those ugly green splotches, but there is a slab behind it that I couldn't get a good picture of that has more blue in it.  Sigh.  I absolutely love this.

Here is "Splendor Gold."  The name of it is almost enough to make me not like it because I am on a revolt against anything gold or rust colored... but I actually like this one a lot and it is my second choice if getting the most gorgeous piece of granite in the whole warehouse ("Azul Fantasy," pictured above) is going to mean that we would have to have vinyl laminate in the rest of the house.  

Another imminent decision is which color we are going use for all of our stained areas:  kitchen island, family room cabinetry, Jim's office, master bathroom, and floors.  Here are the options:

Trying to decide between the two center ones.  I suggested mixing the two but Jim scolded me for making everything too complicated!  Well???

As if these decisions weren't enough!  I have been putting "feelers" out with the few horse people I am acquainted with about our need to get another horse as we get settled in.  Horses are herd animals and I don't want Tia to have to be without a companion at the new barn.  Last week I got a message about a horse that is for sale by a trainer that uses all the methods that I have used in working with Tia (in fact, she used to work for the trainer I follow.)  He is a 6 year old gelding named Tex:

I went out to Decatur, TX to see him the other day and he really is nice.  He is 15hh, so he is shorter than Tia but he is very well built and he didn't seem that much shorter to ride.  He has perfect manners and seems to have a sweet personality, though he didn't seem as outgoing as Tia.  I'm just not sure about the timing.  Riding him put me in a riding mood, so yesterday I actually had a few free minutes to get on my own horse:

Having 2 horses on our property will be a different way of life--hopefully, this will be my view quite often, if not daily!

That's about it for this week.  I have just texted our builder about our latest dilemma (which I hope he will deal with directly) is that the designer/architect designed the laundry room showing a 24 inch deep space for the washer and dryer.  Hello... a washer and dryer are 35 inches deep and so now we have a very tight passage because they will jut out into the room where it is the most narrow.  (the room is actually almost pie shaped.)  The question now is whether we should move the plumbing and ductwork farther down the wall and stack the washer and dryer.  Another design dilemma?  Not to be negative, but my reaction is... "well, well, well."