Let's get you back inside & show you the progress on the guest room. The shower has been partially tiled for about a year now-Tom & Mandy had misplaced their (read MY) priorities and had begun tiling the guest bath before working on the main living areas. Some gentle encouragement (like "What the heck are you thinking?!?") had the desired effect, we found their misplaced priorities in Martha's "House To-Do" list & they were both back on track. It's now a year later, the majority of the living space is, if not completed, certainly quite livable. We're planning on company here in October, so were focusing on the 2nd guest room. Tom is now asking me where the floor tiles are-don't know, don't recall seeing them (now mind you I had made tile & lighting selections a year ago....). Tom, Mandy & I look all over off & on for about 2 weeks. Tom's sure he bought them, we have 1 case, why would he not have bought all he needed at that time? 'Tis a puzzlement.
No problem, we'll just go get more-WRONG- they've been discontinued. So I'm back out shopping for floor tiles, I had loved the ones we had & am frustrated that I can't find anything like it ; have to come up with another plan.
Finally I find a tile I'm happy with & Tom & Mandy approve-it's a go! Tom goes out to pick up the cases of tile we'll need & brings them all home. They open the first box, 10 out of the 12 are chipped. If they chip that easily in shipping, we don't want them on the floor.
Back to shopping, the next tiles are gorgeous & look awesome with the shower tiles-slight problem, they're not in stock in the warehouse, 2-3 week delivery time-OK-I certainly would have kept Tom & Mandy busy until they came in but they hit me with the sticker shock....over a thousand dollars to tile the guest bathroom floor???!!!??? No offense to our guests, but I can spend a $1,000.00 on more fun things than a floor!
Back to square one-literally-I had looked at plain white basic tile in the beginning but canceled it out because of the white grout being so hard to keep clean.
I'm looking at white tiles with glass accent tiles-it works, it fits, it's in the price range-and with the new acrylic grout, cleaning is a snap-Do It!

Where is our yard???

We (& I use that term loosely) started grading the front yard on the 29th of May, more top soil was brought in, more grading, I was quite optimistic in the beginning of June-there were those who laughed at me-but I was- things seemed to be going so well.......The grading begins & it's starting to actually look like a front yard

Don't worry-we'll just move the neighbors car if it's in the way!!!

A yard!

A yard in progress (OK-same yard-new weeds)

Side yard next to our wonderful new neighbors (can they still be new after almost 2 years?) and by the Martha room

Side yard by the neighbors' whose dog bites Tom,
needs some work yet (so does the dog).

My very unique summer lawn ornaments~
if they're still here next year I'll hang flower arrangements off them!
Please disregard the camera date-apparently it's tired of taking pics & has reset itself,
the yard ornaments are still in the front yard as of the 15th of August!

The Framer & That Unfinished Siding Business

Are you all just groaning 'cause you just can't believe this is still going on or was that a moan of sympathy?
Numerous phone calls were made to the framer who built our house & finished about 95% of the siding last fall. They either went unanswered or we were told "I'll be there next week".
Not that we held our breath of course, 'cause he didn't show.
Well don't you know, in June (maybe it was May-weeks run together) he calls Tom, there was a large saw he left here all winter that belonged to a friend of his and now he needs to come over & pick it up. "Would Tom be home?" Darn right he will & they proceed to have quite the discussion . By the time they're done, the framer agrees to be here afternoons until he finishes the job he's on, then he's here until this one is done. Now mind you, he has 2 of his workers with him saying it won't take any time to knock the rest of this off. Still not holding my breath. He showed up the next day for an hour & a half and we haven't seen or heard from him since!
Most contractors do not like to take over some one else's unfinished job. Don't know why they walked off...did we not pay??... problem to work for or with???...bitchy wife??? etc., etc., etc..
So the hunt is on for some one to finish, Prospect #1 good candidate, can't possibly start until October. OK, another problem most have all there work lined up already-we do have a short season here.
Met with #2, he's done work for Tom in the past, all set, will start Tues June 5th at 9am.
Still not holding my breath....good thing , never showed, never called!
It's now the middle of June, the 15th to be exact & my Birthday; we're staying home to await yet another contractor (#3) to look at & let us know if he'll take on the job. Going out to dinner is no longer as important as is finding someone who will finish the outside of this Damn House!(Besides-Tom is a great cook.)
No-he didn't show............He did call the next day and apologized; rescheduled
though; rescheduled again after that. OK, it's a go, he can fit us in between jobs,they'll start the middle of July.
One guy shows up on Wed., July 11th, actually seems to know what he's doing, Tom's happy with him.
YIPPEE!!! We might just get this finished before the snow flies. He brings another helper the next day & they knock off quite a bit. Even seem a bit amused I took pictures. On Friday they actually came back! I batted my big brown eyes & asked them ever so sweetly, if they could possibly wash the outside of that peak window while they were up there??? "No problem-just give us the stuff to clean it with". They got their check at the end of the day Friday & said they'll be back in a couple of weeks. Will they???