Oooops! We've done it this time!

We've purchased those metaphorical non-refundable tickets for the Big Ride. We signed the contract with the builder this morning. Of course, the house, as currently configured, costs about twice as much as originally planned. Surprise, surprise. We still have to see what the bank says about all this. And the city has yet to cough up a building permit. But, it would appear that a major step forward has been taken. I sort of feel like Randy and I have just married the builder. Stay tuned for further exciting adventures.

Report From a Field Trip

Good grief. In an effort to bring this cabinet controversy to some kind of resolution, the estimator (who came up with this idea), the architect, Randy and I all took a field trip this afternoon to the local cabinet maker (hereafter known as LCM), with the upscale (i.e. ones I want) sample cabinet doors in hand to see if the LCM could indeed recreate them at a lower price. To make another very long story short, the answer is, "Maybe. Kinda. We'll see." The upscale doors are like nothing the LCM has ever done before, but they will take a crack at making some samples, somewhat reluctantly. The other unknown, of course, is this: even if the LCM _can_ make appropriate doors, will they be any less than the cost of the upscale doors from the original provider? I have a feeling this story line is going to drag on. And on. And on. And I'm not sure there will be a good outcome.

The upside is that we all learned a whole lot of stuff about cabinetry that we never knew before. How the pieces and parts get made in the first place, mostly. And we did select a countertop material and color for the laundry room, whoever ends up making the cabinets. Zodiac. Astral Pearl. Cool.

The Tale of the See-Through Door

It's been a very, very long week and a half. To make a very, very long story short-- First we hit a major stumbling block with the city planning department in getting the permit for our house. The major stumbling block was an incompetent planner, but it took a lot of time and energy on the part of a lot of people to get that rock, and I do mean rock, out of the road. Then the builder has started giving me grief about the cost of the kitchen and laundry room cabinetry I've selected. That issue is not yet resolved, but I can't help but ask, "Whose house is this, and who's paying for it?" I'm forever asking questions like that. Does he have some hidden agenda? Darned if I know.

But on to the see-through door. We're constantly going through new houses to hunt for ideas. Mostly we learn what not to do. We went through 5 spec houses Sunday afternoon. Mind you, they are a stone's throw from the ocean. But they do cost $1.25 million, more or less. Not large, but supposedly somewhat luxurious. For that money, no matter the location, I would at least expect basic competence (there's that word again!). Our favorite of the 5 houses had a see-through door. No, it wasn't supposed to be that way, but you could clearly see light in numerous places coming in between the boards that made up the old-mediterranean style round-top door. Which means that cold air will be pouring into the house, and warm, heated ($$$) air will be pouring out. You'd think that kind of money would at least buy you a decent door.

Otherwise, a week ago Saturday I had a grand time judging high school forensics contests in Atascadero. Kept my mind off house problems. I'm pet-sitting 2 toy poodles this weekend. Today I'm getting the block-of-the-month ready for my quilt guild meeting tonight. A good, red-blooded American thing to do.

Friday in Santa Barbara

It's late. I'm pooped.

My girlfriend Georg and I went to SB today. We looked at lighting fixtures, cabinetry, and more lighting fixtures. Also, a fellow who was out and about with his dog, cat and rat who were all stacked up one atop another. I'm not kidding.

I could go into details, but...

It's late. I'm pooped.

Stone Forest

It's late. I'm tired. Wait! That was my line yesterday.

The Stone Forest boulder sinks for the master bathroom arrived today. They are sitting in the driveway, all swaddled up on a pallet. At 90 pounds a piece, I don't think they're going to go anywhere. I'm really thinking concrete countertops under those sinks. I'm SO glad I decided to go with them. I loved them several years ago when I considered one for the bathroom remodel in our present home, and I still love them as much as ever. Maybe more. Love, love, love.

We also purchased a Stone Forest vessel sink for the library bathroom when we visited the corporate showroom in Santa Fe in December. Those people do really, really good work. Maybe we can get one of their outside fountains later. Drool.

Otherwise, I spent a lot of time on email today, communicating this, that and the other bits of information to various players. I'm trying very hard to keep everyone up to speed on everything that I know about and everything I'm even thinking about. At the same time, I couldn't resist just going on line some to hunt through various things like outdoor furniture, exterior lighting fixtures, and chandeliers. Shop, shop, shop.

Oh yes! I also spent some time buying tickets for our trip to NYC next month. This will be "play 'til you drop." We have left front mezzanine tickets for The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre, first row on the inside aisle. Then there are center orchestra tickets at the Shubert Theatre for Spamalot. Also, Carnegie Hall tickets, second tier, for the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Bobby McFerrin is the conductor. At that point I was suffering from sticker shock and quit, although I'd still like to see November with Nathan Lane. Maybe from the rest rooms? Those seats should be pretty cheap.

I've Always Loved the Scent of Gardenias and Bargains

It's late. I'm tired. But I promised....

I love to shop. I REALLY love to shop for bargains! We're building a house. I have LOTS of opportunities to shop. And a need to shop for bargains.

Yesterday I made a return visit to Tuesday Morning and bought something I'd spotted there a couple weeks ago. A line of "pretty" (Jen's word and I agree) but discontinued bathroom fixtures by CSI (Moen) called "Gardenia". I purchased 2 towel bars, a towel ring, a toilet paper holder and a robe hook. Half price. Yeah! And they weren't dreadfully expensive in the first place. These will go in the library/guest bath where the vanity and sink (already purchased) are smaller in size and scale than items in much of the rest of the house.

Jen and I both came, independently, to the conclusion that this design would also look good in the laundry room where we need a towel bar or ring or something, so I may go back and fetch some additional pieces.

The piggies' parents are home, so I'm done with this current pet-sitting job. The AI elimination, David Hernandez, was no surprise. I like his voice, but I found him a little scarey to watch as a performer. Wonder if he was scarey to watch as a stripper? We'll (probably) never know.

American Idol - Week 1

Shoot. I forgot to blog last night. I'll make up for it today.

Last night was all about American Idol. Week 1 for the top 12. Davids Archuleta and Cook have been my favorite guys all along, but Archuleta was dreadful last night. Among other things, he forgot his lyrics. Twice. Reminded me that forgetting lyrics was the kiss of death for those who exited at Week 1 both last year AND the year before! Cook, on the other hand, was one of my 3 favorites last night, along with Chikezie and Amanda Overmyer. I love how the rockers kicked it up with the Beatles songs. We've already heard those tunes ballad-ed to death over the years, but rarely rocked out.

Archuleta wasn't the only Idol in trouble last night. Syesha, Ramiele (you'd throw away a shot at being the AI whining over the loss of a gay kid? huh?), David Hernandez, and Kristy Lee were all weak. Well, Kristy Lee was beyond weak. I never could even figure out where the beat was in her ill-conceived "country" version of "Eight Days a We(a)k." It was a train wreck for the girl who was in danger in the bottom 3 females the last 2 weeks anyway. Bye-bye, Kristy Lee. Or should I say, woof-woof, Kristy Lee. Throw the girl a bone.

Terror-to-the-Bone Monday

Today we met with the builder to get his "final" estimate for building the house. Of course, it's terrifyingly much larger than we'd originally intended. Well, I'm terrified. Randy isn't. Who knew that I would terrify over money more easily than my husband?

Next step is to take this information to the bank and beg, on hands and knees, for a construction loan. Which will be based, in no small part, on whether or not the bank's appraiser thinks the house will actually be worth what it cost to build. Never mind how totally volatile and weird the current housing market is. Never mind how weird our house is. As built, it will be a 1-bedroom, 3-bath house. I'll explain that some other time.

Basically, I'm stressed.

Otherwise, I bought a belt at Ross Dress-for-Less (a $30 Calvin Klein for $10) so my jeans don't fall off. And a pair of one-size-smaller jeans for the day I can get into them. The belt will work with those jeans, too. It's a plain belt, so I can just keep punching new holes in it until I disappear.

The piggies grandmother, Elsie, received a belated 88th birthday present and card today from me and Randy. Her birthday was last Tuesday. I stopped at Trader Joe's and bought Elsie a big bouquet of flowers. Elsie is a gem.

From one of my favorite beadmakers, Luann Jamison, a string of her orphan beads arrived in the mail. I've been trying to buy some of her orphans for a long time, but some other buyer always beats me to it. I got some this time and I just love them. Orphan beads are fun to play with.

Well, back to work. Whatever that is.

Nose-to-the-Grindstone Sunday

Randy was off working all day today, so I took advantage of the situation to clean up a couple of messes, the kind of messes where you have to make a worse mess first in order to clean up the mess.

First, I cleaned the dining room. Doesn't sound like that big a deal, but in our house, by virtue of its geography, the dining room is the center of all activity. It always collects the most cat fur and gets the messiest.

Second was straightening up all the New House stuff. We have files, books, blueprints, samples, you name it. The stuff had gotten messed up and spread around to the point that I no longer could put my hands on particular items. I was looking for the window catalog the other day and had not the foggiest idea where it was. So now I've gone through all the files and recycled a lot of stuff that is no longer relevant (I once had nearly 20 kitchen cabinet catalogs, for example), gotten things re-organized, and everything now is all in one place, on the House Table, as I call it, which is in a corner of the living room.

Third, I cleaned out the kitchen junk drawer. Every kitchen has one. It's where pencils, scissors, take-out menus and other such paraphenalia collect. Over time the collection gets a bit TOO large. Like the New House stuff, I could no longer find anything in the drawer and could hardly even close it half the time. I took everything out, got rid of half of it, and reorganized the rest. Yippee!!

My friends Barry and Leabah are out of town for a couple of days, so I'll be pet-sitting their 2 pot-bellied pigs. When I went there for lunch, I met Barry's 2 daughters. Cool, since I've heard so much about them. At piggy dinner time, it was just me and the pigs and Leabah's mom Elsie and her caretaker.

I Hang My Head...

I swore up and down that I would blog every day. I haven't. I'll try again.

Status of The House: We're waiting for the builder to finish his final cost estimate, which then goes to the bank where they have some appraiser recreate the wheel. The theory is that the construction loan will be approved and ground will be broken at the end of April. In the meantime, I've continued to shop. Although generally, the architect and I have actually reached the point where we can't move forward until the cost estimate is finalized since the next step is to make specific choices re: things like light fixtures.

My recent purchases were from Pacific Kitchen and Bath's annual spring parking lot sale: a Native Trails round copper prep sink for the kitchen island, and a faucet for the upstairs bath. Saved significant money this way. In addition, the punched tin pieces made by Marian Moore in Taos have arrived: 2 large sconces for the great room, 2 more (custom designed for us!) for the master bedroom, and a cat door surround that will go on the wall between the back hallway and the laundry room. (We may have her make some additional sconces for the foyer.)

What I accomplished yesterday: Finally finished filling up a new address book. The old one was shot, but getting all the current info into a new one took F-o-r-e-v-e-r! AND, the info is all in my computer. Phew!

What I accomplished today: Did ALL the laundry, totally caught up with ironing, and "installed" fresh sheets and towels. Don't have to do THAT odious chore for awhile.