Wednesday, September 29, 2010

BOY'S TOY/CHICK'S PICK

BOY'S TOY

We had to make a quick trip out to the house yesterday to be there when the semi showed up with Tex's new toy. The semi backed up as far as it could into the driveway and then lowered it by hydraulic lift. It took these four to roll/pull it on the pallet.




What is in the box?

A brand, spank'n new full-house generator. Are you excited yet? Ho-hum. Boring. An unecessary expense. Not needed.



CHICK'S PICK
If Tex can have that, then I get this hall tree.........

To put here...............





ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR AND BUILDING!



Nervous Nellie

Sunday, September 26, 2010

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY




THE GOOD


Not all the stone is up yet, but we like it. You can't imagine my relief because no matter what it looked like we were going to be wed until death do us part. WHEW! on that one.


We like the floors...what little we could see. It is stained and scored concrete with an 8" border in a different color. We peeked at a couple places. No pics because all the floor is covered for protection right now. Another WHEW! on that one.











This is a temporary door into the garage. There will be no full glass door there. All the doors are going to be dark.

THE BAD

The drywall crew went nuts!














They put drywall on the wall above the fireplace where there is supposed to be stone. See, they've started to put rounded corners on that fireplace wall. What's up with that? They put drywall on the dining room wall that is going to be stone. They put drywall on the "exposed" beam in the vaulted ceiling in the family room.....now it isn't "exposed." I forgot to take a picture of that. There's gonna be a whole lotta "undoing" going on at the house next week.


I was surprisesd they didn't drywall over my beloved Texas star front door. My precious door had to be installed during framing because the door frame and the door come as one piece. I'm sure the door comes off the gigantic hinges but it weighs ten million tons. It has taken a lot of abuse so far during construction but the powers that be have assured me that my precious door will be cleaned, painted and will be like new when we move into the house. Is it wrong to be in love with a front door?


THE UGLY


We drove to the ranch yesterday in heavy rain. It had rained for hours and didn't quit until noon. The steel roof is partially on and we discovered a couple leaks here and there. The roof guy came out in the afternoon and saw the problem areas. He'll be out there Monday morning to oversee the work and to make sure there are no leaks when the job is completed.





BACK TO THE GOOD


Pick your bedroom. Here are the views from each guest room. I can promise you that you will not have to put buckets in your room to catch the leaks or sleep holding an umbrella....I think....maybe. Can I take back the promise?


The only promises I CAN make are:
No. 1 - The only thing that comes with the quest rooms is a view
No. 2 - I promise, there will be......
NO TURN-DOWN SERVICE
NO BREAKFAST IN BED
MEALS ONLY IF TEX IS IN RESIDENCE





Nervous Nellie

Monday, September 20, 2010

DFW AIRPORT

I LIED! I LIED! I LIED!

In my last post didn't I promise pictures of the house and no pictures of Dallas/Ft. Worth landmarks? Well, I couldn't resist checking out more decorating ideas and this time the go-to site was American Airlines at DFW.

Friday morning we got up at 0'dark thirty and headed to the airport. I stood pounding at the doors like the lady in the Mervyns commercial.....

OPEN...........OPEN...........OPEN while Tex tied up the horse in the parking garage.

They let us in and nobody was there. See, just me at the counter.




The sun came up, we got on the plane and headed to Indianapolis.


Tex and I needed to take a break from the stress of building a house. We desperately needed to see our Brayden. It had been way too long since we'd held him.
Does GramE (aka Nervous Nellie) look like she's in heaven?


She is completely and totally in love with this little man.


Grandpa (aka Tex) feeding our little punk'n.




Grandpa playing with his precious peanut.



Tex and I got our Brayden fix and our batteries recharged over the weekend. It was great to see Brayden's mommy and daddy, too, but that little boy is our love! Brayden, GramE missed going into your room this morning and seeing your big grin when you looked up at me as I leaned over your crib. Your smile melts me.
I found out that I'm not too fond of American Airlines red, blue and silver. Alas, what will Nellie do? This week should I go out to Bass Pro or Cabela's and check out the camo decor?
Next post, I promise, will have pictures of the house. The exterior stone should be finished this week and we'll make the trip out to see the transformation. I'm scared to death!
Nervous Nellie
(Can somebody, anybody, please help me with the run-on paragraph problem? It is driving me crazy!)


Saturday, September 11, 2010

JERRY'S HOUSE

You wanna talk about a construction job? How about Jerry's house....or, as we refer to it here in the metroplex....JERRY WORLD. Jerry threw a party last night to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dallas Cowboys, Emmitt Smith's induction into the Football Hall of Fame and Super Bowl XLV, which will be held in Cowboy Stadium next February.

Tex and I have not done one fun thing since April and we live five miles from Jerry's house as the crow flies, 7 miles if you drive. So, we decided that we would go to Jerry's party. Hey, I might glean some decorating tips from Jerry. Ya just never know!

Here is the top of the beast from I-30.


We had floor tickets and decided to walk down to our seats instead of taking the elevators. Glad it was downhill. We must have walked about 7 of these long ramps, took a curve and another ramp loomed.

Whadda ya think? Do I want Jerry White for my walls or Jerry Concrete for my floors?


Ooops. Got these pictures out of order. We took this picture from up top before we descended into the bowels of Jerry World. See the turquoise strip at the top of the picture? That is the bottom of the jumbotron. We learned that the cost of the jumbotron was more than the total cost of the old stadium.
Our seats on the floor were the third section back, center. We couldn't see the jumbotrom. Our big screen was the smaller screen at the back of the stage.



A closeup of the monster screen.

Finally, the place filled up and the countdown started.

The iconic Van Cliburn, our own Texas treasure, played "The Star-Spangled Banner" like I've never heard it played before. In these pictures below, if you look to the bottom right, that is where you will see on stage what is displayed on the big screen.


Then came "America the Beautiful" sung by NFL Players Gospel Choir. They were GOOOD!

Next on the program was Roger Staubach. I once sat across the aisle from Roger on an airplane. I was so close to him that I could see he was writing a note to Randy White who had just retired, not that I was looking or anything. I went into the bathroom immediately after Roger came out and the scent of his cologne was heavy in the air and it was WONDERFUL, not that I was stalking Roger or anything.


After my pal Roger spoke, here came Tony Dorsett, Charles Haley, Darren Woodson, Larry Brown and then, my dear friends, THE STAR OF THE SHOW IN HIS OWN MIND........MR. JERRY JONES!
Ooooh, boy. He didn't look too good. I would have loved to have seen his face on that jumbotron. It was bad enough on the big screen we were viewing. The man's face was haggard. He looked like a male me!
And, he was the worst dressed person on stage all night. He had on a sport coat that looked too big for him. His shirt collar had a life of its own. It stuck out and up way too much. He would have looked much better if he'd come out sans the jacket in just the shirt and the jeans. Notice that his shirt was not tucked in. You can't see it in these pictures, but the shirt was unbuttoned about three buttons down.

Somebody get the whip. "Down, damn collar, down!"


Really, truly. If this man had been stripped of his Super Bowl ring, his expensive but ill fitting clothes, and put out on the street in front of the stadium, you would have thought he was a homeless person. He looked awful.


The last of the football stars to speak was my favorite.....Emmitt. (Even tho I do love Roger) I've loved watching No. 22 play from his rookie year with the Cowboys until he retired. Tex got to go to training camp Emmitt's second season and got to have lunch with Emmitt. We have a picture of Tex sitting across the table from a very young Emmitt. Hey, Tex was younger then, too!


So, Emmitt was last and he got to kick off the main event. He introduced the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Gawd. I thought we might be able to get through a Cowboys event without them. Not so. Here they are shaking their hair. My, how talented. The music was getting louder and louder. I could tell we were building up to something.


They did two numbers, routines, or whatever it is you call what they do. The music was getting REALLY loud. All my internal organs were vibrating and my liver has not quit quivering almost 24 hours later. Here is a nice picture of their rears as they pranced back up to the stage and peeled off to each side.

Down the stairs....in the center....here he came....the main attraction, Tim McGraw.







Tex and I stayed for a while and enjoyed his performance, even though he wasn't the main reason we went to the shindig. We just wanted to see the place and get decorating tips. Can't say that worked out. I learned that I don't like blue and silver or Jerry White or Jerry Concrete. We left early to avoid the gridlock in the parking lot. Here is a shot of the jumbotron on our way out.



When we got out to the parking lot we both realized that we could hardly hear. Our ears were hurting. Tex and I may not only be too old to build a house, I think we have officially attended our last concert!
So, last night we got home late after our big night out. We had to get up early this morning to make the two-hour trip out to the ranch to see the samples of the stained concrete (I was so relieved to not see Jerry Concrete!) and to meet with the electrician for the final walk-through before it all gets enclosed in the foam insulation.
Nothing has changed from the last pictures out there. The torrential rains this past week held them up some and they are now finishing up the roof. This next week they will be putting up the stone.
I promise that the next post will have new pictures of the house at 7R. I will not post pictures of Texas Stadium, Texas Motor Speedway, Billy Bob's, Bass Hall, Bass Pro, Cabela's or DFW Airport!
Nervous Nellie

Sunday, September 5, 2010

THE BORING PART

There is not much visually to report. They have started the roof, the first load of stone has been delivered and they are getting all the electrical, duct work and plumbing finalized so they can do the foam insulation. Tex and I just drive back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It is a four-hour roundtrip. I'm hypnotized. I'm tired. My brain has short circuited.





Neighbors drop by all the time when we are out at the house. There hasn't been one time we've been out there that somebody hasn't come by to say "howdy." And, do you know what they all say? Everybody comments on how clean the job site is. Look at this floor. I wouldn't say you could eat off it.....but, for a construction site, it is immaculate. Go back to the photo of the fireplace wall and look at the floor and on into the master bedroom.
Tomorrow, Labor Day, Tex and I may stay in bed all day. Well, maybe Tex won't. I'm thinking he might have to get up to bring me coffee and breakfast in bed.....then my lunch....then my dinner. These old bones are exhausted.
Nervous Nellie
(Please, somebody, tell me why under the last photo, the paragraphs and my sign-off always run together? Why??? This is so maddening.)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

HE'S BAAACK!

The Building Boogie Man is back. The last two nights he's bonked me on the head at 2:00 AM and I've tossed and turned and fretted and sweated while he sits in the corner laughing at me until the alarm dings.

I wanna be a toddler. I want to sit on the floor and refuse to budge. I want to dig in my heels and say, "no, no, no, no." I want to scream and cry and throw a fit and get my way. I wanna quit.

I would quit if I could. Here we are, smack dab in the middle of this and I want to bail. I know I can't so I will soldier on, even tho I'm not the soldier in the family. I'm weak. That is my failing. I'm a weak wimp.

The furniture decisions are made and we can't go back on those. Just got these fabric samples from the company that is making our sofas. The solid color is the fabric for the sofas and the prints are for the pillows. Our sweet former neighbors, Laura and Allen Shoulders, gave us the cool cowhide pillow when we left Canterbury Lane. I'm going to have to get another one or two. Can't believe how well it goes with what I've chosen.





Yesterday we went to the cabinet maker. This evening we went to the appliance place.....again. Tomorrow it's another lighting place. Saturday it's the ranch. Sunday it's the Funny Farm with the padded rooms because I'm having mini nervous breakdowns.

Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!


Nervous Nellie

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

WEEKEND WEARY

It's Wednesday and I've finally recovered from the weekend. Tex and I have been cramming 60 hours into 48 hour weekends. I've noticed that I am starting to dread the weekends and when my head hits the pillow on Sunday night I'm positively giddy at the prospect of locking myself in the apartment and going nowhere for one or two days.

Last Friday night at the club house on the lake at 7R, we ran into these cuties who were having a "girls' night out."

Tex helped them light their hookah charcoals on the grill. Jen's husband is a pilot in Afghanistan and sent her these hookahs. The aroma was enticing....one was raspberry and the other chocolate.
They sauntered off to the lagoon pool to "hookah" and Tex and I headed to the motel so we could get a good night's sleep for our early Saturday-Sherwin Williams-Sunrise.
Admit it! You thought it was just stodgy, old fogies hanging out at the ranch, didn't you? HA! Fooled you. We're HOOKAH HIP now!
Nervous Nellie