New Addition

About a month ago we got news that Laura's great Uncle Max had passed away. Uncle Max had a Yorkshire Terrier named Morgan. He wanted Morgan to go to someone in the family. Morgan is a boy in case you were wondering. Just think Captain Morgan. I don't know why that comes to mind. Anyway, Laura and I decided to adopt Morgan. Morgan is 10 1/2 years old. We didn't tell the boys we were going to be adopting him. This afternoon we all jumped in the car and drove to the airport. The boys were all wondering who we could be picking up. Morgan was flown in all the way from California. He had been with a pet adoption agency who deal with this kind of adoptions. So one of the owners flew him out. She said that he was very good on the plane. The boys were all very excited when they found out what was going on. We got Morgan home and he was excited to meet Max and Eighty. Well Eighty, our 15 year old cat, is still not 100% sure on what is going on. All she know is now there is someone else to bitch at when she doesn't get her way. I took Morgan outside and all of the sudden he lifted his leg, just like in the Captain Morgan commercials. Well alright in this case he had to pee, but I'm telling you he definitely has a little Captain in him. Cheers!

Dirt Dirt Dirt

Yes you got it today was another day of good ole dirt moving fun. I gotta tell you the pile is definitely going down. I filled in all around the pool equipment and the trees today. It won't be long now and we will have a dirt pile free yard. Cheers!

Tape It Up

Today the crew came in and taped the sheetrock. Based on what we are being told next weeks post at this time will be a finished office. That is awesome news since the boys only have 2 more days of school. They are very excited to say the least. I remember as a kid that the days leading up to school letting out were definitely filled with anticipation of a summertime. I guarantee you I know 3 boys who are ready to school to be out. Cheers!

Tiling Away Again

Today we saw some activity around the pool. Well the hot tub that is. A couple of guys came and tiled around the edge of the hot tub, so now it matches the pool. The inspector came to check out the sheet rock on the addition. Tomorrow we should see some exciting things happen with all of the taping and floating. It is all coming together. Now all we need to do is get the rock work on the hot tub done. Then it will be time to Chillax in the hot tub. What am I talkin about it is time to Chillax in the hot tub right now. Cheers!

Sheetrock Extravaganza

A very exciting day today with the sheetrock being hung. The rooms are really taking shape. It will be exciting to see the plastic curtain come down very soon. Even more exciting is the thought that all of us will be able to sit at one table to eat once this project is complete. I have been very impressed with all of the crews that have been out working on the house from Protective Coatings and Remodeling of Texas. Everyone is very professional. The clock is ticking since school is out next week and the boys will not be going to camp this summer. This means this project has to be done soon, so Laura can move into her new office. We are going to set up her current office, which is really the game room, with all of the boys video games and a computer. That way they have their space and it is on the other side of the house. Of course Laura will be sitting in her luxurious new office. I wish I had an office overlooking the pool. That reminds me I need to go get my lottery tickets. I really see my job involving the Tiki Bar. I need to figure out how to make a living sitting in the Tiki Bar overlooking the pool. Sounds like the perfect job for me. Cheers!

Water Time and Lounging

With all of the new sod we laid this weekend. It was definitely time to do some watering. It is only a matter of time before our lawn is back in shape. We did get some new lounge chairs and and umbrella for the pool deck. Yes we tested them out today and you can lay back in them and sip on a cocktail without spilling. Cheers!

Dirty Weekend

Nothing we love more than moving dirt. Yes we moved more dirt this weekend. On the back side of the pool we leveled out the area and laid sod. We had to make a trip back to Home Depot to get another 100 squares of grass to cover this area. Our dirt pile is definitley going down. We dream of the days of no dirt piles, no muddy shoes and not having to clean muddy paws. Cheers!

Sod Time

After we laid all of our sod last weekend, we realized that we needed to build some areas up next to the pool decking. I made another run over to the Home Depot and bought 100 squares of grass. I figured we could put the new grass next to the pool decking and move the existing grass to the areas back where we still had dirt. We wanted to make sure that there would be no chance of any water rushing over the grass and into the pool. Yes believe it or not it was time to move more dirt. Ahh yes the thing we have learned to do so well. Shoveling dirt into the wheelbarrow and transporting it across the yard to dump and rake out. Nothing like some good ole dirty fun. Cheers!

I Can See Clearly Now the Lake has Gone

It is hard to believe that only a few days ago our pool looked like Town Lake. 22,000 gallons of what looked like a bad mix of chocolate milk and gunk is not crystal clear again. Laura's Pool Chemistry degree has really paid off. She did an incredible job getting rid of our backyard lake. Between the chemicals that make all of the gunk stick together, vacuuming the pool over and over and cleaning the filter over and over and over, we finally have our crystal blue oasis back. Now it is really time for a cocktail. Cheers!

Time to Wire and Insulate

Today the insulation crew was out to install all of the insulation in our addition. One thing I realized is that I had not run the cable and phone line yet. I ran to our new Home Depot here in Pflugerville and grabbed some cable to run for the TV and some CAT5 cable for our phone line. While I was there I started thinking that I should probably go ahead and prewire for some outdoor speakers while the ceiling was open, so I grabbed some speaker wire. I love it when a plan comes together. I ran the cable and phone wire to the office where we are going to have Laura's desk and TV. Then I ran enough speaker wire for 4 speakers to the outside of the house. I figure we will have speakers under the soffet, so 2 went on the patio side and 2 on the pool deck side. I ran the wires back to where we are going to have the TV, so we can have all of the electronics in one place. I was able to work just ahead of the insulation crew getting the wires run before they put the insulation in. When it was all done, you wouldn't believe how cool the room was. Cheers!

Prep Work

More things happening in the addition. The prep work for the insulation was done. They put these egg crate looking things in to circulate are from the soffet up into the attic. I think this is going to be the most energy efficient room in the whole house. We also had Integrity Home Systems come out and wire all of our windows and doors for our alarm system. They did a great job getting us all connected into our existing alarm system. We are getting closer and closer. Cheers!

Mix It Up

Laura has been putting her new pool chemistry degree to work. Things are starting to change. We no longer have Town Lake in our back yard. The water has changed from brown to more of a teal blue color. We still have a ways to go, but it looks much better that a couple of days ago. Our sod laying is still under way and our pile of dirt out front is starting to go down. Each day, people are stopping by filling up a load of FREE dirt, so come on by and get dirty. Cheers!

It's Puzzle Time

Laura worked on laying out the grass all over the lawn like a big puzzle to see what we had. Ryan shoveled up all the rocks and dirt piles that I cleaned out as I started laying grass. Kevin came out for a little while and picked up some rocks. Austin felt like practicing for his skateboarding career was a little more important. I have a feeling that he too will be learning the ways of the shovel before this project is over. By the end of the day we had laid over half of our new grass. A major improvement over our previous dirt lawn. A couple of more nights and we should have this all laid out. This also means less muddy paw cleaning on Max. What a BONUS! Cheers!