Two More . . .

Well, we have now heard back from two more of the contractors. One is going to come out next week and give us his bid, and the other will be out the week after that.

SO - - let's see if either one of these two are any better than the first one was!

Keep you posted. . . . .

Good News, Bad News . . .

We have heard back from two contractors so far - -

One has priced himself TOTALLY out of the ballpark - - and then some!

The other returned our drawings with a very nice letter letting us know that his schedule for this coming year has filled up and he would not be able to fit our house project into his schedule.

I would be lying if I said we weren't disappointed to hear that from the second contractor. He was the one we felt really good about, and felt that would could have worked very well with.

Oh well - - three more to hear from.

On the "Good News" side - - Steve's uncle has referred us to a company down in Charleston that builds homes, and we are going to talk to them next week. I'll keep y'all updated on how that goes.

Also - - Steve knows someone who builds houses, and gave him a call a couple of evenings ago. He's a very nice man and an excellent builder. He is coming out tonight to look at the house plans and talk to us.

SO - - it's still going SLOW, but - - at least it's still MOVING . . .

Keep ya posted as things happen.

EVERYONE HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND A FABULOUS NEW YEAR!

Quick Update

Not much to report yet - - still waiting to hear from contractors. But, we have been getting in some estimates for house materials. So far we have heard from the HVAC, lumber, and brick companies.

SO - - things are still in a "holding pattern".

I'll keep you posted as things get going.

Our Next Move

OKAY - -

We STILL have not heard anything from any of the contractors, except for one who has called us twice asking questions for clarification.

So we decided the next move was up to us.

Last night I got into PrintShop and created a greeting card. We sent one to each of the contractors thanking them for taking the time to meet with us and go over our house plans, and that we hope to hear back from them soon so that we can move the process forward.

Hopefully that will kick something into motion with some of them, because - - as ANYONE who knows me will tell ya - -

Patience is NOT one of my strong points.

I'm just sayin' is all. :-)

Sorry . . .

Yes, it's been a long time since my last entry - - Mea culpa . . .

There has been a small bit of progress that I need to update, but it will probably have to wait till this weekend. Life has been out of control lately with work, homework, sickness in the household, etc.

I'll be back on here this weekend and get things all updated.

Stay tuned . . .

Filling In the Quiet Moments . . .

My Daddy, bless him, gave me an offer he had received in the mail for THREE YEARS of Better Homes & Gardens for $13.00. He knows how excited (and scared!) we are about this new house, and thought this might give us something to look through to get some ideas of what we might like in the house.

So we have been spending time while waiting to hear back from the GC's poring over the magazines and dreaming . . .

which is really kinda fun!

Also makes the time we are WAITING go a little faster - - and helps me cultivate patience . . . :-)

STILL Waiting

Patiently waiting - -

We have heard back from a couple of the GC's with questions for clarification on one point or another, so we know they are working on bids!

This is the hardest part . . . *sigh*

I'll let you know as soon as we hear anything more.

Updates . . .

Well, it's been quite a while since my last post - -

But sometimes LIFE has this tendency to get in the way.

Sorry 'bout that.

ANYWAY - - time for a couple of updates.

We met with GC #5, Brian, this past week. And he, like the others before him, came across as very good.

This does NOT help our decision-making process any! *sigh*

So now we have met with all 5 GC's, and gotten a callback from one of them for clarification on a couple of things on the drawings. So at least we know people are working on bids to submit to us!

Hubby Steve and I have been looking around at brick colors and trim for the outside of the house. In fact, we took a day trip to Southern Illinois this past weekend, and noted what we did and did not like about the houses we saw.

We are also looking at different types of flooring. I'm leaning more and more towards a tile kitchen floor (ceramic), and have seen a couple of patterns/colors that will go well with the Tuscan theme planned for that room.

But there is not much we can actually DO until we get in some bids and make a decision on a contractor.

But once we do, it will all start happening faster than we can keep up with, I'm sure.

So guess I shouldn't complain about it being QUIET at the moment, should I? Because soon I will be wishing for a few of those "quiet moments"!!

More later . . . stay tuned . . .

Numbers 3, 4, and 5

Well, so far THIS week we have met with General Contractors (G.C. from now on) number 3 (Dave), number 4 (Bob), and have received a call from number 5 (Brian). Five out of five - - pretty impressive!

Number 3, Dave, had been recommended to us by Rob, our architect. He, like the others before him, was pretty darned impressive. Same with number 4, Bob. AND - - from what I have heard about Brian, his work is excellent.

So far not a "clinker" in the bunch. You are NOT making it easy for us to make a decision here, fellas!

Once we meet with Brian next Monday evening, it will be time to wait for the bids to start coming in before we can seriously start the decision-making process.

In the meantime, it's time to start in with the business of looking at flooring (hardwood, tile, carpeting, and so on) and getting pricing on windows and doors. I'm also going to start looking over a set of floor plans and start deciding on room colors and type of faux finish I want in each (color wash, sponging, ragging, etc.). That will keep us busy, and then some.

GOOD NEWS!! My artist friend, Jessica, has agreed to help me paint the kitchen!

I had been trying to figure out exactly how I wanted my kitchen to be designed, but was not satisfied with anything I had seen so far. I didn't know what I wanted, but knew it was out there somewhere - - I just had to FIND it!

Well - - last weekend, it happened - - in fact, it fell right in my lap.

In her old shop, Jessica had painted a mural on the walls of an old stone wall, very Italian in style. When my friends and I were there last Saturday, Betty happened to mention that it would look good painted in a kitchen, to make it look very Tuscan. Suddenly something inside my head went, "DING!!!". A Tuscan kitchen!!

I didn't say anything to her at the time, but I talked it over with hubby Steve when I got back home. He loved the idea! Then we started talking about having glass doors in the cupboards, and following through with the Tuscan theme by having grapevines etched on them. I also found very pretty, delicate grapevine swags for the tops of the windows in one of many mail order catalogs that find their way into our mailbox daily.

The more we thought about it, the more we liked it.

So - - Tuesday I made a call to Jessica and broached the idea with her about "commissioning" her next summer to paint the murals. She thought it was a great idea! So now the next time I see her, we need to talk about colors and such, and get it all planned out. It will be VERY unique!

Thanks for stopping by - - Stay tuned . . . . .

Contractors

Well - - of the five contractors hubby Steve called, four of them returned the calls, and appointments have been set up. Not bad!

We met with the first one, Mark, Saturday morning at 9:00. I was leaving to head to Peoria with some friends at 9:30, but this gave me a chance to meet him and form my own opinion of him. Once I left, he and Steve had an opportunity to go out and check the lot, and finish talking about the drawings.

Sunday at 9:00 we met with Jack at his shop. We took him a copy of the drawings and spent quite a bit of time going over them and discussing things.

Two down, two to go - - we meet with them this coming week, one Tuesday evening, and one on Wednesday.

If the other two are as good as the first two we have met with, we are going to have a serious problem choosing - - but that's a good problem to have!

Stay tuned . . .