The gas man cometh...

Our bedroom...I won for the blue color and I love it!


This is the island. The big hole is for the induction cooktop. Anyone know what kind of cookware I need?

Backyard view with touch sink!

View of kitchen standing by the bar

The BAR! I love the red cabinets. So glad Joia talked Danny into it.

Cool stairs with banister

Ooooh Ahhhhh!

Still on for Saturday. Stay tuned for details.

I'm not really exaggerating to say that my husband put in a whole week's worth of work on the house this weekend. By the time he was done on Sunday..you could eat off the floor upstairs and there were toilets installed. The amount of work he has put in to this house (along with Papa George) can not be put into words.

What was holding us back was the gas line. Well, they were suppossed to come today, and lo and behold with a little nudge from our friends in high places at ONEOK, they showed up, dug the line and then actually came and hooked us up. So, the term "cooking with gas" now totally applies to us. We are very grateful to Curtis and Brenda for helping us out.

So, this means full steam ahead. Not that things were at a standstill today...they painters finished up, all the appilances were delivered and the alarm was installed. As I type this, Danny and Brian (the plumbing angel) are out there working hard on very important things like plumbing and faucet installation.

Tomorrow, HVAC gets hooked up, heat gets cranked up and then comes hardwoods and carpet. We are getting closer and as the girls and i discussed at dinner....only 5 more sleeps until we move in.

Holy cow, I need to start packing.

The lights work!

Hot dog! We went by house today and wow...there was color on the walls. It is hard to believe these are the same walls I thought were white earlier in the week. They have started painting accent walls, installing countertops and light fixtures. There is a big pile of gravel to make our driveway. Progress. Squeal!! And, ONG, is coming on Monday. We may make it to move in on Saturday. My project manager/husband says we will know more on Sunday. Stay tuned. Until later...some pictures....

Ever wonder what melted ice cream paint looks like? Just take a look at Sophia's room.
Sloane's super cool window seat light fixture. I picked it out. yea me!

Pendant lights in the garage. Interesting.

The bar. Yea for red cabinets. Thanks Joia.

Very cool ceiling fan on patio. It is small but mighty.

Cool light fixture in entry way. The girls were fascinated that the lights actually work. They turned them on, turned them off, turned them on, turned them off, etc. Good thing Danny wasn't there...he wouldn't have liked the light show.

Upstairs patio ceiling fan


One week...think we will make it?

So close and yet so far....

Here is the house BEFORE Danny brought in the dumpster to get rid of trash pile. We are classy allready.
This is what the house looked like last Sunday. Still lots of painting to do......

back porches....i envision lots of parties and hanging out back here.

Oh my, where has the time gone? Yes, I am the world's worst blogger. I have not posted since Sept. 23. No, Dolce Vita has not come to a standstill. Work has been progressing nicely, but a little thing called life got in the way of my beloved blog. My good friend Miller even called me today to tell me that he had not seen an update to my cult blog lately. He is not on facebook, and that has been my main way to keep folks informed, so I felt bad, so I promise to get better about updating.

So, where are we now? We are 8 days from moving in. Yes, we are very excited and yes, Danny is working like a dog to get this thing finished. As I type this and the girls are snoozing in their beds, Danny is out at at the house working hard to install the sink so they can put the countertops in tomorrow. Sinks are important you know. I can't even explain the amount of work Danny has put into this house. He swears our next house will be a condo in Pacific Grove when we retire...and I believe him.

So, where do we stand? We are waiting for them to finish painting, light fixture are going in, countertops are being installed and the hardwoods and carpet should go in next week.

Of course, ONG is dragging their feet about running the line to the house so that we can turn the heater on. The house is very well insulated -- foam insulation is the bomb -- and the house has stayed a reasonable 55 degrees. Danny even bought a thermometer to prove it when the painters started complaining about being cold. Wimps. They can paint an entire house without wearing a mask, but it gets a little cold and they want to pack it up.

We are scheduled to have ONG hooked up on Dec. 14 (about a week late if you ask Danny, but those contractors work on their own schedule). I even called ONG and turned on the charm and informed the guy that our "6 YO is worried Santa won't find her if we aren't in our new house". He promised he'd do his best b/c who wants to let down a 6 YO? He'd feel even worse if I trotted Sophia out to his office and had her turn on her pouty face, but we aren't to that level yet. Talk to me next week.

I will be going out to the house tomorrow and will take and post lots of pics. For now I'll leave you with a few...I have been told by Joia (our designer friend who will work for chips and salsa) that i can't go back to the house until all painting is finished b/c I freaked everyone out when I called Danny earlier this week and said it didn't look to me like they had painted anything. It turns out they had painted the whole house the main color and I was just not color smart enough to realize it. oops. Sorry Jorje the painter...I didn't mean to get Danny all fired up on you.

More pics to come tomorrow. I promise. My goal is many short updates over the next 10 days. Wish me luck and cross your fingers we get some heat turned on.

We are putting up walls...in a good way.

This is the kitchen...lots of hanging out and eating and fun will take place around our big island!

This is the living room. Note the super cool see through fire place.


Come in. This is the view from the front door.

Here are the back porches. I predict these will be popular gathering places.

Front of the house. Who needs grass when you have a nice sheetrock pile.

Now when I say we are putting up walls, I mean that in a good way, not in some psycho-analytical/need professional help sort of way. The sheet rock is up, it has been mudded and taped (look at me throwing around construction words) and the upstairs has had sheetrock texture applied and it is looking good. Well, except for the mess they made. Sheetrock hangers are not very good at cleaning up after themselves. Actually, I think Danny was pleased with how they cleaned up and now we have a huge pile of sheetrock pieces in front of our house. Danny keeps trying to get it to burn (Creek County -- no rules), but it doesn't burn real well. I'm sure he will keep trying. Fire is his thing. Well, that and and building closet shelving, building panty shelves, trimming out windows and working on exterior stucco. Have I mentioned that Danny is a great project manager?

Up next...trimming out windows and building shelves in Sloane and Sophia's closet. Our cabinets are done and ready to be installed but Danny won't have them installed until the front door is in. Where is the front door you ask? Somewhere on a slow boat (container ship) on its way from China. Hopefully it will be here soon. Danny says the painter will start inside in 3 weeks. We probably need to start picking colors. That terrifies me.

We are getting closer. Danny says we are still on track for a Thanksgiving move-in date. So if you want to spend your Thanksgiving weekend moving boxes, I know just the place for you!

On another note, we knew moving out to the country, we'd have some critter issues. Danny went to the house last Friday night. It was dark. He kept hearing these thumping noises. He turned a light on to see three bats flying around the house. Nice. Quite a fancy bat house. And, our neighbor told me her German Shepherd chased a coyote down the hill that runs behind our house the other day. Oh great....I can't wait for Gracie "the mutt who thinks she is a big, giant guard dog" to try to tangle with the local wildlife. Note to self: Belle, my parents Shih Tzu, can never come visit Dolce Vita.

Dreaming of Fall........

The back porch..allready affectionally known as the "party porch"

20 points to the person who can accurately guess what this is. Give Up? It is called a manifold (I thought those were only in cars). It is the basically the heart of the plumbing operations in our house. Everything runs through there. Fancy schmancy. or at least I think it is.

No, this is not Gracie's time out box. This is the custom made, thanks to Danny, woofer (see where I got the dog pun?) box for the woofer for our TV.

Foam insulation. Very cool. And foam like.

The fireplace is in! A single long, skinny gas flame. Super cool. Well hot. See through on both sides. Turns on and off with the flip of a switch. That is my kind of fire.

So it has been like a 115 degrees here, but that has not stopped Danny and the work on Dolce Vita. Work is progressing nicely and we are still on schedule for a Thanksgiving move-in date. How is that for planning so I don't have to cook Thanksgiving dinner? Not that I have ever done that, but there is a first time for everything, right? Not this year. Now our Christmas Eve open house party that has been dormant for a few years? That is back on like donkey kong. Doodle is very excited about that!

But, I need to quit planning parties in our house that isn't finished yet and give an update on progress. I know you are on the edge of your seat.

The plumbing is finished...well at least as finished as it can be before we plug everything in (that is Tracy speak for plumbing) and turn on the water. The water line has been dug to the house and is in place. That was no fun for Danny and Brian, the plumbing angel, who both ended up with horrible cases of poison ivy from digging through tree roots and such. Both of them ended up at the doctor for cream, lotions and shots. They are both better now, but Danny is still itching.

The gas line is done inside the house and the power line is also run to the house. So, we are closer to having electricity, water and gas. All very important things.

The house is also now insulated, we used both foam and regular fiberglass insultation. Danny says it is allready working and the house is warmer inside b/c it holds heat better. That is good I guess except when it is 120 degrees outside.

This will be another big week for Dolce Vita. The sheetrocking will begin, which will really make it look like a house inside. Sophia will be sad b/c she thinks it is really cool to walk b/w the framing from room to room. She calls it her "shortcuts". The rock for the outside will be delivered all the way from Dallas this week. NOTE: we will not be responsible for any broken windshields resulting from the 2 semi trucks traveling up highway 75 with 48 tons of rock for our house. Just stay out of their way. And, the stucco work will start this week. We still need to figure out the final color, but that will be easier once the rock is here. Or at least that is what Danny says.

We started light shopping last week. We made good head way...ceiling fans, cool lights for girls' room (if they fit in budget), very neat formal dining room light. We are still stumped on entry light. We want something unique and different, but within budget. It is a large space, so it also needs to be a good-sized light. We found the perfect light, but then a little thing called the budget got in the way. The light we picked was more than double what Danny had budgeted for that light. Back to the drawing board on that one.

We have also ordered cabinets and Danny is looking at flooring options. So, it is moving along at a rollicking pace. Of course, we are headed to Dallas for Labor Day weekend to hang with friends and do fun stuff with the girls. I thought Danny would be upset b/c he would lose a weekend to work on house. Actually, he was much more upset about missing OU's home opener (really? it is Utah State), but he got over it and moved on. Of course, he spent most of the evening trying to figure out where he (maybe he'll let girls and I come) is going to watch the game. Gotta have your priorities you know.

That is the update for now. Be sure to be watching for your invite to the Christmas Eve open house party. It is only 4 months away. Gotta start planning some time!

Wires, Plumbing and Patios...Oh My!

This is what the house looks like now. The stucco guys are waiting for drywall to be done inside so that all that banging doesn't knock off the stucco. We finally picked stucco and rock/trim colors. YEA US. One major decision down.

Steak, anyone? Welcome to Danny's grillin' space. I can almost smell the goodness!

The downstairs party patio. Lots of room for everyone.

The bottom hole is the super cool, fancy fireplace that will be see through on both sides-- so you'll see it in the living room and the kitchen. And, it will turn on with just a flip of a switch..that is my kind of fire.

This is the controls for our shower. I'm allready confused.

Even though this blog has been quiet, it has been anything but quiet at Dolce Vita. A lot of small, but very important detail work has been going on.

Plumbing? Check. Security System? Check. Electrical? Check. Heat and A/C? Check. Duct Work? Check. Cable/Phone/Surround Sound? Check. Central Vacuum? Going in on Friday. It doesn't make for great photos, but it is moving along.

Even the outdoor shower is plumbed. Thank you El Dorado Royale in Cancun, Mexico for the great idea.

The front porch and back patio were also poured this week. Danny even has his own grilling spot. Very nice. Of course, he did have to do some work to the steps off the back porch. They were way too short and small and I would have wiped out way too many times.

So, what are next steps? I'm pleased to report they will be a little more visually stimulating....insulation and drywall. Woohooo. Real Walls. This is gonna be fun.

Then the hard part begins....picking colors -paint, floors, cabinets, etc. Well, let me rephrase that...then the tough part starts for Danny. I have absolutely NO business weighing in on those decisions until they have been narrowed down, so I'll let Danny (and our online consultant Joia) begin that process. They are very good at including me though.

And, Danny suffered another minor injury tonight. The hammer mistook his pointer finger for a nail. OUCH!!!!!! It does not look pretty and is bruised and his fingernal is turning a nice shade of purple. He is currently icing it as I type and waiting for it to quit throbbing. We've been fortunate so far that Danny and Brian and George haven't had a heat stroke out there (no, the AC is not hooked up) and I worry about them during the weekends. Well, not enough to go out there and babysit them, but I do check on them often and offer to bring beverages. The girls last about 20 minutes out there before they start complaining about being hot. We are all ready for fall weather.

If we add up all the sweat equity in Dolce Vita, we'd have a million dollar plus home and that doesnt' even take into account this miserably hot weather.

The front of the house..windows and roof! Next comes rock and stucco.

This is the back of the house

Windows lined up and ready to install.

Septic Tank..exciting stuff!

There have been two major developments related to relieving yourself at Dolce Vita. The first is only temporary..thank goodness. We now have a portapotty! I may have mentioned this last time, but it is still a big deal. Now, our niece Rebecca and others who will remain nameless to protect the innocent will not have to "go" in the woods. The girls were fascinated by the portapotty but wondered why we needed it. Danny explained to them that it would keep the workers from using the toilets in the house after they were installed. Which led Sloane to state emphatically: "I don't want any dirty butts on my toilet." Well said dear.

We got our septic system put in this week. Holy moly. It is two GIANT boxes with green lids on the top. I'm still not sure how it works and why, so I'm not even going to begin to try to explain it here. Just suffice it to say, they are huge, anaerobic (whatever that means) and Danny is pleased with them. And, they had to bring in a special rock cutter to dig the holes because they hit rock very soon after they started digging. Note to self: make sure Danny includes "giant rock cutting thingy/machine" in pool budget.

Plumbing is underway as well. Danny and Brian, our plumbing angel, spent ALL of last weekend working on plumbing. They got quite a bit done and Danny only suffered two injuries when the drill he was using kicked back and hit him in the jaw and then cracked him on the cheek the next day. But, he was tough. They still have a lot of work to do and to me it just looks like a giant puzzle of white pipe, but as we all know, the best thing I can do is stay out of the way.

Our windows were installed this week as well. They are beautiful. Danny really researched the window options, studied casing color options and worked hard for just the right look. Again, score another one for Danny because they are fabulous. Pics are above, but you can tell they will really make the house.

The garage doors (that Danny designed) were also installed this week. They look really good, match the windows and front door (of course they do...Danny designed them) and are big enough for me to park my beast of a car without hitting them..hopefully.

With the doors (all except the front door which has been ordered), windows and garage doors all in, that means we are reaching a point where we can lock up the house. Danny will have to put a piece of plywood over the front door (classy), but that will keep critters (no official critter sightings yet, but I know they are out there) and others out of the house. It also means it will heat up like an inferno during these hot summer days. Who to the rescue? George and Linda (aka Mimi and Papa: the guest room upstairs is named for them). They came down this week to bring Danny fans, lights, barrels and a nail gun. What is a construction site without a nail gun? Everyone needs one.

So, what's next? The air conditioning and heating guys are working, the plumbing continues next weekend (not this weekend -- it is July 4 -- a party weekend), electrical work will start and work will begin on the exterior next week. First comes the rock and then comes the stucco. We have had major debates over stucco colors. I know what I DON'T like: mustard yellow, Ugh. Why would I want my house to be the color of pee? There seems to be a theme to this post...nevermind. We are learning towards the taupe/tan/light brown, but not too dark. I'm sure it has some official, fancy color name that a PR person like me came up with so it would sound cool. But, I don't know what that is yet. This is a big decision. It may require an official consult from our friend Joia, our design expert. She should allready have a tab running for us based on the questions I've emailed her. She has graciously offered her help even though she does not do residential design. . And, she'll work for chips and salsa and mojitos. We can afford her.

Please come visit Dolce Vita anytime. It is open for tours. The girls are great tour guides and are excited to show off their rooms, the safe room, the muddy back porch, monkey house next door, their tire swing and the portapotty. I'd still recommend using the restroom before you come visit.

A Roof Over Our Heads

In case you didn't know it, it has been HOT and DRY in Tulsa this past week. Which has been good for us and the construction. Lots of progress has been made....the second floor is framed in, the roof framing is done and tada....today we got a roof! Take that Mother Nature....Dolce Vita has a roof to protect it from your wrath. Of course, we still don't have windows, but that will just allow a nice breeze to blow through while all the work goes on inside. That is if you consider a heat index of 105 a nice breeze.

I went out to the Dolce Vita this morning and the roofers were just starting to load all their materials on the roof. These guys are crazy...they were just walking around on the roof with no safety equipment whatsoever. Danny said they would be happy to walk on our roof because it is a lower pitched roof (look at me throwing around construction terms) than most residential roofs.

So, I'm standing there this morning looking very construction-like in my work clothes and high heeled sandals taking pictures with my iphone (check out my facebook page for a cool picture). I have Danny on the phone and he is telling me to check the shingles to make sure they are right ones. Once I have assured him they are the "Tamko Weatherwood", he promptly instructs me to "get the heck out of the way before you get hurt". I think he thought I might try to crawl on the roof with them. Stranger things have happened, but that is a story for another blog.

I back up and watch for a few minutes and finally one of the roofers who looked lik he just walked off the set of the Sopranos (tattoos and gold necklaces and all) comes up to me and and says "Hi I'm (insert Sopranos style name here -- I've already forgotten his name)". I say "Hi, I'm Tracy, Danny's wife" b/c I just assume all the workers know who Danny is since he is signing their checks. He looks right at me and says, "well I don't know who Danny is". I look right back at him and smirk and stand a little taller in my high heels and say "we are the homeowners." He was very nice after that. He even chased after me as I snooped around some other shingles in the street to assure me they were for his next job...not our house. I was a good co-project manager today. Maybe Danny should put me on the payroll.

So, lots of pictures in this blog. Lots of cool stuff to show you. But here is the quiz of the day. Check out the two pictures of the "prettily shaped wood thingies" (that is what I called them) at the top. What do construction types like Danny call these? Now, if this was one of those really cool blogs that had 1 million followers and was sponsored by Amazon, I'd have a cool prize for the winning guess. But since my blog is still small, how about a shout out on my facebook page or twitter account? You choose. The answer is below.

Up next...plumbing -- gotta get running water upstairs. Electrical, HVAC, central vacuum (that is for me even though I don't vacuum much), alarm, phone/video (hello Doodle? thank goodness he'll work for beer) and other inside stuff. No windows yet b/c Danny doesn't want everyone working inside to have a heat stroke because there is no air moving through. Dolce Vita will be really cool when it is finished, but right now it is really hot and stuffy.

And, the answer to the quiz is it is called a korbel. Yes, I know that is a brand of champagne, but those of you who know me know that I love to link things to drinks. And, to appease my former school teacher mother, the correct spelling is corbel.

According to wikipedia, the correct definition is corbel is a piece of stone (or in our case wood) jutting out to carry a superincumbent amount of weight. I don't think ours are carrying any superincumbent weight, they are just for looks. They really look cool and will give a nice, finished look to the roof line. Score one for Danny and his architectural eye.

Till next time, may your corbel hold its weight and your Korbel fizz when you open it.

Soon...we won't care about the weather!

It used to be only Sage the dog who was freaked out by storms at our our house. Well, and the girls. And me..kind of. But Danny was always cool as a cucumber about storms. Until we started building Dolce Vita. Now, he begins to toss and turn as the thunder rolls and cautiously watches the skies. He made two thunderstorm trips to the lot this week...one just to check everything out and one to drill holes for drainage with a cordless drill...thank goodness my brother had one. Electrical cord for drill + mud pond (or water feature?) in backyard = not a good combination.

Before the rain started, we took the girls out to the house and the stairs were done and the second floor was decked ready for the framers to show up and do the walls. It was fun to walk up there and see the views. Of course, Danny and I spent most our time watching the girls like hawks and yelling at them to "stay away from the edge so you don't fall". The last thing we wanted was one of them to topple off the edge while peering out their window.

The next day, the magic mexcian framing crew showed up and framed all the walls upstairs in half a day. These guys are amazing....they have a huge crew and they get it done. The girls were really excited to see their rooms and closets and bathrooms. Danny and I got excited about the second floor deck...we will have an amazing view.

The magic mexican crew was ready to get started on Monday with the roof framing and decking.

But, then came the rain. Again. and Again. I'm starting to sense a theme here.....

Anyone who has turned on a TV lately knows Oklahoma has been pounded by rain. So, the only action at Dolce Vita this week has been the hum of the pump as Danny has been working to get rid to get rid of the mosquito resort in the backyard.

But..sunny days are ahead. The weathermen are predicting 10 days of dry, hot weather. For the first time in my life, that thrills me to no end.

Of course, we are reaching a point where once the roof is done and the windows are in....(FYI: Danny's prediction: the end of next week), the weather won't be such an issue for us. It will slow down work on the outside, but all the fun stuff (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, phones, etc) can go on inside. My prediction: progress will look much slower to clueless people like me when it becomes smaller. It is pretty impressive to pull up and see an entire second floor framed. I'm not sure electrical wiring will look so impressive, but we'll see.

I'm not holding my breath....I know there will be other issues, but maybe we can all begin to enjoy the sound of rain on the roof of the smurf rent house rather than being jolted awake worrying about wood warping and wondering how in the world it is possible to flood on a hill.

Stranger things have happened.....

Watch out Mother Nature..we've got microwaves!

Midnight Memorial Day 2010: a huge thunderstorm rolls into Tulsa. I wake up because I always wake up when it storms. I turn on the TV, make sure we aren't going to blow away and then try to go back to sleep. I can sense Danny tossing and turning and the next thing I know he is tapping me on the shoulder. He is fully dressed and tells me "I'm headed out to the lot. I'll be back." Yes, its midnight. Yes, it is storming like crazy. And, yes my husband is headed out to stand watch on our lot with nothing but an umbrella and a shovel. Makes perfect sense to me because I know him so well. So, I rolled back over and went to sleep thinking "no freaking way I'm going to sit in the car during a thunderstorm and watch the dirt turn to mud, but knock yourself out honey". Danny stayed "on watch" until 2 a.m. He promised me he spent most of the time in the car, but got out occassionally to dig a trench and to make sure the duct work wasn't floating. Is that service or what? I can guarantee you we wouldn't get that service if we'd hired someone to build our house!

Well, Danny's vigilance paid off and the slab was poured last Wednesday. We went out that night and girls had a ball running around barefoot on it. Did you know that concrete feels really warm while it is curing? The girls were fascinated by that. I was much more fascinated by how small the slab looked. I'm not very good at visualizing so I was wandering around thinking, "is this thing really to scale?". Danny assurred me it was and even got the measuring tape out when we got home to show me the size of the living room and master bedroom. Again, visualization is not my strong suit, so I just have faith in Danny and I know he knows what he is doing.

On Friday, they delivered all the lumber to start framing on Saturday. Danny had met with the framers out there and had gone over everything with them. They had chalk marks on the slab to show where the walls went and I'm pleased to report that it looked much bigger. Amazing what a little chalk can do. Sophia loves chalk and thinks it can do amazing things. I, however, was not a believer in the power of chalk until I saw the chalk lines on our slab.

We went out there Friday night to see the lumber and chalk marks, but the first thing Danny showed the girls was a tarp over a piece of plywood on sawhorses. He said it was our first kitchen appliance. The girls lifted the tarp and underneath it was two micrwaves the framers brought. The girls were fascinated by this and took many pictures of the microwaves. See above for proof. At least, we know the framers are eating well and don't need to leave for lunch.

Let me just say...I'm blown (no tornado pun intended) away by our framers. They showed up on Saturday at 6 a.m. (sorry neighbors) and worked their butts off and got the entire first floor framed. Unbelieveable. We went out Saturday night and the change was incredible. Walls were up, windows were cut out and you could see the definition of the rooms. Very cool. And, everything looked the right size.

Danny and George also worked out there on Saturday clearing brush and breaking our lawnmower in the process. Oh well. Let's just say Danny thought I was "Wife of the Year" when I sweet talked some lawn mowing dude who was parked across the street from our rent house to do our yard Saturday so it would be ready for Sophia's family birthday party.

And, in case you are wondering, according to Danny and George, the framers ate really well and put the microwaves to good use. They had chicken, cheese, rice, beans and tortillas. It was probably a better lunch than what Danny and George ate. And, the framers didn't offer to share.

Of course, Mother Nature was mad we made such good progress, so it stormed like crazy this morning, which kept the framers and their microwaves away. But, today was not a total loss in the progress department...our safe room was delivered today. It will be under the stairs and hidden by the coat closet. Danny really doesn't think we need a safe room, but he caved and added it to the budget (everything has to have a line item in the budget) just to appease me and the girls. Danny feels the same way about the touch faucet in the kitchen. But, he added it to the budget for me. I'm sure he'll remind me of all this when he starts designing his man cave and he wants really cool man cave stuff.

So, what's next? Well the second floor needs to be framed. Hopefully, that will be done this week. Once the framing is done, the plumbing, electrical and alarm wiring will go in the walls. Then, it will really start to look like a house and I'm sure Sophia will start asking on a daily basis when we are going to move in.

So, right now, we are making progress. And, progress is good. We are still planning to spend our Thanksgiving being thankful at Dolce Vita. Let's hope Mother Nature gets out of the way and lets us get the work done.

P.S. Just a warning, if you come out to Dolce Vita to see our fabulous framing....be warned that we don't have any bathroom facilities. Use the potty before you come...or you could be like our 3-year old niece Becca who was so proud of herself on Saturday when she came running up to me and squealed, " Aunt Tracy, I went pee pee on your lot." Obviously, this is more of an issue for the girls rather than the guys, but just consider yourself warned. I'll let you know as soon as the facilities are up and running.

Hey Mother Nature...we need a BREAK!

Now I really don't believe Mother Nature reads my blog, but one can hope right? Seriously. Things were progressing along nicely...we had footings, the in-slab plumbing was done and the under slab duct work was completed and nicely buried just waiting for some concrete to set it in place. And, we were headed to Mexico for vacation. All is good, right?

Wrong. Two weeks ago, we woke up at 5 a.m. to horrible thunderstorms. Lots of lightening, thunder, wind and rain. We were heading out of town (Mexico anyone? Happy 40th to me!)later that morning. Electricity was out all over town and we were excited to get away for a few days. We are sitting on the plane getting ready to take off and Danny gets an email from our very nice neighbor who tells us there is a large tree down on our foundation/footings. Danny asked them if they'd take a picture and send it to us. The picture above is similar to what we got. I won't repeat what Danny said because it is not appropriate for a family blog. So, we go off on our fabulous vacation and leave behind the big mess on our lot and the downed tree.

The night we got back, we went out to Dolce Vita. Danny thought the the tree would be gone, but it was not, so we all got to see it laying sprawled out on our footings. This tree was HUGE. It was so big the girls looked like ants crawling on it. As we stood there and stared at it, the realization hit us that we were really lucky. If we had been living in the house, the tree would have fallen on Sophia's room. I shudder to think what would have happened if she'd been in her room when that ginormous (love that word) tree came crashing down. Or, if framing had begun and windows were in, there would been much more damage. So, Danny and I both breathed a slight sigh of relief as we looked it and we are certain God was watching out for us and our family.

Did I mention Danny loved this tree? Everyone else thought it looked kind of sickly on the bottom, but Danny thought it was fabulous. Well, I guess Mother Nature and her F2 tornado (yes, what came through our neighborhood that morning was classified as an F2 tornado.) didn't like that tree much either. So, we had that catastrophe behind us. The tree was cut up for firewood (lots of burning will take place at Dolce Vita this summer) and we were ready to move forward. And then it started raining. And raining. And Raining.

Who knew you could flood on a hill? Yes, it can happen. All the rain drained down inside the footings and floated our in-slab duct work which was buried in dirt. Not good. Not good at all. So, Danny spent all last weekend draining water, digging under the duct work and trying to get it ready for the crews to come back in and put the duct work back in its rightful place.

All this "fun" has put us behind about 2 weeks. And, I guess if F2 force winds are going to come through our house, we'd rather it now when there is just dirt and wood than in an few weeks or months when things are finished and much more expensive to fix.

We are still meteorologist wanna-bees..watching the sky and weather. To say we are praying for a hot, dry spell is an understatement. I hate hot weather, but I'm crossing my fingers for a hot dry spell. I won't even complain about being hot if it means we can make progress. Next major milestone: get the slab poured. Now, all we need is a little help from Mother Nature. That isn't too much to ask, is it?

Now more than ever, I'm so happy we forced Danny to get the safe room. Sounds like we are going to need it.