Choose This Choose That, Oh My!

David and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on Labor Day Weekend. We were suppose to take a small trip to Gruene but that didn't happen because of my knee being in so much pain. At the time David didn't think my knee and walking were a good combination and he was very right. My knee is now pain free.
So how did we spend our anniversary weekend.
We ran up to the farm to see what was happening and on the way we stopped a few antique places.
On 9/2 Sunday our actual anniversary we went and had brunch at Texas Mesquite. What an experience that was. We got the only waiter that was new with no clue what he was doing. He took our drink orders only to come back and asks me what is a peach Bellini and he doesn't think they have them. Huh? I have to show him where it's at on the menu. Ask the bartender. Then he brings me back a glass of wine with a peach on it. Really?!  I went to the bartender and apparently that's how they make their peach Bellini. It's not a frozen drink. Interesting. In the meantime David has given our order to the young man who couldn't figure out what we were ordering.  Again show waiter the menu. David ask for a spoon for his coffee and gets a spoon with food on it. The guy is striking out.
Then nothing but the best for us...We go to Academy for our anniversary. Don't laugh.. We don't normally give gifts for our anniversary but for our 40th we did. He got a gift card at....yep Academy for some new tennis shoes and well I got James Avery and pretty flowers.

I came to Texas and met and married him in Texas. 💗
The gold chain is from St Croix. David bought it for me when I came to visit while he was working down there for 6 months a few years back.
(9/2) The evening of our anniversary we went to an awesome dinner at the Taste of Texas. Never a disappointment. Obviously not on a Keto diet that night but we actually didn't stray to far off.
Labor Day we got up and drove to Halletsville where we puchased 9 cows with 2 in the oven. By the Spring we'll have 11 cow. We got a smaller breed called Dexters. David had to go back on the following Saturday the 8th to pick them all up.

So many choices so many decisions to make when building a house. And then just when you think you have it figured out.. the size doesn't work, it's out of budget or you change your mind. I think our heads are spinning with all the different choices. It gets kinda over whelming really. Who knew there would be 1000's+  door knobs, drawer pulls, and cabinet knobs or so many choices for lighting. The choices go on forever.

Our Process

• choosing a builder - that took almost a year. Started with 6  and finally chose one
• house floor plan - well that took us over a year to finalize. I'm sure our builder Bubba thought we'd never make up our mind.
• exterior design - the exterior was kind of determined by the shape of the floor plan and I love how it turned out.
• exterior - color, stone or no stone - oh lordy all the choices but we finally narrowed it down to our Rustic Red. That was a chore. So many reds from red red to brown red, orange red, pinky red, maroon red, dark red, and on and on. And used a Craftsman Brown for the trim.We knew we wanted stone and already had an idea of what we wanted. We wanted a variation of color in the stone we chose Texas Blend.
• Outlets, Lights, and fans - We had to decide where to put outlets and lights and fans. Then we noticed some of our choices didn't work so we had to alter the layout. Like originally I had 2 fans set up to go in my sewing room only there was a light and a air duct and I didn't like the idea of it making the light strobe while I was trying to sew. So I decided I only needed one fan which lays out much nicer. There's other examples  but that would be a whole blog in itself. We picked out lights and fans now we have to see if what we picked was in budget. 
• appliances - There's even multiple choices here.. From brand, style and color.  We wanted stainless but which brand. mmmm Well we ended up with couple different brands. 
• cabinets - Oh Lordy. We met the cabinet maker Friday (8/31). Did we want stained or painted, did we want raised panel, with an arch or square, flat panel or shaker style. Have mercy. So I think we have decided on the squared raised panel. The kitchen cabinets will be stained but the island will be painted. Other areas will be painted I think. And then to choose the layout and with drawers or cabinets or cabinets with glass.  Give it all to us. Variety is the spice of life, right. We are getting a lot of drawers. I got 2 corner cabinets with glass fronts that are taller height than the rest. Our builder and cabinet maker are even providing us with a couple of other neat options. Hidden spice and spatula rack/drawer. 
• countertops - We chose granite.   We made two options.  Waiting for the quote to see which one wins. And now we're re-thinking one of our 2 options. The main counters were one color and the island top was going to be another. Not sure that's gonna work.  Back to the drawing board.
• flooring - how to decide?? We were pretty sure we wanted stained concrete throughout but there were plenty of flooring options.... tile, lament or vinyl wood planks, wood, carpet, etc. We knew we did not want carpet. We chose stained concrete but then we had to choose a color. We chose a variation of color. Yes you can see lines or chips in the concrete and that's fine. That's what gives it character. And no those lines are not signs of a cracked slab or stress.  It's okay.

The choices keep coming. We still have to choose an interior color and plumbing. Like what kind of faucets. I think we took care of the Guest bath tub and shower surround..

So are you ready to build your own house? It's fun, exciting and scary as crap. I mean you want what you pick out to look good. Would I do it again? Yes but not in this life time. LOL
So here's what we found last week.
Saturday 9/1 we went up to check on the progress. The stone is going up outside and the sheetrock is in. 

David is walking through den area towards my sewing room.

We have rooms with walls now.
Cool beans. Rooms now look big.

Pamela added to her/our furry family. Lilley and Sophie have a new playmate. Meet Brianna. She's a 10 month old Sheltie. She has a sweet personality, full of energy and she's taller than the girls. Oh and she's in the puppy stage. Glad it's Pamela and not me.

After all the choices on Tuesday (9/4) it was time to head home. We met Bubba at 9 and we went on a mission. We didn't stop until 5pm. Our minds were swimming in doubts of whether we made the right choices. But as driving home I spotted a piece of rainbow. I take that as a good sign. 'We did good and to stop worrying.' So much easier said than done.    
And the colors in the skies as it got later and we got closer to home were so pretty.

Oh how things can change in a week. Outside stone is complete except for maybe the outdoor kitchen if we put one in. Sheetrock is taped and floated in all rooms now. And now they're putting in the interior doors.  It's all coming together.

My sewing room closet doors are up. That nook is for a built in desk. And David's office has doors.

Exciting

So while David went to pick up the cows I stayed at the farm to wait the delivery of our donkey.  Yes we got cows and a donkey. Donkey doesn't have an official name yet. My sister Barbara suggested we call him Jerry after my Dad. Dad would have you pull his ear and he sounded just like a donkey. He did it when we were kids and then with all the grand kids. So it might be Jerry or it might be Poncho.  I guess we need to decide that too. LOL   The guy showed up with the donkey and the skies were grey but no signs of rain.  Well that changed shortly after getting the donkey out of the trailer.  Big Rain. Which I might say we badly needed.   

And after a while it stopped but Donkey looked lonely but I assured him that some cows were coming.  

He let me pet him when they unloaded him and again later on the nose.

David finally arrived with the cows and Donkey was so excited. It was hilarious. He was excited but the cows didn't share the same feelings.

On Sunday when we showed up the cows were no where in sight. 

We had 9 cows, where are they?  They decided they to hide I guess from Donkey and have some peace and quiet at the base of the property in the trees.

While waiting I finished the binding on soon to be nephew Wyatt, who should be making his appearance in October. Can you see the Elephant in the quilting? Or the Lion?

 I'm  not sure this is my favorite picture of the quilt but I'll try again soon. I better so I can give it back to Jordan and Nathan for Wyatt's arrival.

Here's a picture of the girls again (Lilley and Sophie) wondering if Brianna ever slows down.  LOL.  And Brianna well she's ready to play.

Well the weekend is almost here again and we'll head back to the farm to meet the cabinet maker and check on the livestock. 

I've made this blog post long enough.

Until next post.....Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. ~ Roy Goodman