Insulation

Just a quick update and some new pictures.  Cassie and I made a run out to the house to check out the progress and we were happily surprised.  I went out yesterday to do a pre-sheetrock walk-through and found several things that needed to be addressed and many of them had.  They also delivered the stone which looks even better that I thought.  I don't know if Cassie is still on board with the color on not, but I like it.  I think she like the color thats at the house next door better, but I think it works out, she can look at their house anytime she wants to so were both happy.  After looking at the house we ran over to Fiesta for a last minute need at this weekends Fiesta.  Go check out the pictures, I know you are all waiting on the edge of your seat to see how cool it is.

Pre-Construction and then Some

Today I met Matt at the House around 2:00 for a pre-construction walk-through.  We started on the outside and found that the air conditioner lines were run in the wrong place, so he is going to have them move that.  I was also able to convince him to move the fence back behind the dinning room window which we are very happy about, we didn't want the only view from the dinner table to be the fence 10ft away.  On the inside we had to move a few wires that were not put in the best location for TV's and plugs, but he was cool with that and agreed that they needed to be moved.  We also discussed all of the options and upgrades that we chose and we are on track for that.  He is throwing in the 8' French doors to the study, and the under-cabinet pre-wire for free!  

Last weekend after Cassie and I wired the house we stopped by the sales center to say hey to Mike, as I was leaving he asked me if I minded putting down some more earnest money, It caught me off guard since he had not said anything about it before now, but I agreed since the money would go towards closing.  The next day I received an e-mail from him now asking for even more earnest money, but he assured me it would go towards closing.  Well this just didn't sound right so I started bouncing the proposition off a few people and really just got a bad taste in my mouth about the whole situation.  Later that day I gave Mike a call and told him it really smelled fishy and that it was coming off that Highland was having deeper issues if they were coming back for more money, now the amount of money was nothing compared to what it costs to run a company, my few thousand dollars was not going to have any affect on their cash flow, but it still seemed really fishy.  So I decided to ask around and it seems our Sales rep got a pretty big butt chewing at the previous weeks meeting for not getting the option money upfront like he was supposed to.  Apparently after we make selections we were supposed to write him a check for 50% of that to go towards closing, but he had never said anything about it.  Well he had to go back with his tail between his legs to 5 or 6 other buyers and ask them to pay this money.  So we got to the bottom of it, but I will be honest, I would much rather someone be honest with me upfront so I know what to expect, don't lie to me and then expect me to give you more money.

Well some good news!  Yesterday for a few hours the rates dropped and Cassie and I were able to lock the mortgage rate at 4.5%.  We both have pretty good credit and we were expecting to get around a 5% rate, but you cannot beat 4.5.  If you do the math we saved about 80 bucks a month if you compare it to 5.25%.

This Friday is Cassie birthday so we have plans of going to dinner with Mom. We also have the family shower this weekend.  Aunt Debbie and Aunt Cheryl have been working their behinds off to throw a cool Fiesta so we are really looking forward to spending some time with our family before the wedding.  So much has been going on over the past few months, but it's been a ton of fun and we are enjoying every second of it.

On other fronts Cassie and I are trying to get in the best shape possible for the wedding, I have been doing pretty good staying away from the sweets this week, I don't know if I'll be able to hold out for another 7 weeks, but I'll do my best.  Cassie doesn't need to loose a pound, but she is doing some arm toning workouts, and this pull-up training program.  I'll have to let Cassie explain the program . . . but the gist of it is she will learn how to do a pull-up over the next 12 weeks.  I can't imagine how it would take 12 weeks to learn how to do a pull-up, but every time I walk in the room while she's working on it, she gets real embarrassed and kicks me out . . . gotta love her.

You may remember me telling you a few co-workers were finishing up on their part of the project, well Dustin left so my darling fiance went up to my office tonight to move some furniture around and give me a bigger office now that we have more room. 

It's almost Friday, but don't hold your breath.

Life as Usual

Last week I left off not feeling too well, but I'm getting better.  The guys at work have been giving me a hard time about spreading the swine flu around the office, I still have a cough though so I'm not out of the water yet.

This weekend Cassie and I ran down to Mom's to hang out and watch some Star Wars . . . Cassie was not impressed and I think we only made it through half of the first one.  None of us were in the mode to really watch movies, so we played with the dogs and I mowed the back yard. 

Saturday evening Cassie and I went over to our friends Clayton and Kristina's, they got married in November and this was their first get together as a married couple.  We had some really good BBQ sausage, chicken and burgers.  Cassie and I took an olive and cheese tray.  Cassie had a really good time talking with all of the girls, a few of them are teachers so they had plenty to talk about.  There were a few guys from work there and the others are in construction so there was plenty of trash talk about who's company is better and who is doing better in this economy.  

Sunday Cassie and I headed to the Home Depot for some wiring supplies for the new house.  I got the bright idea to wire the house for surround sound in the living room and speakers throughout the rest of the house.  The only problem was I didn't really know what I was doing, so I called our A/V consultant late Friday and got about 10 minutes of verbal instruction.  So Cassie and I set out to wire and the first plan was just to run the conduit for everything and then run wire later, well that didn't work so we moved on to plan B.  We decided to wire just the living room for surround sound and that was enough, it took half the day and by 4 we were pretty tired and ready to go home.  One perk was that the ladder I had was too short and so we had to go and get a taller ladder, I still had a Home Depot gift card so we got one of the Little Giant knock off's.  It's a pretty cool ladder that makes about 15 different set-ups and extends to 22'.  

Tomorrow I have a pre-sheetrock walk-through with the builder to make sure we are good with the location of all the plugs and data ports.  I also have a few questions about some other things im not crazy about.  My experience can be a hinderance sometime, but I have high expectations and I want to make sure we are getting the best home our money can buy.

Work is winding down a little, two of the guys have left because their projects are wrapped up so it is getting a little quitter around the office.  I am keeping busy though and getting involved with the project across the street.  

That's all for now, I will upload some pictures soon.

Being Sick Sucks

The title pretty much sums it up.  This past weekend while we were in San Angelo, I started getting a sore throat after the first night of sleeping in the hotel.  Now I'm not blaming it on the hotel, but it was pretty odd.  This week it has gone from a sore throat to feeling like crap, coughing my head off and some serious congestion.  This morning I slept in and tried to regain some energy and it seemed to help.

After a long day of work I drove out to the house to check on the progress.  Today the windows were installed, minus the one on the back wall where we have a small issue with the fireplace.  The alarm system was roughed-in, which means they ran all of the wire and put the security panel in, the TV and Data cable was also run.

Not much going on besides that, I had a lot of cleaning to do with Cassie gone.  A very interesting phenomenon occurs when Cassie leaves town that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around.  For some reason the clothes pile up all over the house, take-out containers clutter the coffee table, and a stench lingers in the air . . . this never happen when Cassie is in-town.  I have a plan though, I'm going to put up surveillance cameras to catch the perp who's doing this.

Preparation for the wedding is going well.  Cassie ordered a few more things, the list continues to grow and we are ironing out all of the details.  Most of you know I can be pretty opinionated, and I'm not sure Cassie and her Mom alway appreciate my opinion about the wedding things, but I remind them it could be a lot worse.

The weekend ahead should eventful as always.  We are going out with Megan and Ty for dinner and a birthday celebration tomorrow evening, then we are headed down to Texas City for a Star Wars marathon with Mom.  After it came on last weekend and Cassie admitted she had never seen them, we decided a long day of lounging was in order.  Sunday we plan on going out to the house for some minor preparation for speakers after we move in.  I'm going to run wire incase we decide to put in a surround sound system later on down the road.

That's all for now.  If you haven't watched The Office this week, your behind on your laughter quota, go get caught up.

Where to Begin?

Well first things first.  This weekend we had a really good time in San Angelo.  Cassie, Mom and I drove up Friday morning to make it in time for the cake testing.  The cakes are good, mine is going to be especially great, I won't tell you what it is though because I don't want to ruin the surprise.  Saturday we all slept in and met for lunch around 11:30 at Mr. T's, a small restaurant that Cassie and her Mom love to eat at.  I had  a really good burger, not sure what the rest of them ate, I was to concerned with myself.  (Yes I can admit it every once and awhile)  After lunch the girls all went back to get dressed, even squeezed in a small shopping trip before it was time to be there at 1:30.  After the girls left to go Shower, I went back to the hotel for a nap.  Eventually Candy called and said it was time for me to make my appearance, and yes, I did  get another round of applause . . . what's up with these people?  I'm not that cool am I?  The shower went well, Cassie is getting a lot of her Polish Pottery, which she is thrilled about.

After the shower, we all went our separate ways for dinner.  Cassie, Mom, Melinda and I went to Henry's, a pretty good Mexican restaurant with white sauce.

When we got back to town, I went by the house to check on the progress.  I have uploaded two batches of pictures so go check them all out. PICTURES HERE

That's all for now, I am tired and I have been working on this post for about 2 hours, but I keep getting distracted or interrupted so I am just going to call it quits, I will update with more details later on.  I will never be as detailed as Christopher's Blog entries, but I will try to give more.

The Sticks are in the Air

So the common verbiage for residential construction is Sticks and Bricks.  Well we have part one of that phase in action.  Today Cassie and I ran out to the house to sign the change order for the selections we made for our house.  Yesterday they dropped the framing pack and I anticipated seeing some progress today and I was right.  The framers are about 3/4 of the way complete and it's pretty cool seeing it come together.  Cassie was blown away by how much had been done in the last two days, I am used to seeing it, but it was cool to be experiencing it on my own home.  After checking out the framing, we went to talk with Mike.  Earlier in the day he called to tell me that the company they used for cabinets has changed due to some delivery problems they have been having.  The new cabinets are supposedly an upgrade product, something they typically use in their 500+ product.  After signing the paperwork and finishing up the chit chat with Mike I decided we would go by the Huntington Model to see the cabinets in person.  Cassie was not in love with them, but I think they are a better quality so I guess we will need to pick out a new color in the next few days.  Pictures are up!

Cassie and I are about to pack for the weekend, she is pouting because it is nine o'clock and I have not packed a thing.  Cassie has to have everything planned out and taken care of way in advance so I am going to wait to pack till the morning just to get even.  

There is a lot going on this weekend, so I will catch you all up when I get back to town.  Cassie is going to stay (if she can manage to be away from me fore more than a few days) in San Angelo for a week and then fly back to Houston next week.  

Have a great weekend!

down day

So life is taking us through the ringer.  The last few weeks have really been challenging with everything going on and I am mentally exhausted.  The funny thing is that is has nothing to do with the house, the wedding or anything that it should be related to. Funny how you can prepare for one thing and put your guard down everywhere else in anticipation for what you think is going to go wrong and then it's the opposite.  Work has been very challenging the past few days, I am getting very mixed feelings about the impression I am leaving on my boss and that's frustrating. . . Moving on.

The house is coming along.  Last night Cassie, Ty, Megan and  went out to dinner at Star Pizza to relax and have a good time, it was a much needed break from all the stress.  Afterwards we drove out to the house to check on the progress, but not much had happened.  Last week I got a general schedule from Matt the builder and I thought they would be dropping the frame pack yesterday, which would have meant the walls would be up by the end of the day, but that apparently did not happen.  

We plan on going out tomorrow evening to sign some paperwork to finalize the deal and check to see where they are at.  I will take the camera and put some pictures up.  We are also in the process of trying to lock in an interest rate for the mortgage.  I am working with the mortgage company that Highland Homes is in partnership with and we are obviously trying to get the best rate.  The big challenge is that rates are anything but constant, they can change as many as three time in one day so it's very hard to gauge.  I have been relying on a website www.mortgagenewsdaily.com for information about the industry and the rates.  They have a ton of information and resources that can influence the rates, so it's been helpful.  For the most part we are looking at between a 4.5 and 5 % rate and comparatively that is outstanding.  MiMi was telling me a few weeks ago that 40 some odd years ago they purchased their home in Texas City for the same rate, and Mom told me that their first home on 3rd was at 16%.  The market is ever changing and always interesting, but I think this is a great time to buy and a great time to lock in at a low interest rate.

Well we are preparing for another weekend in San Angelo.  Cassie has another wedding shower to go to, and I will plan on showing up at the end for another round  of applause . . . I don't know if I mentioned it, but the last time I was there for a shower, when I showed up at the end Candy introduced me and they all started clapping . . . VERY awkward. But what can I say I am a pretty cool dude and any girl would be so lucky to be with me (I'm gonna be in trouble for that statement, I will let you know how bad the beating is) .  So it should be a good relaxing weekend besides all of the driving, I know Mom is looking forward to spending more time with us and enjoying some time with Cassie doing wedding things.  

I hope everyone is having a great week, and please do not get worried by the first paragraph, it just reminds me of a new county song on the radio that's chorus is "It sounds like life to me"  that's what is is, just life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Easter

When I left off we were going to go out to the house to write our names in the concrete.  Cassie's best friend Megan drove up to Houston to spend some time with us and see where the new house is.  We went to eat at Niko Niko's, a small greek restaurant near Westheimer.  JOSH IS COOL. I LOVE HIM. LOTS.  (Cassie couldn't help herself, she just had to put her two cents in)  So we had a good dinner, the Gyro's are the best I have had by far.  Their pita bread is soft and warm, just like it should be.  After dinner we headed our to the house, but by the time we got there it was already getting dark, and the slab was already hardening more than I anticipated.  Luckily we took a screwdriver to write with, and I'm glad we did because a stick would have broken off.  Megan was a good friend and took a bunch of pictures . . . but I have no clue where they are, all I can think is she accidentally deleted them.  We will have another opportunity when they pour the back porch to leave our mark, we will do that during the day so the pictures turn out.  

Today we are relaxing, at the house with Mom.  We have had an eventful few days so the rest and relaxation is very much needed.  Dad of course is in Saudi Arabia and missing us more and more, we miss him and wish he was here, but he will be home before we know it for the wedding.  Incase your not counting, it's about 9 weeks.

A Quick Update

First things first, we have a foundation.  This morning I sluggishly got up for work and strolled in around 7:45.  I was not really in the mood to be working, especially with the anticipation of the foundation pour.  I made a few phone calls and forwarded a few e-mails, mostly talked to Mom and Dad on g-chat for a while and then left the office around 9:45.  I swung by the house to pick up Cassie and we headed out to the new house.  When we pulled up to the house the pump truck was set up and the finishers were just sitting around waiting for the concrete trucks to show up.  About 11:00 the trucks started coming, and there was a constant stream.  In a matter of an hour most of the concrete was poured and the finishing work was well under way.   I stood around and talked to the builder while we were watching the guys.  We have a lot in common both being in construction, he was in College Station for a while going to school, but finished up at Sam Houston.  Sam's program is similar to ours, and he told me a lot of the professors teach at both schools, which I found very interesting.  Sam Houston is about a 45 minute drive, but in Houston that's a typical daily commute so I suppose that's reasonable.  Cassie sat in the car and got caught up on all the latest healthy cooking trends and home crafting magazines.  She loves those magazines . . .  Speaking of Cassie, she updated her blog so you should go check it out sometime.  

Cassie's friend Megan is headed up to Houston for a bite to eat and then we are going to go mark our claim and write our names in the new concrete.  Incase you couldn't tell we are pretty excited about the new house starting.  

Go check out the New Pictures, we have uploaded quite a few pictures in recent weeks so snoop around while your over there.

House Selections

A few weeks ago Cassie and I met with the interior designer that was set up to help us make out selections for the interior finishes.  If you remember me talking about this earlier, I mentioned it wasn't too bad.  Cassie and I pretty much agreed on the color scheme and we only disagreed on a few things, but we both made a compromise or two and got through it.  I'm glad we get a long so well, it make life much easier.  The PICTURES are a little more yellow than they really are generally speaking.  I tried to adjust the white balance, and it depends on the monitor your viewing them on, but trust me they do not look as gold in person.  The tile is basically neutral, but has a rough edge that makes it look more like stone.  The cabinets are very dark and that's a cool contemporary look Cassie and I prefer.  The granite is the one the looks very different in the pictures in my opinion.  After I took the pictures and viewed them, I looked back and it almost looks gold in the pic's, but it's really a cream color.  So we are pretty stoked about the house if you couldn't tell.  

On other fronts, Cassis is still in San Angelo.  She is working her little butt off on wedding things and school, trying to accomplish as much as she can before returning to Houston on Friday.  She decided that two weeks was just too long to be away from me, so the original plan is out the window. . .  I know, I know we were just there this weekend and I thought that would appease her, but obviously it did not.  We will all be going back to San Angelo the following weekend for another wedding shower as well as meeting with the cake people and the caterer. 

Invitations are in, they look really sharp.  I was a little hesitant when I first saw them, but I only saw one piece of the puzzle and all together the invitations are pretty cool.  The list is becoming an animal in itself. Adding names, making corrections, e-mailing it to everyone who has people on it, trying not to forget people, sending it to all of the people who need it for showers . . . that freekin list is something I dread.  I already made a mistake and accidentally left a few people off when we were sending lists back and forth so I hope we do not make that mistake again.

Work is giving me a little heart burn right now.  We are winding down on some of the specialty floors that were separate from the majority of the tenant improvement floors.  The building consists of 50 floors and a few of them are executive, conference and cafeteria. The rest of the floors are basic, they have offices around the perimeter and core walls, or they have cubicles throughout the floor.  They have a lot of cool things that are much more impressive than most office buildings, but none the less they are nothing like the specialty floors.  Back to the point.  With these specialty projects ending soon there are a lot of loose ends that are getting lost in the mix.   All of the projects run together on the same logs and same paperwork, but they have different PM's that are leaving the project.  A few weeks ago I brought this up and we started wrapping our heads around the amount of work that needs to be done to close out the project and that means I have a lot of work to do.  In the middle of my office we have a stack of stuff that has been moved so many times, and been the responsibility of so many people that I will basically be starting over.  We have a submittal log with over 1000 items on it, and my job is to take that pile of mess, and clean it up.  We have submittals missing, rejected and needing approval, never submitted when they needed to be . . . it's just a pile of junk.  This means over the next few weeks I am going to be very stressed out and working late to get things in order.  When I first started in June of last year I has a similar project to tackle and I have that on track, but this one is a much greater task, and the main problem is that it started three years ago when the project started and I have no clue what three quarters of it is.  Okay, enough of me complaining.  

So back to work and back to the fun things in life.  Enjoy the pictures and feel free to leave comments.

King of Surprises

Friday afternoon around 12:00 when Mom had made it home for lunch she gave me a buzz to ask a favor.  She has a few honey do's building up since Dad left and she was hoping to get me to come down this weekend and help around the house.  I had actually already thought about it and planned to go down there, but Cassie was getting in the way.  I talked with Cassie on Thursday evening and she was acting all sad and depressed that I wasn't there, and she was missing me so I was really torn.  I know Mom really wanted to go to San Angelo for her shower, and I wanted to be there to enjoy the weekend as well.  I had to tell Mom sorry, I wouldn't be able to come down to Texas City this weekend, because I was going to San Angelo and wanted her to come with me.  She was pretty shocked, but said she would see what she could do to get off.  She threw a bag together on her lunch break and loaded the car and was able to leave work around 4.  So mom calls around 4:30 to tell me she is a few miles away from 610 and I said no problem you should be here in about 15 minutes give or take.  We decided to eat at the new Freebids that just opened up in out new shopping center and I was headed over to eat before she got there so I could drive and she could eat in the car.  About 30 minutes later I gave her a call . . . . Mom, are you lost?  Of course she was, she informed me she had entered Josh's work on her GPS instead of Josh's Home, okay, no problem it's only 6 minutes away she should be here soon.  About 20 minutes later . . . Mom are you still lost?  "YES! I'm across the highway, and I can see your apartment, but I don't know how to get over there!"  So finally she found the Walgreens near my house and I told her to stay put, I would come and get her.  About 30 minutes later, we were on the road to San Angelo, me very frustrated but taking deep breath's.  So I cooled off and we got to talking, we stopped along the way to get Mom a bite to eat and finally made it to San Angelo shortly before 1 am.  Before we left I jumped on to priceline to reserve a hotel room and that was a bad mistake.  I have had pretty good luck with there name your own price feature, but only in major cities.  I thought I would give it a try for San Anglo, but we got stuck at the La Quinta, I suppose it was worth the 50 bucks, but not a cent more.  I will not make that mistake again.

The next morning we got up around 7, excited about surprising Cassie.  I called Candy the night before and had her start talking about numbers to throw Cassie off and informed her of our devious ways.  We arrived at the house around nine and they were all upstairs in the master bath getting ready.  I nocked on the door and put my hand in the crack with the newspaper waving it around.  Cassie stopped blow drying her hair and turned around and her mouth just dropped and she ran to me.  The night before I had given he such a line of bull about being at a work function with Dan and then going out to a bar with a buddy of mine, and she believed every word of it.  She was floored that I had made it and was just as excited to see Mom.  She ran downstairs to give Mom a hug and then finished getting ready.  The girls all went off to the shower that Betty (Lee's Daughter) was throwing for her and us guys (Lee, Josh (Melinda's Josh) and Me) sat around talking till it was time to go pick up the loot.  Click HERE for more Pic's

The girls had a great time, the event went off without a hitch and we were given some very nice gifts.  A huge thank you to everyone for their love and support, starting our life together is going to be much easier with all the help.  The rest of the weekend we relaxed and enjoyed the company, worked on the wedding list some more, we have to get those baby's out in a few weeks so we are trying to get it wrapped up.  This morning we went to 1215 for a quick breakfast and then got back on the road.  It was a very short weekend, but well worth the effort!  

On the way back to Houston Mom and I decided to go by the new house to see if the lot had been cleared yet.  When we met with Matt last week, he told us it was on the schedule so we assumed it would be cleared.  We dropped by the apartment to get Mom's car and then headed over to Fall Creek.  The lot was indeed scrapped and it looks even larger.  We were able to get a corner lot (the last one) and we knew it was larger than most of the lots, but it is very clear once they are scrapped and staked.  The lots in this section are 50' wide and about 110-120 feet deep.  This lit being on the corner is 60' and it has a 15 foot easement for the sidewalk, so it's gigantic compared to the little 50' lot next door.  It was supposed to have a 5,000 premium on it, but our Sales rep threw it in for free.  So the lot is scrapped and over the next week they will begin setting the forms.  I promise to keep this updated with news and pic's. CLICK HERE for More Pic's

UPDATE: 9:13 . . . phone ringing . . . "Yes Darling?"  "Hey! what is this about we went over to 1215 for a quick breakfast?!!  Shouldn't it read we went over to 1215 for a world Famous delicious egg casserole that had been slaved over for hours before we arrived.  And shouldn't you say how delicious and beautiful Cassie's fruit salad was with all the colors?"  . . . So there you go, it was the best breakfast I have had all day and I won't forget it!  Thanks for keeping me on track Momma Gregston!

Where Did My Baby Go

You might be wondering what the title is all about, Cassie left today for some Wedding Shower business and wedding planning in San Angelo.  She will be gone for a few weeks, but I will be up there to see here April 18th for another shower. The wedding planning is really pretty easy in my opinion, but Cassie and her Mom are doing most of the work, so I can only speak for myself.  

The house planning is going well.  This week we met with the Sales Rep (Mike) and the guy who will actually be building the home (Matt).  I have to say I feel bad for the guy, I doubt he has had the challenge of building a home for a builder, so I know it will be a difficult challenge.  If you know me at all, you should know I have a little bit of perfectionism in me, and that multiplies the challenge.  We sat down for about 2 hours to go over the plans, and pricing.  

The plans were pretty straight forward. We are moving the fireplace that was originally centered on the wall to the corner, this will allow a lot more room for an entertainment area, if we didn't do this the only option would have been to hang a TV over the mantel.  Moving the fireplace meant we had to move the door and delete a window, but it will be worth it.  We also put in an arched opening between the kitchen and the dinning room, it's weird that the plan didn't have it, but Mike said most of the homebuyers that picked this plan have done the same.  We added a bay window to the back and upgraded the living room to a Study, and that about wraps it up.  Now of course I pushed some boundaries and tried to get a feel for what the builder would let me do on my own, and so far, not much.  I will have to wait till the house gets under way to see what I can get away with.  We would like to rough in some electrical and maybe a few other things that would be much easier to do while the house is in the framing stage.  We have plenty of time, and I can buy tons of bribery beer before it's too late, so I will let you know how successful I am.

The pricing wasn't nearly as bad as we thought.  We met with the Interior Decorator last week to make our selections.  The whole experience went pretty smooth, but the organization at highland left some things to be desired, well sorta.  So when you go into meet with this lady, all she can tell you about pricing is if it's a level 1 upgrade or level 2 upgrade, or level 3 upgrade . .  . you get the point.  Going through the house making the selections we would get to the carpet and have 6 choices, you could then upgrade and get 6 more options, but they couldn't really give you a price.  So what I thought, and the designer agreed was to just go through and pick everything you like, and then when the sales agent gets the selections he prices it all out and tells what the damage is.  I thought we did some serious damage, we picked pretty much everything we like purely for looks, not price, but it really wasn't that bad.  All in all I think we added a few thousand dollars to the deal, but it's definitely worth it.  

Work has been going pretty good this week, I was working on bidding out a new floor the past few weeks and then all of the sudden they decided to pull the plug on the project.  I went to a ton of trouble and work to get the proposals done, but what are you going to do?  All of the subs who bid the job were pretty disappointed, but were still crossing our fingers they will change their mind, something they do on a daily basis.

This weekend I will be relaxing and working on the 99K house.  We are ramping down, with only the interior work to go.  I wrote an article for the company newsletter next month over the 99k house, I'm hoping to get some bonus points for that.  In this economy I have to do everything possible to keep my name out there.

I'm really looking forward to the new house and will keep you all updated with pictures as we start making some progress, I hope to be framing up a lot in the next week or two.  As a closing thought, remember to spend time with your family, I am seeing too many people that I know work themselves to death and forget to just enjoy life.