My "Office"

Here is a picture of my "office". Yes, I'm still working in the kitchen. We have someone building some shelving and work spaces for the office and until that is done, this is where I work. The person we hired was supposed to install last weekend but that didn't work out so is supposed to be here this weekend. It's actually a nice workspace as it's open to the rest of the house but I am really looking forward to having the kitchen be a kitchen and not always have a computer and work stuff all over. My phone sits on the counter next to the computer and the cords hang across the walkway between that counter and the refrigerator. It's an accident waiting to happen! I tripped once or twice stepping over the cords but I am usually very careful. At the end of the day, I usually move the phone and headset etc over to the other counter so it's not a hazard!! So, when you people at work call me, this is where I am!! More pics to come......

Fun! Fun! Fun!

I just went to get the "boring mail" and take the garbage out, blah, blah, blah. I came back in to go through the boring mail and it wasn't so boring today! What's that in that orange envelope? I had not one but TWO halloween cards! How fun is that?!! Thank you, thank you for the halloween fun. What a surprise - I love it!!
I took pictures over the weekend to post since many have asked for pictures. I'll get them up soon, I promise!
Yesterday, we went to a birds of the night presentation at a local park and I learned that the nighttime birds I keep seeing are most likely a sort of nighthawk. We also got to see the release of a great horned owl. It was really cool. We were up high on a hill and they opened the crate and the owl hesitated a moment and then he took off and flew down, down, down the hill off into nature where he was meant to be.

It's Tuesday

Yep, nothing special - just Tuesday. I just went to get the mail and don't you always go to the mailbox with a sense of anticipation. I wonder what will be there you think to yourself. But there's nothing exciting in the mail. Realy, hardly ever is it fun. It's junk or bills. I want some fun mail!
Ok, gotta go now. We are supposed to have "pool school" tonight. The guy from the pool company comes out and teaches us how to take care of it etc. He isn't here yet but should be any minute.

Batty Birds

I posted about the wildlife a few posts ago and how I love to watch the bats fly around at night. After watching them closer, I don't think they are bats. They are too bird like. I'm trying to figure out what they are and am not very successful. Nighthawks maybe? Don't know. This is probably not terribly interesting to y'all but it's what's on my mind. I've been searching the internet trying to identify the birds/bats. It's hard because they are always flying. The pictures on the internet are always of birds sitting still. If any of you are bird people, let me know what they might be!

Splash!

We took a swim in the pool for the first time tonight - woo hoo! We were so excited to FINALLY get to go swimming. It was pretty cold but we got in and once we were used to it, it wasn't so bad. We swam around for 30 minutes or so. The heater should be hooked up in the next few days which will make it nicer soon. We took pictures but they are all stupid so I need to take some more and will post one soon, I promise!

I Love This Song!!!

Have y'all heard the new CD from Queen Latifah? She has done a cover of the old Phoebe Snow song from the 70's "Poetry Man", remember that song? I first heard it on our local smooth jazz station and LOVED it. If you haven't heard it, go to the internet and find it and listen to it. Let me know what you think! I just bought the CD today and have listened to about half of it and am really liking it. I want to go get a martini, turn that CD on and mellow out.......

Resolution

If you read the long previous post about the pool issues, I think we have at long last come to a resolution. "They" were out today and are going to put a thin travertine tile on the patio. There will be a small gap between the patio and the travertine decking that will have crushed rock for water drainage. I think it will be fine and I'm very happy to finally have a resolution. We've been back and forth with them and escalating to the next higher levels for several weeks. They are also going to pay for it which is great. They also said we would be swimming by this weekend! Woo Hoo - Finally!!!

Pool Issues and a picture!!!!

A regular question I get is how are you enjoying the pool? And, post more pictures!! Well, the pool is not done but it wasn't supposed to be done until mid October and we've run into problems so don't know if that will happen or not and I'm not holding my breath. This is a very sore subject with me. This is a long post so be prepared!! We've had many problems along the way but we seem to be at a major stumbling block. This pool company we are working with has horrible customer service. I've never built a pool before but I have to hope that other pool companies are better than this one. Let's see, they installed the pool equipment wrong, put the re-bar in wrong, built the concrete in the spa incorrectly, built the columns at the wrong height, didn't build the columns evenly apart, didn't put the irrigation sleeves in the columns when they were built, laid the travertine tile on the deck area crooked. There are a several more but you get the point. All of these things have been fixed but the pool company didn't catch a single one. We had to call them each time and tell them they did it wrong. Hello, shouldn't the project manager check once in a while to be sure their contractors are doing things according to the plan? And another big gripe with me is these contractors work all day in my backyard so they bring their breakfast and lunch and eat in the backyard which is fine but then they put all their garbage in a pile in my backyard!!! Gross!!!!! I swear every bird in the neighborhood loves my backyard. Emily has had quite a show with all the birds back there. We complained and most of it was picked up so it's not so bad now but for a while there, I was concerned about other critters showing up for the feast. So, the big issue now is that they didn't lay the travertine on our patio. Our request and the pictures we were shown, had the travertine laid on our patio and it extended out to surround the pool. That was always our plan from day 1 and it's what we asked for and it's what we were shown in the pool design phase but it's not what they put in the contract. If they had planned on including the patio it would have been a separate line item on the contract. Since it wasn't a separate line item and we didn't catch that (and how would we know that it was supposed to be a separate line item?) they now say it wasn't part of the contract and we didn't pay for it so they aren't going to do anything about it. We say we asked for it, we have friends who were there during the design process that can vouch for that, they designed it and showed us computer generated images with the patio covered so we believed that they drew up the contract according to what we agreed upon. It's not so simple as just ordering more travertine and covering the patio. It's all supposed to be one level so you could be on the patio and walk straight out onto the pool decking area with no change in level. It is currently built so that the pool decking area comes up even with the patio. If you laid tile on the patio now, it would be higher than the rest of the decking. We want them to fix it, they don't want to fix it. I have a feeling we're screwed since it's apparently not in the contract. I feel very cheated and taken advantage of and it's driving me crazy! I want this resolved and finished so we can get on with using and enjoying our backyard. I'll keep you posted on our progress and here is a picture - finally! It's going to be really nice someday!!

October 3rd

October 3rd is a special day for me and Glenn - it's our anniversary! This year we celebrate being married 9 years. Wow, time flies by doesn't it? It sure doesn't seem like it's been that long. It has been a great 9 years and there will be many more to come! Love you darling!!!