Faces of a second place bowling team as they plunge to God knows what

Update on House Progress - March 28th.

Well, I thought that everyone should see how the upstairs bedrooms really looks right side up and not the upside down picture that Shelly posted the other night. However, I understand that she may have been drinking a little bit too much wine when she made that post (thanks Kris). Anyhow, here is a shot of Abby's bedroom with finished closet.

The other cool pictures taken today are of the entertainment/TV cabinet. The first picture is with the barn door/sliding door open for when we want to watch TV. The second picture is when the door is closed, thus hiding the TV. As you can tell the wood burning stove will be placed next this cabinet.

Other work that was completed this week or started is the window trim along the entire north side (river facing), started to work on the laundry area cabinetry and poured the concrete slab for the screen porch.

The next photos are some outside shots from late this afternoon - I took them from different angles to show some of the depth along with different shots of the roof as that was completed last week.

Finishing Continues--It's Fabulous

It appears the floor is the ceiling, but isn't it beautiful. This is in Aaron's room.

I think that there is a reflection that is interferring with this picture. It is supposed to show the finished wood edge of the dropped ceiling, but it is not clear.

This is the cabinetry that runs along the north side of the house. The bench seat is what the dining table will set up to. The hall leading up to our bedroom will act as our "office", book shelves on the left and desk on the right.

This is the sitting area at the top of our stairs. Jeff and I like how the corn crib theme is carried up here above the window.

I find myself having to bite my tongue when I walk in now. I want to run up to everyone working there and ask "is this the coolest house you've ever worked on, or what?" What can I say, I think it is fabulous.

Blueprint for Green Episode

Below is the Blueprint for Green that was aired this past Saturday, March 22nd on Channel 11 in the Twin Cities. This is the second visit to our home and there will be another episode probably in late May or early June once we are moved into the house. Enjoy.

Local TV Channels - Air Time of our House

Well, this is Jeff and I'm finally back updating the blog; however, Shelly has done a great job keeping everyone informed on our progress along with being comical at the same time during my absence.

I have to say that I'm so excited to share with everyone today the two features that received air time on local TV channels this past week. The first one is the second visit by Channel 11 - KARE 11 in the Twin Cities with Randy Meier hosting Blueprint For Green and it just aired today, Saturday, March 22nd at Noon. Unfortunately, Channel 11 hasn't posted the video link at this point, but we will be sure to update once Episode 27 is on their website. It was really cool as it showed the old house - what a transformation!

The second video is from Channel 12 - Serving the Northwestern Suburbs of the Twin Cities and it features interviews with Stephen Roche, our contractor from Showcase Renovations, Bryan Anderson, our architect from SALA Architects along with the Dan Johnston, Executive Director for Minnesota Greenstar. Unfortunately, I'm having difficulty downloading this video - possiby a format that doesn't allow downloading. So, if you want to see this video, follow the links below:

http://www.twelve.tv/news/newsitem.aspx?newsid=405&newsitemid=5997
and
http://www.twelve.tv/news/newsitem.aspx?newsid=670&newsitemid=6012

Finally, I took some interior pictures today with our good camera (yes, the one that Shelly mentioned in which I take on the road with me to take pictures of the plants). Anyway, here are some interior shots showing the progress of the cabinetry and the wood ceilings along with work being done today with the upstairs maple floors.

I must start with the sliding barn door which is pictured below - it is so cool.........this will allow us to close off our bedroom area, laundry area and allow containment of Barney and Lola.

Kitchen Area & Master Bedroom

Dining room with finished wood ceiling along the north side leading to the master bedroom along with a picture of the living room and the vent pipe for the fireplace. The picture below the living room is the shelves and cabinet unit behind our office area.

The pictures below is walking upstairs with the backside of the bookcase and then the front side.

The sub-contractor is here today installing the wood vents in the upstairs and doing finish work on the maple flooring upstairs.

Poor blogging tools, but exciting material

The ceiling photo is shot in our bedroom but that drop ceiling runs along the whole north (river )side of the house. In the main part of the house the dining table sits underneath it which will create a more cozy atmosphere there. In our bedroom that wall has a bench seat with drawers underneath. The empty cabinet which is having birch applied to the exterior is for our refrigerator. Maybe you've noticed a theme. The exterior has a portion that is finished like this and the sliding door for the tv cabinet (previously featured) also has this look. There is also a really cool sliding door, just like the others, that can close off our laundry/private entrance. We can contain Barney and Lola in there and they also have a private entrance/exit in this area that will take them to their very own fenced in park. Next is a picture of our chimney, isn't that exciting! It is taken from the upstairs sitting area where I stepped out onto the roof to get a better picture. The last picture is of me when I landed in the back yard. Ha Ha! My sister nick named me HA larious! I am complaining about my blogging tools because you'll remember that Jeff pressured me to keep up the blogging while he is out of town, but he takes the camera with him on the road to take plant (G&K) pictures. My phone is super cool but it doesn't zoom or flash. When I talked to Jeff tonight I realized that I won't be home during daylight again until Sunday so if I wanted pictures without flash I better get on it.

Does anyone know why the light fixture in the garage entry isn't done yet?

Jeff is wondering if the light for the garage entry is in this box of lights that I picked up today. YES IT IS! I just had to add this picture when he asked me. I don't know why he is always calling me a smart ass:)

It's like watching paint dry

As I look at what I've posted it does seem as though there has been quite a bit of progress, but some days I feel like I am watching paint dry. No offense anyone!!

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They have been working on the roof this week and I'm sure they appreciate the nice weather they've had to do it.

The forced air, gas furnace is operating and the radiant system appears to be getting close.

The cabinets are being installed and the trim work has begun. We think it is looking mighty fine.

The photos on the right are of our bedroom

headboard and window seat with built in drawers.

The next is of our kitchen, followed by the entry way.

This photo I like to call the tv set of Sanford and Son. This is what we came home from Mexico to. It was definitely progress, but I found it made me a bit uneasy. The next day channel 11 was due to come out to film again with our architect, Bryan and I couldn't imagine how they could get any decent pictures. That will air 3-22-08, so I guess we'll see then.

This picture is of a "super cool" sliding door that will be used in our entertainment center. It will allow us to hide our television if we wish. I believe everyone has to live on the edge a little bit in there own little way. (Sorry, not everyone will understand)

This is Bryan with the filming crew on Monday.

"What happens in Mexico never happened"

Clever, huh? This seemed to be a favorite saying of the tour guides. This will be the version rated for all audiences, however. We are back from Puerto Vallarta, where we stayed at a very nice resort. Minimal families with small children and very few college aged spring breakers, just mostly card carrying AARP members. The first day Jeff got in the water right away and did water aerobics with what I thought were a dozen or so 60-80 something women. Jeff claims the average age was about our age. WHATEVER! I took pictures since we weren't able to get in our room yet and we had ipods, cameras and more money than I wanted stolen on our first day there. We spent 3 days away from the resort on tours; a city tour, cultural tour (aka tequilla tasting), and a trip to las Caletas. Las Caletas is basically a cove where we could snorkel, kayak, do yoga, pose with monkeys, owls and parrots, etc. I didn't really want to snorkel so I got the guide to let Jeff snorkel without a partner, but when it was time to kayak Jeff was feeling motion sick from snorkeling and I had to find my own partner for that. I think he was punishing me! Not really, he gets sick on a tilt a whirl, but snorkeling, now that's pathetic. We both did a lot of reading, played cards, played ping pong, got massages (well Jeff had one, I had a few) and ate very well, of course. Friday we got a little crazy and had a few to many bloody marys by the pool. At 5pm I had a massage and when I got back to the room and Jeff asked how it was, I said,"I'm sure it was good". Our dinner reservations were for 8:30. There is a photo of me after my shower, before dinner, sitting on a chair in our room telling Jeff that, "this is why I don't drink--very much--usually". Today it is back to reality, I'm glad we have a day back before we have to go back to work. Below is a video from our trip to Las Caletas when we watched a mother whale teaching her baby to breach.