Pass, Fail or Not

We did not travel over the mountains to Zelda this weekend. It does feel good to spend a Saturday at home in Gatlinburg. Tomorrow we will be moving the girls back into the dorm at UT.

No news from our electrican, so we are not sure if the inspection passed, failed or if it even occured. We will update as we know.

We did go by both Lowes and Home Depot today in Sevierville to look at kitchen faucets. We picked one (1) out and will leave at Zelda next Saturday for our granite installers. They will be installing the granite the week of August 24th, and need to have the faucet on site to drill the hole. We decided on a single hole long neck faucet to match the stainless steel sink. We will not have the soap dispenser installed.

Are We There Yet?

No, we are not there yet, but we are close. Our electrician has the inspection scheduled for Monday, August 10, 2009 at 10:00 am. So that light just might be power being connected.

Lynn worked nearly the entire afternoon grouting the downstairs shower. It turned out great. She and the girls also cleared out the floor in the kitchen, laundry room and pantry in preparation for the installation of the fiberboard and tile.

Brent spent the first part of the morning unloading fiberboard he purchased in Chattanooga and then took Jessica to the Lowes in Shelby, NC to purchase the tile. They picked up 40 boxes containing 16"x16" tiles that will go in the kitchen, laundry room and pantry. Rumor has it that they had a fun time pushing the loaded down flatbed carts in Lowes. Brent's cart was so heavy a Lowe's employee helped him push it to the register. When the truck arrived at Zelda is was riding a lot lower.

Brent then spent the majority of his day, helping our electrician ring out all the circuits in anticipation of the inspection. Everything seemed to check out fine.

Brent and the girls then laid down the fiberboard in pantry. Brent did the cutting and placement of the fiberboard and the girls took turns using the drill. Neither of them had used any power tools and did a great job of screwing down the fiberboard.

Afterwards, we all help to unload the tile and stack in the pantry room. Wow, those boxes were heavy. Next week we are taking a break from Zelda. Not that we are a taking a break, but the girls are heading back to the University of Tennessee for their sophomore year. So instead of working at Zelda, we will be moving the girls into the dorm. We sure will miss their help at Zelda.

Electrical Inspection Coming This Week

Well we did not have the electrical permit this week. Our electrician is still about one (1) to two (2) days of work remaining before calling. He told me that he was calling on the inspection Tuesday. We have our fingers crossed as it would be great to have lights and air conditioning. He did a lot of work this week as nearly all the faceplates are installed, all the interior lights are installed and he has rung out all the circuits. All the eve spot lights are installed and two (2) of the seven (7) exterior door lights have been installed.

Brent installed the range over the stove and it will need to wired. The only other items I can think that needs to be installed is the door bell, smoke and fire detectors and the five (5) remaining exterior door lights.

The two (2) pictures of the chandelier are the same fixture located in the dining room. Brent currently has the lighted raised near the ceiling to keep if from being damaged. The ceiling in the dining room is the original bead board. We do not have permanent power to the house but our electrician does has it arranged that we can power certain circuits with the temporary power. This has come in handy more than once.

Our granite counter guy came out measured and created the templates. He did tell Brent to lower the apron sink about 3/16" to be flush with the top of the cabinets, which was one (1) of the items Brent completed today. He also put some additional supports for the granite, installed the vent hood, and used the multi-max to remove mortar between the tiles in the downstairs shower. Lynn cleaned the tiles, also removed mortar, ran errands and was able to grout one (1) wall of the shower. It look great.

Jennifer and Jessica again joined our work force and painted the entire master bathroom, the trim on the window in the upstairs hall, the trim in the master bedroom and the trim in the master bathroom. It all looks great.

Cookie enjoyed herself and napped on the stack of wood flooring. We again are thankful to have a safe trip over and back. We did have an extra passenger with us today. A Secada rode on the passenger side mirror the entire 170 miles back and now call Gatlinburg, TN home. Brent removed him from the mirror and place him in the ivy on the retaining wall of the driveway. Jennifer took a picture of our hitchhiker before it became a permanent resident of Gatlinburg.

Our shout out today is to Anna S. and Rose H. of Opelousas, LA.