Too Early In The Morning

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning to a ringing
sound. Phone...Phone...at 4:30 a.m.???

I stumbled to the kitchen where the cell phones

are. There was Wild Bill's cell phone
lighted up and flashing away!

I didn't have my glasses on...
but I could tell it was not a phone call,

hmmm, looks like a reminder alarm!

Soon, I stood by Wild Bill's side of the bed,

pissed at his carelessness, and shouted:

"Bill, Bill...WTF? WTF?..." 

Like a hibernating bear, his head slowly came

up and looked at the cell phone:

"Honey, that's yours..." he said.

So I scrunched up my eyes and squinted at

the phone real hard...

Embarrassed, but bravely I said:

"Well...Happy Anniversary!"

Wedding Day 1997 at The Hitching Post 
(where else would a Texan get married?)

Middle daughter's wedding 2003
(see how quick he turned my hair gray?)

Thanks for stopping by.

Main Street America, Part II

Here's a look at the inside of the models at

Main Street America

near Spring Texas, just North of Houston.

No one lives here, it's a village of empty model

homes built by home builders to showcase new

products and building/landscaping skills.

The entrance fee of $15 pays for upkeep and

on-site staff.

I was in 7th Heaven with all the

white kitchen cabinets and trim:

Here's my favorite kitchen sink:

This lighted, tray ceiling was lovely in person.

 The patio on this house was cement

covered with travertine tile, which

was also inside the house as well:

Since we were planning a patio extension

when we were touring the houses, we

loved this idea of a tile covered patio.

All the furniture and appliances have

price and model number information in

case you want to order something for

your own house.

Love these dishwasher drawers:

If you're down near Houston,
I encourage you to go see this
fantasy land village of model homes.

Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Main Street America Part I

We took a road trip down towards Houston

last month, to a place called

Main Street America
located in Spring Texas.

There are about 15 model homes built by high-
end builders to showcase their designs and the
latest in housing products. One beautiful house
after another...

The landscaping was inspiring. So much so
that we decided to have a similar sidewalk
put in to our front yard like the one above.
Can't wait to show it to you. They're finishing 
up the work tomorrow hopefully.

The most amazing thing about all this landscaping
is that all the grass is artificial turf!

Yeah, that's right. Not a grass blade in the
whole place. Can you believe it?

I'll be back soon with some pictures of the
inside of these houses. If you enjoy touring
grand homes, I'm sure you'll love these.

Thanks for stopping by!

Repairs And Whimsey

Last Fall we took a trip to Georgia.

I always like to bring something back for

the house...my version of a souvenir.

I found this old metal deer head hook

thingy in an antiques/vintage store.

As you can see, when we got home I screwed

him into an old frame I had already painted

white and called him a towel rack.

This is a temporary fix until Wild Bill gets

'round tuit' on a permanent one.

Since I proclaimed 2014 as the year to complete

things, we finally had the tile guys come and

re-grout our tub and shower.

When the builder built our spec house, his men

used the wrong grout around the tub and in part

of the shower.

Not to get too deep in discussion, but apparently grout

with "give" should be used in this area and they used

grout "without give" so the grout where the wall tile

meets the tub surround cracked...

Follow me? 

Nice clean non-cracking grout now...

Also, at the bottom of the next picture there

is a piece of tile trim separating the carpet

from the tile.

That trim piece runs under where the pocket

door slides.  That piece was never grouted

when the carpet men laid the carpet, so the

tile guys got that done too.

Here's the shower stall.

Little pieces of grout were coming

off the corner. Re-done and refreshed.

Next picture is the crazy slab on the counter

top. It is a little orangey-er than it appears here,

but no less "busy". 

These hand towels from Target have similar

colors in them, so that's what is in there for

now, along with plain white ones.

There is a lesson here I want to share

with you... always, always, always

have a home inspection done!

We thought since it was a brand new build

that it was well inspected...WRONG.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope

you learned something.