We Have Green Heat!

I know, I know, the title sounds a little silly! But the good news is that the Geothermal System is now up and running and keeping the house at a nice 67 degrees! Below is a picture of the finished system, not much to look at (or at least to me...) but it is working wonderfully.
Also, this week the drywallers finished up and I have been given the go ahead to start painting. So this weekend we are planning a painting party and I am hoping to get the entire house primed and at least one coat of paint on the kitchen so that we can get it wrapped up and get the cabinets installed. The fireplace was installed last week as well. It looks great and I can hardly wait to see what it looks like with stone.

The Geothermal Heat System

The Fireplace!

The shower floor in the master bathroom, the walls will be getting tile.

The kitchen with finished drywall!

Quick Wintery Update!

Just a quick update. Yes, we have snow, and no I am not liking it! What a mess it has made of my driveway! Oh well, such is life. The drywallers got all of the drywall hung and they will be back on Monday to start finishing it. Mike and my dad got the thermostat hooked up, so we have heat, the bad part is that the heat is electric, at least until the heat guy gets the rest of our geothermal system finished. Chuck's guys were out on Friday and they installed the outside pillars on the front porch! I absolutely love them, they really make the front of the house. The inside of the pillars (under the porch) still need finished, but from the road they look amazing! Mike and I are really happy with how they turned out. We are hoping this week brings a fire place, we need to get the hole for the fire place sealed up and Mike needs to start planning for how he wants it finished.
It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. It is a definite known fact that we will not be in the house by Christmas. As much as we were hoping, it is just not in the cards. I am really pushing to be in toward the middle of January, so Mike and I can plan a Super Bowl party! HAHA!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The Pillars have been installed! They Look Awesome!

The Completed Product! Woo Hoo!

Walls!

The pictures are starting to get really exciting now! The rooms are being delineated by drywall and you can see the form of the interior actually taking shape. No more standing on one side of the house and seeing through to the other! HAHA! I am overly impressed with the drywall guys (Doug Long, for anyone looking for a great drywall team!), they started on Tuesday and said that all of the drywall would be hung by today! So that means they will start spackling next week! There is a slim possibility (depending on how the fast the spackle dries) that I could be painting the week of Thanksgiving, I am doubtful though. It looks more like the first week of December, so Mom, Chris, Aunt Kathy, Nikki, Aunt Amy, Linsey, Aunt JoAnn, Aunt Janet and all of you wonderful ladies that said you would love to help paint, I will be calling you for the painting party!
Our pillars came in yesterday for the front porch and Chuck went to pick them up only to realize they were not the right pillars… they were suppose to be vinyl or aluminum so they wouldn’t need painted, but they sent ones that would require painting and maintenance. So needless to say they got sent back! The garage doors also came in yesterday, from what Mike has told me, Kip and Brad (Chuck’s crew) will be installing them today! So we will now be able to lock the house up entirely!
Next week the dozer will be on site to do the final grade work. However, we are waiting for him to spread the top soil until spring, there is no way grass will grow this time of year and we would be wasting some perfectly good top soil if we spread it now. Also next week Chuck and crew will be installing the fire place insert and getting the flue hooked up. Mike already informed me that we need to get our stone ready for the fire place so that he can be working on that while I am painting!
All and all, everything is going pretty well. Mike took some much needed vacation time this week and was able to go hunting and enjoy himself. He shot an 8 point on Tuesday, this is his first buck with his bow (actually, now that I think about it, this might be his first buck since he met me! Yikes!). If you haven’t noticed, we changed the ticker at the bottom of the page for our move in date. I was really wishing to be in by Christmas, but this is simply not going to happen. It looks like we should be in sometime toward the end of January. I sure hope so!
Stop and see us!

Front spare bedroom.

Spare Bathroom.

Dining Room looking into the Kitchen.

Dining Room from the Kitchen.

Master Bedroom, Hoyt's nook!

Looking into the Kitchen from the Garage.

Master Bathroom.

Spare Bedroom looking toward the closet.

Quick Weekend Update!

Just a quick weekend update! Mike and I didn't get a whole lot done this weekend. Friday we felt it was important for us to get away for a few hours so Mike took me to Luigi's for dinner and then to Lowe's to pick out interior lights. It was nice just to spend a little time with each other! Saturday I drug my mom to Brockway to look at appliances. It is starting to get so exciting to think I will be ordering my appliances in a few days! We are going with pearl black (high gloss black) they are very nice looking! Then on Saturday after I got back from Brockway I went up to the house to help Mike and to start cleaning up for the dry wallers! Mike and my dad ran out of siding so we have to order a little bit more to finish up and my brother installed our exterior lights. Then last evening we went to a birthday party for Mitchell and Cohen (Mike's little cousins) it was very fun! They got a bunch of nurf guns and I think the bigs kids had more fun than Mitch and Cohen! We also got some very, very exciting news yesterday! Mike's brother Steve and his girlfriend Amanda got engaged! We are so excited for them, they are sooooo cute!
Well that's it for now! I will update on Wednesday when I get back from Harrisburg!

All of the back porch is done and exterior lights are up!

Insulation is complete!

LOOK, Do you see what I see? CONCRETE! WOO HOO! Yes, the concrete was poured last week in the garage and front porch! YAH!

Pictures!

Finally, I am posting new pictures! Shame on me for waiting so long! This weekend we worked on insulation, wow! We got a lot done. Mike worked on the ceiling until he ran out of R38, dad, mom and I worked on the walls with R19. As of 1:30 today we were able to get both spare bedrooms, the office, living room, dining room, interior garage walls, master bath and master closet completed. We plan on getting the master bedroom and kitchen done (the walls) today as well. Chuck stopped out yesterday... heres the latest, the cement guy got demoted and Chuck is getting someone new to come in, he said enough is enough. Concrete is scheduled for tomorrow morning! The other half of the back porch will get framed, the fire place insert and flue work will be done this week and ARE YOU READY FOR THIS.... This is a possibility that the drywall guys will be here on Friday! Woo Hoo! If not Friday, then they should start the following week! I am so excited! Well, back to work...

View of the front of the house with almost finish siding! It looks gray in the picture...

View of the back of the house with the sun peaking out!


Our kitchen cabinets got delivered on October 17th, this is them stacked in the Master Bedroom.

On Friday, Mike and I went to Lowe's to get all the insulation.... They were having a sale and rebate program, so we took full advantage! Looks like a lot of work huh?

This is me, after my stapler attack! There was no seminar on how to run the stapler!

If you look closely you can see the holes that the stapler left right above my thumb! Oops!

Mike and I needed to try out the bathtub before installing it, to make sure it was what we wanted! HAHA... We look smushed because there was water in the bottom of the tub from the rain and we didn't want to sit in it!

Busy Busy Busy... But No Excuse!

I know, I have absolutely no excuse for the 20 day lapse in updates! I can tell you that a lot has taken place in the past 20 days. For starters, we welcomed with open arms the newest member of the Orcutt family, Gabrielle! On October 11th, Scott & Gabby tied the knot and became Mr. & Mrs. We are thrilled to have Gabby as part of the family, my brother could not have picked a better girl! So needless to say the first couple weeks of October, I didn’t get much done on the house, due to wedding planning and preparing for the big day! It was a beautiful ceremony!

House wise… an incredible amount has taken place. For starters the siding is almost complete. We just have around the garage to do and the front porch area. We have not been able to side these areas because we are waiting on cement to be poured for the garage and front porch and we don’t want to risk the cement splashing the siding. The cement is a whole other story… we have been waiting almost 2 weeks. The subcontractor finishing the cement is having some difficulty keeping promises to show up… but I do believe it should be finished next week (keep your fingers crossed). Mike and my dad finished the heating, plumbing and electrical this week! I am very, very, very excited to announce that we passed inspection yesterday afternoon! This was the big one, so I am thrilled that it went off without a hitch and we can move forward. So tonight, Mike and I will be running to Lowe’s to purchase all the insulation and we are going to be insulating our butts off this weekend. Once that is complete we will be ready for the drywall people to come in and do their thing! It’s so incredibly exciting! Also this week, my Jacuzzi tub was delivered and I decided to try it out…. I can’t wait until I can actually put water in it and sit back and relax! Also this week, my mom, being the expert painter that she is, took on the project of painting the steel entry doors. She did an amazing job, no streaks, runs or smudges! They look great!

So, you are probably wondering what I have been doing this week… well I took it upon myself to clean the house to get it ready for insulation… WOW are construction workers (mostly Mike) dirty! It took me 3 nights to just get the basement organized and swept. But its done now and we are ready to rock and roll!

As for pictures, I do not have any to share at the moment, but I plan on taking some tonight and tomorrow and will post them tomorrow night. Stop out and see us !

We Are Blessed

Mike and I feel overwhelmingly blessed. We have so many wonderful family members and friends that we can truly count on. Last week all of the siding was delivered and Mike decided to install as much as he could this weekend. So on Friday I started the phone tree... We ended up with so much help, it was all greatly appreciated. Thank you very, very much, Dad, Scott, Dave, Pop, Uncle Bob, Austin, Jordan, Mikey Barr, Joseph, Tom, and Jeff. Mike and I are very grateful for all of your help, we could not have done it without you. I also feel it is important to thank our cooks too! Nana and Chris, lunch and dinner were wonderful, it was an excellent first meal in our new house! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, to everyone, Mike and I love you all very much! Here’s to a successful siding party!

The Dynamic Duo, Mike and Mike!

I am not sure who is in charge of this group, Joe or Pop?

Uncle Bob, measuring Twice and cutting Once!

Finally and UpDate!

OK, OK! I know it has been a while since my last post, but a ton has happened in the past few weeks and there just has not been time to make updates... but anyhow...
First off, last week I was in Buffalo for training at the NEDA Conference (Northeastern Economic Development Association). It was very nice, Buffalo is a beautiful city! While I was gone in Buffalo, Mike finished up some last minute wiring and pluming that needed taken care of, he is such a hard worker! This past week has been pretty rough for our family, my Great Gram passed away Monday evening. She had fallen and broke her hip about a month ago and has been fighting getting better. We love her and will miss her very much but we know that she will always be with us.
This past week we had soffit and fascia delivered and Mike and my dad got all of that installed, it makes the house look so much cleaner and finished! I love it! Yesterday we had siding delivered and Mike started putting it up as well, my dad and grandpa were there keeping their eyes on him making sure he did it right! I must say Mike took it upon himself to pick out the siding, I admit, I am extremely impressed and pleased! I was overly excited about how beautiful the color is; the pictures don’t do it justice, please please please stop out and see it! Also this week, are you ready for this...??? Mike and I celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary! I can’t even believe it has been three years; time has gone by so quickly! I was in Harrisburg today working on a state financing program and when I got home there were beautiful, red, long stem roses in a box on my bed with a card. It was really cute and the flowers are beautiful! Pop, this is where I tell you how lucky I am! HAHA!

This is what the siding is starting to look like! I love it!

The guys hard at work!

Some of my Anniversary Roses that I put in a vase! What a Sweetie!
Soffit and Fascia! Looks Great!
More Soffit and Fascia

The Boys took a break on Sunday and made some Homemade Apple Cider!

Windows, Check! Electrical & Plumbing, Check, Check!

I am chalking this up as the toughest week to date... Construction has not been bad, but Mike has been away. As I am sure most of you are aware, we had one heck of a wind storm Sunday Night/Monday Morning, courtesy of Hurricane Ike (all I have to say is that the people that chose to stay behind in Texas are nuts, the wind here was bad and it was 4x worse there!). At any rate... Monday morning at about 1:00AM, Mike’s cell phone goes off... it was work and he was to report for Hazard duty! Monday he worked local, but on Tuesday he joined the crew and left for Ohio to help restore power there. It is now 5:00PM on Friday and Mike is still in Ohio! So needless to say, very little got done on the house this week. My dad was kind enough to finish the electrical and cable wiring (with the help of his MVA (Most Valuable Assistant) ME! Ok maybe I was more in the way than anything else, but at least he had company. He also finished the drain plumbing. The rest of our windows were delivered yesterday afternoon and Chuck and crew were there to put them in this morning. WOW! Did the circle top windows ever change the look of the house! I was totally excited when I came home! I am hoping Mike will be back Saturday night or early on Sunday. I am leaving for a conference in Buffalo on Sunday afternoon and will not be back until late Tuesday night.... So until then... Have a great weekend everyone!

Front view with circle top windows!

The window from inside my office looking out!

Back of the house with circle tops!

Scott thinks he is moving in! HAHA! I would probably enjoy it if they did, I can't stand quiet!