Rub-a-dub-dub Paul is in the Tub, a day dream for now. I believe I have mentioned before this writing we play the "I'm looking forward to...." game. This photo is the perfect image of our game.
Steve worked much of the holiday week on the stair case trim, it won't be long before he is finished with the railing.
The men started laying the wood flooring in Elizabeth's bedroom on Christmas Eve. They returned today and completed her bedroom then moved out into the hallway. The wood flooring is prettier than I ever thought it would be.
The weather has been warm in the afternoon, just right for Gary Powell's cement crew to work Christmas Eve. They poured the narrow cement skirt needed at the back of the garage and cement for the short under ground electric line from the pole to the house.
We were away from our computers for several days which kept us from posting a Christmas note until today. We hope you had a wonderful Christ filled Christmas. 
The tile-men continue to lay and grout tile. We had hoped they would be finished today, but looks like they will have to come back tomorrow to finish up. One of the tile-men crafted a simple design for me just above the space for the slide in stove, very nice. We chose a six inch tumbled tile for the kitchen which is laid in an off set pattern.
Over the weekend, and all day today the floor tile men were busy at the house setting tile in place. They will grout the floor tile tomorrow. Today they completed grouting the showers.
Last year at this time Rita and Elizabeth surprised us by decorating two cedar trees in the circle drive with some Christmas ornaments. This year Rita surprised us again by dressing up the entrance with her big purchase from Dollar General in Eldorado. She gathered up arm fulls of clearance ornaments during their after Christmas sale last year. Rita knows how to make our lives fun, festive and joyful. We appreciate her time, talents and effort to bring us Christmas cheer.
We were in town all day for our weekly shopping and many errands. First stop today was to Tunget Awning to select metal railing needed for the balcony. We had an idea of what we wanted and discussed them with Mr. Tunget. He was very helpful with size and proportion of railing for the balcony. The metal railing will be painted to match the color of the columns and stucco on the house.
The cement man was scheduled to pour the skirt at the garage Monday, but it has rained the past two days. Steve told us today that Gary is still coming, just waiting on the weather.
The tile men finally showed up this afternoon, they were supposed to be here Monday. They brought all the floor tile and will start laying tile in the morning.
The builder informed us Friday afternoon the Osernio Masonry men were coming on Saturday to rock both of our fire places and add an additional retaining wall we needed. Their crew arrived at 7:00 a.m. sharp and completed all our rock work before dark. They are fast.
This is Elizabeths reading room which is a darker green than the other rooms upstairs. The painting inside will continue through Saturday. There were four painters at the house hard at work today. They are trying to finish the inside paint in order for the tile men to start laying tile the first of next week. The weather has been nice and warm all week, perfect for painting.
Steve completed the columns on the front porch this evening he is an excellent craftsman, the proportion of the columns is just right. Now on to the balcony columns, five more to go. Again, the columns will be painted "Luna" the same color as the stucco. Where do paint designers come up with the names for their colors?
The color we chose for the upstairs is up on the walls, it is called pine needle. The painters started painting the golden gate color downstairs this morning which is going to be a nice contrast. Today the painters removed the plastic which has been covering the cabinets. I can't tell you how much I like the cabinets, they are just perfectly finished.
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Steve made one of the front porch columns this morning and it was exactly what we had in mind. He used cedar wood around the post which will be painted to match the stucco.
Our painting progress continues as the painters started spraying the doors today. I thought their method interesting. They hammer a stake to the top of the doors, lean them against the wall, spray one side, then turn them around and spay the other. They will certainly dry quickly using their method. We like "quick."
The painting work continued today. The priming completed yesterday was sanded by the painters today. I don't know when they will finish all that sanding, looked like a huge job. There were many drawers to be sanded as well as the wood trim. We are anxious to see the first colors to go on the wall.
The weather was warm enough this afternoon for the painters to turn off their heater and we are expecting another nice day of sunshine tomorrow.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend the Craven family stopped by while in town visiting their parents for the holiday. We met them at the house Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving. They enjoyed the very cold tour of the house. Afterwards we headed over to Shanan's Bakery in town for coffee and coco to warm us up.
The painters were back early today painting ceilings and priming some of the cupboards. They estimate the painting job to take a couple of weeks.
Paul's Aunt Patricia came by for a visit this afternoon toting two large boxes. She was anxious to give us a house warming gift which arrived by UPS today. House warming gifts had never entered our thoughts before this afternoon. Patricia you really surprised us! 
Steve and Frank finished cutting trim for the baseboards downstairs, then moved on to making shelves for the storage area in the garage.
