'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse;

The drainpipes were slung by the chimney with care,

In fear that the winter rains soon would be there;

The Marrokal guys were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of cabinets danced in Jay & Mir’s heads;

And Jay watching football, a book in my lap,

Had just settled down for an evening nightcap.

When out on the street there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

And knocked over everything there in my path.

The moon on the Volvo parked on the curb

Reflected an image that just seemed absurd.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and pink,

I knew right away I had too much to drink.

As I came to my senses, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He glanced all around, his face looking stern

Soon we all realized he made a wrong turn.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

Jay glanced at me and I shook my noggin,

I knew it was time that I got to bloggin’.

So from us to our followers far and near,

Happy Holidays to all, and a Happy New Year!

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

Yes, it's windows, windows, windows in our new home! And while many might think this is timely enough given the rainstorm in San Diego over the past few days, the holes in the walls and lack of drainage from the home are still making Durango a muddy, soggy mess.

We had a couple of design team meetings over the weekend, and found out that we are close to 40% complete! Certainly doesn't LOOK that way, but building the guts and bones of the house involve a lot of effort... and while it doesn't have the sex appeal of materials and selections, it's good to know that we're making such progress.

Our San Diego interior designer, John, was gracious enough to invite us to his home over the weekend, and we were delighted to be able to view a number of the materials that we are also going to be using in Durango. His place is fabulous... we are now more excited than ever to see how our home evolves over the next months! Those pictures with attractive furnishings are from his home; sort of a preview of some of the things you'll see in ours.

It's turning into a crazy time at work for me; while most folks seem to be winding down and preparing for the holidays, the heat on me has been cranked up and I find myself, for the first time in MANY years, with more work than free time! So far, it's been fun. I'm looking forward to an upcoming trip to Las Vegas in January, where I'll do some work, but mostly looking forward to visiting cousins Tracy and Summer, and hopefully getting in a show or two while there.

I'd also like to introduce you to my pal, Black Cat, who drops by once a day just to check in, see what I'm up to, and if I have some food. Or maybe it's just about the food. Anyway, he's a cool little kitty, and reminds me of my old cat, Grover, who I had for 14 years (til I met Jay, who decided he preferred breathing to his cat-induced allergic response). However, Black Cat is tiny compared to Grover, who tipped the scales at nearly 20 pounds :-)

Til next time......

Why No Pictures?

One of my blog readers made a rather "astute" observation this weekend (which comes as no surprise since all of my readers are quite brilliant) which was, "Gee, Mir, your blog seems more of a social blog vs. a home remodeling blog." He is right. But only because I assumed it would be boring to show yet more photos of framing, and to spend a huge amount of time detailing the behind-the-scenes progress on the house with no visual cues.

However, to be fair to Durango, I will, provide you with an update on things - no pictures included. By next week, hopefully, there will be some more interesting film footage of the remodel. If not, you'll have to suffer through holiday pictures of family instead.

1. The past week or two has been devoted to wiring for electrical and lighting (imagine here a picture of guys pulling wire around joists, thru imaginary walls, and into rooms). Next week, they will dig a trench and set up a new junction box for our power upgrade, and finish their work on the lighting.

2. Plumbing - ditto the above, only instead of wires think pipes.

3. The solar team has begun wiring the house for our new solar power system. Try to envision Jay and I signing the contract to purchase and install solar panels, signing documents to get a tax refund, and jumping for joy when our future electric bills show up in the mail.

4. Pretend, if you can, that you are seeing all window framing now complete, ready to accept the new windows that should be arriving in the coming week. Along with that, see if you can picture our new front door - also coming in a couple of weeks, our new kitchen and bath tile which will arrive shortly, and all of our plumbing fixtures and supplies which are likely at the plumbing company awaiting pickup.

5. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Rachel this past week or so, finalizing more of our light fixtures for the house. This is no small task (especially for Rachel who lives in Wheeling, WV, and REALLY has to use her imagination!). Also a testament to Rachel's skills, she has come up with some amazing flooring options for us, and will be working on paint color and some furniture selections in the coming weeks.

6. My appliance selections are complete, and won't be ordered for a few weeks, anyway. In addition to a few of my favorite things (Wolf, Subzero, and Bosch), the coolest appliance that we bought is an automatic coffee maker, making single cups of coffee (and espresso) on demand with the press of a button. Now THIS is something I can see really clearly!

7. Our 2nd floor deck will get its flooring application and fireplace installed within the next week or so. It will be an amazing location to enjoy a cocktail and watch the sunset over the canyon and the ocean.

There are boatloads of other activities going on behind the scenes, whether it's finalizing glass for internal doors and cupboards, figuring out the upstairs fireplace, deciding on carpeting options for the bedrooms and office, ceiling fan designs.... and we haven't even begun to think about our landscape project!

We are having a tough time just staying put in our rental, given all the cool and fun things going on at Durango. It promises to be a long 5 months ahead of us. Still, it beats living in the 7 degree wind chill conditions during the Pittsburgh/Dallas game today....