Welcome Back

I know it's been ages since we've talked - I hope you haven't given up on me...we've been a bit busy.

We actually MOVED IN the first weekend of March - still have plenty to do, but it's certainly livable. Let me give you the tour...

Cabin -


Kitchen -



The Man Bathroom -



Mudroom -



The Spa -



Master Bedroom -


Closet/Laundry Room -


Porches - Side and Front -



As an extra special housewarming gift, a stray cat that the neighbor feeds deposited these:


Please feel free to stop by and make one your own.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

The Inspector came out Tuesday and decided he wanted to torture us just a bit longer. FAIL.

So Matthew and Jay scrambled around for a couple of days - removing a door here, building a porch railing there. He came back on Friday and we got a big fat PASS.

Maybe he was just tired of driving out here.

Days Away

We are now just days away from a final inspection. Everyone is working to get last minute things done that are required to pass.

Matthew and Jay have been working on getting the shower door and wall installed in the spa.


The guys got the upstairs painted (Ice Blue walls, Liberty Blue trim).


Jay and his guys finished the stair railing...flippin awesome!



The sink in the man bathroom is finished - and works. In fact, all plumbing has been completed.


The kitchen counter tops are in and just need a few finishing touches...


So while we have plenty more to do before we can actually move in, i.e., finish painting, sand/finish the downstairs floors, we're just seconds away from THE MAN telling us we can do so.

Fingers crossed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

While some kick back...


Others are hard at work holding down paintbrushes.


The rest of us rung in the New Year at the Shmerlers with a bunch of bacon-wrapped foods. After applying the appropriate amount of gloss, we posed and considered which of the tiny Jack Daniels bottles to open, altho ultimately, we never got around to that, what with all the other beverages that were consumed.


Deb passed around a bowl of grapes and at the top of every hour we ate a grape, which she said was a Spanish tradition for good luck. No one there was Spanish so we decided it was just a ploy to get rid of the grapes...

Vick brought a King Cake from Louisiana which is traditionally eaten during Mardi Gras.


If you find the baby in your piece, you either have to buy the next cake, or you have good luck for the rest of your life or you have to do the dishes at the end of the night - I can't remember which. We made up our own thing for the King Cake by having everyone toss $5 into a pot and whoever found the baby won the pot. Sadly, since the baby is a choking hazard, it was initially pretty easy to find.


After consuming wine, choco-tinis, beer, root beer, and the bacon-wrapped foods (steak and bay-, sea-, or diving-scallops - we're not sure which they were), we gathered 'round to watch the bad rap singers kick off the ball-drop and we toasted the New Year with great champagne and another grape.




We successfully rung in 2011 and had an awesome time.

The King Cake baby, however, didn't fare so well...


To all of our friends and family, we wish you a Merry and Bright 2011!!!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Since you've been gone, the boys have been really busy.

The cabin is completely chinked, the wiring is mostly in, Matthew has almost all of the windows trimmed and there's crap piled everywhere.




The hardwood is down in the addition and Randy and Derek have been busting out awesome carpentry work in the mudroom (the closet and stairway).


The shower tile has been laid in the "man bathroom," doors have been hung, most of the ceiling fans are up, lights are up (and they work!), and the sinks are hung in the upstairs bathroom (the spa).






The pantry doors are up and if you can look beyond the ladder and that big saw thingy, you can see the kitchen sink, cabinets (sans counter top), stove and refrigerator.


So while my hopes have been completely dashed for being in by (this) Christmas, we'll definitely be in by next Christmas.

Update and Side Trip

The boys are moving pretty quickly with the cabin, as seen below...



These were parting shots on our way out of town to ... wait for it ... Los Angeles, California! Not, Lower Alabama, as some were wont to believe. Yes, after much whining and moaning and arm twisting and leg bending and poking and prodding, I finally managed to get Jay out to the West (Left) Coast to see his family.

We drove to Nashville and had a non-stop flight to L.A. We made it through security in Nashville, no problem. No undue xraying and/or groping was encountered. Rob and Allison picked us up at the airport in L.A. and I was immediately terrified of the traffic - that, just from pulling away from the curb.

Rob graciously babysat us for the 3 1/2 days we were there, giving us the condensed version of the Hollywood/Beverly Hills scene. We had breakfast at the Griddle and had car-sized pumpkin pancakes with Rob and his sweet daughter Amanda...

Then we drove around and saw some recognizeable scenes...




Well, marginally recognizable anyway... (that's us looking tourist-y).



Then my camera batteries took a turn for the worse and we weren't able to take camera pictures the rest of the day. We crossed the mountain ridge and saw the San Fernando Valley area (but no porn), and then headed back to Jay's mom's place to hang out for the rest of the day.

Thanksgiving morning Rob and his cute girlfriend Hilary took us to the Venice Boardwalk for breakfast where we saw all sorts of strange and interesting people...


Mostly you'll just have to take my word for it.



It was pretty chilly and the surfers were out...


Then we headed back to prepare for the Thanksgiving feast that Allison busted out.


Clan Basile:

We headed back to Knoxville Friday morning and going through security at LAX was nearly a breeze except my big girly earrings set off the alarm and I had to take them off. Then I lost them on the conveyor belt. My hero Jay found them for me. And now we're home.

Ellie said this is the longest post she's ever endured and now she needs a nap.