Sneak Peek Friday - Underlayment

We're moving back inside the new house for today's sneak peek. This was installed one day last week:

That photo shows the underlayment on the floor in the kitchen. The next photo shows the underlayment on the floor in the laundry room.

I even gave you an accidental bonus peek at the pocket door for the powder room. Lastly, here's another shot looking through the kitchen into the dining area. 

I know underlayment doesn't seem too exciting, but it's one step closer to actual floor covering! By the way, the kitchen/laundry room flooring will probably be your sneak peek next Friday!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Frosting

I'm busy with bookwork today, but I wanted to take a minute to give you a peek at the exterior of the new house. It has been a while since you've seen it completely frosted with snow, so I asked Steve to take some photos for us. He waited for an especially beautiful day and ventured out with his snowshoes 10 days ago.

REALLY can't wait to get there!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Italics: The Sequel

If you haven't read last night's post, read it before you read this one.

_______________________________

TODAY:  21 hours later, it still wasn't right.

So, I wait 2 more hours in order to calm down before attempting to get an AT&T customer (dis)service representative on the phone.

OK, I once again dial the SPECIAL 1-800 billing number I was given - WAY back in December.

I finally make it through all of the voice prompts. . . yes, on to human contact. I'm being transferred to the customer service department. Then, I hear:

"Our customer service department is closed. Please call back during regular business hours."

Patience.  Officially.  Exhausted.

I look through my extensive notes from all previous AT&T calls and find another number. OK. . . dialing. 

A human (and I use that term loosely) finally answers.

She asks: "How are you today?"

That was the wrong question. She got an earful.

She repeats the incorrect balance to me. I explain the situation. . . again. She then questions why I made the huge payment on January 2nd - IF the amount was being disputed. 

"Because you said I HAD to make the payment in full BEFORE the account could be credited for the amount I was billed incorrectly!!!!!!!"

 

After putting me back on hold several times and lots of keyboard action on her end, I was finally told that the balance on my account now reads $0.00. (Yeah, right! Can't wait for the next bill.)

Then. . . 

then. . . 

I get another obligatory sales pitch.

DirecTV?

AT&T cell service?

I almost lost it.

She ends the call by reminding me NOT to text and drive - and tells me to have "an awesome" day.

If I have to deal with these people one more time, I'm going to text and drive ON PURPOSE!

All else is well in the Keweenaw.

P.S. If you're looking for a good place to invest some money, I would suggest wig companies.

Italics

Remember what I wrote back on January 2nd about our problems with AT&T in trying to establish landline phone service at the new house? This was it:

"Finally. . . Finally. . . I think I may have resolved the problems with them today. What a mess!" (Julie Hamilton - Jan. 2, 2015)

There was a reason I put those first 4 words in italics back then. I somehow knew it was too good to be true.

All we want is a simple old-fashioned telephone line and to be billed correctly for it. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, it is; as the recent bill that arrived was still incorrect. I'm now convinced that AT&T's customer service motto is as follows:

So, I unhappily spent another hour on the phone with them again today. After being disconnected by the first human I was speaking to and spending way too much time on hold, I was assured that their automated system would be updated with the correct amount within 1 hour. For some strange reason, I had trouble believing them; so I gave them some extra time. 3 hours later, it still wasn't right. 6 hours later, it still wasn't right. 8 hours later, it still wasn't right.

Big sigh. I'll try to connect with another AT&T customer (dis)service representative tomorrow. I may be completely bald by tomorrow night.

All else is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Cans

It's time for a peek at some of the can lights - AKA recessed lighting. We have 4 recessed lights in the kitchen, and we also have 3 under the edge of the loft to provide additional light for the foyer. As you can see, the tongue and groove ceiling is now finished around the bronze foyer cans.

The next photo shows the view from our master bedroom doorway into the great room/foyer - with an obvious emphasis on the foyer ceiling.

Lastly, here's the night view of the cans on the foyer ceiling - standing near the front door and looking toward the great room.

Please excuse the scaffolding in the last two shots!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Buried

We've been getting buried with lake effect snow again this week - simply buried! Can you tell?

That's the satellite image from Wednesday. I circled the Keweenaw Peninsula for you - in case you had trouble seeing us underneath those lake effect snow bands!

Steve is out working at the new house, but we're hibernating here in Calumet - a wise thing to do with these below zero temps.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Upstairs Flooring

Time for another peek at the new house. You didn't get a peek last Friday, but I mentioned that the flooring had been installed in one of the guest bedrooms. Steve was able to move out of his temporary digs in the laundry room and into that guest bedroom - also temporary! Since I had mentioned the flooring, I thought it was only fair that I showed it to you this week. We had intended to do all hardwood flooring on the second floor - using either our pine or maple. When we realized that finishing the house was taking longer than we wanted this fall and our timeline was becoming a huge factor, we decided to purchase carpeting for the loft and guest bedrooms. The guest bedrooms won't be used very often, so we purchased something neutral that would wear well that we could be satisfied with for a long time. 

The color wasn't represented well in that last photograph. The next photo is a bit better.

The box is Steve's temporary nightstand.

Your bonus peek today is one of our dining chairs. Steve brought it up from the basement for me, so I could see how it looked with the tongue and groove. I'm planning to use these with my grandmother's antique dining table.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

A-MAZE-ING

Inspirational Thought for the Day:

"You have been, perhaps, in a maze, and you know how difficult it is to find your way to the center. But sometimes there is one perched aloft who sees the whole of the maze spread out before him like a map, and he calls out to you to turn either to the right or to the left, and if you attend to his directions, you soon find the way. 

Even so the maze of life is only a maze to us, but God can see it all. He who rules over all, looks down upon it as men look down upon a map. If we will but look to Him, and if our communion be constantly kept up, we shall never err, but we shall come to the goal of our hopes right speedily by following His voice."

(365 Days with C.H. Spurgeon, Vol. 2)

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

Historic Church in Phoenix, Keweenaw County, Michigan

All is well in the Keweenaw.

No Peeking

Sorry - no Sneak Peek Friday today. I spent another 1-1/2 hours on the phone with AT&T this morning working on the never-ending problem (over 3 months) of landline phone service at the new house.

We've had a telephone number since November. After AT&T missed 3 different appointments we set with them in October and November, the phone jacks were finally installed in the house during Thanksgiving week. The jacks still weren't functional, however. There was a problem with the wiring on the road - not OUR road, but a different road - miles from our road. That didn't stop AT&T from sending us a bill, of course - billing us for installation, but also billing us for service from the date the jacks were installed - even though we had no service. More phone calls. We finally got the service working right before Christmas, but we've still had two continuing issues. (1) We wanted the service put on "vacation mode" so we don't have to pay for full service when it's not yet needed, and (2) we needed our bill revised, so we weren't paying for service on dates we didn't have service. Simple, huh? NOT! 

Finally. . . Finally. . . I think I may have resolved the problems with them today. What a mess! They actually made us pay the bill before they could revise it. Does that make any sense at all? We didn't think so either - one of the many reasons we're frustrated with that company. We'll see what happens when the next bill arrives.

Other than that, things seem to be going well. The "Tongue & Groove Gang" is busy at the new house again today. The flooring was installed in one of the guest bedrooms on Tuesday, so Steve moved his roll-away bed out of the laundry room and into that bedroom. He said that was a really good feeling. After cleaning up the snow from our latest storm, he was able to come back to Calumet last night, so we had some time together. That was nice!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Word of the Year

Well, WE didn't meet our daydream goal of waking up in our new house on January 1, 2015, but STEVE DID!

Since we knew the new house wasn't quite ready for me to move into, we revised our New Year's Eve plans. My Aunt Edie and her husband decided to come up from Bessemer for a visit, and we all planned to drive up to Copper Harbor together, visit the park decorated beautifully with Christmas lights, have a nice meal at The Mariner, and stop by the new house to show them the progress on the way back to Calumet. The weather threw us a curve ball in the form of frigid temperatures, high winds and lake effect snow with lots of drifting and whiteout conditions. We also had a lakeshore flood warning, so we knew Hwy 26 would not be a good choice for traveling to or from Copper Harbor. Aunt Edie & Randy made the decision to cancel their plans when we discussed the weather forecast on Tuesday evening. The forecast proved true. It snowed - and blowed - and snowed - and blowed - all day yesterday. It was bad enough that Steve and I decided that the wisest decision was for him to stay put at the new house by himself last night. He called me at 11:40 p.m. and we stayed on the phone until after midnight to celebrate the new year together. We missed the kiss, though.

So, I didn't wake up in our new house this morning, but we're close. We've been looking forward to living in our new home since purchasing the property in the fall of 2003, so we have plenty of experience with waiting! 

In honor of the change that will soon be occurring in our lives, I've decided that my Word of the Year for 2015 will be: 

I can't wait to get there!

All is well in the Keweenaw.