House is waterproofed, garage is filled

As promised, here are the images of our appliances. You'll notice that we didn't go all stainless. Personally, I'm a little tired of all stainless appliances (and brushed nickles accessories), so I thought a black and stainless combo would work for us. We opted to get a cheap microwave that we'll tuck inside the island instead of doing a combo oven/micro that would--can you believe it?--cost more than double ovens. Looking at our cooking style, we decided that a gas range would work for us instead of a range top and wall oven, but we really wanted one with a griddle b/c we make lots of weekend pancakes, quesadillas, etc. Besides, having a small second oven will be great for making roasts, carnitas, oven stews, among other things. Clearly, the range is our splurge, but we figured we're allowed one special item in our favorite room!

Back to the homebuilding...
It's exciting to see the foundation nearly complete. The waterproof coating has been applied this week and perimeter drains installed on both the inside and outside. Yesterday, we watched the dump trucks deliver loads of sand to fill in the exterior perimeter drain and the garage. Some of the dirt from the excavation was mixed with the sand for filler, but a nice sand base is needed on the top layer to fill in the air pockets the help the concrete floor lay flat when it's poured next week. Our builder was on site when Patrick stopped by yesterday afternoon, and he expects the garage and basement floors to be poured on Monday and Tuesday. He said that the weather should be perfect for it next week--low 90s--for pouring. If it's too hot when it's curing, the flat surfaces will form cracks, he says. Lucky for us we're scheduled for a cool down soon. The temperature has been in the 100s this week, so it'll be great to be a little cooler.

Many thanks to those of you who've been offering suggestions for improving efficiency and ways to incorporate sustainability in our new home. It's greatly appreciated and we're taking your suggestions seriously, so keep them coming!