Ziva likes her new basket.

For those of you who were wondering what Jim's finger looked like underneath the big fat bandage...

The first pizza baked in the Tulikivi.

The pizza is done. But if you look closely, you will notice it is far past done. In fact, it's so burned on the bottom that it's inedible!

That's 5 minutes in a 460 degree oven with the pizza set directly onto the bricks in the oven. NOT a good idea!

We did eat the sausage, pepperoni, and cheese off of the top of the pizza.

Charcoal pizza.....

The kitchen countertops were installed today. There are only a few things left on the list to do before we can move in!

The countertop in the master bath is in and looks great.

More kitchen cabinets...

Jim and Steve got the stairs all done on Thursday.

The railing is all installed. One step closer to moving in.....

Jim and Steve got a good start on the steps today. They are half way finished.

Now, before we get started, let's take a few moments to talk about shop safety......Please remember to read and follow the safety instructions.....

Jim has about six stitches in his middle finger from an accident with the router. If only he had used the yellow work holder.....

The stitches can come out in about two weeks.

Jim has got the floor of the shower finished. Now for the walls....

Jim and Steve started working on the railing around the stairs to the basement. They got the posts in place and the trim around both sides of the stairs.

The railing is really nice!

The railing on the deck is now complete.

Jim is enjoying the new deck.

Ziva's favorite place to sleep - the laundry basket.

We picked out the kitchen and master bath countertops. Should be installed by November 20th. May be able to move in by Thanksgiving......

All of the decking is complete including the stairs.

The decking and railing are maintenance free.

Jim and Steve got a couple of the railing sections installed on Monday.

The decking should be finished on Tuesday. Next will be the railing.

We had a beautiful afternoon on Saturday to start laying the decking.

Jim and Steve finished the hardwood flooring in the hallway - looks great!

Jim finished installing a sink and countertop in the laundry room. One step closer to moving in....

The cabinets are looking good!

Jim and Steve started installing the kitchen cabinets.

The painters are just about finished painting the outside of the house.

Let's play cat and mouse!

Jim installed the toilet in the master bath today. And he started working on the shower.

We picked out decking material too.

This year's field corn crop was a little disappointing - next year will be better. This will only run the corn stove for about an hour. :)

The hardwood flooring is installed in the other first floor bedroom.

We took advantage of a sunny day to plant some shrubs along the front porch.

The hardwood flooring in the master bedroom is finished and looks great!

We got the hardwood flooring installed in the master closet. We are going to start on the shower next.

Sidewalks and front steps - finally!

Sidewalk on the south side of the garage.

Jim and Steve got the OSB installed over the Lite Crete in the two upstairs bedrooms a couple of days ago.

A new energy efficient washer and dryer. Sweet! The countertop for the cabinets should arrive in a couple of weeks and the laundry room will be pretty much complete.

All of the joists are in place and we have temporary steps to the deck What a beautiful sunny day we had today. The solar water panels were around 120 degrees and we got lots of hot air out of the air panels. The barn is toasty warm.

What do you think about a pumpkin color in the kitchen?

Jim's got the cabinets in place for the master bath. Now all we need is a counter top.

We lit a fire in the bake oven last night. We only got the temperature up to around 200F. The Tuli still needs to cure a bit before we set a really big fire.

About half of the joists are in place. Looking good!

It's a little hard to see but the deck was started today. A gorgeous fall day!

We've been waiting for this for a long time - the first fire in the Tulikivi.

You have to open one of the clean out holes and burn a couple of pieces of newspaper to get a good draft started.

Our solar water panels are doing a pretty good job keeping us warm in the barn via a radiant floor heating system. As you can see, the floor temp is 73.2 which is giving us an air temperature around 70. It feels very comfortable for this time of the year.

Cabinets! We picked up the cabinets for the master bath, master closet, and kitchen today. Jim has already installed the cabinets in the closet.