Drum roll please...and the winner is...

INDY!!!


Yes, we made a decision! After months of interviews, calling references, touring their houses, and weighing pros and cons, we went with our gut and chose Indy. When notified of his prestigious prize, Indy exclaimed, "I'm going on vacation for a week!" Yes, he did. Alas, we await his return to sign a contract. We are still waiting on the loggers anyway so this vacation works out for everyone involved.


I guess it's only appropriate now that I reveal what the nicknames are all about. Indy, Pickle, and Fishy are all spins on the contractors' last names. I felt it would be inappropriate to slander true names, for all of these contractor's meant well. I'll introduce you to the one we chose rather than the two we didn't choose. Indy is the owner of Eric Jones Construction in Tullahoma, hence Indiana Jones or Indy if you will. He is a painter by trade who has a business degree from MTSU and has been building homes in the Tullahoma/Lynchburg area for about 13 years. As Noel says, he's a good ole boy. We feel that we will get the most bang for our buck with him, but the budget will be up to us and the bank. Again, thank God for Lou!


Speaking of Lou, Noel paid him a visit this past Wednesday, for he was getting frazzled about numbers. Noel walked away from the meeting reassured and confident that the bank was on our side, and they are going to take care of us. Lou told Noel the bank feels like we are their adopted children. So nice to be loved!


This past week was also birthday week for Noel. He turned the big 31 on Thursday, so, of course, we celebrated. Then, it was back to house business on Friday. I took Noel to two companies in the Nashville area that I spoke with at the home show: the geothermal place and a pseudo-granite/recycled glass countertop place. First, we stopped at C.E.S. (or Comfort Engineered Systems) in Nolensville to discuss geothermal units. Noel received a clear explanation (as compared to a Hannah-style explanation...oh, dear, that's enough to drive someone to drinkin'). C.E.S. supplied us with a list of references of families who installed geothermal units. Then, we headed to Granite Transformations near the airport to ooooo and ahhhh over countertops. We are going to get a bid to see how it compares to our bid for Corian countertops. I have added website links for each of these companies to 'Links we have used.'