Spinning Around and Around, Chasing My Tail

Sorry it's been so long.
We moved into our house last Thursday. All went well.
We don't have internet access yet, so I'm borrowing Meemaw's computer while we're having a swimming/sunning/relaxing day. Whew.
I took some pictures of our house, but don't have the camera card with me. Not much to see anyway, just lots of boxes, stacks and STUFF all over the place.
We can't really, truly move in until Jeff lays the wood flooring, which is still back
ordered. So, we've been hunkered down in the basement, which is perfect because it's cool and that's where the TV and video games are anyway :)
It's absolutely amazing to go shopping anywhere and everywhere I want without driving more than 10-15 minutes. Lots of take-out going on too. (it's just too darn messy to cook, you know!)
The kids, cats and dog are adjusting very well. We've met most of our neighbors and they're very, very nice.
By the way, we watched "Lakeview Terrace" a couple of nights ago. Not the best movie to watch as you're moving into a new house, especially when we have 4 police officers in the neighborhood. hee hee.
OK, I'm off to the sunshine......4 months living in a basement followed by another week living in your own basement makes you a tad bit pasty.
As soon as we get internet I'll update more in depth w/ pics.
till then......

In Honor of Flag Day

One of our friends from church has a WWII tank at her house.

Her son's repairing the fuel line, so she invited us out to take a look at it.

It's a British tank, captured by the Germans, captured by the US.

Really cool.

The kids really, really enjoyed looking at it and they even got to take a ride in it.

How's that for fun on Flag Day?

Almost there......

This is more progress than we've seen in our kitchen in weeks. The microwave hood still isn't in, but it will be by the time we move in (God willing!)

We are planning on painting the kitchen a nice soft green, probably a celadon color.

We have a black table and chairs as well as some dark brown/black knobs and pulls for the cabinets. New faucet and light fixtures too.

Still have A LOT of work to do....amazing with a brand new house, but we know what we want.

The kitchen isn't really very big, but it has more than enough room and storage for us, so it'll work. (never had a pantry or garbage disposal---oooohh !)

Another angle.

Don't even look at the floor. It's the 'included' vinyl, which we are going to promptly cover with wood ASAP.

Downstairs 1/2 bath. Finally complete. (except for paint---light blue, and probably wainscotting--white)

We have a different faucet and light that I can't wait to install.

We are on schedule to close Thursday at 8:00am.

I can't wait to take a picture of the finished outside. We're STILL waiting for 4 more shutters and then they'll install the sod the day we close, weather permitting. (not too worried about that since we have to take care of it!)

So, that's that. We're going to be freaky busy over the next couple of weeks.

I'll be taking pictures and updating as much as possible.

Can't wait till Thursday :)

Updates **UPDATE ON THE UPDATE**

**I really need to coordinate my blog posts with my emails.
About 2 mins. after my Updates post I got an email from our construction guy, Brett. He said that everything's back on track and that the house will be finished on Friday and we're having our final "Homeowner Orientation" Friday at 4:00pm.
So, it looks like we'll be on track to move next Thursday.**
:)


Not a lot going on.
Not physically anyway. Mentally, that's another story.


This past weekend we went to my cousin's graduation party in Illinois. We stayed in a hotel then went to Brookfield Zoo and did some shopping on Sunday. We had a nice time, but it was freezing on Saturday. It was 59 in the afternoon and it got into the 40s that night. Nothing like a little October weather on a June weekend. sigh

The kids and I checked on our house last Friday. Jeff didn't even want to go. The kids hadn't seen it in quite awhile and they were excited to see all the "progress" (whatever)
There were a zillion people there. Guys were painting all the trim, the plumber and electrician were there.
The kids were able to go up to their rooms and look around, they went in the basement and the backyard. I was glad they got to go look and run around.
But, this was the first time I didn't really want to be there.
There was still SO MUCH that wasn't done that needs to be done by FRIDAY, like 3 days, Friday.
I'm just waiting to get a call or an email from someone telling us that they won't be done on time. But, what can you do?
Not a stinking thing.
That's what kills me.
argh.


At least we have a busy week this week. Our church has our VBS every night this week from 6:30-8:30pm. We're all involved in it and it's always a lot of fun, but exhausting.
It's hard to believe it's going to be our last VBS. If things are on schedule, this Sunday will be our last Sunday at our church.


So, that's about it.
Our house is supposed to be done this Friday and then we're supposed to close the following Thursday, which will also be the day we start moving.
9 more days (allegedly).


Stay tuned.....

Crisis Averted!

OK, first off, sorry for the snarky post yesterday and thank you for letting me vent.


Here's the latest scoop.
The right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing at our builder's company. Since our construction guy was on vacation, he didn't let the closing dept. know that our completion date had been moved up to the 12th. They thought it was the 17th (still don't know where they got that date from, since we were originally told the 16th) Anyway, now that everyone's back where they belong, everyone knows what everyone else is doing.
Our construction guy emailed me today.
By the way, his name is Brett. Did I ever mention that? Talk about cause for confusion. Every time I tell Jeff "I talked to Brett" or "I emailed Brett" I get the vapid look....
Brett (the construction guy) told me that he was royally P.O.'d that work didn't get done while he was gone. He said that the last thing he wanted was for us to be stressed. Yeah, nice thinkin' buddy, but a little too late.
He said that the new sink will be installed and that he's getting on everyone from the appliance guys to the finish guys to get things done, like yesterday.
Good.


I just found out that we're closing on June 18th at 8:00am.
That's the day we get the keys.
That's the day we move into our house, not caring if we have a lick of furniture or food.
We're there.


So, now we can countdown to when we're IN our new house:

16 days

Have you noticed the lack of house pictures?

Well, that's probably because NOTHING has happened at our house since 5/21.
When we met with our construction guy that day, he said that over the following week (last week), he had scheduled for the appliances to come in, for the final yard grading and some other stuff. He was going to be on vacation last week and was SURE that things would get done while he was away.
Ahem, ahem.
Jeff and I did get to see the house on Saturday.
"I thought that the house was locked and you had to make arrangements to get in" you say?
Well, not when the front door is WIDE OPEN and we, and anyone and everyone, can walk right in. Jeff tried the front door a couple of times and realized that you can pop the door open while it's locked.
So, while Jeff and I were there, we noticed that the house looked EXACTLY the same as it had when we were there 9 days before.
No appliances.
Big pile of dirt in the front yard.
Only 2 shutters on the house (still).
Unpainted trim.
We did have most of the electrical boxes, switches installed and a couple of ceiling lights. ooooooh!
Another thing we noticed. They ordered the wrong kitchen sink.
I guess that's a good thing that it hadn't been installed yet. Hopefully that will make it easier to replace.
And, today, for the cherry on top of my big crappy house sundae, the mortgage company told us that they heard from our developer that our house completion date is JUNE 17th. NOT JUNE 12th.
You'd better believe that I've been emailing people like crazy since they've not only added 5 days to our wait, but are going to go over the original completion date by a day.
Yet another bonus! The stupid, freaking mortgage co. just can't seem to figure out what our mortgage will be.
Here's a hint:
Sale price minus downpayment equals MORTGAGE AMOUNT.
Big freakin' duh.
I know, I know, not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's 5 days of my life that I can't get back and lots and lots of money that I'm not feeling very secure about at this stage.
Another piece of sunshine, it looks like it's going to take maybe 2 weeks to close. Appraisals, red tape and C.R.A.P.
Not in the best mood. Not enjoying summer vacation so far.
(triple bonus: it's cloudy, rainy and 60-something degrees. happy June.)