The HOME Stretch

We really are in the home stretch now. Our tentative closing date is now February 28th. This week we should get a driveway and landscaping. There is no hardwood floor yet, countertops or shower doors, but almost everything else is done. They even cleaned up our lot. The last few times we've gone out all of our papers have been spread all over the dirt. All I can say is thank goodness Brad has been going out on his lunch hour every day. He's been able to keep on top of the details.

In other news: My dad is doing great. The surgery went well and he's home and getting better. Save your knees- you'll need them later!

Happy Birthday, Stephanie! I hope that your 32nd year is everything that you want it to be.

Ned and Stephen have some excitement happening this week. Check out their blog: http://www.stephened.blogspot.com/ I can't imagine why they need another Rocky installment, but this is probably why I am not a movie maker.

Charlie and I are going to New York at the end of March with his school chorus. We're going to do some touring and see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.

Roller Coasters

I have whiplash from the ups and downs of the week.

First my dad went back in for knee surgery to remove a blood clot from below the top part of his incision. That went well and even helped with the pain, but now he has a fever again. OY! One step forward, two steps back… I’m calling all the healing energy in the world to dad’s new left knee!

The other crazy ride is the house ride. So much has happened this week that I don’t know where to start. The bad news is that there was a leak that was discovered when they put in the plumbing fixtures. The good news is that they fixed it and it dried out quickly. They’ve also finished tiling the floors and the bathrooms. The scaffolding is gone and we’ve been painted. It looks darker than we imagined, but we like it. We have light fixtures- most of which will be replaced because they are awful. The air conditioning was installed as was the garage door. The pace is brisk.

We even got a call from the closing department today. They are closing a bunch of houses in the next few days. I'm glad that we are not one of the many going to closing before the end of month. Maybe we'll be in the end of February push.



The best news is that we got banister at the bottom AND top of the stairs. It will be stained to match the hard wood floor in the living/dining room. That top banister looks so much better than the dreaded half-wall. Do not think that you can come over and slide down the banister. Nobody is sliding down that banister!




Our house number is up, too: 14033. Before you know it, there will be an invitation to a house warming party in your mailbox. We hope that all y'all can come!

45 days from cabinets

The mortgage guy and the sales people have all said that we can expect to close about 45 days from cabinets. Since cabinets were yesterday, that would mean that we could possibly close at the end of February or the beginning of March.

Already the change of mind has begun in this house, the old house. Already we think about the number of times we will clean the floor, or do the laundry here. Already I am throwing away everything so that I don't have to pack it. The inventory clearance has begun.

Unfortunately, there will be some losses as well. Olivia has just met a new friend in the old neighborhood. I keep telling her that we'll be moving so soon, but she really likes her. I'm afraid it is going to break her heart to leave all of her friends in this neighborhood, but the new neighborhood is filled with kids, too.

Brad, of course, will miss nothing. He'd move in tomorrow if they'd let him.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The stucco is going on. I'll be so glad when our house is released from its scaffolding prison. The outside is not the only place getting work done. There were three crews there at once working this week.


Our small kitchen is shown above. We put in many upgrades to maximize the cabinet space. The cabinets are tall, there is a lazy susan corner cabinet, the cabinets on either side of the stove have top and bottom pull out shelves, we put in cabinets over the fridge, and can you see the crown moulding? I can't wait to see the counters and the sink.

The black on the floor is some kind of preparation for the tile.


Speaking of tile, the upstairs bathroom had a tile floor installed with a small cabinet and counter top. Both the upstairs kids bathroom and the downstairs guest bathroom will look the same. We think we should have gotten the taller cabinets, but it is too late now.







We got the taller cabinets in our bathroom and filled in the space between the sinks with drawers. The tub and shower were tiled, although I am dissapointed with the shower. They put a thin line of tiles along the inner corner, which looks bad and means there will be a great deal of caulk in a spot that is difficult to clean.

Ceilings and Painted Walls

Today we spent a lovely MLK day with our friends, Kat and Eric. After lunching by the river, we drove out to the house to check on the progress. The painter was there and the ceilings were finished and the wall paint was going on. We wanted off white paint, but it is actually more of a darker taupe color. I like it because it makes the white molding pop.

They still haven't begun the stucco, but I suppose that will happen this week sometime. Actually, we are close enough to count the stages before closing:
1. stucco
2. exterior painting
3. banister(s)
4. hard wood flooring
5. tile floors
6. carpet
7. cabinets
8. grading and landscaping
9. light fixtures and finish work

Hmmmm. Could that be all?

Oh, Brad's father, Denny, has offered to make a custom stained glass door for the front!

The house looks very different now that it is all black. Those white stripes are the styrofoam forms. When Brad took these pictures they had delivered the interior doors and baseboards.

Today when we stopped by the baseboards were installed as well as most of the doors. They also put in door frames and window sills. This has made the rooms seem much more finished. One oddity is the placement of the windows. In our bedroom they are placed very low so that the window sill is about knee high and the tops of the windows are just above our heads. Luckily, there is plenty of room above the window to hang window treatments so that the windows seem larger.

We got some big news today about Charlie that will affect the house. He is highly allergic to dust mites. He recently had an allergy test because he spends most of his time stuffed up. We are going to see Dr. D in the morning for more information, but his first bit of advice is to take the carpet out of Charlie's new room. So, as soon as they put it in, we'll be taking it out. Then we need to put down a hard floor-either laminate, wood or tile. Then he needs a new mattress with dust mite covers. The most difficult part for Charlie is going to be parting with the stuffed animals. His extensive collection is priceless to him. The good news is that we found out in time to set up his new room so that it is as dust free as possible.

Chicken Wire

Our house is now covered in a black sort of barrier paper and CHICKEN WIRE! I guess the chicken wire is there to either keep the birds in or to act as a surface that will hold the stucco. Stucco is just a fancy name for cement. There are styrofoam molds that are screwed to the front of the house. It is strange that such a soft, easily damaged material forms the fancy shapes around the windows and doors.

The interior ceilings have been sprayed with a texture of some sort and, finally, somebody swept up all the trash and grunge inside. The house didn't seem really dirty until the drywall went in, but now everything is covered in a film of chalky, yuckiness mixed with dirt. Brad's bathtub is gross! I know that it will all be cleaned up, but I resist the urge to pick up every time we go out.

All of our interior doors and baseboards are stacked in the garage. Cabinets can't be far from now, and then we should close in about 45 days. I'm still aiming for March 15th so that we can move during Spring Break. Brad disagrees, of course. He wants to sleep in the new house the day we close.

We got some good news about schools. It seems pretty certain that we can keep Olivia at her current elementary school even after we move. She's been there since Kindergarten so we want to let her finish 5th grade. And, Mitchell and Charlie will be getting off the same bus every afternoon at the front of our new neighborhood. That's good and bad. Good because they can come home and deal with the alarm together, and bad because they'll be, well, together.

Last, I have a funny story. I was reading a sentence today in class about the icy deck of a ship being slippery and dangerous, except that I mispronounced deck so that it rhymes with stick. Suddenly, even the kids who had totally tuned me out were paying attention. Luckily, nobody suggested that it was a Fruedian slip.

Scaffolding and Stucco

We were able to see our rooms in the daylight! Everybody got to do some mental furniture placement on Sunday when we went out to the house. Looks like this is the week for stucco because our house is surrounded by scaffolding. This, no doubt, should have kept us from wandering around, but of course it did not.

There is no half wall in the spot that I hope will become our future banister at the top of the stairs. That is not to say that they won't return at some point and put one in, but for now we are hopeful that we'll get a banister at the top and the bottom of the stairs.

School for me is going well, but I am planning day by day which is stressful. I feel constantly OVERWHELMED, but at least it keeps me from thinking about the house all of the time.

We have ROOMS!

The drywall is in! We have rooms. I thought that things would look much smaller once you couldn't actually see across the entire house, but that didn't happen. The rooms are nice, big, open. Maybe it is because the ceilings are high. We have no pictures because with the start of work and school again, we can only get out there at night. Actually, we've only seen the drywall with flashlights in the dark.

They've also begun to put the scaffolding up for stucco. This was a surprise. We didn't think that would happen for a few weeks. Pictures on Saturday!

In other good news, Poppy got moved to the rehab hospital today after TWO WEEKS in the first hospital. Thanks to Cousin Howie, our HERO, for getting him into the best rehab hospital in town. There were some very nice nurses who took care of Poppy in the first hospital. Thank you, nurses and doctors and everybody else for getting him through his surgery and rough recovery.

Today was my first day with students after the first of the year. Things went very well. I like my new schedule and I'm looking forward to getting into a routine and not feeling so anxious every day because it is all so overwhelming and new.

We are feeling very fortunate around here. The holidays were often hectic and worrisome because Poppy was struggling, but we also got to see our distant family and reconnect with them. Next year the holidays are at our house!

Just a note- the bird flu has hit another continent. Click to read CNN's story. For more information go to the government website. CNN has a lot of information in their special report. All I'm saying is that you might want to think about a plan.