WooHOO, We Are Home Owners!

Closing was a breeze- only took about an hour of signing, signing, signing and then we gathered up the kids and had our first meal in our new house.




First meal: A KFC picnic on a comforter spread out on the floor in the family room.
First toast: Champagne or Yoohoo, depending on your preference
First song played on the new CD player: Our House by Madness
Biggest thrill: Kids nesting in their own rooms!
First box unpacked: new bathroom accessories
Most fun: playing with the intercom
Greatest satisfaction: A key that fits in the door!

Birthday and the Eve of our Closing

Mitchell is SIXTEEN today. We went to dinner with PopPop and Ginny to celebrate. Last night we went to dinner, too. Here he is enjoying his one and only gift: an IPOD. As he gets older, the gifts are getting smaller and more expensive. He can get his license in September and then we'll have two teen drivers to worry about.

Speaking of teen drivers, Bishop has managed to wreck his car again without even driving it. He was sitting on his windshield today- yes, SITTING on the WINDSHIELD- when he cracked it with his butt. There is now a huge butt crack in his windshield-actually it is more like a butt print in glass. When he was four we had to tell him not to lick the car. Well, it had been raining... he was thirsty... I didn't think I'd need to actually tell him not to lick the car, and I didn't think I'd need to tell him not to sit on the WINDSHIELD!

As I sit here typing, Brad is telling Charlie and Olivia to be quiet and go to sleep. They are chattering away in their room. There are only a few nights left of chattering. Although all of them have needed their own rooms for awhile now, when we move, they'll miss the late night talk and giggle sessions, and I'll miss hearing them from just down the hall in my room.

Tomorrow at 4:30 is the long awaited closing. I'm feeling excited, tense, happy, overwhelmed, and a little sad, but mostly... ready to move on.

Walk-through

This morning at 9:30 we met with the builder and several other people to "walk through" our new home. This was our chance to learn about how to take care of the interior and exterior and for us to point out any last minute problems or issues. In some ways it feels like we've "walked through" an invisible portal into our new lives.

There were lots of people there- cleaning, painting, and installing. There was an unspoken deference for the "home owners." Who? Us? They kept saying, "It's your house." Really? Ours? Are you sure? Gosh, if they could only see what we are coming from- a well worn, cramped townhouse.

My friend LM said that when I moved into this house I'd be a whole new person. In a way, she was right, although I insisted that I am already that person when she said it. Maybe I'm not that person yet. Now everything seems surreal. Even after almost ten months of driving out to see the dirt every week and tracking the process so closely, it still seems amazing that this house will actually be OUR house.

The house is beautiful. And in five days it will officially be our beautiful house.

Locked OUT!

This was a frustrating weekend as we were LOCKED OUT of the house. grrrrrrrr! Also, they dropped our counter after it was poured a second time and broke it so they are making yet another new one. I hope that the third time is the charm.

Here's our new time frame: Walk-through on Thursday morning and closing next Tuesday afternoon.

And then, we can really call it home.

Landscaping

The house is so close to finished. We took the kids last night, and for the first time, the house really seemed livable. The electricity is on and the carpet is installed. The walls have been touched up and the doors are all on. We entertained ourselves by talking back and forth over the intercom and listening to the radio. We watched the JEA guy install a light bulb in the streetlight that we have in our front yard. We could've brought our sleeping bags and spent the first night there, so when we had to get in the car and drive home to the cramped townhouse, it was a little bit hard.

When we were there, the kids were pretty crazy. They were loud and running around, which always ends with an injury, some wailing and then pouting. The pouting was mostly the parents. We had to remind ourselves that moving isn't going to magically make everything all sweetness and serenity. We have to wait for them to move out before that will happen.

We also discovered the down side to the intercom system. The rule at this house is that you cannot tell on another kid if you are on a different floor from the parent. With the new intercom, all you have to do is push a button to complain about a sibling. What were we thinking? Oh, I remember. We wanted them to be able to ask if the dishwasher was clean from the kitchen.

Here's the house status: We don't have a countertop in the kitchen because they poured the wrong color Corian. Our walk through is scheduled for Monday. I hope that it is in by then. Also, we don't have a shower door yet. As ypu can see, we do have landscaping. I think it looks great. Also, they are going to extend the sod to the back of the cleared section of the yard.

Mark your calendars for May 6th. Party at our house!

Long Yard, Short Windows

Every day is a new adventure when you are a few weeks from closing. This week we had a few surprises. They cleared 25 more feet in the back than we expected. We don't know how much of the cleared lot they plan to sod, though. Then end of our lot used to be even with the neighbors'.

In other news, they discovered that they put the windows in our bedroom and the game room in too low. It would take two extra weeks for them to go back and fix the windows. Brad told the builder that if they sod the entire lot, then we'll live with the low windows. I guess it is good that we are short people.



You can see the gap that happened when they originally installed the windows. We pointed this out when it happened, but they told us that it was to make the outside look right. The thought of them tearing up the outside of the house is worrisome to say the least. When they put in the sprinkler system this week, they tore up the electric wires that power the air conditioners.

They've painted our front door. The color surprised us because we thought it would be a deep, dark burgandy instead of this copper color, but when we checked our plans, this is indeed the color we chose. I'm looking forward to seeing the house surrounded by green grass and plants rather than dirt. Hopefully, I'll like the color more then. It is annoying that the door has white lines and the rest of the windows have dark lines.



The hardwood floors are in, as is the carpet. Unfortunately, the floors are covered in brown paper. One week from tomorrow (Monday) we are scheduled for our walk-through. Finally, we will get to see everything cleaned up and shiny. Then a week later we go to closing. If we stay on schedule, we'll move in the first weekend of March. I need to go pack something right now.

We bought a new fridge to match the other stainless appliances this weekend. It will be delivered the weekend after we move in. We also got a new washer and dryer set- front loading, stackable- for upstairs. This will give us some extra room in the laundry room. We're keeping our old washer, dryer and fridge. They'll all go in the garage. That's right: two washer and dryers. Now they'll never be any excuse for having dirty clothes.

Changes, progress, additions and accidents

Apparently at the end of the fiscal year for the builder, people are switched around the developments. This means that the sales staff that we've dealt with is gone and we have a new builder as well. While it is disconcerting to have changes right before our last few weeks of construction, Brad did get a chance to meet with the new builder, the assistant builder and the quality person. They were responsive and listened to all of our concerns. They believe that they will be ready to close on February 28th.



We now have a driveway and walkway to the front door. They measured for the counter tops last week so they should come next week. Grading, sod and landscaping should happen this week and then they'll start the hardwood floor. The alarm people installed the key pads and the intercom speakers, but they made a few errors so they need to come back. At this point, the details are mounting. It is probably a good thing that I am not able to leave school all day because I'd be out there every day obsessing over everything.





Oh, they installed the wrong door. After coating the first door in paint, they installed the wrong glass. Not that this is a bad looking door, but I think we asked for the door with no lines- just glass. In the future, that glass will be replaced by an original Dennis Lafer custom stained glass door.









To add to our insanity, we have taken in two more kittens. They are adorable and much friskier than our old, fat, cuddly cats. This way there are the same number of cats as kids in the house. We had kitty litter scooper training tonight so that everybody can share in the yucky chores that come with pet ownership.

Bishop wrecked his car. He's been driving for less than a month. Yes, I predicted it. I should've gotten a betting pool going. Luckily, he was unharmed. He hit a friend's large truck, which was barely scratched, smashing up a headlight and taking out the power steering. He's suffering car/freedom withdrawal while his parents have no sympathy for him.