Hello to Aunt MaryLou

Yes Aunt Lou, Herbie did see his new house already, he has been there quite a few times now, and on the weekends we walk thru the plan together so he can get to know his new neighborhood!

This time however, he was more interested in the peppermint candies in the cupholder than he was at looking at his new house.  Also, he has a tendency to stop and sniff EVERY mailbox on the walk, which is getting really annoying - im hoping that once he gets pretty familiar he will stop smelling the flowers and start WALKING like a good boy.

Photo Update 12/30/11 (Long Overdue)

So, drove up to the house yesterday to find it locked!  Boooo!  I suppose they have mudd-ed the drywall and they have the heat cranked up so they dont want any intruders...There was a crew working on the end (opposite side as ours) I should have asked them to let me into my unit but I was being lazy, and I had the dog with me...so I scrapped that idea pretty quick.

However, I was very happy to see that we have a driveway!

I know that its only primer, but the door is so ugly.  The finished color will be "wine" (burgundy) and much less pinkish red...thank goodness.  They have all of the brick done except some edging around our door ... and our number was put in yesterday too.

All in all its coming along pretty nicely.  There are a few items they still need to repair inside - which we talked to our rep about.  I also got a call from Rusmur last week telling me that they were scheduled to do some tile work on the 30th (today) apparently I had them all confused since I purchsed some marble shelves and some other extras (out of pocket) for the Ryan crew to install.  So now they dont know to call me or to call Ryan when they are scheduling work - I secretly love this because I always know ahead of time when they are planning on coming...

Hopefully we can stop by this weekend and see the inside - I know most of the crews are off so I may have to bring something to pick the lock with - yes - I would go that far.  My next post will probably be from the county jail.

At our current house the carpeting that we had been waiting for has FINALLY been installed.

From what I understand our buyer has received final loan approval and now were all just waiting for the closing date! We have a few other items to fix/repair by January 19th - and then we'll be homeless for a week - im aiming for less than a week but its all depending on Ryan...I never thought Id be 30 moving back in with my parents. ugh.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

And...Merry Christmas to you shawn...I hope you liked your present!

A perfect piece for his first Man Cave!

Ask for what you want!!!!!

So in the pre-drywall I literally grilled our PM for a reason why Ryan Homes doesn't give you shelves in your tiled shower. 

And he said, why do you want shelves?
And I said, YES.
And he said, then just ask.
And I said, Can I please have shelves, two of them , preferably 10" each.
And he said, it will cost you $145.00
And I said, I will get my check book.

So I took a trip the next night to Rusmur Floors and ordered two marble shelves - which Ryan (well rusmur) is going to install.  Best part is, we didnt have to do the change order process, Rusmur let me pay them directly. 

The really great thing is, no shower caddy - thank. you. Lord.
Plus the shelves are beautiful...way more beautiful than something hanging off of the glass shower door or off of the shower head...definitely (in my opinion) worth the money.

Besides, how many shower caddies would you buy in a year, I would probably get at least 3 - because I cannot seem to find  one that doesnt rust, or look like crap, or doesnt break within the first 3 months I own it.

Rant Rant Rant....My apologies in advance.

Christmas, I wish I could take my white out bottle and remove it from the calendar all together.  Maybe this lack of christmas spirit is due having absolutely no decorations up at our old house - and knowing that we close too late after the holiday for me to justify putting up a tree at the new house...I dont know.  I dont feel like shopping - for anyone but me.  So far I got a 55" plasma and a keurig K-cup holder for the counter...all for me, me, me.

They started bricking our unit in Maple Ridge - it looks fantastic. You wouldnt know because I took NO PHOTOS because I forgot my camera last Sunday.  Also, thanks to me, I have no photos from the pre drywall meeting - because I didnt charge the camera.  However, we did sneak in the house a week prior to the pre drywall and I got some good pics of the plumbing etc.  I would share them but, you guessed it, I didnt upload anything from the memory disc yet.  Nice.

And another thing - selling a house is a super duper pain in the ass.  I mean like, im a nervous wreck.  I hate waiting for replies, phone calls, appointments and all of that, because I am SO IMPATIENT.  And selling a house is basically all of that...So we got an offer, took it (it was the first offer) and got the inspection done and now we have a 'punchlist' to complete...and a roof to repair....and a fruit cellar to clean out. 

Booooooooo.
But at least we will make a profit.
I guess in the long run all of it will be worth it.

The first furniture purchase...

Bedroom set - this is shown in antique white but we got it in cherry wood.  It is beautiful! We got two nightstands (they have black marble tops) the chest of drawers and the vanity, withought the mirror because our tv will hang above it...and we also got a matching bench for the end of the bed.

We picked up a sectional sofa for the main level family room, we organized it into three recliners, one corner unit, one console (with cup holders) and a chaise on the end.  The color is "Lucious Chocolate" but its not brown...its like a silvery taupe color.



Leaving the Past Behind...

Sold.  The.  House.

Sad :(
But Happy :)

Signed the contracts last night, now just waiting on home inspections and praying that it's all smooth sailing from this point forward.  I still cannot believe how fast our house sold.  We will close on our old house the 20th of Jan.  We will close on our Rosecliff a few days after. 

Cheers to a new year with alot of change!

What an active day...

So much has happened today I think my head might spin off of my neck.

• We locked in the interest rate...woot woot !!
• We scheduled a preliminary walkthru with Guardian, tomorrow at 930am.
• Northwood Reality called and someone is interested in buying our current home, they were there at 4pm today looking.
• We scheduled the pre-drywall meeting for Monday, as in this coming monday 12/12) at 4pm.
• And (unexpected) we got four tickets to the steelers game tomorrow night at 8pm.

Locked In

Today we checked with Rates with NVR, and we were able to lock in a 15 year fixed for 3.375%.
Very Very Happy with this.

Also, Guardian called us today, they are planning on doing our install tomorrow, which means pre-drywall should be sometime in the next week or two. 

It seems like it took forever to get to this point, but now its flying by.  We should have a closing date right after the pre-drywall meeting is completed.  Im thinking around mid January still. 

Progress Update 12/5/2011

Not to shabby eh?  We now have a concerete floor in the garage, all of the rough plumbing has been completed and as of today they are starting the HVAC work.

They placed the basement egress window well and have backfilled the rear yard so now its almost level to the house...They are very close to completing the shingle roof - so siding is the next step...very excited!

So the reason for this most recent visit was to check on the wall situation in the basement.  We opted to tear out the wall in the basement that separates the living space from a storage room - so we can have a larger gameroom.  Here is a photo from our visit at Thanksgiving, showing the wall that isnt supposed to be there.

And thankfully this wall is no more.

Very happy about the big game room downstairs...now upstairs they have the kitchen island all framed in.

They also have all of the windows/exterior doors installed.  We opted for the 15 lite patio door and nixed the fireplace for a wall of windows...this is how its coming together.

Love the view of the woods.  So happy that no one will build right behind us.

As for the upstairs, our bathtub has been framed in (master bedroom) The window above the tub is alot different from that in the model home we saw...which is kind of disappointing, but it still looks great.

Loft Area

While Ryan is busy building our new house, we're busy fixing up our current house.

Added the porch railing - I love it....adds so much curb appeal.  Now I have to paint the steps. 
The house is being listed THIS WEEK!  Which means I spent all weekend cleaning, organizing, painting, etc.
Were hoping it sells fast!  We were qualified to purchase the new home and keep the mortgage on this home as well - so either way were good to go, but it would be ALOT easier if our current house was sold prior to  closing on the new one.  Were keeping our fingers crossed for now....Happy Building Everyone!