Nina - 18 weeks

Ready to move in

Well, we have a temporary driveway for the winter. I have the final walk through tomorrow afternoon and then we close on Tuesday.

Phew! on two counts.

Today has been a day of great news.

DTE finished up yesterday moving the transformer and hooking up power to the house, so we are free and clear to close on Tuesday.

And I just got the news this afternoon that I am permanently hired into the position I have been temporarily filling since September. This comes with a significant pay increase...yay, and since it is with the University it is about as stable of a job as you can get in this state in this economy.

I cannot tell you how relieved I feel; kind of giddy.

first, make a mess...

Well, DTE's part is half way done. They have trenched and wired from the old pedestal to the new.
Tomorrow they are supposed to finish. Cross your fingers.

They sure made it harder on themselves. If they had gotten it done before this week they would not be tromping around in this muck.
But I am happy they are tromping.

Brielle DeEtte - 18 weeks

Ellie

No silly, I'm not having a girl.

But I'm going to be an aunt to what I'm sure will be an adorable little she-child who will be nick named Ellie. I cannot wait to hold this little person in May (she is due in April, but we'll probably go out to Utah the following month).

My little sister, Melynda, found out today she is having a girl and graciously allowed me to announce my excitement on "the blog".

She is moving back in with my Mom and I am going through all sorts of frustration that I cannot be there to help decorate the nursery. *Sigh*

Oooh, a new vacuum

Now I realize that in the next little bit it's going to sound like I've gone crazy on a shopping spree...what with a new house, new boots,...
A new Dyson DC14 super-d-duper vacuum!

But that's not the end. In the next couple of weeks I will also be buying a new refrigerator and a garage door opener.
But no, I have not lost my mind and let loose with the credit cards.
We've been living very, very skimpily all year for this moment.

Now that we have that confession out of the way...
Isn't this vacuum just so very fun?
We need a good vacuum as it seems like I shed a pound of hair a day. I'm worse than a long haired cat in the spring.

Rubber Boots

It is entering the rainy to snowy season here.
I am 5'3" and do not hem my pants.
long pants + wet ground = cold Carmen

So, to remedy the situation, I just ordered these fun boots.
I like them. They are black. If you didn't know this, most of my wardrobe is black. Matchy matchy. I also like the small wedge heel. But most appealing of all is that they are rubber and will keep my raynauds afflicted feet their normal color. How nice.

I got them from shoes.com with free shipping + no taxes + promo code for an extra $10 off.
I love promo codes.

Unfortunately...

Even though the economy (especially here in Michigan) has slowed down, that doesn't seem to mean that companies like DTE are acting like they need the work. They did not move the transformer this week, so our closing date had to slide to the 25th...thus we will be moving over the Thanksgiving holiday.
I can't say that I'm entirely surprised or even that mad. I just feel blessed that we are in the position to be moving into such a nice place, and hey...Thanksgiving is still just around the corner. One week is not a big deal.
(Hmmm, we'll see if I still feel that way if we can get no help moving our big stuff because of the holiday)

so close I can taste it

Well, except for the whole electricity issue (and everything that goes along with it, such as a driveway) plus some very minor touch ups, the house is done.

Here is a look at the entry way; the piano room is at the far end on the right, the stairs are on the far end left. To the right is the kitchen, to the left is the living room. You can see the door to the basement at the left side of the picture.

Piano room.

Curt just said "what the heck is around the mirror".
No worries, it is just the reflection of the flash in the beveled edge of the mirror.


Kitchen. With Curt in it.


Kitchen + Dining Area

I didn't realize this until today, but the countertops are the full thickness solid granite.
In a lot of instances the edge would be built up for show, but the rest of the counter would only be about half the thickness.

Looking from the kitchen into the living room.


View out the living room windows. It is rainy.


Fireplace.

Master bedroom.

My pretty window seat.

Vanity in the master bathroom.

Master closet. I'm so excited. Curt is too, he takes up just as much closet space as I do with all of his bulky suits.

Master tub. The shower is behind it.

I spent so much time in the house making sure everything was OK that I found Curt like this.

Hopefully this post isn't so long that you are now in this position :)

Our walk through is on Wednesday.
If DTE fixes stuff this week we're all set to close on the 19th.

gosh it's dark

So, daylight savings kind of sucks.
It was 5:45pm when we got to our house to check out the progress and it was pitch black outside.

But hey, technology is wonderful, so camera flash + a run through picasa made it so that we could see. (I'll have a bunch of better pictures after this Saturday's day visit).

I think that they painted some of the outside of the house.

Kind of hard to tell, we'll have to see later.

We have appliances!
I'm so excited to have a microwave again!!!
(I left ours in Utah, doh)

And we have carpet...the finishing touch.
Now all they need to do is clean.
Oh, and do a tiny little thing like turn the power on.

I did get a call from the project manager today saying that DTE says that they still have it on their schedule to fix all of our power problems next week. We shall see.
But they did come and put a stake in the ground where they are moving the transformer box to, that's something right? ha ha.

Yes, you can believe your eyes...

This is $1.99 a gallon gas just down the street from us.

accessories + sheesh, it's november

Things are getting pretty close.

Don't ask me why they put sod down in such funny places. I don't know.
We didn't pay for sod, and a strip about this size has been laid on all the empty lots, so my guess is that the city required it of the builder to keep the winter mud on the streets to a minimum.
But yes, they are going to have to take most of it out to put in the temporary, winter-long, crushed limestone driveway we'll have until the spring when they will be pouring our driveway and the city walks.

But hey, we have a dark brown door!
(which needs to be touched up around the hardware)

...and all the door hardware and closet shelving is in...

...and all of the plumbing is hooked up and running...

...and we have oil-rubbed bronze lever handles...

...and we have mirrors...

...and we have a chrome shower door that I am going to have to make oil-rubbed bronze somehow...

...and they painted the stairs going to the basement...

...and we have a water meter...
(it's cool and wirelessly transmits our water usage to the city so they don't have to employ a meter reader)

...and our A/C unit is in...

So, by way of summary, there is the following left to complete:

1) Carpet installation
2) Appliance installation
3) Construction final clean
4) DTE still needs to move the stinking transformer out of the driveway to the property line and hook up power to the house.

1-3 should be done no problem (our closing is scheduled for the 19th), but DTE has given a date of getting their part done as the week of the 10th. This is too tight for my comfort, for if they do what they've promised all will be well, but if they miss their promised date we will probably have to move our closing, which would make me extremely irate.
I do not want to move Thankgiving weekend.

We'll keep you posted.