Moving Forward

I apologize for not posting recently. Things have been moving along smoothly but crazy workdays and trying to get things organized for the house has intervened.

The house is currently under roof and "in the dry". All of the framing has been completed and we are both impressed what a good job the framers have done. We have a huge attic storage area that is accessible from the 2nd floor as well as a large bonus room that we can actually use for "fun stuff" instead of storage.

We have met with the cabinet makers who have marked out areas where the cabinets, window seats and desk will be placed. We have picked out our front door and met with the HVAC subcontractor who assures us the house will be toasty warm in the winter and cool throughout during the summer. We will need a significant amount of dirt to go around the house and some fill in the garage so that we will not need railings off the porches.

It is an exciting time. Next will be to meet with the plumbing and electrical subcontractors to work out the plumbing and electrical details.

Foundation Follies

So, in the previous post, I told you all about the footings being dug. Of course, on Wednesday, when the inspector came, he made them dig them deeper. Then, after they dug and poured the footings, they realized that the architect actually didn't draw the house square! The right side is drawn 4 inches deeper than the left! Are you kidding me??? Anyway, the "footing guys" and our contractor were able to fix it without any major upheaval! Whew!!

Then we had rain, rain, and more rain. Finally on Friday it was dry enough for the masons to start laying block. Between Friday and yesterday, they got most of the foundation laid. The back of the house is a little higher off the ground than I had wanted; apparently, we have more of a grade than we realized. Unfortunately, we have to work with what we have. If we were to bring in a bunch of dirt to try to level it up, not only would it be super expensive, but it could damage the roots of our beautiful trees that we are working to hard to preserve. So - our back porch may not be ground level, but it will be wonderful anyway.

Last weekend was the shower for our daughter's baby, Girl Tad. J had to be out of town, so I drove to Durham and took my girl for pedicures before the shower. They got a ton of great stuff - blankets, outfits, swing, ExerSaucer, toys! It was a lot of fun!

Here are pictures of the foundation in progress:

Footings and Footies

We have footings! At least, they were dug today. Hopefully, tomorrow's inspection will go well and we will get them poured. Rain off and on the past week or so caused a bit of delay, but it's all good. J & I were both excited to be able to visualize the layout of the first floor after the digging was finished today. If the weather cooperates, things should start to move along now.

It's interesting how time passes during construction. There is the exciting, "can't wait" part when you first get a plan, a contractor, a loan, etc. Then there is sometimes a little lull before you actually see something happening. The foundation tends to go pretty quickly, as does the framing, then things feel like they really slow down. At least, that's been our experience in the past. Things seem to happen in spurts. And this is one MAJOR IMPORTANT spurt! I mean, the foundation is what holds the whole thing up! One of the guys today said that they usually dig and pour footings the same day, but that the digging was just so tough today because of all the rain we've had that they were happy to just get them dug. I'm good with that! As much as I'd like to say, "Hurry, hurry," I am really happy to see people taking their time and doing things right the first time.

So -footings are dug and hopefully poured tomorrow. Next step - laying block. We've also already met with the cabinet maker. He's also going to have a major role since the house has so many built-ins and the kitchen is so important to us. Can't wait to see what he comes up with! He already gave us some great ideas just in our first meeting.

And then there are the footies! Babies are growing, mommies and daddies are doing great, and Nana and Papa J are soooooo very happy! Girl Tad's shower is this weekend (no, she still doesn't have a name, but when she gets one I'm sure it will be perfect, so just be patient!!!). We also saw our son and DIL this weekend when they were in the Triangle for his class reunion. It was great to see both of them; I hate that they're so far away. It's gonna be even worse when Sneetch gets here, but we'll just have to deal. Thank goodness for Skype!

It's Really Happening!

Wow! This house really is going to happen. The construction loan has been approved; J and I signed the papers on Wednesday. The "extra" trees have been removed, and the stakes are out letting us know exactly where the house will sit on the lot. The contractor is ready to dig the crawlspace, but it looks like rain is going to delay that until next week.

J and I spent almost 2 hours with the salesman at the appliance store Wednesday evening. It really wasn't as hard as you would think, because we've already been thinking about this for so long. We've done our research and had a good idea of what we wanted. Just waiting to see how far off we are in price from the original "guesstimate." Not that it will matter - the kitchen is the biggie to me and we'll shave somewhere else to get the appliances I want.

I've decided the biggest difference so far with building this house is the lack of time. When we built both of our previous homes, J and I had much more flexible schedules. With the Cherry Grove house, we were both working evenings, and I was working part-time. With the Fairway Farms house, I was working part-time nights and going to school part-time. Now I'm working Monday to Friday days. I'm supposed to have a lunch hour, but as busy as we've been, that's hit or miss. Add to that the fact that an hour really isn't much time to do anything, particularly including driving time, and it's pretty much going to be evening and weekend availability for us. I may be able to take a weekday off here and there, but I'm also saving my limited vacation time for visiting my new grandbabies and for moving in when the new house is ready.

On the grandparenting note, daughter's baby shower is October 10. That only gives me 3 weeks to finish everything I want to do for her for that! (Can't tell - she sometimes reads this blog!!! Just know it's going to be wonderful!) I'm going to work on the curtains for the nursery on Sunday, which will be fun. DIL is doing well - baby Sneetch is 16 weeks along, which is hard to believe. Where does the time go?

Short post today. Work has been insane this week. I'm going to try to get in early today and get caught up. We're going to the Furniture Mart tomorrow to check into office and bedroom furniture. We'll let you know how that goes.

Clearing the Land

Exciting things are finally starting to happen. We had a good idea that some of the trees that had either died or would stand in the middle of the house were going to be removed this week, but were also pleasantly surprised by the sign that announces the new house. Almost all the work for getting the lot ready is done with the exception of one large tree that an arborist (tree person) is going to help remove so that when it comes down, it will not hurt the remaining trees. I am happy to have such an individual on board so that trees remaining will continue to live and thrive. We were told that one of the trees is over 100 years old!!

We also received the first draft of the layout for the downstairs. It incorporates the ideas that we discussed with our contractor and also added a couple ideas of his to make the house "flow better". We added 12 inches of width to the right side of the house to be able to have a large functioning island in the middle portion of the kitchen. The master closet now is also larger and much more functional. I can't wait until the framing begins to better visualize what the house will ultimately look like.

I have included some pictures from the cleared lot below. Next week we are going to the appliance store to get a better idea of what we want so we can lay out the kitchen better.

Moving forward

Ok ... it certainly has been a stressful week. The house finally closed late Tuesday afternoon after many hours on the telephone with the buyer's mortgage company. While I was upset with the entire system and really pissed off that things were not able to move forward in the fashion that I would think they should, I felt kind of sorry for the person I was dealing with on the telephone. She was trying to make things happen and they were out of her hands. At the end, she was very apologetic and I think she was just as happy as I was that the entire ordeal was over.

Just when I thought all the aggravation was over, I noticed 2 days ago that my charter e-mails were bouncing. When I went to the apartment, we had no internet service. After four calls and over two hours of aggravation, I finally got things back to where they were. It seems that they did not transfer our internet account to the new account that was set up when we moved to the apartment. Why it took almost 2 weeks for the service to cut off, I do not know. None of the "technical" or "billing" help were in fact helpful. We went round and round trying to get e-mail and passwords set back up and to this day, I am still unable to view my bill on line. The "kind" person who transferred our account from the house to the apartment still has yet to call me back. I am sure he has gotten his commission for the account and at this point does not care what our problems are.

On a much brighter note, we have met with our builder, I have talked with a loan officer and stakes are out on the lot. At this point after meeting with our builder for 2.5 hours, we are going to get the plans redrawn and the lot will begin to have grading and clearing done the middle of next week. I am anxious to get started and am looking forward to sitting in a "man chair" in our new family room watching TV.

Bad Dreams as Reality Really BITE!

Okay, so here's the latest. J will have to give the details, because he's really been the one dealing with all of this. But - long story short, when the house first went under contract, I kept dreaming that we moved out and then something went wrong and the sale fell through. Now, I knew this was just an irrational fear, but it was there nonetheless. Turns out, not so irrational after all!

This past Friday was the date for closing. The BUYERS were the ones who were really pushing to close then; we'd have been happy to have another week or so to get out, but they wanted the 28th, so we made it happen. Middle of last week, J & I signed the papers and told our Realtor that she was authorized to act as our agent at the closing. After all, the only thing we would be doing is picking up the check. Closing was supposed to be at 11:30, and then the lawyer would have to do whatever they do with the mortgage company and go to the courthouse to record the deed. Then, they would cut our check. No problem, right?

PROBLEM! First of all, the buyers were LATE to the closing! Now, how do you be late to your own closing? I mean - they were doing a final walk-through of the house at 10, then going to the closing. So what's up with that? Well, I don't know when they actually got there, but the closing meeting didn't end until about 1:15. Our Realtor had another appointment at 2, so she planned to go back and pick up the check at 3:30, when she was free again. Okay....slightly irritating, but not a real problem. UNTIL - the mortgage company had some "issues" with the paperwork on the loan. It had something to do with a new law regulating fees on mortgages, and for some reason, their fees were too high. So - now, we are waiting to hear from their mortgage company. But - the only person who can answer the question was in a meeting and "could not be disturbed." SERIOUSLY????? What the ?????

So now it's 5:30 and J & and I are sitting in his car, not sure what to do. And I say, "You know, there are people living in our house who haven't paid for it..." I was having a really hard time getting my head around this whole thing. J says, "Let's go drive by." I don't know why we felt the need to do this, but we did and, of course, there are 7 or 8 vehicles and a moving truck in OUR driveway. I wanted to go inside and tell them not to be in too big a hurry to unpack....but I didn't. So we went around the corner to our Realtor's home (she's a neighbor, too). When her hubby opened the door, he said: "You have the same look on your face that she does." If that's true, I had smoke blowing out my ears because she surely did!!!

We talked with her about what's next and, basically, they would either have to pay rent or, at least, pay the difference in the payoff on our mortgage from Friday until today, when the loan would close. Being nice people, we said just make up the difference and it would be fine. It's an inconvenience, but not the end of the world. Then I asked her what they, the buyers, thought about the whole thing, and she said she wasn't sure they knew. THEY DIDN'T KNOW????!!!! Are you kidding me?? Sounds like their Realtor is brain-dead. First, he should never have given them the keys until the deed was recorded. Second, he didn't even let them know there was a problem with THEIR loan??? So she called him and told him he needed to let them know and tell them the condition (paying the difference). Since it was by then well after business hours, there was nothing else we could do, so we left.

Now, it's Monday.....everything is supposed to be fixed today, right? Ummm....no. Not yet. And who has spent the whole day trying to straighten out the BUYERS' mortgage mess?? J has. And do we have a check in hand? NO!!!! Tomorrow, they tell us. You know what I say, right?? SHOW ME THE MONEY! This is ridiculous! If I had bought a house and found out there was a problem with my loan and the Sellers had not been paid, I'd be flipping out!

So - to be continued.....maybe J will give you his point of view later......

We're Moved! One Step Closer.....

Finally! What a crazy couple of weeks this has been. The old house went under contract on August 4, with a request to close Friday, August 28. That's only 3 1/2 weeks! To make it crazier, we really couldn't move on Friday because of work, etc., so we moved out this past weekend. I can't believe we packed up that whole house, sold / gave away a TON of furniture and stuff, and moved in 2 1/2 weeks - all while working full time and with J out of town for 4 days of that 17! No wonder we both overslept this morning!

I think our builder is going to be wonderful! He is so excited about the project; I'm sure it's at least partly because he hasn't had any big projects in a while, with the economy and stuff. But what a nice guy! Case in point: the buyers had a list of repairs they wanted done - nothing big, but still a pain. D took care of getting them all finished! He either did them himself or found someone to do them! That took such a load off of us. He even dealt with the buyers' Realtor to make sure he understood exactly what they wanted.

Now, we just have to do a little touch-up painting from the move (J is doing that this evening), and we've already signed all the papers. We don't even have to go to the closing on Friday; our Realtor is going and will bring us the check! I loooove getting checks! Of course, it won't last long, and it isn't as big a check as we would have hoped, but still....

The apartment is okay. We have 3 bedrooms; we're using 1 for a study. There is a fair amount of closet space, but we have a LOT of stuff. We also rented a garage in the complex - not for cars, but for storage. The furkids seem to be adjusting pretty well. They bark at the strange noises, but they barked a lot at the house too. We also had a terrible thunderstorm last night, which Yorkies DID NOT like, especially when the power went out! Overall, though, I think they're fine.

So, like I said before, we're going to be grandparents! Our daughter is 24 weeks now; due in December. They're having a girl, right now her name is still "girl-Tad." Mommy-to-be is doing great! In fact, when we moved Saturday, she and A came up and she unpacked ALL of my kitchen stuff and put it away. She has more energy than I do. But - we have even more news! Our son and his wife are also expecting a baby! DIL is due March 1. They don't know the gender and are planning for it to be a surprise. So, here's a link to the Story of Sneetch: http://sneetch.katzbox.net/

Like I said before, lots of excitement at the "New Grandparents' House." Check back often for updates. Bye for now!

Beginnings

Well, here we go. My first attempt at blogging. I love to talk / write, so this should be easy. Right? Shouldn't it? Ummm...so why don't I know what to say?

I guess I should start with why we're here. J and I are so happy that we are going to be grandparents. Our daughter and her husband are expecting a baby girl in early December. (Check out The Tad Show http://thetadshow.blogspot.com/) What a wonderful Christmas / Hanukkah gift she will be. I've already started spoiling her rotten, and buying everything pink in the store. As soon as she gets a name, I'll let you know.

And finally, after 18 loooooong months, our house is under contract so maybe we'll be able to get out of this too big formal monstrosity with too much yard that never really felt like home. We have a lovely little lot in an older neighborhood in town; close to shopping, restaurants, places to walk and bike. We plan to build a "new old house" there - a house that will be comfortable and cozy when it's just us and the dogs, but that will expand with love and laughter when our children, their spouses, and our beautiful grandchildren are there to visit. This is our fourth venture into home building and we learn more each time. Hopefully, this is the last time, but I've learned never to say never.

In any event, we plan to enjoy dual adventures over the next months. We hope you enjoy reading about them.