Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Clear for take-off!

We just got word from our NVR rep that we are set to clear on Friday.  Whoo hoo!!  I still expect them to bug us about something between now and then though.  They seem to have a reputation for that, lol.

So, now I am about to go crazy waiting.  In the meantime, we have been searching for cabinet hardware and tile for our kitchen backsplash.  Can anyone point me to some good resources for either?

Monday, December 19, 2011

Almost there...

I am bursting with anticipation this week.  Have you noticed my ticker?!  We have our final walk-through of the house scheduled for Wednesday morning and then we close on Friday morning.  I can't wait to get the keys!!  We have movers scheduled for Saturday.  Saturday night will be spent with my family in High Point and then Sunday (Christmas) will be spent in our new home.  Christmas evening will be at my cousin Christine's, here in Concord.  I can't wait!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Ahhhh, those floors---*Swoon*


Looking down from the landing on the stairs

Please note that the trim guy hadn't finished the bottom trim on any of the walls.  He did it all last night and it now looks completed.  I took the photos at lunch.

The formal dining room-I wish we would have upgraded the window wall to jut out.  It would have made it an octagonal room.  Oh well, I won't complain though.  I love it!! (BTW-That weird looking pile outside the windows is our rolls of sod waiting to be put down.)

Love our entryway!  The ceiling is so pretty.

I took this pic to show the contrast of the family room carpet and the wood flooring.

Our Combination of Color Choices, Sod, Guest Bath


This pic shows how our hardwoods, cabinets, appliances and counter look.  I love how our choices blend together.

Our sod in the front yard was just starting to be rolled out when I visited yesterday.

Guest shower

Guest flooring

Master Bath


My tub (it's nestled between our matching sinks)
Love the light tile strip that they used to separate the carpet and tile floor.

Clayton's shower

Looking from the bathroom into the master bedroom (it steps down into it)-the doors on the left and right are our closets

Thursday, December 15, 2011

12 Wonderful Years

My partner in crime (I think this was taken in 1998)

It's hard to believe how fast the years have flown by since marrying the love of my life.  We have been through thick and thin together.  I cherish every moment of it.  It's amazing how so many marriages don't work out in this day and I feel blessed that we have beat those odds.  We've been through college days, numerous apartments, 3 states, 3 companies for hubby, 4 houses (the building of the 4th one), 5 cars, 2 children, and 4 surrogacy journeys (2 resulting in babies).  We've done it all together.  I can't believe how lucky I am to be his partner in life.  Thank you God for giving me such a devoted and wonderful husband.  I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have him by my side.

I am going to make this short since I need to do some things before meeting my man for a hot lunch date.  If you want to read our cool and crazy story of how we got together, check out my previous post link: How We Met

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Flooring is going in today!!

I drove by the house after I picked the boys up from school today.  To my surprise, I saw 2 vans of flooring installers.  The had the hardwoods down for most of the first floor but carpet was just starting throughout the rest of the house.  That was at 3pm so I would venture to guess that they will finish up tomorrow.  From what I could tell, everything looked great!  I would have taken photos but it was a chaotic mess.  I could barely see the hardwoods thanks to all the dirty footprints on it.  We get to do our official walk-through next Tuesday so I will be sure to get some pics then, if not before. 

Argh....

I went by the house yesterday afternoon with camera in hand for nothing.  No flooring was installed nor was it even sitting in my garage.  What the heck Rite Rug???  So not amused.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Flooring Update

We are now scheduled to get our floors installed tomorrow.  Yay!!  Our awesome PM put the pressure on Rite Rug to get things done.  They found our hardwoods in Canada so they got over-nighted here.  We're almost done and I am a happy gal!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Flooring Woes

Friday should have been the day for all of our flooring to go in.  Unfortunately, it was not.  Instead, I got a call from our PM telling us that the hardwoods that we ordered are back-ordered until January 10th.  Ughhhhhhh.  What a bummer!  The manufacturer makes this particular kind only 3 times a year.  They are completely out of it right now.  They are trying to locate us some from around the US and even overseas.  If they do find some, it will most likely be installed next week.  Worst case scenario, we will have to wait for the hardwoods.  Ryan Homes will put temporary vinyl flooring down in place of the hardwoods in the meantime.  They are still going to move us in during Christmas week so the flooring will not delay things in that respect, thank the Lord.

As far as our carpeting is concerned, our PM decided not to install it Friday.  He thinks that it will get stained if it is put in before the hardwoods.  The reason being that the hardwoods are all that you would see as you enter the front door.  Due to the hardwoods not being down, the floors are all concrete at the entrance.  When workers enter, all they would see is that the flooring isn't down yet so they wouldn't remove their muddy boots.  It could be that they wouldn't notice the white carpets until they had already walked over them in other rooms.  It makes sense to me so now we wait.

Next week, the whole house will be cleaned and spruced up.  Painters will be in there to make everything perfect for us.  Our sod will be laid and hopefully, we will get our hardwoods/carpet.  That's all that's left before we close the following week.  I can't wait!!!

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Going Stir Crazy

We are so close to getting our new house now that I am beginning to lose it.  I am super anxious.  Why?  Here's a list:

1-I am sick of running up to our 3rd floor apartment (which is a 1 bedroom to make matters worse).
2-I hate getting wake up calls from my highly vocal neighbor that has "relations" at all hours of the night.
3-I do not like having to defrost the car in the morning since I don't have a garage currently.
4-Fighting for a parking spot in front of our building can be rather annoying.
5-The yard apes (affectionate word for annoying kids) outside yelling and screaming ALL THE TIME makes me cringe.  The walls are thin and the kids are obnoxious.  Where are the dang parents in this place???

After all that complaining, here are the things I am currently thankful for:

1-I love being close to family.  We are going to have an amazing Christmas this year!!
2-My kids are wonderful.  They really are good kids and I couldn't ask for better.
3-Clayton is the best husband.  No, seriously.  I don't know any other guy who would be able to live up to him.
4-We are all healthy, with the exception of my numerous dental woes, of course.
5-Our home is almost ready for us.

I haven't felt like we have had any normalcy since moving here back in late April.  Life has been hard with the selling of our house in Colorado, the commuting my hubby had to do the first 3 months, the 2 month stint in the temporary apartment in south Charlotte, the 6 months spent in a 1 bedroom apartment, the moving and storage of all of our belongings (which we cannot access because everything is packed too tight), and numerous other things that I just don't care to mention.  It all sounds like a nightmare but really, this was my dream.  I never thought that we would ever get to move back home to NC.  I am so happy that God has blessed us with this opportunity.  It was rather amazing and fast how everything happened to get us to this point.  For all of this, I am extremely happy and thankful.

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Drive By [12.6.11]-Almost Done!!

LOVE my new 60/40 sink and granite!

Let me just say that these photos suck and I am well aware of it.  I forgot my camera card so I had to use my iPhone.  There were workers everywhere so I took my photos rather quickly.  

Double ovens-they still have blue plastic on them for protection (BTW-that isn't me in the reflection.  I think that is one of the cleaners, lol).

This pic is really horrible but at least you can see how the kitchen is coming together.  All of my appliances are in except the gas cook-top.  The pendant lights are something that Ryan just started adding to the Dorsey Hall.  There will be 2 bar stools underneath them for the kids to eat on the island.

I heard from our PM today and he said that our hardwoods would be going in on Friday.  Odds and ends are being done right now like putting the lights, switch plates, chandeliers, and faucets in.  There were 2 women cleaning everything today.  It's really looking good!  Next week will be when they do all of their touch-ups.  He said that week will be spent making it a perfect "10".  Wow, so I now wonder-Can we possibly close sooner than originally projected???  I know we are put down for 12/23 in the books, but our PM has said that he thinks that it could be sooner by a few days.  I sure hope that we can close earlier because that is too close to Christmas.  We will have a hard time celebrating in the midst of moving all of our crap in.  Oh well, I can't complain.  The house will sure be a nice Christmas gift!

Monday, December 05, 2011

December 1st-Traditions, New and Old

Hayden putting up his ornaments

Every December, we get a visit from the elves on the night of the 1st.  The sneaky guys ring our doorbell and then disappear before we can get to the door to catch them in the act.  They leave us 4 wrapped ornaments for each of us to add to our tree.  This year, Hayden and Emerson got the same set of ornaments.  They got a set of elves, Jingle and Jangle, that can hide in the tree like "Where's Waldo?".  It's a fun game and they seem to enjoy it.  Clayton got a NCSU Wolfie & Mrs. Wolfie ornament.  I got a pretty cupcake.  I do have pics of everything but I managed to delete them off my computer before I posted today.
Our own elf, Peppy

We started a new tradition this year involving the creepy elf pictured above.  He's from "The Elf on the Shelf".  He watches the kids everyday to make sure that they are good and then he reports to Santa at the North Pole each night.  The boys cannot touch him or he will lose his magic.  He has been instructed not to speak to the boys but he can listen to them.  When Peppy (the kids named him after Peppermint) arrives back each morning, he relocates himself throughout our place.  The kids have a blast trying to find him each morning.  Sometimes he gets into mischief.  Yesterday, he was found hanging in the blinds.
Clayton's ornament
Clayton reading "The Elf on the Shelf" to the boys (both are holding their new elf ornaments)
Emerson-7, Hayden-8

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Drive By [12.4.11]


We now have columns and shutters.  All we need now are the decorative pieces that go over the bottom 2 windows.  After those things are done, I expect to see the lawn sodded and that ugly gas tank gone.  Wow, it is finally beginning to look like home. :)

It's hard to see the Santa Cecilia granite in this photo thanks to the plastic that they have taped over it.  At least we were able to sneak a peek underneath the plastic to see it.

It's gorgeous!!!

This pic gives you a better idea of how the granite ties in with the cabinets.  I wish the big part wasn't covered with brown paper but oh well.  I will get to see it all together soon enough.

Sorry I have no pics of the tile work throughout the house.  Everything that the tile guys did over the weekend is covered up.

Our House

Our house is really close to being finished.  We broke in on Friday night and saw everything.  I took pics then but I can get better ones today during the daytime.  We now have shutters and columns on the front.  The crown molding, chair railing, baseboards, and wainscoting have been installed and painted .  Our granite is in and it is gorgeous against our espresso cabinets!!  The floors, tubs, and showers have all been tiled.  Our appliances were sitting in the family room in boxes.  I hope that they are installed now.  We shall see...

Friday, December 02, 2011

The Scarboro---A beautiful house at Sugar Mountain

You can check out the house at: http://www.thescarborohouse.com/

My cousin Christine owns the immaculate mountain house shown above.  Amazing, right?  It sleeps 17, has huge tvs in every room, a hot tub, a large outdoor fireplace on the top deck off the back, and a game room on the bottom floor (note that we didn't see our kids the entire stay here thanks to this place, lol).  For Thanksgiving, we were invited to stay here with them and some of their friends.  It was awesome!!  We had so much fun hanging out and enjoying the serenity of the mountains.  We took a trip up to Grandfather Mountain, roasted marshmallows, celebrated both Thanksgiving and Clayton's birthday, played many games and relaxed.  Clayton and I are now considering renting it so that his whole family can fly in from Wyoming and Nebraska to stay in it.  They would all love it!

Blue Ridge Mountains

Grandfather Mountain parking lot for the mile high swinging bridge

More Mountain Pics

Split Rock @ Grandfather Mountain-Emerson and Hayden are up top (and yes, I was panicky-I HATE heights)

Jeff (Christine's husband), the twins-Josh and Aaron (I can't tell who is who but one is on each end of the kiddos), Hayden, Ryan, Clayton and Emerson

The cutie up front is Anna.  She is Ryan's sister.

Clayton standing at the top of Grandfather Mountain

The mile high swinging bridge-Clayton, Jeff, Mark, Lori, and all the kiddos

The told us that the hike up to the bridge was only .4 miles but they neglected to tell us how difficult the terrain is.  Several of us fell (including klutzy me, lol).  

Playing spoons-it got fierce!  From left to right: my cousin Sheila, cousin Rachel (Sheila's daughter), Lori, cousin Christine and Erica.  The green sleeve belongs to cousin Ashley (Christine's daughter).

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tray Ceilings, Race Cars, and Tequila?

Tray ceiling in model home-crown molding is raised to top of tray

The master bedroom tray ceiling in our home-crown molding is dropped to bottom of tray

When we had our pre-construction meeting, our PM told us he would like to change the molding in our bedroom.  He described it to me but I couldn't picture it.  I googled it on my iPhone and found an example.  It didn't look right to me (it was a bad photo) so I told him to raise it back up like the model home has.  Once I got home, I searched for more examples and I found better photos of the lowered crown molding.  After that, I decided to go with his original plan.  We had them install an outlet behind the molding so that we can run rope light behind the trim.  It's going to be connected to a switch so we can easily turn it off and on.  I love how the lowered molding gives the tray more dimension.

Gentlemen, start your engines!  Yes, that is Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Sorry the photo sucks but I only have my little camera right now.  This is the view from the windows surrounding my bath tub on the second floor.  I can't believe how close we are to the track.  Considering how well we can hear the race cars here at Concord Mills (our apartment is beside CM), we will definitely be able to hear the ruckus from our house since it is closer.     

Do you see the interesting thing about this photo?  We checked out our house last Sunday and saw that huge empty bottle of tequila in my boys' bathroom.  Odd, huh?  Our PM drilled all the workers from that weekend to try to find out who drank it but no one fessed up, of course.  He was fairly angry but I told him not to worry about it.  The house looks amazing.  If my tiles start to pop off the walls because the workers were drunk and installed them incorrectly, then we would have a problem.  He checked to make sure everything was straight just in case they were too intoxicated to do so and all was well, lol.

Our Future Mortgage---A Phenomenal Rate!

We officially locked our rate a week ago at an amazing 3.75%.  How awesome is that?!  It's for a 30 year fixed loan.  We were thrilled in 2008 to refinance our Colorado house to 5.25%.  Back then, that was good.  The rates right now are really hitting bottom.  I am so glad that we didn't have to lock back during summer because it was around 4.5%.  It's crazy how the rate can drastically change over a short amount of time.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Tile Work Preview

Master shower

Master tub-there is a lot left for the tile guy to finish.  The windows will eventually get sills and the floor will be tiled.

Closeup of the tiles

Downstairs guest suite shower-it is missing the tile shelf in the corner
Closeup of the tiles-the blue ones are glass and really pretty in person
The boys' bath is white tile.  That tub better not ever get that filthy after we move in. :P

Monday, November 28, 2011

Hubby's Birthday Dinner [11/26/11]

We spent Thanksgiving and Clayton's birthday in Banner Elk, NC.  My cousin owns a humongous house up there that sleeps 17.  It was a full house and every bedroom was filled.  We had a fun time with Christine's family, her friends, and my cousins Sheila (Christine's sister) and Rachel (Sheila's daughter).  Since we didn't have our house yet, I gave up my yearly tradition of hosting Thanksgiving this time around.  It was totally worth it. 

To celebrate Clayton's 35th birthday, Christine made him his favorite dinner (meatloaf) and an orange pumpkin spice cake.  How sweet is that?!        
Cousin Christine (she started singing as she was carrying the cake over to CJ)

Clayton was uber embarrassed thanks to everyone singing Happy Birthday, lol.

Cousin Jake is the boss (Christine's son).  This photo cracks me up!

Kitchen Cabinets

Emerson was checking out the hole where the double ovens will go.

I was happily surprised to see our cabinets yesterday.  The color is called 'espresso'.  They are supposed to be a really dark brown but I would personally say that they are black.  I love them!  I can't wait to see them with the Santa Cecilia granite that we chose.

I look forward to using all that valuable real estate on the island to cook and bake. :)