Avenida Building

House progress report!

Framing the 2nd story.

Plywood covering and window installation.

More windows and roof installation.

I think most of the progress will be made from the inside for awhile, until the brick and stone work. I cannot express to you how happy I am to finally see a house sitting there!

Here is some more house/lot pictures I have been fiddling around with.

Here is our house superimposed onto the google maps lot.

Here is our house (a sneak peek on the 1st floor layout) on the lot with the desired fence line and possible tree placement.

Yes, I messed around online with this stuff all the time. I don't have the real thing to play with yet, so I have to make do. ;)

Our current house is still under contract (yay!) and we are having it appraised tomorrow. We are still making some repairs, but should be done by the end of the month. Still on track for closing on 7/7 and end of possession on 7/12. We move into our apartment on 7/10. All coming up fast!

Just over 2 weeks until we say farewell to Kingsmill!

Here's to more progress and easy moving! (Hahaha, I know, I know...)

M.LEWIS

An Adult Tantrum

I feel like having a tantrum. So bear with me, or move on...no hard feelings. ;)

Every time I get on the internet there is always some group "setting the tone" of where we should stand, of what we should all think. If you disagree with their platform you are heckled and given cyber eye-rolls and asterisk sighs. You might even get one of my favorite responds "omg. I just can even right now."

...That is always a favorite in a mature debate.

While I know I am feeding into the fuss by playing devil's advocate, I also feel it is necessary. I refuse to acknowledge that the whiny participates of social media get to lay the ground work of what is right and what is wrong. And it is usually just that; their view: right, all other views: wrong. You can bet they will have more than just a few choice words for you, usually contradicting and boasting themselves at the same time.

There are a number of social issues to pick from at any time. Recently, race and gender top the list. I did my fair share of arguing with these when I should have probably just shut down the computer...but I never have done well with keeping my opinions to myself.

Right now I am most frustrated with the banning of the confederate flag. No, this does not mean I am racist. No, this does not mean I support racists. No, this does not mean I favor segregation or discrimination. All this means to me, is this: I believe that you have the right as an American to buy a flag, even a confederate flag. I could go into depth on how the flag we all know is far more complicated than "a symbol of slavery," but even if you want to view it that way...shouldn't you be able to do so? Sure, people might think negative thoughts about you, they might jump to unsavory conclusions, but it is your right to buy, fly, or wear a symbol of your choosing.

To ban this, is un-American, and that angers me. (Just for the record, you can still buy nazi symbols just fine.) The internet blows up with the flag issue, and everyone follows suit. The media has an uncanny way of swaying millions of people by mere suggestion.

I am not a fan of "open carry" which recently passed here in Texas, but I do respect the merits behind it. I think some take it too far, but the law on which it was built upon is solid, and again, I respect that. The America I felt I knew seems to be shrinking and shying away from the online petitions that people sign without understanding or knowledge of its content. You can reach the masses in an instant, changing the way the country perceives issues, big and small. You influence the way people receive facts for the drama, for the story, for the thrill of a fight...but we are missing the bigger issue.

We are not the land of the "always right", the land of "my way or the highway", the land of "everything revolves around me and my feelings", the land of "what ever I read on buzzfeed"; no, we are the land of the free...and that means you have the right to feel whatever you want to feel. Yes, your words and actions have consequences, but you have civil liberties...like buying or flying a flag of America's past. People might sneer, but that is their right, for we have freedom for all, not just for the loudest voices on facebook.


Ok...tantrum over. Thanks.


M.LEWIS

Kingsmill Drama and Avenida Framing

Do you remember my previous post about our house under contract? If not, you can read it HERE.

All caught up? Good.

Now forget what you read because our first buyers (yes, first) backed out about about 52 hrs after I wrote that post. :(

They set up an inspection Monday afternoon for Wednesday afternoon, then, a mere 2 hrs before the inspection was supposed to take place (and after hours of me cleaning and prepping) I got a call from my agent telling me the buyers were backing out.

Why?

Well, the reason isn't overly important, but I will say it was, well...silly and completely false. This, however, made it really hard to talk them out of it. I doubt their reason would have made a difference, their minds were made up, and personally, I feel it was only a front for another reason to terminate the contract.
Anyway, after a brief panic attack, our agent secured us another buyer who loved our house that previous Saturday, but couldn't compete with the first buyer's offer. Now, seeing as the first buyer was gone, the second buyer was eager to secure their offer with us, landing them the house. :)

Honestly, this buyer seems really excited to have the house, and knowing how much time, energy, money, and love went into the house since we purchased it, I was happy to know some other family was going to love living here.

Their inspection was Friday and we ironed out any repair work to be done today. Nothing major, but some tricky...mainly due to ordering special parts. I am confident the timing will work out though.

So, in the mean time, how has our new house been coming along?

This is our lot a few days ago. As you can see, framing has begun, and they are progressing swiftly!

This is our house as of this morning. Second story coming along, and everything and everyone is so excited.

It's crazy how deceptive the lot size is from the street (pic 2). Our backyard is actually very spacious and we are really looking forward to a bigger (but not too big) yard (pic 1). Look how small Chris looks in that picture. If you look hard, both girls are there too.

So, we are just shy of 4 weeks until we need to be completely moved out. 3.5 weeks until we can move into our apartment. Oy, the sound of that still sounds "eh." With any luck, we will be out of the apartment in a couple months, and then, THEN we will move (again, *sigh*) in to our new house!!!

Right now, I have a lot of packing to do. And I will have a lot of packing to do for the next 3 weeks. We did schedule movers to move us (round 1, that is) and we will see about round 2 when the time gets closer.

Life is moving along, and hopefully there will be no more unwanted surprises!


M.LEWIS

Patriotic Mason Jar Lanterns

Life has been a wee bit stressful and eventful, but before I get into that, I wanted to share a pinterest win with you all.

The example, not lit

The link is HERE and it's called Patriotic Mason Jar Lanterns.

The example, lit up

The result

I did require more time and attention than I thought, but they came out really cute, so I am very pleased.

I have not lit them up yet, we've been a bit preoccupied, but I think they look great. If you attempt, don't get cheap stickers, because you will spend 5x the amount of time peeling them off with out scratching the paint with straight pins.
Also, be prepared to touch up the straight lines if you are a perfectionist like me. I just looked a the DIY page again, and I see their lines were sloppy like mine, they just went with it though.
They also distressed them, but I figured, give them a couple years and they will do that to themselves. :P

I still want to spray seal them with some kind of sealant to prevent too much chipping and scratching, but the main work is done.

It was a project for yesterday, Flag day, but I finished them today. I think decorating with the flag and other Americana styles is great all summer long, so these will be put to good use. We won't be decorating too much this year since we are in the process of moving, but these jars will help keep things festive, yet void of knick-knack clutter. :)

Now, for the house news? That will be coming up soon...


M.LEWIS

Under Contract and Foundation Setting

After weeks, months, stressing about cleaning, and spot painting, cleaning carpets, scrubbing showers, replacing windows, Chris dedicating hours to yard work, washing every item that can fit in the washing machine; I am happy to say our Kingsmill house in under contract this evening.

We listed and had first viewings at an open house late morning on Saturday. Though, our realtor told us she received a cash offer at 2am...2 in the morning! What?! Who does that? Anyway, she told them we were not accepting offers until the open house. Our realtor told us we had 18 families come through our house. We then had 4 private showings that same evening, until 6:45. We were pretty exhausted, including the dogs. Nora, thankfully, did not throw up once even though we were in and out of the car several times.

By the evening we had 2 notifications of incoming offers. In the morning we had 3.

All were either list or over.

After a little back and forth (and more showings in the mean time) we finalized a deal with one buyer for over asking in under 30hrs since listing.

We were flabbergasted by our luck. Not only did we get strong offers hours after (and even before) listing, but had such great feedback about our house, both in words and in price points. My prayers were heard and answered. I am forever thankful.

Now we go under inspection. I will not be surprised if we need to fix a couple things, or even tweak the price to compensate. No matter what comes up, I am confident we are in good standing and well on our way to moving closer to our new house.

Which, finally got its foundation poured on Saturday! :D :D :D

View from the street

View from our backyard

This weekend has been a whirlwind, but there is still so much more to go. More updates to follow!



M.LEWIS

The (not so) Calm Before the Storm

Life is about to get crazy.

We are listing our current house for sale on Saturday, accompanied with an immediate open house. That means from 11-2pm we will vacate the house; Chris, myself, the girls, AND the pups. We will travel with our car sick dog all the way to my in laws house to camp out for a few hours.
Please say a little prayer for us and our house. May the right buyer bid on our house, and quickly. The faster we find a buyer, the sooner I can begin to pack up the entire house. Oy. That is an overwhelming task at this point.

Latest news on our new house? There is none. :\ Still no foundation poured. I must say, trying to stay patient about it is getting more and more difficult. I did email the builder asking about the timeline, so hopefully he will have some good news for me later today. I certainly don't want to come across as whiny or naggy, but the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the oil" comes to mind. We'll see if that works in this situation.

In the mean time, I am a list-making machine.
A list for cleaning what and when, a list for future color-coding packing boxes, list for change of address notifiers, a list for chores that need to happen...and when, etc.

Seriously, moving this time is far more complicated and stressful than the last move. I sincerely hope this is our last move. This introverted homebody is not cut out for it.

I will update with some actual news soon. Cross your fingers for me!