Kitchen Bench

I decided to add a bench to our kitchen table. Easy for kids to use, extra seating, space saver. I was sold on the idea pretty early on, but I now got around to doing it.

Not much use in showing a picture. A bench is a bench; but I left Lorelai help assemble it, and I let both girls sign the bottom.

While I plan to keep this bench for quite some time, I wanted to snap some pictures and preserve their little mark on building something for our home.

M.LEWIS

Countdown to Avenida

5 weeks out from Avenida move. I cannot wait. Seriously, this apartment is shrinking by the day. Each week the house is getting better and better. I am so in love with it, and we still have a lot of love to put into it.

Not much else to report really. I am just prepping with furniture and textiles for the new house. The goal is to have a lot of it purchased and ready to set up so we don't have a mad rush of "Oh shoot! Adalaide doesn't have bed!"...right now she is still in the crib. I know, 2.5 years and in a crib. But she is crazy and tiny...so the crib works best for us in the apartment.

Oh to have a yard again...with trees! I can't wait!

Now to make the next 5 weeks pass quickly and smoothly. Hmmm....

M.LEWIS

Waiting Game

We're still waiting here in apartment land. I'm trying to be proactive while waiting; thinking ahead to what I will need to buy for the new house, how I want to set up the rooms, etc. Our latest purchase with this in mind is a new tv. It was a big purchase, but one that was probably overdue. Of course, with a new, big tv, comes a new appropriately-sized tv stand. So that's 2 new things accomplished.

I am thinking about changing the bed situation for the girls. Our current one is not working well and was not meant to be long-term. Addy climbs out of her crib now, and rather sleep in Lorelai's bed, so I might go ahead and switch around a few things to keep the peace at bed/naptime better.

I am itching for a yard, and more importantly, so are my dogs. It's a scorching 106° outside (and that's before the heat index), so the kids aren't missing the backyard too much yet, but the dogs are crazy...mainly Nora.
Leashing them up all the time is getting old, and Nora misses sitting and surveying the yard...so she tries to do so from inside, which doesn't work too well.

Our upstairs neighbors are by-far the loudest, most frustrating people to share a ceiling/floor with. They have a toddler son who, by the sound of things, has full reign of their apartment. Stomping, jumping, crying, screaming...the usual sounds of a child, but at midnight, or 3 am? That's not ok! I am being woken up, or kept awake by someone else's child, and that's frustrating. I have been quite tired lately due to this, yet I can't really change anything about it.

At least there has been great progress at the house lately. Drywall, stone, brick, and stair work have all made great strides this past week. I hope this continues. I so want that September 30 closing date to stick...though we have decided to rent the apartment through October just in case hiccups pop up along the way. A pricey, but needed, safety net.

More stone and brick since accomplished

Stair railings in, and drywall/texturing almost complete!

One month into our lease, and I am so ready to move out! It's like taking a vacation, but removing all the fun parts of a trip and just focusing on the "live out of a suitcase" displacement side of it. A little over 7 weeks left...in theory. FINGERS CROSSED!

Avenida Exterior Update

A couple minor hiccups in the Avenida progress. Our original stone is no longer available in the quarries right now. So we had to pick out new stone. We found one very similar, but with more variation and more uniformity. I think I actually like it better. It's just a bit of a delay on the front exterior. This stone will also be on our fireplace, along with a flag stone cap on the hearth. I am really excited for that progress.

New pick of stone, Granbury Chateau

An example of light flagstone for the hearth cap

The drywall is up. I haven't gone inside yet to see it, but I am dying to!

I confirmed the kitchen hardware and their placement with our builder yesterday. (So pretty.) And I signed off on our landscaping design with our landscaper. We were able to have the trees that we want, where we want them, along with a collection of bushes, shrubs, ground cover, and ornamental trees that we picked out. Best part, it didn't cost us anything,

The two pieces of hardware I picked for the kitchen

Our approved landscape design

Our closing date is a bit fluid at the moment, we will probably add on one more month to our apartment lease just to make sure we aren't in a serious jam later. A week difference between closing and move out is a bit too close to make me feel comfortable. It's another month's premium rent, but I don't think there is a feasible plan B, so we will just have to go with it.

Hopefully I will have new interior pictures soon!


M.LEWIS

Between Kingsmill and Avenida

You know that scene in Jurassic Park where Tim is in the smooshed SUV, stuck in the tree and Dr. Grant is leading them down before the falling car crushes them? They finally get to the ground and the car falls over on them, they are unharmed, but in the wrecked cab of the SUV again. Tim, exhausted, says: "Well, we're back in the car, again." Dr. Grant responds: "At least we're out of the tree."

An odd comparison, but this is how I feel about life right now.

I cleaned and organized and cleaned and packed and cleaned and repaired and cleaned our house getting it ready for list, I then repeated all those tasks during the contract period, and repeated them yet again until close. I was pooped. I am a perfectionist, and I wanted my house to look, well, perfect. It wasn't perfect, but I think it was pretty good. We packed up our world, moved it into a garage/apartment, turned in our keys, and left our home for good.

I was tired and stressed. My goal at that moment was "get it clean, get it pretty, and get out." I did that, and now that I'm out of the house (and in an apartment) I am exhausted, and somehow back where we started before the house ever happened. "Well, I'm back in an apartment, again."

What is my "Dr. Grant" response?

"Well, at least we made money and got a new house...eventually."

It's the "eventually" part that is the hardest right now.

I try to focus on the positive, but it is the negatives that continually get in my face. Being happy, or even content is difficult at 12:30am and your upstairs neighbors are crying, screaming, stomping their feet, and slamming their doors.

No yard is both a relief (no maintenance) and a frustration (the dogs...enough said).

I am thankful for a walk-out back porch and grass right outside the porch. That makes the dog situation not too bad, but we do have to leash up and beg for scheduled bodily functions many, many times a day.

We have an attached 2.5-car garage, and that is where 80% of our belongings reside. There is no down side to this. Our stuff is all together and with us. I am grateful for this. We also can park right outside the garage, so that is a guaranteed, close parking spot.

We finally have internet and tv set up. Yes, I am one of those people that need internet and tv. Having this helps my patience and makes me feel connected to the outside world.

The major downsides are my noisy co-inhabitants and the, well, non-cleanliness of things. Again, perfectionist here, I spent hours cleaning and cleaning...and this place has rewarded me with sticky paint, hard water and lime stains, and roaches. Yes, we have found several...it's disgusting. I bought bait/poison, I think it's helping.

My mind is impatient. I want to get into my new house asap. We do have a scheduled closing date now, September 30. I pray this date sticks. We have the apartment through October 9, so we don't have much wiggle room to play around with. Please, pray with me. I don't know what would happen if our lease ends and we don't close on time. I don't want to solve that problem.

Let's hope no more Jurassic Park scenes come to mind.

M.LEWIS

Kingsmill Days Numbered

This very well might be my last entry from the Kingsmill territory.

We close on Thursday, but have possession until Sunday evening. The movers come Friday and hopefully we will get at least 90% of our things moved then. We still have all of Saturday and most of Sunday to move any lingering items. Of course there is still the need to clean up the things I can't right now, i.e. vacuum under beds, peel glow-in-the-dark star stickers off the ceiling, and touch up paint.

I feel pretty on top of things right now...but it is only Monday. I have already packed most of our things. I am waiting for Wednesday evening to pack most things...mainly kitchen things. I will even unplug the refrigerator/freezer then and allow it to defrost in time for the movers to arrive bright and early Friday morning.

I have to remember to deconstruct the back deck. That I keep forgetting. It's amazing how many more things we have gained in 4 years.

We do have an attached 2 car garage with our apartment, so the goal is to use it as a storage unit and keep all of our things in one location. But that does mean that we have to squeeze in a refrigerator/freezer; and washer and dryer; a huge, heavy dinning room table; an extra couch; a lawnmower; Lorelai's queen bed, dresser, and nightstand; and many more large items, and tons of boxes.

I do hope between the apartment space and garage we can make it all work.

I have scheduled water to be shut off, but we will need to set up shut off for electricity/gas, TV, and internet...not to mention setting up all those things at the apartment. Though, we are going to try to just watch Netflix and other online tv options so we can avoid the whole cable thing again.

I have set up a forwarding address with the USPS and plan to switch most paper bills to emails to avoid any extra shuffling. I will also have to change our address with insurance companies (health, car, renters), the bank, credit cards, etc. I will wait and plan to change our driver's license info once in the house...WHICH I am told could be mid September. I am mentally planning for later so I don't get disappointed when things take longer than they think. Construction tends to do that. ;)

Avenida is moving along nicely though. We should be drywalled shortly. We have our plumbing and electrical inspections to go through, we have our floor plug installed, our kitchen island pipes and wires set up, we have can lighting in place, arches marked out, and almost all the windows installed.

Once drywalled, we should hit a good pace of progress. I pray for speedy, but quality work to be done so we can get in as soon as possible.

Back to my boxes and newspaper. Packing onward.



M.LEWIS

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