Beautiful Beautiful Appliances

Here is the inside of my Fisher & Paykel refrigerator. How Heavenly is this? The freezer is also wonderful, but hard to photograph. This was the biggest splurge, and I am so glad I spent the extra $500. 

Below is the first washer and dryer I have lived with since I lived at my parent's house. The first night I slept at the house, I did four loads of laundry. I was a little excited and stayed up VERY late. If it had been a little bit warmer and I could have set up the couch down there, I would have been happy to just watch my laundry being done. GOOD BYE LAUNDROMAT! HELLO LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY! (that's what I've named them)

This is a Frigidaire oven. When Tanja and I were both looking at appliances and I told her what I was getting, she suggested that I look at the Italian model she was getting as it wasn't much more expensive than the Frigidaire that she was buying. Let's just say Tanja's is over $1,000 MORE than what I am spending. That's all I'll say. This is a pretty basic model, nothing too fancy, but also pretty sturdy, too. 

First Night Home

By complete chance, my parents were in Bar Harbor with a truck load of furniture the day that I signed my mortgage. We were going to put the furniture in storage, but it worked out that we unloaded right into the house. Dad, Ashley, Baby Jovin, and Amber-Rae helped to celebrate by sharing some champagne at the house. It was great! However, there was no heat, hot water, or appliances, so my first night sleeping there was a couple days later. 

CHEERS!

Signing of the Mortgage. . .

These pictures uploaded in the wrong order, and I don't really have the energy to fix it, so . . . Here I am unlocking my door for the VERY FIRST TIME!!

And below is a wonderful welcome home from from the bank that my friend Ashley and her kids did for me:
Here I am at the bank. This is the first of 500,00 signatures that I did. I'm not kidding. I'm pretty sure I signed something giving my body for medical experiments when I die. 
And the first signature up close:

HOUSE. IS. DONE.

Soooo. . . the other day I stopped to take the finished product photos, and the front door was locked, the basement door was locked, and I though CRAP. What am I going to do? So I tried a back window and it was open. So I climbed in. It took some heaving and hoisting, but I did it! The captions for each picture are BELOW the photo.
Here's the living room, taken from the stairs.
The kitchen taken from the alcove all the way across the house.

Um, yeah, the house is done. Just waiting for me to move in. Things will start moving quickly, now that the appraiser has finally gotten his report to the bank, but HOLY COW, it's taken a long time.

This is the finished kitchen. Aren't the cabinets beautiful? This is probably my favorite feature! (I accidentally typed feather. Hopefully, they're more exciting than feathers)

Bathroom! Not much else to say about that. It's a small enough room that I couldn't take a picture of everything together, but the shower is over to the right. It's a nice room.
Stairway! There are some great windows in the stairway. A lot of these pictures have a strong yellow hue to them. I took them on my way home from work, and the sun was setting, and the walls are creamy, so I think the combination (along with a somewhat crappy digital camera) really turn them yellow. Sorry.
These are the stairs looking onto the living room, and the front door to the right.

August pictures being posted in September

Hi Everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Here are some pictures taken in August. Captions of what they are below the picture.

This is the kitchen, the counters are in, but no countertop yet. The blank space under the windwo is where the dishwasher will go, and the stove is over to the left. Aren't they pretty cabinets?
More of the kitchen cabinets and my awesome kitchen window.
Wood floors! I have wood floors! This is the landing on the stairs, but it's the place that isn't crowded with tools, so it's the best view of how pretty the floors are. It's possible Roady will have to stay in the basement so he doesn't scratch the floors. Or I'll have to make him wear socks.
This is the bathroom. The cabinets are in the process of being set up. Nice view, though, huh?

August Shmaugust

Hi All--

I'm sure you're all wondering what on earth is going on, and I wish I could shed some light on this. Everyone is still promising that the house will be done at the end of this month, but I can't be sure. I will most definitely keep you all posted, as I am expecting you to help me move! Closing date will be determined shortly as well. Stay tuned!

Wait, what month is it?

Since it has been so busy here, it's been hard to keep track of all of the changes at the house. I am having a hard time keeping my head above water, and now that I realized I actually have to PACK and sort through four years of living in this apartment, I'm getting even more overwhelmed. That's when I stop at the house after work, and think, oh yeah, this is why I'm driving myself MAD. It isn't for no reason. So, friends and family, here is a picture of YOUR bedroom (otherwise known as the guest room):

I was surprised to see sheet rock!! That seems so. . . final. Like, it might really be a house some day. . . The picture below is the living area. I'm taking the pictures from the stairs, so this is pretty much the entire downstairs minus the kitchen. 
And here's the kitchen minus a small portion to the right. I think everything else will come together quickly. I am going to call the housing authority this week to figure out when I can expect to move in/close with the bank, as it may be that July 15th will be my last rent payment EVER.