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. 

Back from the missing. . .

Hello! Sorry for the delay between posts! As most of you know, I am covering for my supervisor while she is out on maternity leave, and my first week in this new role has been, um, interesting. . . . I have not been able to go out to the house much, or even THINK about going out to the house. However, last weekend brought me this:

And pictured below is a pipe where I imagine my sink will be. And all that grey stuff is, in fact, insulation. It is impressively packed, so I am not worried about getting cold!

And pictured below is my backyard. Sort of. 

At least I'll be warm and be able to eat toast!

Hi Internet, sorry for the hiatus. Not much had been going on with the house, and I just didn't have much time to check in. However, I stopped by last night after work, and the house looks fully insulated! Very tightly packed, I might add. No pictures for you right now, but I'll try to get some up shortly. 

Also, at the beginning of the month I celebrated my 27th birthday, and my sisters got me a beautiful Cuisinart toaster oven/broiler. The box says that I can bake cupcakes, but so far I've only made toast. Thanks, sisters! All these nice things are making me feel more and more like a grown up. . . 

A bathtub, A door, and some stuff I don't know about. . .

For those of you that don't know, I live in a very old apartment building. It has a lot of charm, hardwood floors, big windows, two-prong outlets only, and a big claw foot bathtub. But no shower. Just a bath. So I've been taking a bath every morning for about three years. The novelty has worn off. So, imagine my excitement when I walked into the house last weekend, and found this sitting in my living room:

I don't know when the plan to install it will happen, but just seeing a real shower brings joy to my heart.

And then below, I have no idea what this stuff is-- probably the septic? But it looks very important, and it's behind my house. 

Unfortunately, I have NO IDEA how to flip this photo around, but LOOK! I have a DOOR!! 
AND WINDOWS!!!!!!!
I am anticipating a lot of questions about the door and windows, and because I don't actually know anything about them, I thought this tag would be helpful. Again, sorry I couldn't flip it so that you can read it properly, but I'm just not that clever. 
I have a meeting at MDI Housing Authority with the Director, Terry, and I'm hoping I'll get some answers to some questions they didn't know in November. I'll also be signing some fancy paperwork (not bank paperwork), so that will be exciting, too. Things are happening quickly, people!

More pictures, but nothing new. . .

Well, because not much has changed since the last batch of photographs, I will upload some of the photos that didn't make the cut the last time. I do have shingles on my roof now, but that doesn't exactly call out photo-op, so my backyard will have to do. Well, back pile of dirt if we're going to be honest. Eventually I would like a back porch and some flowers and vegetables (right Michelle, Tracey, Aunt Daryl, Mom, and all my other gardening aficionados?), and maybe a lawn. 

A lot of people have asked about Roady, and right now, I'm thinking that there probably won't be a fenced in portion of the yard. I would like there to be railings on the porch so that he can hang out without being tied up, and then maybe a lead in the yard so that he can be outside with me. 

I'm not sure how well you can tell how big this is, but for those of you that have been to my parent's house, I would say that this is about as big as their backyard. 

And this is a close-up of my bedroom. Not much else to say about that, honestly.

And here are my neighbors! There is now a house behind that pile of dirt, and that is my closest neighbor. If you look to the right of the photograph, you'll see a road, and that is the curve of our little cul-de-sac. My house is on the elbow of that. Maybe next time I go down, I'll take a picture of the circle from higher up the hill looking down on the houses. Any other requests?

It's a REAL house. Like, for real.

Um, yeah, so I have a HOUSE!!! I wanted to see how the foundation was coming along, so on my way home from work I stopped by, and there it was in all it's glory! I scrambled in for a better look, and I must admit, 22 x 22 is smaller than I imagined it to be.


This is obviously the front of the house. If you look closely, you can see the outside entrance to the basement on the left side.


And this is my living-room alcove-- boy am I glad that I spent the extra money on the alcove-- it will really add space to a very. . . . cozy. . . living room. As you can see, it will also add a fair amount of light (this window is Southeast facing).
Here is the upstairs taken from the landing. It's difficult to make out the different rooms in this picture, but we are looking at both the master bedroom (the window to your left) and the guest bedroom (the window to the right). Both rooms are on a corner, so there is a second window for each room. The bathroom is not pictured, but is immediately to my left. The guest room will really only have room for a full size bed, dresser, and bedside table comfortably. You don't need more than that, do you?
And this is my kitchen window! Good morning! This is actually pretty much my entire kitchen. So, yeah, everything is smaller than I expected, but I'm okay with that. I am SO glad I was able to get inside the house today, because it is helping me be more realistic about what furniture will actually FIT inside the house. You all will need to help keep everything in perspective, okay?


So, I was pretty much jumping up and down while inside, and it seemed to hold up pretty good. That's a good sign, right? They are working on the foundation of the house next to mine (that will be out my kitchen window), and to my relief, they have positioned it so that I will still get the morning sun through my window unblocked by my neighbors, and the view outside the window as seen above will remain untouched. Can you say bird feeder?


On another note, a friend has asked for a heads up every time I update my blog. For those of you interested in a reminder, let me know either in the comments section of this post, or by email, and I would be happy to send out an email to more than just her. I'm sure there's a way to do a "notifylist" that isn't manual, but I don't know what that is.