I've Been MIA ...

I've been DYING to get on here to blog and post updates since our official move-in, etc.  We are still without phone and internet service at the house and will be without it until this Friday, so I'll be doing a LOT of catch up with pictures, etc. at that point.

We're all in and pretty well settled with the exception of a few more boxes to plow through.  It is really starting to feel like home and I am absolutely loving the house.  I do have several topics to write more on, which I'll do this weekend, but I think some of it will be good tips and advice for those of you going through this process.  We've already come across some lessons learned, albeit rather minor.  Here are the top three topics I want to make sure that I remember to talk more in depth about:

1. Guardian - Advice if you purchased surround sound pre-wiring, security system, and/or outdoor speakers
2. Unpacking process
3. Yard installation (hydroseeding and mulch)

Can't wait to blog more soon!

Keys, Keys, Keys!!

This afternoon we'll receive the call that we've counted down to for three months now - KEYS!  I was just looking back at my calendar and saw that we listed our old house for sale back on March 13th.  It will have been exactly five months to the day when we officially move into our house this Friday.  That's incredible to me.  In five month's time we have listed a house, sold a house, and built a house.  Extreme Makeover Home Edition has nothin' on us!  :)

I meant to mention this in my Pre-Settlement posting yesterday.  I am a nut about child-proofing our home and I am sure this is a little gadget that all moms are all too familiar with:

Seeing as how I feel that the number of outlets in this house is about 4-5 times the number we had in the old house, I stocked up on this outlet protectors the other day.  While they're really pretty cheap, I was relieved to hear yesterday that I can return them, and save the energy of plugging them in to all the outlets in the house!  The outlets that Ryan Homes now use have this little wall behind the opening for the outlet prongs.  The ONLY way that this 'wall' will open up is if both of them are pressed on at the same time, as it would be if you were legitimately plugging something in.  So no little fingers can go where they shouldn't!  This is brilliant to me.  My joke was that we're now safe with outlets unless my daughter gets ahold of TWO knives!  Anyhow, I love this, as I always hated scratching up outlet covers when the time to remove a plug came around.

Closing Day!

Happy Closing Day to us!!  This morning our paper chain officially has one link remaining - and that one will disappear tomorrow when we receive our keys and officially own our new home!

This morning we had our Pre-Settlement meeting with our project manager.  This meeting took exactly two hours and we were given a LOT of information during that time.  Information such as specifics about appliances, the AC and heating, hot water tank, fireplace, warranties, who to call when, what specific cleaners to use on what, etc.  As we walked room-to-room, we noticed a few more things that needed to be touched up and our project manager was happy to say he'd get right on them and they'd be fixed by tomorrow.  They were all minor things, such as:

- A little paint on the carpet of the master closet
- A chip in the door trim on the inside of the master bathroom
- A smude of paint on the handrail on the stairs
- Etc.

A couple things that I learned we need to do that I didn't realize, for whatever reason:
- Concrete sealant.  We have to apply a concrete sealant to our driveway, garage floor, walkway to front door and front stoop.  This is to keep away the absorption of water.  It is very important we do this before freezing season begins.  I have no idea what this will cost, but do know that you simply roll it onto the concrete with a paint roller. 

- Grout sealer.  I had just assumed this would be done by Ryan homes, but it isn't.  It isn't a huge deal and I plan to head to the house tomorrow night and do this myself while my husband is handling larger jobs.  We need to seal the kitchen, morning room, laundry room, and master bathroom.  Not a huge deal.

All in all we are absolutely, 100% thrilled and content up to this point.  I cannot believe that this is OUR home.  Even today I kept trying to convince myself of that, but kept falling back into the feeling that I was simply walking through a model or someone else's home.  I cannot wait to start getting our things moved in and settling down - just one more day until that begins to happen!

This afternoon we will drive out to the mortgage office and sign our papers.  Tomorrow, early afternoon, we should receive the call that our keys are ready to be picked up!  At that point we'll head directly to the house (with both cars already loaded) and start getting some little things unloaded and the painter will meet us there as well to get his work started.  On Wednesday we have several deliveries lined up as well as Dish Network coming out to install a new dish and set up our cable. 

It is really taking all of my will power not to try and convince my hubby to go to Home Depot and rent their $19.95 truck so that we can grab our mattresses from storage and just camp out in the new house prior to our formal move-in of this Friday!! 

I took a lot of pictures today - some of which will probably look like repeats - so please bear with me.

Morning room.

Kitchen

Living room

Living room, into dining room

Looking down the upstairs hallway.

Upstairs full bath.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom.

Basement, looking into playroom.(In the Florence model this is typically unfinished storage, but Ryan Homes allowed us to do some minor customization by finishing the area and adding the French doors.  We still have a LOT of storage space left!

Basement, looking into playroom.

Basement.

Basement full bath.

Basement, looking back at full bath and under-stair storage.

Playroom, looking into additional storage.

Playroom!  (I am DYING to get my hands on the setup and decorating of this room!)

Playroom, looking out into living room.

This pretty much sums up how we ALL feel - so excited that we want to do somersaults!

T-Minus Five Days

Nothing much to report today, other than my EXTREME EXCITEMENT knowing that we will be spending our very first night in our house in five days!  FIVE DAYS!  Today we went and picked up our paint.  Sherwin Williams was having an incredible one-day sale - 40% off all paint.  Too good to pass up!

Last Weekend Without a House of Our Own!

Wow.  Technically, after today our house will be FINISHED!  Granted, we assume there will still be a few things for them to finish on Monday morning ... and our yard will be rock-hounded and the lawn hydroseed sprayed early next week.  However, the house-house will be DONE! 

We stopped out yesterday to see how things were going, as there were still a couple 'big' things to be completed.  One of the kitchen cabinet doors above the fridge arrived broken, so we had been waiting for the replacement.  We were awaiting the placement of the appliances.  We were also waiting for our shower glass to be installed in the master bath as well as the french doors in the basement that lead into the playroom, which is the customization we added down there.

The french doors open off of the main basement area into an additional area we had finished; this will be a playroom.  (Doors have paper over the glass right now for installation)

Kitchen with appliances installed!  I think it looks super sharp!

View of kitchen from the morning room.

Master bathroom tub and shower.

Master bath shower.  Not so sure about the space at the top of the glass door - about 1/2".  We'll have to ask our PM about this during the pre-settlement meeting on Monday.

Our Dates are Finalized!

We are less than a week away from our closing!  It feels as though this will be the longest week of all throughout the entire process, due to our extreme excitement. 

• Monday. 8/9:  Pre-Settlement meeting with our project manager; Sign closing papers with mortgage company
• Tuesday, 8/10:  Receive keys!

Movers aren't coming to our house until Friday, so in the days in between we'll have the painters coming in, deck and patio guys doing their thing, and we'll be unpacking some boxes that we've had here at my in-law's house.  All of the new furniture we ordered as well as the washer and dryer will be delivered earlier in the week as well.  Things are finally coming together!

My only piece of advice at this point in the game for those of you going through this process is to really communicate at this point and don't wait for your sales rep or PM to communicate with you.  We weren't getting a completely clear answer as to when we'd get our keys versus sign our closing papers.  Our sales rep said keys on Wednesday, but our PM said keys on Tuesday.  This was an important detail to us since we had painters and contractors to schedule.  After asking our sales rep again, she said some people get keys on the day that they sign the papers, some don't - at that point it is more up to the mortgage company.

After hearing that, we decided to just contact our mortgage company ourselves and ask.  Turns out they provided us with a phone number and contact name and told us we had to call and schedule a meeting time to sign all of our papers.  We would have never known this had we not taken control of the situation.  I'd hate to think that maybe we could have been delayed had we not taken this step.  So when you get to this point, just make sure to over communicate.

We Have Carpet!

This evening's visit to the house revealed that all the carpet has been installed.  I am so very happy with our selections.  I took pictures, but am running out of steam tonight, so I'll get those uploaded tomorrow. 

All that remains left to be done are shutters, gutters, a small bit of siding on the side of the house, fridge, microwave and stove set in place (they are currently sitting in the morning room), and our French doors to the playroom installed.  Other than that, just cleaning and the remaining 'punch outs' by our PM.

I've left a message for our Guardian rep this evening and am hoping to hear from him tomorrow.  In the living room we opted to have them do wiring for us to hang a television on the fireplace and then run all the component cables, as well as speaker wires into the hallway closet, where we're be placing all components up on a shelf (I completely prefer things hidden rather than making an area look cluttered).  I expected to open the closet and see speaker wire tied off, but instead I found myself staring at what appears to be a LOT of component jacks, labeled 'front speakers', 'rear speakers', 'subwoofer', etc.  No wire to be seen.  I am just a bit confused as to how we will hook this up to our home theater receiver, as I've always connected straight speaker wire.  Maybe I am just completely missing something here or someone out there reading this can help me out.  If not, I hope Guardian has an answer for me in the morning.

One of the people across the street from us appeared to be moving in this evening.  They are in the house that was always just about two weeks ahead of us ... and that still seems to be right on track, as we'll receive our keys in just thirteen days.

Time to go rip another link off of the paper chain ...