Important Stuff

At our house, we all have "stuff" and I have "important stuff." Those things that I consider critical. I have several boxes of "important stuff." I didn't know that I had so many important things until the fire. These are the things that I gathered up in five minutes we were allowed into the house after the fire. They stayed in my suitcase at the hotel. That made me worry about their security. When we moved into the condo, my important things were stored safely in the closet. Now that we are moving out, these things are again out in the open. So they have gone back into the suitcase and they will go with me to Greensboro, where they will again be safe.

So what, you may be asking, are these mysteriously important things? Precious jewels? Irreplacable documents? My huge, secret roll of emergency money in case I need to make a get away (like on the movies)? Nope. Silly things that remind me of my memories. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Moving Back In!

Now that we have passed our final inspections, we officially have a Certificate of Occupancy. So the power is back in our name, coming through a meter on the side of the house. No more temp pole in the front yard. Before you ask though, the temp bathroom is still out front. And anyone whose nose gets within 100 yards, knows it.

We have a lot of work to do before them. Oh, you ask...install washer/dryer, finish installing hood, finish installing lights, install new bathroom sink, install the rest of the kitchen countertops, template the bathroom countertop, re-paint, re-install the exterior lights that were improperly installed, finish trim around the windows, install closets, finish exterior paint, and so on and so forth.

Final Inspection

After a single misfire, we passed our final inspection today! So the house is ready, you are thinking? Not exactly. But we are in the final phase.

This weekend, they painted the exterior of our house. The final detail work isn't complete yet, but we are no longer the plum house with orange shutters.

They started sanding our floors this morning. So we are officially not allowed to enter the house for the next week.

But next week will be a rush to the finish. Closets, changing out a bathroom vanity, templating a bathroom countertop, installing chandeliers, delivering the last of the appliances...Now if we can just pick out a mattress.

Bad Blogger

It is official. I'm a bad blogger. Good thing I don't rely on the blog for income, huh? Bottom line on blogs. One, they are hard work. This isn't really a surprise to me. But I was out of clever, witty things to say. Two, no one wants to hear too much whining. And I have felt like whining and venting ALOT over the last month. Hopefully we are through the worst of it. So we move forward.

The house is starting to look like a house again. WE EVEN HAVE RUNNING WATER!!!! And as of today, for the first time since early afternoon on January 10, 2010, the north side of the house is not protected by a blue tarp and a prayer. We are currently slated to move in at the end of August. Yes, this is later than we thought. And later than we thought after that. But it is within spitting distance, so hopefully we won't need to move it out again.

But enough of my clever discussion, what does the house look like...

The stairs. Check out the reveal on the sides. Love that! This is the benefit to using an architect.

In reality, the lights are huge. Couldn't seem to capture it with the handy point-and-shoot camera. The countertops will continue down the sides of the island as soon as we clean inspection on the electric.

The is the den--composed of the former parlor and den. The wall used to be just the far side of the fireplace. Of course, that was when the fireplace was faux painted cream and baby poo color. The second picture is the fireplace in the dining room--which is covered with the same slate.

And finally, the new downstairs bathroom. The countertop should be white quartz, but the fabrication period is running long. I am thinking about having the vanity refinished white. We hadn't planned to do that before, but it seems like something we need to do.