Yes, the long-promised
construction tracker is now
available for your viewing pleasure! A few stories have been copied
over there to seed the site a bit as well as new content and pictures
of the lot. The short version is that the lot is cleared and they'll
probably be dropping a foundation quicker than we might imagine.
The goal of this new site is to let you (our faithful Eagle-Eyed BLOG
readers!) enjoy the joys of watching the construction of our new home
as if you're here with us watching it live and in living color. That
doesn't mean that we won't bore you to tears about our cool new home and
all of the upgrades that would bankrupt most third-world countries if
given half a chance (or even a quarter of a chance!)...but hopefully the
pictures will save us a few thousand words and you a few hours of
struggling to remain conscious as we ramble on about the joys of
upgraded carpeting! :)
The other goal is to record the particulars of the construction so that
in the future, we know where the electric and the pipes are when Daddy
goes fishing through the walls to string another run of Category-5e
network cabling in the house. And maybe our experiences will help
someone who is contemplating taking the plunge on building their own
home by saving them from our stupid mistakes as well as faithfully
recording them in the BLOGosphere for all to see! ;)-
The process can certainly make you humble!
Future construction updates can be found over in the Home Improvement
page with occasional tidbits as they relate to Nicholas being cross-posted
here.
So sit back and enjoy the construction process with us. But never fear,
regular updates to Nicholas' site will continue to occur though they
may not be quite as frequent as they once were. Speaking of which, there
are a couple of stories that will be written in the next few days (one
involving his first hair cut) to catch up with the pictures so don't be
surprised if some entries show up before this one! :)
Today was hair-cut day for all of us including a certain little one's
first foray into the land of snippers and clippers. This is one of
those times that it can work out really well...or it can be a real
hair-raising (or in the case of the Army...a hair-razing)
experience!
Hey, you over there...PUT DOWN THOSE ROTTEN TOMATOES NOW! I've
got the groaner out of my system, OK? Just don't be so hair-triggered
on the veggies and we'll be just fine...this ain't a Gallagher concert,
ya know... :)
Anywho, an ordinary barber shop is too, well, ordinary for our little
one's first trim job. So Mommy managed to find a real special place
designed for the little ones in mind with toys and a smallish jungle gym
in the vestibule for the kids to play with and get comfortable with
their surroundings.
The stations themselves are ingenious...each kid gets a vehicle to ride
in or for the older ones, a horse where they hold on whilst the friendly
lady goes about her business. There is a TV at each station and the
kid gets their choice of a video tape. I don't think it will catch any
of the Eagle-Eyed BLOG readers by surprise when a certain little one
decided to tap Elmo for entertainment duty.
It was Nicholas' turn and he took his seat at the helm of the NYPD car
(some little ankle-biter snagged the fire engine first...grrrr!!) and
Elmo was merrily singing his favorite song. La-la la-la, yadda yadda...
One Harry Potter cape and the ensemble was complete...and the job was
done before you knew it. I realize he doesn't have a whole lot up there
on his dome to trim but he was such a good boy that she didn't really
have to fight him. He seemed rather fascinated by his mate in the
fire engine who was returning the favor by having a peep at Nicholas'
Elmo tape more than his own!
After a few pictures, it was time for Nicholas to play again and he
was very happy to do so. He even got a certificate that is destined for
the scrapbook to be named later showing his monumental achievement.
Now I've got to ask...where is the justice in this world, eh? Daddy's
first hair cut was likely at the hands of Army barbers and I'm sure you
can imagine the drill: there is the right way, the wrong way, and
the Army recruit way...and guess which way you're getting, RECRUIT!
There weren't all of the toys and VCRs were really
only in use in government and really big industries and the barbers are
used to a very simple pattern...four to six swipes of the clippers and
the job's done. I will say that it sure didn't cost a whole lot...
Nicholas had more spent on his first haircut than Daddy probably had
spent on his haircuts for the first ten years of his life. Ah,
the power of inflation...
(Seriously, Army barbers are actually really good guys and if you're not
actually enlisted, they will spend the time to give you a nice trim,
not the Next Stop: Iwo Jima special that Hollyweird likes to
portray...provided you ask them to do so! And even those haircuts
are practical...everyone in the platoon is the same as the others and
when you're doing a ruck sack march for 25 miles, it's pretty nice not
having a mass of sweaty hair to deal with!)
For a first haircut with scary things like scissors and clippers coming
at his melon, Nicholas did just fine. In fact, he was a real trooper...
After long months of getting our current house ready for the market, it
is finally listed
(Fonville-Morisey /
realtor.com)
and ready for a new family to make it a wonderful home.
Will I miss having an acre under the house? Yeah...but the new lot in
Garner and a much nicer house has more attraction (and the wide lot will
make it feel much less cramped than others in Vandora Pines which will
help). This was Daddy's first home that he bought but as the
Supertramp song says, it's time to be moving on!
Hopefully it'll work out that we're selling this house at the same time
we're moving into the new house and ranches supposedly sell better than
two-story houses. I'm rather hoping that the improving economy (so they
say) and that theory will work better than it did when we were selling
Mommy's house. We'll see about that...but Ms. Mitchell seems reasonably
confident that the house does show well (and with some of the things we
have done like the tile floor in the kitchen and the paint job ought to
really bring 'em in to see the place).
One thing our out-of-town Eagle-Eyed BLOG readers might want to take into
account...the answering machine is off the air here for the duration
so that we can work the security system remotely if need be. Daddy's
cell phone has voice mail if you need to leave a message and it will be
ignored...errr...replied to most urgently! :)
The clock has started ticking...we're now officially committed to the
building of the new house in Garner on Lot 15 in Vandora Pines.
Or as they say, we ought to be!
Today was the payoff for the last few months of constantly asking
questions on how much this upgrade would cost or if they could install
an in-wall ironing board or fussing about how the telecommunications
system would be wired (OK, that would be that nerdy nutball of a Daddy
who cares about that!).
That's right...the dreaded contract to build. In this lovely
document, it pays to be anal-retentive and stick everything in the
document that you possibly can because if you change things more than
thirty days after signing, you will pay a pretty penalty to do so.
Fortunately, this was made a bit easier by constantly pestering poor
Ms. Thomas with all sorts of off-the-wall questions and building a
rather large Excel spreadsheet with what we wanted to upgrade (as much
as was known...lot clearing, carpeting, and lighting are the unknowns).
Even with that legwork, we were still breaking seal on the model home
down the street this morning to see if putting the fireplace in the
corner of the family room would work out. So out with the measuring
tape we go and we determined that it'd be a really tough fit. I'd have
to say that the family room is the one room we're finding to be a bit
limiting...but if that's the worst we have to contend with, then we're
pretty darned lucky all things considered. What makes it hard to work
with is that our furniture and entertainment center if not properly
placed can create some awkward walkways because of the stairs and the
door to the guest room. We finally decided to push the fireplace out
into the backyard (so that it's flush mounted) and ditch the TV shelf
that was built above the fireplace (when the fireplace was pushed into
the room so that the back of the fireplace was flush with the back wall
of the house).
The actual contract writing ceremony itself was pretty anti-climactic
because of our spreadsheet and the fact that we'd pretty much talked
everything through before walking through the door with our agent (we're
getting a 1% break on commission and we don't have to pay her to
represent us on the buying...not that she has to do much there because
it's pretty much non-negotiable pricing). We didn't set a record
in upgrades and we're not done yet...but yeah, the total of known
upgrades is fairly impressive and will only get more so. Even so, we
are getting a much nicer house in Wake County (just south of Raleigh)
for a pretty decent price considering what North Raleigh, Cary, and
Apex are going for these days.
Well, anti-climactic until it came time to cut a check for part of the
upgrades up front (which is a bit unusual but I can understand them not
wanting to put in a bunch of goofy upgrades that make the house harder
to sell later). It's pretty painful writing non-refundable
on that check...but there is joy in knowing that we're now on our way
(cue Phil Collins' catchy tune from Brother Bear!) to our new
home. Targeted closing date is 12 November 2004 (one day after
Veteran's Day) but Ms. Thomas indicates that they typically move that
date in and have never missed a closing date yet.
Now that the contract is official, they'll be clearing off the lot and
will have the house up fairly quickly if the others in the neighbourhood
are anything to go by. Next up for us, picking carpets, counter and
cabinet colors, and the lighting fixtures.
One thing that we hope comes through loud and clear through these pages
is that Nicholas does tend to be a bright little chap who is very
inquisitive and likes to figure things. Mind you, we're a bit biased
in that opinion (as well we should) but it's been commented upon by more
than a few people who have met the little guy.
One of his preferred tricks comes when you ask him how big is
Nicholas? He'll generally raise both hands over his head which is
your cue to agree with him that he is so big! Clapping afterward
is not unheard of...and he'll do it for you straightaway if you're a bit
slow showing him the love for his effort.
His new trick will be shown to you when you ask how old is Nicholas?
He's pretty good about putting up that index finger and often will do it
on two hands. Then don't be alarmed because it looks like he's prospecting
the old Nasal Mine, he's actually showing you where his nose is. Not
bad for someone his age, eh?
Unfortunately, advanced intellect (and larger than average head
circumference) hasn't translated to faster teething. He's got a few up
top trying desperately to push through but this process has been slow as
molasses in January...in northern Minnesota! In spite of this and the
persistent reflux, he's still generally a good-tempered little one...
until you block him from whatever he's fixed his attention upon.
Then you'll see yet another new trick...the towering temper tantrum and
rage against the unfairness of the universe. He's got that one down
pat and he certainly comes by it honestly. I don't know if we're really
looking forward to the terrible two's. But usually these tempests
tend to be rather short-lived (rather akin to summer storms in Central
Florida)...and then he's off to play with something, get into mischief,
terrorize Taz...you know, his normal day!