LOTS of pictures!!

There’s no better way to spend the Easter holiday than swimming and tanning in Florida!! Ethan and Gretchen spent a week-long vacation visiting with her family down there, visiting with brothers, sisters, grandparents, and new niece Peyton. We had a great time lounging around the pool, some shopping excursions, and even a full-out special day for Ethan at Port Manatee, where he got to ride a REAL train!! It was all low-key and relaxing…a very nice vacation to visit and catch up with everyone. Here are some pictures we took.

As for the house, this Saturday was the first since returning from our trip that I’ve seen it. Boy, it REALLY looks like a home now!!! The drywall is complete and all interior painting has been done. There’s color in the house now! Our room turned out a bit more bright-blue than I anticipated, but I hope once carpet, doors, millwork…and all our housey things are in, it’ll pull together just fine. The colors look great, they’re just very stark right now. Our bonus room is what Ryan doesn’t want to call “celery” green, but it is. Bright and fresh and something different. Leah has a soft pink room that I spent painting on Saturday. The entire house throughout is a soft khaki color and our bathroom toilet room is more of a dark caramel. That’s is as far as inside colors go. I’d like to bust out whatever else I can manage to paint before anything else goes in, but it’s hard up and deciding on colors without being sure of what all goes in the room. I think doing anything else will just have to wait until we’re settled. At least the inside is moving along now. We hope that the tile work inside starts sometime this week or next. Probably about a week for that…then it’s onto lighting, cabinetry, millwork, and other finishing touches. Altogether, a good guess before we can move in is about another 4 weeks, if everything stays on track. Stay tuned!

Still waiting!!!

It's been over two weeks since the speedy drywall was hung and nothing has been done to the house since. A few of you have been asking how things are, if we're any closer...and as of today, no - nothing has progressed. We've been at a standstill these past two weeks and the frustration is mounting.

We have received word though, that hopefully the drywall job will continue this week, pending it's warm enough in the house to do it. Ryan dug like a slave last week to get the conduit in place for the electric to run from the road to the house. I firmed up some colors for the house. We confirmed several delivery/orders that are waiting to arrive - kitchen cabinets, fixtures, appliances, carpet. It's like things are waiting to come...and we can't do much right now. It's obviously very frustrating.

Hopefully this week will speed right along and things will start hopping again. I'll keep posting when I hear more.

On a lighter note - we're preparing for Ethan's big-5 birthday this week. A dinner on Thursday, a party on Saturday, and then a Florida vacation the following week. It's going to be so fun!!!

Drywall Up

Well, if anything can really make a house look like a house, it's drywall. And talk about a speedy job - these guys came in and hung it all IN A SINGLE DAY!! It's pretty cool - you can definitely see the rooms now, everything seems much bigger, more visible.

Here's the latest pics:

Latest Pics!

The Results Are In

....WOO HOO! Inspections have passed - praise be!

Electrical is good...framing is good...and we are onto insulation starting early tomorrow morning. Once that gets inspected (I swear, I never realized EVERY layer was scrutinized), we are onto drywalling the place. That we guess, will take about two more weeks.

We're happy to finally get the ball rolling again. Things should really start coming together.

* Stay tuned! Will get pics taken this weekend. *

On a side note, our sale house gets inspected this Friday. Prayers please that THIS sale finally goes through to completion; no glitches or further holdups.

xoxox - The Payne Gang

24 Days and Counting....

....until spring, that is. Wish we were only 24 days out until move-in with the house, but that's definitely pushing it. On one hand, it seems like the days just drag...and yet...I realize that these posts are about once a month - it really does seem more often. A whole month has passed already? Wow. Lots to fill you in about!



The new house: Our electrical inspection should have been given the green light as of yesterday (2/22). Today, we are waiting on the framing inspection to take place. The past four weeks have basically been devoted to all the electrical aspects. We had an electrican who came in to run the major wiring in the house (the heavy-duty stuff). That took him a good three weeks between starting and making sure everything passed code. About two weeks for Ryan and his WONDERFUL helper buddies (THANK YOU EVERYONE!) to run the low-voltage...and we are very anxious to be done with all the wiring stuff. Hopefully, that's now complete and we can move on. From what we hear, insulation should start possibly Friday...or early next week. A few days for that, then onto drywall. Things will start to pick up and move pretty quickly one all the required inspections get passed. That really does hold things up.


But, the house is coming along as far as what's left for us to finalize. Fixtures are picked, cabinet tweaks are done, any planned ideas are pretty set. I'm ahead of the game with this one...but I've already started planning room colors, curtain ideas, and the decorative stuff. Hey, we're caught up, why not??! =D


I'm hopeful that by late next week, I can take some updated pictures of the house showing some serious progress inside. The outside is much the same though.



The old house: We have an offer on the house!! Possibly the sweetest present we could hope for this Valentine's day came in the form of an offer on our Fillmore Dr. home. A few stressful days of waiting out the back-and-forth countering process, and a contract is now in place. There are still several things to wrap up befor this is considered a done-deal (like inspection, appraisal). I'm excited, but I'm DEFINITELY NOT getting my hopes up until the keys are handed over; we've learned from that several times already. If all goes well, closing is set for March 31st.

Stuff with us: Ryan has left for another two week work stint in Lynchburg, Virginia to help close out the equipment/department he works in back home in Richland. He flew out early Sunday morning and little good it did; they missed their connecting flight and spent the entire day at the airport. The next guaranteed flight out was this morning (Tuesday). What a headache! But from his text this morning...all is well...he'll be into Lynchburg shortly. I'm trying to hold the fort while he's away.


Kids have been really good - we're all staying busy enjoying the "heatwave" we've been having lately. It's been very spring-like outside; mid 50's during the day and lots of sunshine. I know I'm going to be counting down the next 24 days. I'm really ready for spring!!!

Here's a super sweet picture of the kiddos enjoying the beautiful weekend last Saturday.

Love and hugs to everyone!

Another Month

So, it's already 2010...another month has gone by since our last post. Lots going on, of course!
The house is getting a lot of the "guts" in place last week, this week, and into next. Mostly, HVAC, electrical, and interior construction pieces. The garage actually has a bit of drywall in place - makes it feel more complete! The furnice is in the garage as well, ducting all through the house. Soffits in place in the kitchen and office area too. The upstairs bathroom has the tub/shower installed...Ethan is excited for his TWO sinks in there! Mostly, the changes are stuff we notice on the inside - the outside looks a lot like a finished house.

I took these pictures on 1-10-10, and even then, they're outdated. At least they show the state of the house now...and the crappy wet weather we have too. Typical winter.

We're getting the yard prepped in the next few weeks to fill in low spots, dig out arena areas, and generally get things ready to have the fencing installed. I'm very anxious for this!! I can't wait to see how the fence looks throughout the property...although we have a LOT of work ahead of us for that project.

If everything stays on schedule, we're thinking that a completion date still looms around the end of March. In the meantime, we're staying busy enough here at home between work, school, and normal everyday life. We hope you're all just as busy and happy as well!