Walls and Brick and Closing Day...Oh My!

Closing Day:

March 9th...'nuff said!!!
(The final walk-through is March 7.)

Walls:

The drywall is completed. We went by today and two guys were there "sealing". That is what they told me anyway. Since they were there, we had a chance to go inside and look around. Having the walls up made me even more excited about living there, since I could see each room.

Morning room to the left, kitchen to the right.

Soaking tub in the master bathroom. The bathroom looked really small to me.

Standing in the master bedroom looking into the massive walk-in closet.

The girls' bedroom in the front of the house.

Jackson standing in the foyer in front of the coat closet. Because of the office to the left, the foyer is pretty big. I think I'm really going to like it. It feels roomy and welcoming.

Standing in the foyer looking into the office. We will have french doors here.

The kitchen. The doorway on the right is the mudroom that leads to the garage.

BRICK:

The brick was the only casualty of the horrible/nasty weather we had last week. However, even with the setback, it is now completed. I was a little concerned about the color, but I love the brick and I love the way it looks. I assume the siding will be added next week.

The Weidners score a convection oven

Not too much to report on the progress of the house (or in life for that matter). After a frustrating trip to Lowes, we scored a stainless-steel-gas-convection oven with five burners for $520 (seen here) Nice! (...If I do say so myself...not that I cook or anything, but Nice! nonetheless. I'm sure it will cook my Ramen Noodles "real good").

And I still have that pesky midterm tomorrow (not nice).

Just what the world needs is another lawyer.

So what does law school do to people that lawyers become so disliked? Well, for me, I now see negligence in every act by every person. Scott, you HAVE to brush ALL of the snow off of your car...the snow may blow off, impeding someone's vision, causing an accident and you will get sued for negligence. I know that if I decide to use my scissors as a can opener and cut myself then sue for products liability, I will lose. I read entire contracts: credit cards, HIPPA, insurance, doesn't matter, if it says sign, I read it - word - for - word. I spell out numerals, i.e., one versus 1. And, I just called the mortgage title company to inquire about easements. Really??? Who does these sorts of things? Attorneys and attorneys in training. Everywhere I look there is a potential lawsuit. So with this house, I needed to make sure that there isn't a sewer line for lot six running underneath our house. Now most normal people wouldn't think of such a thing. But after sitting through two classes discussing a case from 1938 where a homeowner didn't inquire about the plumbing and later had raw sewage backup in his basement, only to have the court say, "Too bad, a reasonable person would have inquired about where the sewer lines run. You have plumbing don't you?".

After class I asked my Property Professor if the inquiry notice would apply to modern day cases where we take things like plumbing for granted, because surely a reasonable person in 2011 wouldn't have to inquire about why their toilet flushes, right?. Well, like everything else in law school, I was wrong. It is my duty as a home owner to make a "reasonable inquiry". So that lead me to calling NVR to ask a ridiculous question about easements.

And attorneys wonder why the rest of world hates them.

I have a midterm on Friday in Contracts. Now most law school classes do not give mid-terms. In most classes the grade is based on one three-hour final at the end of the semester. Some might think that sounds awful and stressful and it is, but a midterm that is only worth 10% of your grade kind of gives you the same feeling as slow left lane drivers: Annoying. You deal with it for awhile until you can pass the driver. You know if you pass the driver, in reality it's not going to make your trip go any faster.

This professor in particular has been teaching at the law school for thirty years! He not only thinks that contract law is "easy", but loves the Socratic method of teaching and clearly midterms.

Weather:

Well, the rain/freezing rain mix hit Columbus early this morning. Jackson had a snow day....woohoo!!! As the temperatures drops tonight, the rain is supposed to freeze again. In addition to more freezing rain, snow is forecasted overnight. Maybe another snow day tomorrow?

So that is all that is happening in the Weidner household.

"Are we going to take the beds?"

After I picked Aida up from preschool, the girls and I drove out the house. Aida asked a million questions, ranging from "Where are the tractors?" to "Why is the road muddy?" My most favorite question was, "Are we going to take the beds?" (Imagine this in the sweetest 3-yr old girl voice). Apparently she didn't want to sleep on the floor in the new house.



We watched the insulation guys smoke and eat lunch for about ten minutes. I decided this was boring, so we left and drove out to the model house to get some inspiration and have a couple of questions answered. I drove an extra 10 miles out to the model only to find it locked, dark, and rep-less, even though the sign out front said "Model Open" and listed the hours as Monday 12-7 (the time was 12:47). PURE IRRITATION! I called our sales rep to see why the model was closed and he wasn't at his model either. Seriously?!?! All I'm saying is don't list your hours as open if you clearly don't plan on being open.



Later that afternoon Scott met with our PM (who again is the saving grace in this experience), so the kids and I drove back out to our house to take a few pictures.



I couldn't believe the smoking/eating insulation guys had finished the insulation! The house is really starting to come together. Tomorrow the county will come out and inspect. Thursday the drywall will begin and Friday siding will begin. In the past week, I have gotten so anxious for the house to be completed. I can't wait to move!

Pictures:

Scott, Ivie, and PM standing in the morning room.

Looking out the morning room windows at the backyard.

My office. Looking through what will be the french doors.



Looking into the kitchen. The mud room is to the right.

Insulation in the ceiling of the garage. This was one of my concerns since growing up I had a bedroom above the garage and it was always SO cold.

Front left side of the house ("The Vicki Window").

Garage.

A winter storm is heading towards C-bus: Rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow and thunder, yes thunder (I think the meteorologists throw out every possible type of precipitation and storm just to make sure they get it right...I know the tricks of the trade). I hope Jackson has a snow day or at least a late start tomorrow. If so I get to sleep in!!! Come on rain/freezing rain/sleet/snow/thunder.

First Time Inside the House!

We met with the Project Manager today, who by the way I think I love (more on that later), to look at a finished master bathroom in a Florence model. After reading so many blogs about the new home owner not liking the single sink/one cabinet master bath, we were worried. After looking at the finished bathroom, we feel better about our choice. We can live with it for now.

After meeting with the PM, we went over to our house, and for the first time, we were able to walk through! The electricians were there finishing up. The plumbing will be completed tomorrow and the insulation will be installed on Monday. We will have our pre-drywall meeting next week. The only thing we weren't happy with was the small window in the "girls' room". This is a result of elevation A.

Pictures:

(1)The small window in the "girls' room". Dislike. Oh well, this room has three windows so I probably shouldn't complain too much.

(3) Upstairs. Standing at the top of the stairs looking into the master bedroom.

(2) Hall bathroom.

(4) The recessed lighting over the fireplace that the sales rep said we couldn't do...hmmm...looks to me like we could do it!

(5) Standing in the kitchen looking into the family room.

(6) Standing in the kitchen looking into the morning room.

(7) Kitchen. The doorway is the mudroom.

(Blogger is frustrating me and I can't figure out how to put the captions next to the picture, so I think it's time for bed)

Oh and the reason I think I might love our PM: One, he is the first person throughout this whole process that hasn't made me walk away feeling like a cheap date. He seems sincere in wanting to make us happy. Two, he seems good at his job. I like people who do their job well. Three, he's young and kind of cute (I've already discussed this with Scott). :-)

Another Action Packed Day in the Weidner House

Yesterday the steering went out in the Audi. How did it "go out" you ask? Well, after dropping Aida off at school, I heard a squealing that gradually increased in volume; then all of sudden it stopped. After this mysterious squealing stopped, I could no longer turn the steering wheel. To get home, I literally had to use all of my body weight to turn the wheel. We dropped the car off at the dealership and luckily (sort of lucky) that squealing I heard was the belt and when I no longer heard it, the belt must have snapped. But luckily the belt caused the noise and not the pump. I say this like I know what the difference is, but I do: About $1,000! Thank goodness it was just the belt!

Since we were down to one vehicle today, the whole crew took Scott to work this morning at 6:30 a.m.! The kids loved it. Scott on the other hand probably missed his 45 minutes of "me and coffee time" as Jackson, Aida, and I asked a minimum of 10 questions per mile.

Aida and Ivie visited Dr. Brill today (ironically Dr. Brill graduated from Kent Roosevelt in 1996...small world). Aida only received one shot, but hated it. She quickly forgot about the "punch" once she remembered she was going to get a sticker afterwards. Aida has definitely inherited the small gene from her mama, Nana, and Great-Great-Aunt Beverly: She is in the 10th percentile for height and 5th percentile for weight. I hope she beefs up a little as she gets older. Vivien on the other hand is plump, but not as plump as all you gossipers out there like to make her out to be (you know who you are!). She is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. She received four shots today! And she too, did not like it one bit.

After the crew picked Scott up from work, we stopped by the house. The brick has been delivered. We chose the colors so long ago we can't remember what everything looks like. We thought we chose a lighter brick, but obviously not. I know we were pleased with what we picked out, but I don't remember picking out such a red brick. The heating/air ducts were installed as well. We are scheduled to have our pre-drywall meeting next week.

We also are adding recessed lighting above the fireplace. Our soon-to-be-neighbor showed us hers and it was lovely. We asked our sales rep and he said no. But of course I won't take no for an answer and asked our project manager and he said "no problem". Squeaky wheel gets the grease!

Lastly, Scott, Jackson, and Aida made a snowman tonight. The thirty-five degree high today started to melt the snow, resulting in a "wet" snow that was perfect for building a snowman (and a snowball fight). Go Packers! For goodness sakes....BEAT THE STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!

A Little Disappointed

Life has been COLD here in Columbus Ohio. Today the high was around 19 degrees and lows have been near zero. Thursday night we received about 5 inches of snow. Jackson had a snow day on Friday partially due to the snow and partially because of the bitter cold temperatures. Whatever put Whitehall City Schools over the edge was fine with me. It was SO nice not having to pack up all three kids, in the cold, to get Jackson to school.

So, the disappointment: The house.

The builders are making great progress. No complaints there. The roof has shingles, the garage door is hung, the gas lines are in and the plumbing is in as well.

The problem is the elevation we chose. Now, I do not want to sound like one of those uninformed consumers that blames the company for everything because he failed to read the fine print, but Ryan Homes and our ex-realtor have not been helpful. We were told we had to choose elevation A (the elevation is the outside appearance of the house, i.e. 5 windows v. 6 windows, porch v. no porch, things like that) because our soon-to-be neighbor had elevation B. Ryan Homes doesn't want our cookie cutter neighborhood to look anymore like a cardboard cut-out than it already does, so it will not allow two homes with the same elevation to sit next to each other.

We decided that we really wanted the Venice so we opted for elevation A. Well....elevation A is stupid ugly. Stupid because the bottom left window is not a double window like all of the other elevations and ugly because of the window, no porch, and a very small peak. Now it is totally our fault for not seeing this blemish, but I also fault our worthless realtor for not speaking up and saying "hey, these guys really want elevation B and can't afford elevation C, so how about they move down one lot so that they don't have to build the stupid-ugly elevation A, because, let's face it, honey-my husband-the builder, we've gotten over on these guys way too much already, let's throw them a freaking bone". Seriously, a freaking bone!

Now, I know that we will love the house when it is done and maybe the single "Vicki window" on the bottom will turn out to be a blessing, but as virgin home builders, we trusted her to help us out and she totally has left us face down in the mud. So that is the disappointment. I am going to try to beg the project manager to throw us that bone and help us out, but chances are everyday for the next ten years of my life, I will sit in my office and stare out of the "Vicki Window". But then again, maybe I'll love it.

Lots of good, I know, but this journey has not been fun. If anyone EVER tells you that building a home is fun check their breath for evidence of alcohol because they are either drunk or sleeping with the builder.