Good Fences...

Robert Frost once wrote, "Good fences make good neighbors." It was in a poem. A poem called 'Mending Wall'. It was about good fences making good neighbors...

I believe that Mr. Frost was wise when he said this. But Noel and I have found another way to have good neighbors... share a blood line! My In-Laws have (finally) moved into their new home! The movers came today and all of their furniture is in the new home. For those who are unaware, my In-Laws' new home is at 3704 Cedar Hammock Trail. We're at 3918.

How about a map to illustrate...

View Larger Map

We're very excited for them! I'm heading over there soon for the 1st supper! Noel is unable to join us as she's out at the Chris Daughtry Concert (yup that guy from American Idol a couple of seasons ago). I'm sure she'll have fun.

What Was I So Upset About?

I clearly remember how upset I was just a few months ago. You see, KB Homes had told us that our house would be done on time on October 5th. On October 1st, I was livid, considering that the house didn't even have power hooked up, that there was still some major paint work to be done, and there were holes in the grout.

Well... maybe I shouldn't have been so upset... simply because here I am, now living in the house for 2 months... and I haven't updated this blog but 2 or 3 times. Sorry.

The last update came a month ago when I showed you the downstairs of our new home. Despite rumors that we don't even have an upstairs to the house, I still don't have a blog post for that. But it is coming soon.

So in essence, this is a very Seinfeld-ian blog post, as it is nothing more than a post about nothing.

But at least its updated! :)

There will be more coming on the house soon... So stay tuned...

Guided Tour: The Downstairs

Well... its been a long time. We did close on time. Lots of stories to go with the house and moving in. We were actually so busy living out all these stories that I didn't have any time to write about them on the blog. Yeah... that's the ticket.

Anyway, some of my loyal readers (actually, I think its my ONLY readers) demanded that I update to blog with photos of the home, as it is today.

So here you go...



This is the view as you walk into the house through the front door. You can see the blinds (which, out of context I don't think this sentence makes any sense).



Here's the TV room, just on the other side of the half wall from the first photo. These couches are the ones we blogged about earlier. VERY nice!




This is our breakfast nook area. As you can see, it is still being used to hold some of our housewarming gifts.



This is another view of the Breakfast Nook area, taken from the TV room.

Everything seems to be going well with the house. We wake up early, and head out to work as the sun is coming up. We work all day, and by the time we get home, the sun is on its way down, if it hasn't set already. I'm really curious what my lawn looks like. Couldn't tell you.

Very tired now. Going to sleep.

More photos coming soon... stay tuned for a sneak peek at the next post... the Upstairs!

Much Ado About Something...

Wow. To those faithful few who have logged in and checked this blog frequently; always in anticipation of seeing a new photo or hearing about something great; I apologize. There has been SO much going on with the house that I've not taken the time to update the blog. Sorry.

But here goes...

This photo was taken on Thursday, Sept 19th; as we headed to the coast for our 3-day Disney Cruise. As you can see, they had just poured the concrete for the sidewalk, frontwalk and driveway. Thankfully they accepted our request to have the driveway poured as wide as possible. It's 17' wide, which is large enough for two cars parked side by side. Phew! (Because every home has a side-entry garage, some of the driveways are very narrow in this community, some barely wide enough for one car. Not sure how some of these home owners can make the turn into/out of their garage. With ours being so wide, we can use the garage for storage, instead of the cars... at least for awhile.)

Not too much different here, as this photo was taken just a few days later on Sunday, Sept 23rd. The final grading was done to the property, to prepare it for sod and landscaping. Still some exterior painting to be done (see the shutters). The big to-do here was that the house still needed lots of work on the inside on Thursday, and we were told by KB what parts of that should be done by Sunday (the day of this photo). 4 days later, and not a single thing had been done.

Well, we threw a fit. We were enraged because KB was telling us to be prepared to close on October 5th. With the amount of work to be done on our home, there was NO WAY it was going to close on time. I told our sales rep, "The only way I could see this house being ready to close on time, is if KB puts an inspector in the house for 10-12 hours a day while a crew of 8 to 20 'elves' come in and work like crazy, everyday between now and October 5th!" I was pissed.

The next morning I receive a call from a senior construction manager from KB who apologized for the lack of work being done on our home, and insisted that they will get the house ready to close on October 5th, still. He explained to me that they are putting one of their inspectors in our home all day, everyday between now and closing, while he inspects multiple crews working in the home each day. So it wasn't elves, but they pretty much did as I said they'd have to do.

Since that call, progress has been moving much faster in our house. It will be really close, but if they can continue their current pace, our home should be ready to close this coming Friday, October 5th.

Noel and I are continually making trips out to the home, and KB is having their inspector call me daily to let me know what's being done, and not being done in our home.

Here's a photo from this past Thursday, Sept 27th. As you can see, the landscaping has been added to the home. Basic package. Maybe if we can convince my Uncle Steve to come to Florida, he could come up with some good ideas to enhance our yard!

Here's some photos taken yesterday morning, Saturday, September 29th. The exterior:

And an image of the carpet. The carpet was installed on Friday. The power also was just turned on to the home on Friday as well. The A/C was powered up for the first time on Saturday. When we head out there again tomorrow, we'll let you know how that's going.

The house is gorgeous. We're both really excited and anxious to move-in and finally call it ours. Noel and I are also both really hoping that we can play host to all of our out-of-town friends and family sometime soon, too!

With all the stress involved in the home, I've barely had time to cry over all the pain caused to me by my Mets. But much like KB, they too are trying to swoop in at the last minute and get things done right for me. They need a win today... So wherever you are, enjoy this clip and keep your fingers crossed for a Mets win and a Philly loss:

Spend A Lot, Save a Little

Not many changes to the house in the last week. Not much to show you anyway.

But here's how the house looked as we pulled up to it this afternoon:

With not too much to share about the house, instead we'll tell you about our new appliances! Sound thrilling? Well its not. But at least its a story to share.

Going back to Labor Day Weekend, Noel and I were celebrating our first anniversary by searching out the best deal on appliances for the new home. The kitchen is almost complete, just needs a fridge/freezer. We also wanted to purchase new washer and dryer, as our current ones are nothing special and 5 years old.

Noel found that Best Buy was running a sale on LG appliances, offering 10% off the sale price. So we rush out there to take advantage of the deal, after figuring out which items we wanted online. Turns out the price online is not the same as the price in store on some items (a fridge for example). We got them to match their own online price (saving us about $500) on the one item! We also pick up the washer and dryer we wanted, at the price we expected.

The next morning, Noel insists on checking out the Sunday paper to see what new deals are available. Well I'm glad she did. She found that Home Depot had a better deal on the washer. It also said that they would price match anyone else AND give an add'l 10% off the price match.

We leave first thing that morning to go straight back to Best Buy to return the appliances we purchased just the night before. This is, by the way, a brand new Best Buy store, and apparently they're trying hard to get some business as they refused to let us return the items, instead insisting that they not only match the deal we could have received at Home Depot, but give us an ADDITIONAL 10% off their reduction on the price match. Saving us an additional $400!!! Woo hoo!!

So that's how we did really well on our appliance shopping! Here's a bit about the items we purchased:

These are (obviously) not to scale.

But the washer and dryer are both large capacity! We're excited about all of the appliances as each is Energy Star certified, which means they are energy efficient. The washer uses much less water than a top loader. We're also excited as the washer has a 'Steam' cycle which is a quick 15 minutes to quick clean and wrinkle remover! Should be good for the work clothes, and a nice alternative to dry cleaning EVERYthing.

The fridge is a 'french door' style... or as they say in Paris: 'a door' style. There's a water/ice dispenser in the door, too. The black is to match all of the appliances that come with the house.

Coming up next:

Monday, September 17th: Pre-Carpet Inspection

Thursday, September 20th: Noel and Jeremy depart on 3-day cruise on the Disney Wonder

Friday, September 21st: Noel celebrates her b'day. I won't tell you which one, but its the last one that starts with a '2'

Friday, September 28th: Final Walk-thru of house

Friday, October 5th: Expected closing date

Saturday, October 6th: Everything arrives at house; and all hell breaks loose

The Halibut Is Good Enough for Jehovah!

This post is more about the stone work on the house. But if you don't understand the title of this entry, its time to re-rent this film.

Last weekend we updated the blog from our Saturday visit to the house. The builders had just started the exterior stone veneer on the house. Noel and I made our 1st anniversary (celebrated on Monday, Sept. 3rd) special with a visit to our new home, where we hope to celebrate many future anniversaries together. Here's a photo from that trip (just 2 days after the previous post):

Here's what it looks like this evening:

And a close-up on the stone work:

And while we're talking about stone work. The builders finished up the master bathroom shower and tub tile. OK... its ceramic, not stone... but I wanted to share the photos anyway:

And, for your enjoyment, and those of you who still won't rent the movie, here's the scene to which I am referring...

In the Immortal Words of Bob Dylan and God

As Bob Dylan once sang, "Everybody Must Get Stoned!"

They've begun adding the stone feature to the front of our house! Here's the image from yesterday morning!

Here's a closeup of how the stones look. Its pretty neat, actually. The stones are poured and shaped concrete which have been painted. They use mortar to place right on top of the stucco'd exterior. The central 2-story facing of the house will be covered with this stone work.

In addition to the exterior stone work, the builders have also managed to complete the fancy tile work in the Master Bathroom shower and tub. Here's a good look at that (if you click on the image, you should be able to view a full size image, and zoom in on the nice accent feature):

And in the immortal words of God, after having spent a very busy 2nd day on the job creating light, "And it was good!"

Here's the lighting features which have been installed into our home. We love these lights! They are ver nice looking!

Here's the pendant lights which hang over the breakfast bar. You also get a good view of our kitchen cabinets which were installed just a week earlier.

(And a closeup...)

Here's the bathroom light fixtures:

This is the light suspended over the Breakfast Nook table:

And finally, the chandelier which will be over the formal Dining Room table:

While we were in th house, the A/C company was working on installing the air conditioner unit. Hopefully the next time we visit the house, that will be working well and it will be much more tolerable to walk around the house.

You Put Your Pot In There...

This post is a week later. Mom and Dad were with us when we took these photos, but they do not appear in any of the photos. Sorry.

Here's the regularly scheduled exterior shot...


That looks much the same as previous weeks. But the interior is really starting to look nice! They installed our kitchen cabinets! With so much storage, we'll finally have a place for every kitchen appliance, pot, pan, plate, bowl, etc. Yeah!


The tile work in the master bathroom was started too. I really like the color! Finally, we'll have a place where I can shower.



Here's a closeup of the color of the tiles that will appear in the Kitchen, B'fast Nook, entranceway, Laundry Room and downstairs bathroom.


We're off to see the house again this morning. It'll probably take me a week to get those photos online. But keep your fingers crossed I get them posted sooner!

Now In Color!

The new home is now in color! Noel and I stopped by for our weekly visit, hoping that at least the stucco was completed on the exterior. We were very surprised to see that not only was the stucco complete, but they had also painted the exterior!




And the interior was painted too!





We're very excited about the colors, too. They, coincidentally, happen to be the same colors on the house on lot 94 (the one we originally purchased). So that worked out really well!

Our next trip to the house, mom and dad Myerson will be with us! Stay tuned for those images, too!

We're Walking, We're Walking, We're Walking...

This week's update to the blog is a very special one. For the first time in our blog history, we feature the new technology of moving pictures (with synchronized sound!) to show you our new home.

First, here's the weekly photo update, taken from the fixed spot:

As you can tell, there hasn't been too many changes in the exterior of the home. They should be adding the stucco fairly soon. It takes about a week for the stucco to dry before they can paint it. Once painted, there will be very little progress to the exterior... just the occasional aesthetic feature.

Speaking of 'feature' presentations... we will bring you the movies soon. But for now, more still photos:

Here's a view from where the TV will be. You are looking through the nook into the Kitchen. The patio is to your left, the laundry, 1/2 bath, dining and living rooms are to your right.

Here's two views of the loft. It is huge! The first photo is taken from the top of the stairs.

This second one is taken from the loft, looking towards the double-door entry to the Master Suite.


And now... the moment you've been waiting for... Movies!!! These were taken on our digital camera, so please forgive some of the audio and lightening gaffes. The films are hosted by Noel. And if you watch closely, you can see how quickly I'm balding!

First Film (upstairs)
The Sequel (downstairs)

Enjoy!

We Frame, We Saw, We Concrete

Friday, August 3rd (this past Friday) was our fram walk for the new home. All went well! There were no real surprises and no big requests. Very well done.

Here's how the house looked on Friday...


They should be hanging the drywall up through the house this week. Once that is done they will start to place the stucco on the exterior, and internal hardware gets setup. These exterior shots will start to become much less dramatic, too. But we'll be sure to keep posting more and more photos!

Looks like we'll be closing on the house in early to mid October.

The only sorta neat thing we learned was that we are not the only new home owners in this community to have their family move in as well. Of course, you all know that Noel's parents will be moving into lot 92, near the front of the community. Our house is lot 154, towards the back. We found out that lot 155 (our next door neighbors) was purchased by a family, where the wife's sister owns at lot 91 (Vito and Anna's next door neighbors). Funny how things work out that way.

We have not yet met either of these families, we learned this from Mike, the project manager on our home.

Roof of Purchase

Okay, not much to report really. So here are the newest photos of the house.



The shingles have been placed. They are light in color, sort of like a sandy beach. But not a white sand beach. Or a black sand beach. Just a regular, sandy beach.



(Covered patio, from above)


(Cover over front porch)

The Frame Walk is this Friday. We'll be sure to update the blog again after the frame walk. We expect everything to go fine... there've been no challenges with the house so far.

More to come...

One Ringy-Dingy... Two Ringy-Dingy... NO RINGY DINGY!

PLEASE HELP!

Our home phone service, the Voice Over Internet Phone (VOIP) from Sunrocket.com, is no more. The Sunrocket company has gone out of business. Noel and I are pretty sure we want to still have a home phone, and still feel that VOIP is the most cost efficient way to do so.

But, once we move, there will be no cable modem in our home, as the city of St. Cloud is completely Wi-Fi enabled as a public service. We aren't sure if there is a way we can create a landline internet signal from a Wi-Fi network. I know most people look to take the wired internet and turn it into a wireless network... we're looking for the opposite.

If anyone has any ideas that could help us, please share them!!!!

Thanks!

Lofty Ambitions

Another weekend has come and gone, which mean Noel and I made another trip out to St. Cloud to see the progress on our new home. Here's what we saw on Saturday morning:



It almost seems like KB is woking on getting this home up even faster than the previous one we purchased. That's great, too!

The framework is almost complete on the interior. This week they even had the stairs installed, so we could go up there and grab some pictures.


This is the loft area. The half wall is the bannister around the stairs. It will really open up this (already) large space. Noel and I spend lots of time trying to figure out what furniture we can put up here!


This is the view from the loft of the Master Bedroom. There will be a set of double doors that lead into he Master Suite. Very nice!

I think, though, the coolest part about having stairs is that we get a small closet area underneath them. Noel and I have taken to calling this space the 'Harry Potter Room,' since this would be the space at 4 Privet Drive where the boy lived.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I finished Book 7 this weekend. Couldn't believe that the two characters Rowling killed off were Spiderman and Optimus Prime! I didn't think you were allowed to kill off characters that didn't belong to you!

Goin' Once... Goin' Twice... SOLD!

Yeah! My in-laws sold their house today!

They will be closing on their new home in St. Cloud sometime in early to mid-August. The housing market is terrible right now, and they've had their house on the market for only 3 weeks or so! While it is a bit sad to say goodbye to the home in which they've lived since Noel was 12, it is an exciting positive step towards the new home!

They got the price they were hoping to get, too! So this is all very exciting news.

Yeah!

Block Party? No, No, No... We Were Framed!

This is our (new) plot of land. I know what you are thinking... how could they possibly change in that gorgeous home for a piece of dirt. Easy! Less to clean! But then you have the whole, 'how do I know if dirt is clean cunundrum!' This is going to be a very gorgeous home, too... with much more to offer Noel and me, and all of our guests!



This photo was taken on July 7th, just 3 days after the previous photo. I've marked the spot where I was standing when I took this photo. The plan is to continue to take photos from this same exact spot. I hope that someone much more talented than I can help me organize those photos into an online slideshow to illustrate a 'time-elapsed' type construction show.



This photo, too, was taken from the same spot. This was taken today, July 15th. It doesn't take long to get to framing, huh? The house has some really awesome features that you can already start to see. The front door area has a nice porch (where the ladders are stacked just to the left of the door). It has a side entry garage, entering on the right side of the front door, as you face it.



This, too, was taken today. This is the back of the home. There's a 10x10 covered patio. We plan on building the typical Florida screen room off the back of the house. But that's much later...



Standing in the front door, you can see the half wall. On this side of the half wall will be the formal Dining room and Living room. On the other side is the Family room. That's where we'll put the nice Lazy Boy sofas and the big screen TV!



Standing in the aforementioned Family Room, you can see back to the Nook and Kitchen. Nice big space. You can tell from the half hieght wall that the Kitchen counters will wrap all the way around. The Kitchen will be a gourmet kitchen, which I think just means it has different appliances.

I apologize for the delay in posting, but I think this whopper of a post makes up for it! And this is how it all is today!