Some Goings On

Greetings, neglected readers and random internet stalkers!  Please accept my sorta-deep-but-not-really apologies for the long break in-between blogs.  Yes, I suck, but the last couple of months have been busy and I've been lazy.

Die Schule

First, it's important to note that I'm not saying "DIE, SCHULE!" but am actually saying "The school" auf Deutsch.  Second, I had to Google which gender "schule" should be.  Third, I suck at German.

As many of you noticed via Facebook, I am a college graduate.  Huzzah!

I finished my degree at the end of March.  No clue what the future has in store for me, but standby for either really exciting things (jobs! more school! winning the lottery!) or not-so-exciting things (hanging out by the pool! driving Nolan to preschool! mowing the lawn!).

Future MLB-er

Nolan is making like another Texan with the same name: He joined a baseball team.  

The league he's in is called blast ball; it's like tee-ball, but simpler.  The players only have to run to first base, there are no outs, and nobody keeps score.  Of course--being that we're in Texas--some parents keep mental score.  I imagine that if Nolan continues to play baseball up through high school, I will encounter a parent who will be more than happy to remind me of his/her son beating my child at blast ball.  

One of the best parts of the whole blast ball thing is player of the week.  Every week the coach picks one player who had a great day, or improved, or listened, or didn't poop his pants, and gives him a baseball. That player's name is thrown into a pot (with other players of the week from different teams in the same league) and a blast ball player of the week is chosen.  A couple of weeks ago, Nolan was picked by his coach AND he won the player of the week.  He received a medal, a certificate, a $10 Applebee's gift card, and a free scoop of Baskin-Robins ice cream.

The reason I think it's one of the best parts of blast ball is because only one player per week gets chosen.  No trophies or accolades are handed out just because the kids showed up. It's a fair guess that every player will get one during the season, but the kids don't realize that.  It's a good life lesson for everybody.

Social Butterfly:

I started up a meetup.com group in order for Nolan and I to meet more friends.  Not only has it kept us busy with making crafts, but Nolan has made some good buddies.  As a bonus, I'm making some good buddies too!

Nolan, Ayla, and Camden

Brian, Nolan, and I all enjoy meeting the neighbors and relaxing in the sunshine.  Our street is filled with children, and Nolan loves playing with them.

Nolan and DJ

That's all for now folks.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Squatting

Greetings, friends and followers!  After almost two weeks of living in our new house, I am just now putting up the "official" photographs of the final result.  I also put up a post earlier today, so read that one for more updates on December.

Enjoy the pictures!

Home sweet home!

The kitchen area.  It looks really, really messy, but it's
actually coming along quite nicely.

Eat-in kitchen.  Notice all the mud prints on the ground from
our three fabulous dogs.  (The reason our back yard is so
muddy is because the dead dormant sod is being watered
twice per day.  It is very wet.)

We need to get a new maid.  Our non-existent one sucks.

Chip looks creepy as heck in that shot. (Special
shout-out to my dad and friend Brad for getting
the TV installed.  Holla!)

Master bed room.  Still need to get a king-sized
bed frame.

Master bath.  This actually looks reasonably
clean.  Maybe we'll keep that maid after all...

I took a bath for the first time in this tub Friday evening.  It was
AWESOME.  There's something about taking a bath in a brand
new tub that doesn't have hair balls floating around in it.

Master closet.  Love the Container Store's Elfa
storage system.

This closet's so big.  I better go buy more clothes
so my current clothes don't feel lonely.

Master bath looking into the bedroom.

Formal dining room, which we are clearly using as a dump.  

Formal dining room, which we will actually be using as an office/den.

Nolan's Harry-Potter fort.

This sucker wraps all the way under the stairs.  It's finished
with paint and carpet and trim.  Pretty sweet fort, I think!

Laundry.  Our dryer finally came yesterday (Jan. 11).

Guest bedroom.

Guest bedroom.  Sad that this is the neatest
room in the house.

Front coat closet.

Guest bath (definitely LOVED picking out bath accessories)

Biggest challenge?  Going from a 4+ car garage down to 2.

Heading upstairs, looking down at the main living area.

Going up the stairs.

What I call our rec room.  Texans call this a game room, or a
2nd living area.  

Fabulous elliptical trainer.

Nolan in the rec room.

Storage in the attic.

Storage in the attic

Nolan's room.  Surprisingly (eerily?) neat.

He and Sophie both have walk-in closets.

Sophie's room.

The kids' bathroom.

All those darker spots in the grass?  That's where it's wet.
Really, really wet.

Our back patio. 

I will post more pictures as we finish unpacking, decorating, etc.  Thanks for reading!

Chestnuts Roasting On An Apartment Fire

Sorry for the long delay in between posts, friends!  The last few days have been interesting/busy, so here's a brief update:

The house has been delayed.  It was scheduled to close this Friday (December 20) and now it has been moved to Monday (December 23).  However, Brian and I are anticipating we won't close until after Christmas because the ground has been too wet for the concrete to go in.  The builder will be calling me later today, so I'm preparing myself for bad news.

Some have asked the reason for the delay.  There are actually several:

1. Delays in utilities. A gas/electric meter that was ordered on November 22 didn't get installed until this past Wednesday (December 11).  It usually takes 2-3 days.  For us, it took 3 weeks.
2. Inspections and the process of building a house.  The driveway can't go in until the meter was inspected, the meter can't be inspected until it's installed, it can't be installed if it's not there, etc.
3. The weather.  We had a nasty ice storm on Friday, December 6.  The ice and snow melted, leaving large puddles in the front yard and the driveway area.  It didn't help that on Friday, December 13 it rained.  The concrete crew can't get in and do the work until it's relatively dry.

I was in the house yesterday finishing up painting, and I happened to hear water dripping. It appears that the toilet upstairs wasn't installed properly (or the water line to the tank was faulty) and water was dripping through the ceiling vent in the laundry room directly below.  Not cool!  I should be getting an update from the builder on what exactly happened when I talk to him today.

With that, here are lots of pictures of the progress.  It's looking beautiful and we are very excited to finally move in.

Thanks for your love, support, and prayers!

Light fixture in the eat-in kitchen.

Main living room/great room/whatever you want to call it.

A fan!  Nolan will be so thrilled.

Formal dining room light fixture.

The hardwood/laminate flooring.  It's all covered with
cardboard right now to protect it.

View from the stairs into the kitchen/great room.

Loft area.

Sophie or Nolan's bedroom.

Sophie or Nolan's bedroom.

The faulty toilet.  The dark spot in the
center of the photo is wet cardboard.

Faulty toilet.  When I looked at it, it almost appears as if the
toilet is sitting flush against the wall.  You can also see how
the water line cover isn't flush against the wall.

Water that had seeped underneath the wall and into the upstairs
loft area.  Thankfully, no carpet has been installed yet.

White fluffy insulation in the attic storage.

Master bath.

Master shower.

Master bedroom.

The red tape (just to the right of the center) is marking a huge
hole in the ground.  There's a PVC pipe in there that has a
big hole in it.  I wonder if the bulldozer smacked it when some
of the grating was getting done.

I think our house will look gorgeous with Christmas lights on it.
Next year!