No Laptop = No Pictures :(

My laptop is STILL being repaired. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I get it back tomorrow. I have been sharing a computer with my kiddos for over a week now. Not only does it mean no pictures for my blog, it means that I have to fight for computer time in order to do my homework. I am pretty picked on, I know ;)

Our house if FLYING along! Seriously! The framing is done. The electrical is finished. The plumbing is done. The HVAC is complete. The tubs are in place. The exterior doors and windows are in. The roof is felted and the wood strips are in place. They are supposed to be loading the roof tiles tomorrow. The inside is waiting for an inspection of the electrical and plumbing and then insulation and sheetrock can come next.

Friday I met the builder over there and he said that the are shooting for three weeks from now to be 100% complete. What?!? Craziness!!! They want to have all 20 homes in our neighborhood finished within 60 days. WOW! I know that the starving contractors are loving every minute of it. They haven't had this much work in a LONG time.

Hopefully I will have my computer back and can post some pics tomorrow!

Guess it's time for some homework :) Weekends go by WAY too fast!

Sold!

I can't believe it, but in less than 24 hours I sold EVERYTHING that I put on Craigslist.

I figured it would take me a week or two to get everything sold, I had no idea it would all be sold so quickly. Less stuff for us to move now :)

There has been progress on our house. The bottom floor is framed and it looks great!

Tonight is Junior Prom. Meg's date just picked her up. I took a bunch of pics that I will post later. Right now my laptop is in the shop (yes, I know, I should have bought a Mac!). When I get it back I will post some pics. Until then I am stuck using the kids computer. Lucky me!

Foundation.

**Before I start my post, for those of you who were asking, I put more furniture on Craigslist. The stuff is on my sidebar on my blog. Click on the pic and it will take you to the posting :) **

I know, I know, all I post are pictures of our house right now. I can't help it! It is just so darn exciting!!!

Today I drove by and there were cement trucks parked all around pouring our foundation. Oh boy, did that ever make me smile :) It made it seem more real that we are having a house built when I can actually see where its foundation is.

I survived another week of classes and practicum. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I have been feeling so out of sync. I keep thinking, "Next week won't be as crazy. Next week I will feel like I know what I am doing. Next week I will be more on top of stuff." Well, so far, it isn't happening.

I am not the only one feeling this way. A lot of people in my Cohort at the college are feeling this way. So, at least I know it isn't just me. It is an overwhelming load of work. Six classes (18 credits) and Practicum on top of it. They warned us that it would be all we could do to keep up in the program. Boy oh boy were they right!!!

It will all be worth it though. Once I pass the Praxis and have my diploma in hand, I will be so THRILLED! Then it will be a two year break from school (hopefully a teaching JOB!) and then back to work on my Masters Degree. Yes, as insane as it is right now, it still hasn't deterred me from wanting to continue toward a higher degree. I would LOVE to get my doctorate one day, but we will see.

Today is MY Friday (no school tomorrow) and I couldn't be happier! The sun is shining, the skies are blue and the foundation was poured on my house.

Life is good :D

We Have Our Permit!!!

Progress is FINALLY being made! Now if we could just get the weather to cooperate, that would be wonderful :) They have already delivered the wood for framing and they were prepping for the foundation when I drove by today.

The rough plumb/electric is done and the footings have been poured. Progress! YAY!

They claim that the home will be done in 45 days after they get the permit. They had our permit yesterday, so if all goes according to plan, the home should be complete around March 12th. Time will tell!!! That seems insanely fast to me, especially if the weather won't cooperate!

I am sure I will post pictures daily as I get them. It will be fun to watch the house come up out of the ground in a week or two.

Not Much. . .

A view from our lot with the results from last weeks weather. It isn't all that often that Pine Valley is covered top to bottom with snow. Doesn't it look gorgeous with the red rock below it??? Not much going on. I have been enjoying my weekend off from school and now need to get motivated to do my homework and get ready to be back full force bright and early tomorrow morning.

They are still waiting for the permit on our house, so until the city decides to get it to the builder, they can't do much more. Between that and last weeks weather we have been held up a bit. Really no worries about that though. Other than being super excited about the new house, it isn't like we are in a rush to get moved. Actually, I wish that magical fairies could come and move us and we would only need to just show up at our new house and be all moved in. That would be great!

I am posting some furniture on Craigslist this week. I want to sell the stuff that we know we won't use so that we don't have to move it. Right now I only have my couch listed. You can see it by CLICKING HERE. I have loved this couch. Seriously one of my favorites, not so much for my hubby. He doesn't like the couch at all! He hates couches covered in pillows. So, I promised him that this couch wouldn't be coming to our new house.

Soon I will be listing book cases, a BEAUTIFUL tv armoire, a leather couch and chair w/ottoman, and probably a few other items. I will post the links here when I get them listed.

Well, enough from me today! I need to get cracking on doing my homework :)

No Permit+ RAIN Galore = No Progress

It has been pouring rain ALL week long. Not just sprinkles of rain, but full-on desert rainstorms. With all of that rain, they have not made any progress on our house. Well, that and the fact that the city is being slow on handing out our permit. So, until the permit is in hand and the rain dries up, there won't be much to report out at our house.

It is kind of a blessing (even though it is frustrating and I REALLY want to see the house built ASAP), we are in a lease in the house we are in, so the longer it takes to get our house built, the less money it will cost us to get out of our lease.

We went and walked through the model home (it is the same floor plan that we are building). I am SO in love with the house. The flow of the house is wonderful and I LOVE the feel of it. I just can't wait until it is home sweet home. I REALLY hope that we get to call it home for good. Enough moving, let's just settle down and stay put this time ;)

Other than the house, the only other project (besides being in school full time) I have been working on is something that I am doing with my daughter. We wanted to find a way to help girls have access to Prom dresses for just the cost of cleaning the dress. I put an ad on Craigslist and have had some response. I also started a blog about it.

**CLICK HERE to read about what we are doing**

Also, if you have any dresses you want to donate, let me know!!!

Our HAPPY News!

I mentioned a while ago that we had some HAPPY news that I wanted to share. Since the word has leaked out, I figured it was time to write a blog post about it.

Since I am apparently not busy enough with school and Bryan apparently isn't busy enough with work and driving back and forth on the weekends, we decided, "Hey, why not build a new house???!".

So, that is our HAPPY news! We had mixed emotions about leaving the area we are in right now because we love our neighborhood and our neighbors, but this opportunity to build this house was just too good to pass up!!! We jumped right in with both feet, and as of last week, they started digging the footings.

This week things have pretty much come to a halt (because of all of the rain), so we are patiently waiting for the rain to dry and then hopefully progress will be made.

Our view:

Our Lot:

Our dirt pile ;)

Our trenches:

Ready for cement footings:

Our Floorplan:

Our home won't look exactly like the one above because we did change the elevation on ours a bit, but it will look pretty close :)