We took a nice family walk to the new house this afternoon.  Still no house there.

Funny story. I was out walking Arlo on Monday morning and decided to stop by the new house. When I got close I noticed there was a lot of activity going on and discovered that they were working on our house and the show house at the same time. At our house there were two guys in sweaty t-shirts banging with hammers on the wood frame around the foundation (they were removing the framing). At the show house there were six guys, wearing clean jeans, white t-shirts, and OSHA safety belts. They were posting for a picture of them (three of them together!) measuring with a chalk line. One guy had a camera, and another guy had a broom!! Sweeping up the foundation. I literally laughed out loud. Cleanest job site ever!

They have drones! Think they’ll do a flyover of my house too?! :)

Cleanest job site ever!

Our house. Not so clean. :)

That was Monday. Today Eve and I stopped by after school and found this:

Foundation insulation? Alan says this is excellent, so I’m happy too. :)

Starting to look like a house now?

Eve is not impressed. (just kidding, really she was just tired)

We also found Alan there talking to a guy from SunCommon. Alan’s dream is being realized. There will be solar panels on our house! :)

He also spoke with the builder before we got there and the builder said they would be pouring the rest of the foundation early next week. They have to finish the framing on the show house and get it weatherized before they can do the framing on our house. It won’t be too long though!

The poured the footers (I think that’s what it’s called!) the other day.  We got there just in time to see them cleaning the cement mixer and putting the rebar in.

Does it look like a house yet?!

Today we had our friend in the car so we stopped by to show her the new house.  Eve and I explained in great detail how the girls would get back and forth to one another’s houses after we move.  Right now it’s a short jaunt down the street, but this fall they will have to go around a few corners.  I reassured them that it would be ok, but they are still concerned because they won’t be able to see each others houses.  It’s nice to have good friends just down the street.  <3

Over the dirt pile, past the house, through the trees, and you’re there!

We all wrote our names in the dirt. :)

Eve, playing in the new garage, with a big bag of candy! (we had just come from a birthday party with a pinata)

I wonder what comes next.  :)

A boy, a dog, and a digger. Happiness is.

It’s official! Construction of our new house is underway!!

Alan jumped up on the flat bed truck for an overview shot.

I stopped by later in the day and the guy had a good trench going! I think there’s a more proper word for it. Foundation wall or something. Looked like a well formed ditch to me! :)

It’s hard to imagine our house here. Crazy.

Sadly we found out on Friday that the buyer we had lined up for our current house pulled out of the deal. The inspection report came back and the inspector was harsh! The family is moving up from Texas and had only seen the house through a Skype tour with their realtor. After viewing the inspection report they felt there are too many “unknowns” and they weren’t comfortable moving forward. That hit me hard! I spent Friday in an emotional spiral, but after a fun evening with friends, a little too much wine, and a nice long sleep-in on Saturday, I woke up feeling much better and much more positive about the world. Alan and Lex went over to the site bright and early Saturday morning to watch the ground breaking. I was sleeping and Eve was at a sleepover party. Alan was sweet enough to take my phone though and take lots of pictures and videos for me. I went back over later in the day with Arlo and the digger driver said, “Hey, I recognize that dog!” I laughed and said “You’re digging my foundation!”

Saturday afternoon I rented a storage unit and this week we will start bringing stuff over there to start clearing out this house a bit, making room to spot what needs repairing and do the repairs. I am not looking forward to fixing up this house and the kids are still wondering why we can’t just stay here if we have to fix it up anyway. I hope their excitement will grow as the new house is built!

We signed the building contract today. All the info was sent to the bank and we are just waiting on final bank approval. It’s getting exciting!

We are officially under contract to sell our little house. Happy and sad all at once. I hope we are making the right decision! I’m going to miss our beautiful street. Our agent told us a little about the buyer though and that made me happy. It’s a couple from Texas, but originally from New Mexico. The dad is Native American and teaches on subject. He got a job at Dartmouth, which is why they are moving. Mom stays home with the kids and loves home remodeling. She was looking for a house that needed a little TLC. They have four kids between the ages of 4 and 12. I have no idea how they plan to fit everyone into this little house, but I’m super happy to hear that the house is going to a nice family who will appreciate our little home and make it their own.

Awhile back our realtor made a comment that I’m holding close. When I told him that I’ll miss our beautiful little neighborhood, he said to think of it as the opportunity to create a beautiful new neighborhood. We will be in on the ground floor of this development and I hope that we will be able to make it a lovely neighborhood. The one house currently built has sold and we met the owner last week. She is a single woman with three cats. Eve said she loves cats and the woman said, “Great, maybe you can help take care of my cats if I travel?” Eve was thrilled. I think we are off to a good start on the new neighborhood already!

If all goes according to plan we will sell this house on July 17th and move into the new one in mid-September. Anyone want some company for a few months?!? :)

Sooo…. we’ve got a few things going on here!  First and foremost, we are building a house!!  We got an offer on our house and accepted it. Today Alan and I, and dragging Miss Eve along, spent the afternoon picking out cabinets, counters, flooring, and paint! The sales associate was fantastic and helped us narrow down the bazillion options. She even gave us samples, including an entire drawer!, to take home and sit with for the weekend.

So many things to consider!

These are the kitchen cabinets. Although the color (ginger) is a bit off in this photo and the style will be a bit different.. soo… never mind. :)

Kitchen counter top

I think we are going to go with the “raging river” blue for the carpeting upstairs.

Paint??!?

I like this color palette. Also, bathroom flooring on the right.

The bathroom cabinetry will be this blue color, but a slightly different style.

We are waiting to hear back from the seller, but it’s looking like we’ll have a July 17th closing date, though the new house won’t be ready until mid-September. Anyone want some company for a few months?!? :)

After years (AND YEARS!) of thinking about it, Alan and I have started moving forward with the idea of building a new house.  Now things are moving fast!  Over the past few years we ruminated on the idea of major renovations to this house, buying another house, or building.  Last summer we came across a great plot of land in the village that we really wanted, but the finances didn’t work out.  This spring Alan wanted to move forward with a whole house ventilation system, which was many thousands of dollars, so I suggested we get more information about major renovation so we could do it all at once instead of having to redo the ventilation if/when we renovated.  We talked to builders and finances folks and then look at some new construction a few streets over and we were sold!  Almost. :)  They are building an energy efficient (net zero, I think) development with solar panels and proper siting.  Alan has been jonesing for a place over there for awhile now, but I have been resistant because I love our neighborhood and I don’t love how crammed together those houses will be.  However, as we continued the discussions (and visited the model home a few times!), I have come around to the idea.  Mostly.

We put down a refundable deposit on the lot we wanted and began designing a house with the builders.  That process is fun!  We also started talking to banks and were told that we could afford this endeavor (yay!) and just this week we brought in a realtor to discuss listing this house.  Eeek!  The realtors (they are a team of three) did their thing and came back to us with a sale price much lower than we were hoping for, but also with an eager buyer who is looking for what we have, imperfections and all!  I called in another realtor (the guy who sold Popcube’s house!) to get a second opinion and his estimate was only slightly higher than theirs.  We are now waiting on an official offer from that buyer… though we haven’t even signed sellers paperwork with the realtor yet!  Their buyers also REALLY want to move in this summer, and the sooner the better.  They have kids and want to be settled before the school year.  Of course.  As crazy as it sounds, we are considering it.  The alternative is to do a lot of finish work (many thousands of dollars worth) to make the house “showable” and then hope, HOPE we get a higher price.  Everyone agrees it won’t be much higher though, and we would run the risk of having to carry two mortgages for awhile, which we had been planning on but would rather not do.

Needless to say, there are LOTS of thoughts swirling around in our heads!  We haven’t signed any contracts yet, so we could bail on all of it, or we could sell our house by June 30th, be homeless for the summer, then move into a brand new house in September… or, most likely, something somewhere in the middle.

Also starting to wrap up the year at a new job, take two college courses for that job, convince both kids that we are doing the right thing and consider their concerns, plan for a trip to California (yay!), prep for a yardsale next week, train for a 5K, eat healthy for WW, and, um…. other stuff too.  :)  No shortage of things to do around here!

We have one whirlwind summer coming up, but by this time next year (hopefully!) things will be settled and we’ll be loving our new house with beautiful 12″ windowsills and a family room.