A New Verona: 2013

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Hi there bloggers. So sorry for the lengthy absence. The summer has been insanely busy and the start of the school year has not slowed down one bit. With baby girl starting kindergarten, it's never a dull moment around here. Wanted to share the latest addition, the kitchen back splash. Enjoy.

Attempt at a panoramic shot

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Hello Ryan blog family! It's been a while since my last post. All is well and we are enjoying our home. We've spent lots of time in the yard since the end of April. We dug up some of the shrubs we hated and added some annuals and rose climbers. We also added some lavender for sweetness. We'll see how they blossom throughout the summer. We have grass...weeeee. Now is it perfect? no; is it all the same color? no; do I have patches that need help? yes. We cut the grass for the first time this weekend and, it's coming along. I have been a watering, seeding, fertilizing fool. Hopefully I can get some more garden soil and seed out on the trouble spots this weekend. Here are some pics. Side bar...my neighbors put up a wall...I mean fence. Comments please :)

Can you see where Comcast dug through the lawn? I'm still in recovery

Glimpse of the fence

Those shrubs were originally in the front of the house....transplanted

Ok, yes....I know it's streaky but it's coming. My spreader is on crack

This patch needs some love for sure

Comments...please!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

It's hard to believe that we are creeping up on our 2 month mark that we have been in our new home. We are still settling in, meeting new neighbors, and getting used to new commute times and routes. I sympathize greatly with M's posting about the lawn. Our lawn was seeded a couple of weeks ago and we are just beginning to see new growth germinating. Time will only tell if we'll get enough coverage to block out the rocky ground beneath. We had a rock hound come through but there's still a huge amount of rock imbedded in the ground. I planted some flowers in front of the house, just praying they'll transplant well and not get the rock choke out.

There are now 12 homes going up at different stages in the neighborhood. So far, all the different models and elevations are blending in with one another beautifully. There's one more Verona that we can see going up...yay, we are not alone. The home going up in front of us is Courtland Gate. They are usually huge, it'll be quite entertaining to say the least watching them put it up.

We have a water overflow pond beside our house. The view is quite lovely and now we have a family of geese occupying it. They are so cute (6 babies). Somehow, I'll try to get a bit closer to get a shot of the babies. They follow mother goose foot to foot and mama is no joke, she'll beat you down if you get to close (I witnessed a goose beat down on Friday...not pretty).

We had our ceiling fans and other light fixtures installed yesterday. We went back and forth on whether to put a ceiling fan or not in the morning room. We finally opted for the chandelier. Everything turned out nicely. Happy building.

View from the deck, Mother Goose and the gang; lawn trying to grow

Master BR ceiling fan

Bonus Room ceiling fan

Baby girl's ceiling fan and her new pink accent wall (by persistent demand)

Pendant light

Pendant and chandelier

Morning room chandelier

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Saturday, April 21, 2013

Today we had more crown molding extended into the family room and kitchen. I think the results are wonderful. We even had a bookshelf installed and will have the matching one done next week. All turned out wonderfully. Excuse the hungry and sleepy men in the pictures. LOL!

Molding in Family room into the foyer

Family Room

Molding into the kitchen

New Bookshelf

Saturday, April 13, 2013

CROWN MOLDING AND THINGS

April 13, 2013

Today we had our crown molding, chair molding and columns installed. The gentlemen who installed everything were amazing and really worked it out. The results are everything we had hoped:

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After

Living Room Before

Living Room After

Foyer

Saturday, April 13, 2013

So sorry it's been a while since my last post. All is great here and we are loving our new home. If you don't like children then you shouldn't move To this neighborhood. There seems to be at least 1-3 kids at every house (one family has 5 little ones!). Kids galore! Baby girl is in heaven. She has really bonded with the little boy who will be moving in one of the homes in front of us. When his parents come over to check the on progress on their home, they just come on over here and hang out with us while the kids play and play. He never wants to leave and baby girl never wants him to go...sweet. All of the neighbors are quite social and friendly and most of the kids will be going to the same neighborhood school in the fall. Awesome!
There are also 10, yes I said 10, houses going up at the same time around us which makes things very entertaining to say the least. Our 30 day inspection went well, they will be in next week to make changes. Repairs and problems are minor we did notice that our air conditioner is not working. We were told that this could be a potential problem since it was installed in the winter. Hopefully we won't have another 90 degree day for a while so the service company can come out and fix it.
The only nightmare that we've had to deal with is Verizon DSL; they have been horrible. We originally went with Comcast since FiOS isn't available out here yet but Comcast scewed up so many times and failed to show up when they said they would so...we kicked them to the curb. We have DirectTV for cable and Verizon for phone and DSL. Cable has been awesom, our internet has gone out about 5 times since we moved in. They try to come out and fix it right away but who has time to stay home and wait for them when we have to work. You can't work from home cause THERE'S NO INTERNET...GRRR! It's back up now but with an unsightly wire that runs across our front lawn. They are afraid to dig a trench right now because there are so many houses going up around us. I just have to take deep breaths because things could be worse.
This week we had our lawn officially installed. When we moved in we had the temporary hay down (which was pretty unsightly) but this week, we had the soil turned over, a rock hound go through and the entire landscape smoothed and graded. Last but not least the hydro seed was applied. If the seed germinates evenly everything will look continuous and quite lovely. Right after it was applied, it rained all night and into the day...GREAT! Fingers crossed. As I type, we are having our crown and chair moulding installed in the living and dining rooms. I will post pictures after they are done. Happy building everyone!!!!

Monday, March 11, 2013

We have unpacked all boxes and cleared out most of the garage. At least one car can fit in...YAY!! All of the rooms are set up and our furniture looks wonderful in the new space. We actually hung some mirrors and pictures as well. I cooked our first meals in the house this week; the kitchen is delightful. I've never had this much cabinet space in my life. We are loving our new home and settling in quite nicely. I may post pics as soon as I can get my window treatments up. There's no rush though.

There are sooooo many kids in our neighborhood. My 5 year old is having a blast making so many new friends. What an amazing neighborhood full of very friendly people who actually come over to visit and wave when passing them by. I have a great feeling that we are going to like it here.

The settlement/closing stress is finally melting away but I do feel I've aged a bit during the process. As an educator, this was madness moving during the school year, but you gotta do what you gotta do. All in all, we are overjoyed. Spring break is coming up, hopefully I can have a few days to really enjoy my new home.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported and encouraged us during this process. I am elated to report that 24 hours after stepping foot into our new home, we are all moved in! Tomorrow is not promised so we take advantage of today. My husband is a beast, once he sets his mind to a task, it gets done. Now that all PODS and storage units are empty, we look forward to the unPackfest today. Prayerfully most can be done today. ;)

Friday, March 1, 2013

OMG!!! After lots of drama, we officially closed. To God be ALL the glory. He is faithful

I look completely exhausted, hubby looks fab

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Please pray for us, we just got the clear to close and we are planning to get this done tomorrow! We have been wondering aimlessly during this entire process feeling a bit bruised and defeated but hallelujah, our LO just called us with this amazing news that we have the clear to close. Pray that we can actually get to settlement without any additional drama and leave with the keys to our new house. Thanks in advance to all of you who have offered words of encouragement. We really appreciate it. God is grace, God is good.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

We were scheduled to close today but alas, the drama continues. We still await the OK to close from the lender. This process may cause me to start drinking. If you have any blemishes on your credit and yes, we do...then you are slave to a different kind of rhythm that is unpredictable and throws you off your center. I have never supplied this much information in my life and this is not our first house. I pray that my nerves can endure this latest setback. I am a bit down and defeated. I can't get excited about much anymore except the prospect of never having to communicate with the lenders anymore. This is an ongoing soap opera of the worst kind. Will we ever get an accurate closing date? Stay tuned....UGH!

Friday, February 22, 2013

UPDATE!

It looks like we are finally doing this thing! WooHoo! The drama is clearing away nicely and we are looking to close this coming Tuesday, February 26th. A week late but I'm looking on the bright side, we are closing. Now to arrange PODS delivery and play the moving trucks, vans and bad backs, hips and knees game. This time with large grins on our faces. Fingers crossed for Tuesday. :)

Monday, February 18, 2013

We are supposed to close tomorrow but we are NOT :( at last reporting, we were in a holding pattern waiting for underwriting to investigate a discrepancy. Due to the wonderful President's Day holiday, nothing was accomplished today, nothing at all. We are still waiting for the ok to close call and there's no telling when underwriting will move. As a practicing yogini I am used to bending backwards but this is a bit much. When will the madness end.