Betsy the Scooter

Well - another Sunday has passed and no new pictures of the new house. Booooo - I know. We drove by on Sunday to be disappointed with no new progress.

BUT we did receive an email from the developer with a time line of what to expect in the next couple of months. Framing and Trusses are scheduled for tomorrow, we'll see.

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a little video of how I get around at work - Betsy the Scooter!

Well I said I'd update Sunday, I lied.

We drove by the house on Saturday with Paul's parents. It was their first time seeing the place so it was exciting. BUT it was the same as last week, just a little more snow.

Apparently the foundation has to settle for 1 week prior to continuing construction, so it was just resting last week. The developer told us that they are planning to put up some framing this week. So we are hopeful for some updated pictures this weekend when we drive by.

In the meantime here is one reason we need to move and one reason its good we're in an apartment.

1. Poor Mr. Moses HATES our apartment. It has hardwood floors that he can't get traction. There are constantly people walking on the sidewalk outside that he must growl at. And the neighbors above us (who moved out 2 weeks ago - thank goodness!) had cats that would meow under the door. He has lost 10 pounds since we moved in, we think due to stress. If you know Moses, you know he was ridiculously skinny to begin with. We are considering changing his name to Rex (short for anoREXia) as you can now not only see all his ribs but also his vertebrae.

2. Thank goodness we have not moved yet as I am still in a cast and will continue to be for one more month, followed by a boot for 2-4 weeks. I'm really not sure how well that would work moving in boxes and working on projects in our new 2 story home!

This week has been an interesting one. We got hit by a "blizzard" and in my head I was afraid it would put back our building process. Afterall, its still just an open foundation!

Nope, we got an email from our developer yesterday (while there was 12" of snow blowing around in 10 degree weather) that they are planning on putting up the framing NEXT WEEK!

Woo hoo! Not sure if the new pictures on Sunday will be worth noting but TWO Sundays from now... Oh boy, I'm giddy with anticipation already :)

After church today we started a new tradition - driving down Cosby Way to see how the house is coming along!! I was so excited to take a peek. Unfortunately I had to stay in the car as crutches, unsteady dirt and snow don't really get along. But Paul ventured up the snow covered dirt mounds in his church clothes to snap some pics.

This is a picture as you're driving down the cul-de-sac approaching the house.

Apparently they didn't "pour" the foundation. Instead, they shipped in pre-poured foundation walls on a flat bed truck. This truck was parked in front of the lot. We're thinking maybe these are the interior walls?
This is picture is taken by Paul as he walked up to the foundation. The main area of the basement is on the left and our front porch is in the bottom right.

This is where the garage will be. "The Ding Machine" (aka Paul's car) is excited to have a garage home for the first time in it's life.

Someone else that will be happy to have a new home is our dog, Moses. He HATES our temporary apartment - particularly the hardwood floors. He can't get any traction under his feet and often has a hard time getting going. He pretty much mopes around and will lay down on any piece of fabric he can find. This is a picture of him right now as I type.

These are the people in your neighborhood..

In case you were wondering what our house will look like... here is a link to the floor plans of our builder. We are building the "Hampton". We opted for the optional 4th bedroom. They are putting in double sinks in the master bath and we're having sliders out of our dining room. AND we're having the basement finished for Paul's long awaited man-cave.

In the last few weeks we've received great news of the progress of our new home construction. We are moving to Sparta, which is about 15 minutes north of Grand Rapids. We currently go to church in Sparta so we are planning on driving by after church tomorrow. We've heard that the hole is dug and the basement walls are up. I'm so excited to get to see it for myself tomorrow!!

You may wonder how we've heard of the progress even though we haven't been up there recently. We are moving onto a cul-de-sac that 3 couples that we are friends with already live. In fact, we're moving next door to our good friends Justin and Bethany. We can't wait to be part of the 'hood!

In the beginning....

In the beginning, Paul and I had this nice little starter house. It fit our needs, was close to work, and even had a fenced in back yard for our mutt, Moses. We knew we wouldn't be there forever but it was a comfortable little home.

Then this whole first-time homebuyer's tax credit came along. We knew it wouldn't apply to us but thought maybe some first-time homebuyer might like our little home. So we thought about it, fixed up a few things, and put it on the market.

During this time we considered our next home... our REAL home... our grown-up, long-term, better love it HOME. Although we know there are TONS of houses on the market and we could've gotten a really good deal, we decided building was our best plan. So we decided on a floor plan and picked out what lot we would like, but we couldn't really do anything until our house sold.

Well... what do you know? Our house sold! After two and a half months on the market, we got a good offer and sold our house.. hmmm... now we're homeless ?!?!?! We quickly found a do-able 2 bedroom apartment in a historic district of downtown. It was big enough to store all of our belongings into one spare room plus live in the other portions. It has a small fenced backyard for Moses and even is on the first floor (which helps since I was scheduled for foot surgery). We don't love it - but it's temporary. And we know what we have in store.....

Our New Home! And this is the purpose of this blog. I plan to give weekly updates on what is going on with the house. We hope to drive by the construction site at least once a week to take pictures of what is happening. And I hope YOU will enjoy watching us move To The Hood!