So - on Friday, November 16th we moved back into our home - yeah! It's official - we are done with the house project. Well, that is if you alter your definition of "done". We are "mostly done", which is better than being "almost done" and not quite as good as being "all done". We have a punchlist of items that still need to be completed, and they'll probably be finished in no time. Or by mid summer. Either way.
Done!
The move back in went without any major complications. However, there were several issues that we've already had to deal with in the new house - like - the brand new ovens didn't work quite right and we needed them serviced (already). I think they basically needed a "re-boot". We also discovered a leak in the boy's bathroom shower - which damaged the kitchen ceiling slightly. Our phone mysteriously died for two days. And one of our garage doors seems to open every time my neighbor changes channels on his TV. The list goes on. Our contractor is making good on all these little gotchas. I'm sure that fact that we still owe him $20,000 probably helps expedite things. That's one of the reasons I insisted on back-loading the milestone payments in the contract. That $20k will be a great motivator.
We love the way the kitchen came out - and the boys love having an island with stools to sit on when they eat. One of Julie's dreams has been fulfilled. Check. Now I just need to find a baby grand piano for the living room and I'll have made significant progress on Julie's wish list. Or I'll just be broke.
New kitchen, new island, bar stools - check, check, check. Now, if we could only get the kids to sit down and eat.
On moving day we had help from Ria and Veronica. Ria was our previous nanny - Veronica is our current nanny. They were a huge help and without them I think we'd still be putting things away. The boys loved seeing Ria again.
Ria and Veronica were a huge help on moving day.
The happy family on move day. The kids all had some Coke, and getting them to sit still for this picture was like herding cats.We've already done a fair amount of entertaining - Don and Jan came to visit us for Thanksgiving. Don't worry Jan, I promised I wouldn't say anything about you setting the fire alarms off when you were cooking. So I won't. Kelly and Amy also came to visit us - along with some of their friends. And our friends Rob and Barb and their kids came to visit too. We're finding that the kitchen is the gathering place, that's where everyone wants to hang out. That's also where the booze is, but I'm not drawing any conclusions here.
We still have many boxes to unpack - I'm going with the 6 month rule. If we haven't unpacked it in 6 months then we clearly don't need it and it gets tossed. I've discovered that I love to un-clutter and get rid of stuff I don't use or need anymore. It's a little endorphin rush.
