On the Market Baby!

Well, last Saturday was carpet day. Wow... now the house looks almost new. Amazing what 1400 square feet of carpeting will do. Despite my earlier complaints on the selling practices of Empire, I am very pleased with the outcome. It looks nice! Now, to see how long it lasts... being clean, that is. I'm scared to allow the kids or dog anywhere near it!

The house was officially listed yesterday morning! Within a few hours, we had a call! So, today, we have two appointments set up for showings. Mike is working all day, so I have to find some things to do with the kids. I figure that this morning would be a great time to drive out to the new lot and see if anything has happened. Probably not, since we haven't gotten word of anything new.

We do know that the contracted design of the house (options and all) were approved and were plotted ... or whatever they do to decide how the house will be positioned and planned on that lot. This week, we finished off the design center options as well. Geesh! Somehow we walked out of there owing another $28K on our next mortgage (ok, we knew that... but it's still shocking to see that final number... ouch!) The biggest hurdle was which granite to pick. I had no idea that granite just came in certain colors... universal names, too. Absolute Black, Tan Brown, Baltic Brown, Ubatuba (love the name, not the color), Gialla something-or-other. I figured that granite was different slab by slab... you picked an approximate color and that was that. Nope.... pretty standard colors. So, do we want light and mottled, or dark and mottled, or dark and relatively uniform... oh, the choices. We took up to the last minute to pick it out.... tan brown. It's a brown with little chips of red/tan in it. It's nice. We also picked "clove" birch cabinets and gunstock flooring. What does that mean... dark colors. Hope they aren't too dark!

Of course, we visited friends last night and saw their Baltic Brown granite and loved it... darn! I don't believe in astrology, but man, that LIBRA title fits me to a tee. I'm so wishy-washy.

So, we passed on the central vacuum and heated master bath floors and jacuzzi bathtub. I guess my feet will never get the treat of warm floors in the morning. Oh well. And, our current home has only one tub (kids' bath), so I haven't had a soaking bath in over 7 years. A Jacuzzi would just put my body into shock.

Well, better take one good look around before hauling the kids into the car for a little while.

Wish us luck... we'll see how long this puppy stays on the market now....

Dinosaurs, Luaus, and Puppets, oh my!

What do I do to myself? I can't sit here and claim that my life is horrible. It's nowhere near that. I'd definitely say that I am a very fortunate person, but lately I've taken on a little too much. Ugh. I'm trying to personally "stage" my current home while awaiting the carpeting installation. So, while trying to pack up things, patch walls and clean baseboards, I'm also replacing personal photos and such with neutral floral arrangements and Kirklands-style paintings and vases. This has been so fun, I must admit. I have a good excuse to go bargain shopping for just "stuff". I've hit Home Goods, Ross, Marshalls, Tuesday Morning, Target and the local Thrift store so far. May need to find more thrift stores... that was cool finding cheap goodies! I truly need to take a few classes in interior design so that I can do this for a living! LOL

However, along with what could be a full-time "sprucing up" job, I am still working at the preschool, raising four kids, helping with Brownies (planning one future meeting... but enough to add stress), and volunteering a few other projects. Next week, I plan my Wednesday classes (on Wednesdays, we plan for all 3 classes based around a theme... mine is Dinosaurs!) In April, I'm teaching/making puppets with Reagan's Brownie troop. In May, we'll have two weeks of preschool camp, and I'm also planning those... Luau and Around-the-World. In addition, I'm trying to organize a few end-of-year gifts that are becoming more extensive than I originally thought. Yikes! So, if you see me around, chances are I'll be carrying the Oriental Trading catalog, a pair of scissors, a few paper bags and lots of paper to cut. :-) Didn't quite expect this while studying in grad school (expected a grade-book and red-pen and quizzes in my go-everywhere bag)... but thus is the life of a preschool-teacher-mom. Oh, while I have your attention, I'll be in need of paper towel rolls and fleece or cotton knit gloves (adult) soon. Save 'em up!!

Tommy's 6th birthday falls on Mother's Day weekend this year (he was originally born on Mother's Day). However, I cannot depend on hosting a party here. We may not be here by then... or at the very least, I HOPE we'll be packing up! So, we are searching for other sites now. So... will it be bowling or movies or park or firehouse? Man, I wish the Lego store offered parties, that would rock Tommy's world!

Well, off to do more packing up! We laughed when we saw the size of our storage unit we rented... thought it was ridiculously huge. Yeah... I bet we'll fill it! How does one accumulate such stuff!!?

Wiring

Today we met with the low-voltage wiring company that will be installing audio/visual/security types of things in our new home. That was fun, although half the time I had no idea what was going on. LOL (What does that jack do? Huh? What do we need for satellite TV? So... what do YOU recommend?) Anyway, got the wiring options worked out. We've opted to put a box for a TV over the fireplace. It's a stone fireplace. What do you all think? I love the idea of making the fireplace/TV ONE single focal point and not needing a second focal point/cabinets/etc. Not sure I'm crazy about replacing lots of beautiful stone with a big ol' box and ruining the look of the stone with a TV. The wiring guy had the exact same thing, and he loved it. But, like he also pointed out... he's a guy! Mike wants the TV there. It's a done deal now... just curious to see what you all think. We can always cover the box with a painting or mirror until we get a TV, of course. Hopefully the TV thing works out and doesn't destroy the look of the stone.

I have one other question to pose to people. Since that TV is over the fireplace, we're having a multi-media port that is rigged to that jack behind walls installed for the DVD player, satellite box, etc. We just located it in the corner of the room... however, now we're waffling over the idea of putting it in a closet so that we can hide it all and take up less space by not needing a cabinet for all of that. Another plus... eight little hands couldn't reach all those neat boxes and DVDs! Has anyone else ever done that? Is it weird to hide it all in a closet?

We've always purchased a resale house before (or a spec home that had nearly no choices left for us to pick). And just as my co-teacher and I like to say to our students, "You get what you get and you don't have a fit" when you buy resale. I've never had to decide where to put an outlet or TV jacks or telephone jacks or whatever. At least maybe I'll have a better understanding of how houses are really put together and what's behind all that drywall now!

If anyone has built before, any advice for the real electrical stuff is welcome! Same with choosing kitchen stuff. We have an idea of what to do... but any advice is welcome!!! I don't want to find out later that we screwed up because we weren't thinking of "that". All the design center options get decided in two weeks.... then I believe our decision-making is pretty much done till it's time to move in ...and paint. LOL

Crazy Carpeting

Well, we need to replace carpeting in this house in order to sell. I wish we didn't, but 7 years of four kids and a dog on 9-year-old builder-grade carpeting wouldn't exactly "show well". Trust me!

So, we took lots of local advice and went to our local in-town small carpeting business. Loved the guys. Trusted them. Know they'd do a great job. When the quote came in, I was a little shocked... but honestly didn't know what to expect.

We decided to get a second quote to compare. So, to be easy on us, I called Mr. 1-800-588-blah blah blah that we hear so much on TV.

I HATE their practice. Absolutely hate it. The gentleman came in and measured, took our selection and gave us an estimate. Literally $1200 more than the first quote from the local company. So, Mike and I exchanged glances and said, "Well, thank you for coming in... we'll be back in touch once we've made up our mind"... fully expecting to go back to company #1.

The guy said, "What can I do to make this happen tonight?" Ugh... crap... he wasn't going to be easy to show the door. And I am not a bold "get out" sort-of-person. So Mike explained that we were looking to compare quotes and we already had a much lower price quoted. The man laughed. Yes. Laughed... as if we were suddenly playing games with HIM. (Don't most people get multiple quotes before plunking down thousands of dollars??) That ticked me off.

But... he then said if we could wait a few weeks, he could probably get us in on a builder's deal and that would be a few dozen bucks cheaper than the quote from the local company. We hesitated.

So, he "called his boss" to question him about the "manager's special". He hangs up and gives a brand new number. $2000 less than his first quote! No kidding. TWO GRAND less... not far from 50% off the original quote. Mike and I dropped our jaws. What a freaking game this was! We just wanted a number... not to play games. Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE the whole idea of haggling for deals. China gift-buying did not suit me well... it totally stresses me out.

However, we are honestly in a situation where money rules. Regardless of reputation or quality of product (both were builder grade and seemed quite similar), our decision had to be ruled by $$$ only. So, since this new company did come in at $800 less than the local company, we went with them. It kills me to have done so. I hate it. Hopefully the service and installation go smoothly. Oh... and they could do it next day. (Proving the whole, get-you-in-with-the-next-builders-purchase thing was a scam.) We opted for March 20 to give us more decluttering time.

The local company didn't blame us for taking the other offer... and we did tell them that if we ever need new carpeting and plan to live in that house, we will absolutely be back.

Ugh. Just dealing with a company like this gives me the chills. I hate the whole haggling crap. They came in hoping to make an extra cool two thousand dollars off of a bunch of naive shoppers. That just ticks me off.

I'll keep you informed on how the installation goes.

Some Snowy Pics

Here I am after beginning to shovel through Blizzard #1 this February. We already had about 24" at this point, with another few inches more... and Blizzard #2 coming later.

Here are Mike and I at "ICE" at the Gaylord at National Harbor on New Year's Day. The wreath behind us (as in every single display) was carved from ice. It was 7 degrees inside. Man, wish I could've used these parkas in the blizzards!

Our new homesite. Lot 79. Reagan and Mike are walking up what will be our driveway one day. The driveway basically sits at the right edge of our lot. It almost completely ends just to the right of Mike. The hill to the right is the property of what will be a model home one day. Leave it the Hollars to choose and buy a house/lot in several feet of snow. We basically had to trust the plots at the office to really describe the lots. But we couldn't really wait... the builder actually sold SEVERAL lots during the blizzard. And our second choice was sold almost immediately after we gave it up... we met the people who picked it while at the Design Studio. Hmmm....I wonder what these lots will look like once the thaw hits?! Hope we chose the best one. Ha! That single skinny tree in the middle is funny. It's part of a group of trees/brush in our "front yard". We need to name that tree. It's so obvious. Any ideas? Skinny? Toothpick? Harry? I know these blizzards were a fluke, but if we ever get snow again, we're gonna need a serious snowblower and/or plow for a tractor! The piles in front are just the 4' snowpiles made by plowing the road. Last week when we drove out here to finalize our decision on lots, Mike walked through snow that went up PAST his knees to see the lot. I just said, "I'll trust your opinion." LOL I have yet to go up there to see the actual lot in whole.

This is our lot. The white poles in the back line the left side of the lot. The steps you see are where the house will one day be built. The trees in the back are ours. Five acres total. We came out here after signing the contract to slap the "SOLD" sticker on the lot number. How fun. I trudged through other's footsteps while wearing black loafers to stick that sticker on. One loafer fell off (that was fun). Ugh. You can see me in the photo of the previous entry (It's 2010!) with my back turned. I had to just turn around at the waist since I was standing in previous footsteps and was basically trapped. Note to self: buy some winter boots already!

It's 2010!

Since Facebook exists and has all of my friends on it, I've pretty much allowed this blog to fall by the wayside. However, lately I've found myself wanting to vent and write. We have a lot going on these days, and I just can't type it all in my status updates. :-)

We are all doing well... all six of us. Gracelynn is making great strides in becoming a typical American child. She is still quite the spunky, active lit

tle girl who makes you want to pull your hair out at times, but it's amazing to see how far she has come. I figure God knew what he was doing when he connected her little red thread to us. He must have thought, "Hmmm.... Christy and Mike just don't have enough excitement in their lives. It's too easy."

She and Tommy are fairly good playmates, at times. But like all siblings, that only lasts so long. Ha! Fortunately they are beginning to show their own individual interests that sometimes keeps them busy on their own. Tommy is a Lego-maniac these days. He shows me websites of his favorite Lego sets that he NEEDS NOW constantly. Even those ones that aren't sold in the USA, he's determined to get from Santa at Christmas since Santa can make anything. Who decided that wonderful "fact"? If he isn't building new

Lego vehicles, he's playing Lego Star Wars or Lego Indiana Jones on the PS3 or DS... or scanning the Lego website for games and videos.

Gracelynn loves to draw and make artwork. Unfortunately due to her insistence in using drawing materials in ways that are destructive, she's usually only has access to Color Wonder products. Oh, how I LOVE Color Wonder! She also received a Melissa and Doug wooden castle for her birthday, so she's been playing with that a lot... even making Lego people and food to go along with the wooden characters.

Ben and Reagan are really growing up and making me feel old. Ben is almost a middle schooler, for crying out loud. He's into Spore and creating new worlds of dinosaurs and other creatures. Reagan is my writer. Even her teacher says that thoughts and ideas just pour from her little mind constantly. If she's bored, she'll write stories (books!) She's still in Brownies and soccer, too.

As for Mike and I, we have big news. No, no... not another child. LOL We're out of room! Which lead us to begin looking into the possibility of moving sometime. We honestly thought with the economy and the housing market these days that moving wouldn't happen for awhile. However, we happened to stumble into an amazing situation.

I've always loved this one neighborhood about 15 minutes from our house, still in the same county. It's tucked back in the middle of the woods, down a long dirt road. I first went out there for a Freecycle pickup. A few weeks later, I dragged Mike down that road to show him this neighborhood that I fell in love with. A few months later, I began going to a hairdresser that lived in that neighborhood. And so, I kept going back and back and back. When we bought our Sequoia last year (yes, we did get it), I immediately drove down that ol' dirt road back to that neighborhood to try out the 4WD... even taking my fam

ily back there to show them this beautiful neighborhood tucked in the woods.

Well, we went out there, just for a drive... just to see if any homes were on the market. Nothing was at the time, but what a shock.... we saw this amazing sign at the entrance! NEW HOMES were being built there!!! So, it didn't take long for me to start researching this.... checking out the models, checking out the prices, contacting the sales agent, etc. We went out to talk to the sales agent, totally expecting the house we needed (enou

gh bedrooms, etc.) to be way out of our price range. In order for this move to be worth our while, we needed at least 5 bedrooms, a bigger kitchen, and more space. After talking to the agent for awhile, I began getting completely giddy inside. Mike and I drove separately that day, so I couldn't even talk with him until we arrived home. I about exploded when I found out that Mike was as excited as I was.

And so... the adventure begins. After days and weeks of total stress and tears, trying to talk to real estate agents and loan officers and building sales agents and parents and children, we finally agreed it was worthwhile to take the plunge.

We have now officially signed the contract on a new home.

It will sit on the lot of our choice, on 5.1 acres. (The lot-choosing alone was stressful enough... and we still aren't positive we made the right choice. Ha... too late now, gotta be satisfied now!) Our kids will finally each have their own, decent-sized bedroom, and our kitchen will never run out of storage space. Our pantry will finally hold all of the food necessary to keep on hand for a family of four growing kids. We even added a third garage to store all of our bikes, lawn mowers, moonbounce, sports equipment and more.

The house is a little unique in that the stairs are tucked back in the side of the house (not in the middle of the house), there is an attached third garage at a d

ifferent angle than the other two, an attic/loft rec room and extra bath and extra den/bedroom on the third level, plus a Jack-and-Jill suite in the back of the house. The boys will share a bath, but the girls will essentially each have their own bathrooms. Ahhh.... preparing for those teen years. Yet, the square footage isn't insane and the house looks like a modest-size home (not those "McMansions" people gawk over). Basically it's as if the builder knew our needs and made a house to give us just enough extra space to fit our needs, yet not going bonkers on price or size!

We are obviously not finishing the basement just yet, and the

kids are actually excited about having space once again to rollerskate without getting cold in the garage and without getting yelled at on the hardwood!

Now comes the fun in picking out all the goodies. Unfortunately most of those goodies means $$$. Bummer. So, we did pick the exterior colors... Pebblestone Clay (tan) w/ Spanish Moss (dark green) door/shutters and Almond trim/garage door and a stone watertable and speckled black shingles. I wanted very natural colors to go well with the woodsy neighborhood and this scheme fit the bill.

I don't know the exact amount, but I'm guessing about 1 acre i

s sodded/seeded and the rest is wooded. It's a really WEIRD shaped lot, but oh well... it's woods! Chances are if you run in a straight line into the woods, you'll probably stay in our property for a little while... but that's not necessarily a sure thing. There are definitely some weird little angles in there, too. Ha! I guess my dad is more like me than I thought. The fact that the lot isn't a straight line shape (aka... triangle or rectangle) is bugging him. He keeps saying "why?" I'm the sort of weirdo that would walk into a room and totally obsess over the fact that they didn't put the desks/tables/altar/windows/furniture in a perfectly symmetrical arrangement in the room... even if that meant that I didn't watc

h the performance, or listen to the professor or pastor while I tried to internally reason why they wouldn't make the room symmetrical. Things like that just BUG me. I even squint from my hallway to eyeball my living room furniture daily to make sure the middle of the sofa lines up perfectly with the middle of the coffee table, the middle of the rug and the middle of the TV armoire. I guess Dad is like that too. Is that OCD... or just the sign of a mathematical mind? I like to think the latter. Ha! Oh well... it's woods... who cares where the lines are?

Well... off to clean a little. Gotta house to sell soon... anyone need a four bedroom cute little house in Northern VA?