11th Heaven - Our Anniversary - and also Day 221

Today is Friday, June 5th, 2015. It is Kristin and my 11th wedding anniversary! It also happens to be Day 221 of Project 713 (220, 221... whatever it takes.) The "traditional" 11th anniversary gift is "Steel." So, we'll see what we get each other this year made of that material. Here's something to think about...11 years ago, the thoroughbred Smarty Jones was going for the Triple Crown of horse racing. Tomorrow, American Pharoah will make that same attempt. Good Luck! Another little tidbit from the memory banks. Former president Ronald Reagan died the night of our wedding. We got the headline in the newspaper outside our hotel door the next morning. We saw his funeral service on our honeymoon in St. John. That was the only time we watched TV the entire week.

Back to the present, though. Of course we'll get to spend a little quality time together- a couples' foot massage and then dinner for deux. This is our picture from LAST YEAR... our big 10th anniversary dinner at Ocean Prime.

This will have to do, until I have visual evidence of tonight's festivities.

After that, all Heck is going to break loose. As of about 10:30pm, the Amend family "Cuz-astrophe" arrives straight from Toledo. They left around lunchtime and are busting it down I-75 through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and finally through God's country...Georgia. :-)

We had originally hoped that we'd be celebrating our anniversary... and the arrival of the "Cuz-astrophe" by sleeping in our newly renovated home, but alas, as with life, construction projects have their own clocks, or in this case- calendars!

We truly are really closing in on... "the Closing." Our entire focus is getting all of the little finishing touches of the house and getting our inspections completed and passed... and being able to schedule the movers to come deliver all of our STUFF! 

As I mentioned before, I'm not going to post any NEW pictures from inside the house, since we want it to be somewhat of a surprise for the final reveal, once we get our stuff moved back in and settled. So since it's been more than 7 months, here's a picture of what the house looked like BEFORE...

So think about THAT one for a while! LOL

Then we'll post some more pictures, but ultimately it will be up to YOU to come visit the Fors abode and see our new crib, in person!

Cheers!

Odds & Ends - Day 219

It's June 3rd, Day 219 of Project 713 and the various Odds & Ends tasks are moving us closer and closer to the finish line. We're to the point now where we're actually having inspections done on various systems and parts of the house. All of them pointing toward our final C.O., or Certificate of Occupancy. The following pictures were taken over four days, starting on Sunday, May 31st.

 The carpenters were hard at work installing the railing for the front porch. I stopped by in the morning so I could show their progress at the end of the day. Scroll down for the completed look!

 The crew was finally far enough to install all of the appliances in the kitchen. The shot above is obviously the new oven and stove, with our new ventilation fan.

 The picture above is a wider shot, so you can sort of see the newly installed appliances in all their shiny glory. The dishwasher is to the left of the island, then the oven in the back, and the microwave/convection oven in the upper right and the refrigerator on the far left.

 A closer look at the microwave/convection oven unit and our new fridge. Shiny!

The guys were also hard at work putting in the hardware for the hall closets. Above is the linen closet that's in the upstairs landing hallway. Plenty of space in there!

 Above is the newly expanded closet in the downstairs spare bedroom. It used to be about 1/3rd smaller when it was Grace's room.

Here's another shot of the carpenters putting in the railing spindles on the highest side of the porch.

The guys were taking a short lunch break before finishing the last part of the porch railing.

 And finally, at the end of the day, Grace shows off the finished product. Painting the railing will be next!

 Now, another big step is the carpeting in the upstairs bedrooms. Above is the floor in Grace's bedroom. How that dude managed to move that giant bunk bed and lay the carpet down is beyond me.

 The picture above is the floor in our master bedroom walk-in closet. It looks so comfy, right?

 And this picture is simply the floor of our master bedroom, along with some of the extra carpet while the guy was cleaning up.

 Thankfully, the final pallet of sod came in so the landscapers were able to finish off that last section near the driveway. It's looking more and more like a finished project. We're getting so close I can taste it!

 And the fireplace mantel is slowly but surely getting closer to completion. I think this should be finished by the end of this week. That will be the icing on the cake.
Well, at this point, I've been asked by the management not to post ANY more photos until we get our C.O. and are able to move in. Kristin likes to call it our "Final Reveal!"
So, thanks for going along for the ride everyone and we'll see you again when we move in! Possibly in the next couple of weeks!
Cheers,
Flip