Well, it's been the usual 2-week gap between posts (ok more like 3), but they finally got started on our house. I drove by during lunch and saw a few guys working a little. These pics are from a couple of days ago.




More to come.

Labels: House

Friday was a pretty awesome day. Its been a few weeks since we posted the picture of our dirt and now we have actually made it to the next step. Friday afternoon, Cheryl & I went to the design gallery and picked everything for our house. Everything. We already had made a few choices when we signed the contract such as taller cabinets, surround sound pre-wiring, and a master retreat in our bedroom.

Now came the big stuff. Our designer, Cly, was very nice and helpful. There is a whole process with designing the interior of your home and I would not necessarily have thought it started in the kitchen. We began by picking out our cabinets. It was fairly easy to pick out the color (a nice cherry finish). Then we took our cabinet door to the area to pick out our tile. We placed the tile samples on the floor and put the cabinet door next to it so see how it looked together. It was easy to pick out 2 tiles and we picked one for the entry, kitchen, and master bath, then the other for the guest (Caleb's) bath.

Next we took the tile to the carpet section. We knew carpet would definitely be one of the few things we would upgrade on. Again we picked out 2 samples very quickly and then placed the kitchen tile next to them and walked every which way around to see all the different shades from each angle. Finally we picked out the slightly warmer color and a thicker carpet pad (Its pretty impressive the difference between 5/8 inches versus 1/2.

Not to continue to bore you with all the details, we had to pick out our countertops (easy), our brick (more challenging than we expected), the interior paint, bathroom and kitchen faucets, and grout color. Seriously, we had to pick out the color of grout for both types of tile we picked out. And we had to pick the colors of our gutters. Like I really care what colors the gutters are painted. Do people really paint their gutters a different color than their exterior trim?

Overall, it was a very productive if mildly stressful and yet enjoyable afternoon (yeah the appointment was 3 hours). We upgraded on a few more things that we anticipated, but knew we were making great choices for now while also considering resale value. (Its kind of weird to be thinking of selling a house I haven't even built or lived in yet).

Needless to say we are super-excited for our house to get started (Cheryl actually drove by yesterday and our dirt is now flatter) and to get moved in! Its going to be an exciting and long few months. We are guessing that we will be in by the end of January (I hope).

So that was Friday afternoon. I had the morning off from work to take Part 3 of the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) exam...again. Back in November I passed Parts 1 & 2 and took Part 3 back in May right before our Chicago trip. I got close with score just 12 points off the pass mark. I had to wait 90 days until I could take Part 3 again, so in the meantime I passed Part 4 in July. Part 3 is, in my humble opinion, the toughest section to pass. Its big and covers so much information compared to the other parts.

I finally scheduled my test during Labor Day weekend and since then have almost been a ghost at home. After Caleb went to bed between 6:30 - 7:00, I was either locked away in the bedroom or more recently headed to Barnes & Noble to study for at least 1.5 hours, usually between 2-3. I was trying to remain confident and I wasn't feeling in the zone while taking the best but once the screen print flashed on the screen I was met with equal parts shock and relief. I PASSED!!!

It felt to great to finally be done studying and to not have this thing hanging over me. I already received my official notice of Certification and within the next few months I will get my certificate.

Oh, I should also point out that as my reward for passing the whole exam was to take some of my exam bonus money (which I will be requesting tomorrow) was to get a Wii. Needless to say I had a very productive 40 minutes after I received my 'Pass".

That was a long post, but its better than nothing. Hopefully progress on the house will pick up and we will have more to share.

Labels: House, News, test