Closing

Well, we did our part to close on our old house this morning. The buyer will do his part this afternoon. It feels good to have that done. Now all we have to do is wait for the new house to finish then close on it and move. Sometime around January 23rd. More and more little things are getting done every day at the new house. The water and electricity were connected this week. So we have lights and water. The plumbing fixtures have all been put in. One set has the wrong handles, but the builder has been notified and will remedy that soon. There is one light fixture and one door frame and door to be installed. The fence in the back yard was put up this week. And the travertine back splash was installed on Saturday. My mom got to see that completed when she came to visit Sunday. We gave her a grand tour of the place.

We have already made a list of items we want to get and install the weekend after we close since we probably won't be able to move over the weekend. That will give us some time to get those things done before we move in. It's a long list, but just a bunch of little stuff like replace the vanity lights in both bathrooms, replace the shower heads in both bathrooms, install cabinet knobs and drawer pulls in the kitchen, seal the tile and grout on the back splash, install cabinet and pantry organizers, add an extension to the family room ceiling fan and install a TV wall mount in the family room. It would be nice to move in and not have to still do those things while we're unpacking. I can't wait!

House Construction Update

We took Roger's dad by our new house yesterday while he was down here visiting us from North Austin. It was kind of fun to give him a tour of the house. It's getting more and more exciting since pretty much every time we go to the new house, something new has been done. The entire roof is completed, shingles and all. So now we do not have to worry about the weather anymore. The plumbing began on Thursday and the electrical was started Friday. The gas lines are in also. This has also given us a chance to make sure they are getting all our special requests and upgrades done. We noticed a couple things on Thursday and yesterday we noticed a few more. So we've made a list for our construction manager and put a call in to him. They did realize the two items from Thursday and were already planning to correct those. I guess it's a good thing that we go by the house often. It's better to catch those things sooner than later. I'm sure we would have caught them at the pre-dry wall inspection since I believe we would go down our list of upgrades and options with the construction manager. But I believe it's better to fix them now than have to delay the dry wall installation. I don't want to delay anything. Check out the pictures we took Thursday and Saturday at the Flickr link to the right.

Final Exam Tomorrow!

I can't believe it's already Monday night before my final. My last final exam at that. And I graduate Friday morning. It's all happening too fast. I don't have time to enjoy it. I want time to slow down. I need more time to spend with Roger before we both go back to work full time. I'm excited about graduating, but the semester flew by so fast. I loved every minute of what I learned. I wish I had another semester of this class again. Our little vacation in Oahu is going to be over before we know it. But of course, I'll try very hard to get on island time once we get there.

We finished the patio electricity project. Don't worry, I studied one to two hours every day while I helped Roger. See pictures here. It is so nice. It's going to make our backyard even more pleasant. Roger did a great job. I knew we could do it by ourselves. And he only got shocked once and at the very end. It was kind of weird. The one time we slipped and didn't cut off the power. But we thought we were okay since we were just straightening an outlet cover. Guess not. We ended up cutting off the power and taking it out to check for nicks or cuts in the wires, but nothing. So we closed it up and it works fine. Roger thinks he might have slid his finger toward the back of the outlet as he was holding the outlet steady it to turn the center screw. But it's all done and done to code and works great. We already sat under the patio and enjoyed the breeze from the ceiling fan while the ceiling fan light was dimmed low enough to keep the bugs away but give us enough light to see. It's really nice. I'm so proud of Roger. It took a little longer than he wanted, but this was our first electrical project completely on our own. And I'm glad we did it right instead of rushed and cutting corners.

Now I just have to get the grass growing in part of my flower bed under control. I finally gave up on pulling it and used Round-up to kill it. It's dying and will make it easier to remove. Then one of these days we'll get around to painting all the pipes and electrical outlets on the house the exterior house color to help it blend into the house. Like I said, one of these days. We'll just add that to our to do list with all the other things we hope to finish one of these days.

Another great accomplishment, Roger has been seizure free for over a year now. Yeah! We went to Brook Army Medical Center (BAMC) last Friday to get him established with doctors and specialists here. You know the military, it wasn't an easy process, but it was easier than WRAMC. And his PCM, LTC G-G, is awesome. She was great. Roger is going to "retire" at the end of May and will be switching to a PCM here in Austin. Hopefully he can get my PCM, Dr. Smith, but right now she's not accepting new Tricare patients. I have no idea why not?! So I've put in the call to beg her to take Roger. Please pray for the Lord's will to be done with that. You know how the Lord works. He might have someone better for Roger to be his PCM, but we'll let him lead us.

Okay, I'm off to bed. Need all the sleep I can get to be ready for my exam. Please pray for me to retain everything I read and study. I'd like to make an A on this exam. Of course, I'll let you know what I make as soon as I find out.