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I am having fun battling things that happened in December on my blog...I think I have fixed most of them, but I'm not too happy about it! I've been researching and fixing code and all that fun stuff.

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News

Today, 8:00 am Addison and I will be at our new house...getting the keys.

Life as we know it is going to be a tornado. 

Happy Thanksgiving! And I'll throw in a Merry Christmas as I don't know when I'll be back! 

Everyone is beyond excited!! 

Tonight the girls sleep on the air mattress and us in our camping mats and sleeping bags! Time to get this party started!!

And the waiting continues

All I can say is that one day...hopefully this week, we will have our keys. More on that later.

Yesterday both my girls had Thanksgiving feasts at their schools. We got notification of Addison's first, so it was on the calendar for both of us to go. Then last week EK came home with her Thanksgiving feast the same day, and 10 minutes earlier. So we put our names in a hat and they drew who would go to where. Ella Kate drew Michael and Addison got me.

So I went to Addison's and they all came out wearing pilgrim hats, Indian hats, and turkey hats. They sang two songs and we sat down to your typical preschool Thanksgiving feast!

Lining up to sing and dance!

Pilgrim Hat!

Addison "The Carb Loader,  I don't like this string on my hat" Poole

Ella Kate definitely had the better lunch! At least there are veggies on her tray. I also busted her with chocolate milk! She said it was soooo good!

I forgot to take a selfie with Addison. Whoops!!

So after our Thanksgiving Feasts we headed to pick up EK and to the house to do our walk through...the only things we could see right off was a drawer pull missing in the kitchen, a hole that needed to be filled in our closet, and the light switch plates in the girls bathroom. Everything else looked pretty good to us. The hardwood floors need to be cleaned better.

Finished living room. The walls are gray, they look greenish in these pictures.

Addison's room, hardwood floors throughout cause carpet is just gross (and asthmatic).

Finished kitchen. I can't wait to get my hands on that oven. We are super pumped about it!

Girls finished bathroom, plates missing.

Finished front porch with red door.

So what's next? Well if the damn appraiser ever decides to make an appointment to get our final appraisal, the loan takes 24 hours to flip from construction to mortgage. So waiting on him. The realtor called him the same day we set up our walk-through which was last week and he still hasn't called back.

So what does that mean? We have no idea when we will get the keys. Our lock rate is good till 11/21, Saturday. SO he better get his ass on the phone. Yup we are slightly miffed about it. Two houses are waiting on him so they can be released. The lender and the realtor are all over it. So hopefully we will get keys Friday. If not, it might be next week...so what does that mean if that happens...we would probably be driving in Thursday or Friday, packing Saturday, and leaving Sunday. Michael was concerned about eating Thanksgiving and I told him that isn't a priority right now. We HAVE to be out of the apartment by 12/1. We HAVE to move all of our stuff that weekend because the following weekend is Ella Kate's belt test, Polar Express, and our dear friend's birthday. The weekend after that is Ella Kate's violin recital...and the weekend after that, the girls and I will be home for Christmas. So yup...that's what we got going on...one dramatic thing after the other!

ARGHHHHH!

News

Last week was fun, started with pink eye (Addison), flu shots, and ended with an asthma attack. It was virus related, the usual suspect. The weather also changed last week and got cooler. Last Saturday we were in the 20s. The area ski communities are now open. Weird to think about. Mt. Mitchell averages a 100" of snow a year. Super weird! I bought the girls round sleds a couple of weeks ago. Fun stuff!

So I have been to the dr. three times in 5 days. Today we went for the asthma...she is wheezy, but moving air. Ella Kate broke her fever yesterday afternoon. It was 101.4 and I gave her an advil. I am glad she can swallow pills now. So we start a round of steroids today. So we are parked on the couch for today.

BIG house news...we got the CO (certificate of occupancy) last Thursday, passed all inspections, and power was turned on Friday. They cleaned it yesterday and at some point did the final grade and installed the sod. Ellers and I went after we dropped off Addison at school. We couldn't get close because the cement people were pouring neighbors driveway and the rest of our sidewalks. We stopped by on Friday to get mail and the electric company was working on the power. The door was painted, deck and steps painted.

So all is pretty much finished. We have our walk through tomorrow at 2:45 followed by final inspection. It takes about 24 hours for the loan to make the final conversion, so we are hoping to have keys in hand Thursday or Friday. We should know what day tomorrow. But who knows, it could all be a guess as to when we get them! But we are almost certain we will be going back to Memphis for Thanksgiving. I am hoping I just did my last load of laundry at the apartment.

We are overly excited. The house is super nice and we will be super excited to have our own rooms, and more space. Hoping life will return to some sort of normal as we have been outrageously not normal since Dec. 5 the day our lives changed forever. Staring at boxes, moving boxes, wondering what's in this box, organizing boxes...for 9 months...I can't wait to toss those puppies in the recycling bin! The girls are pumped! Ella Kate is excited to have a tv in her room. We are giving her the one we had in our old room, but not giving her the power cord. No I am not a fan of kids having tvs or ipads in their rooms, but since our house is smaller we wanted them to be able to take breaks from us and vice versa. They normally don't watch tv during the week...and maybe about an hour on the weekends, throw in the Friday night movie night and that's about it.

You know what Addison is pumped about? The light above the garage. She can't wait to see it turn off and on. Its just a light, nothing to get overly excited about, but for some reason it struck her fancy.

We stopped by church last week and the window was still unlocked so we got in...

dishwasher.

Finished Fireplace.

This is the girl's hall closet...which is going to house most of their toys, crafts, etc. Will be either ripping that shelf out or adding 4 or 5 more.

Microwave. You know how we feel about these!

Girl's bathroom.

Red front door. Best picture I could get as the electical truck was blocking the driveway...then I realized that the column is blocking the door.

This morning, Addison would be jealous...her light is on. This was as close as I could get as trucks were all over. Final grade, sod, and sidewalks being poured. Amen.

It will be fun trying to navigate the neighborhood with all the trucks and stuff all over. But the builder said he was hoping to be out of there in the spring as he has a new project coming up!

Also last week, turned 36 on Friday the 13th. I always like when my birthday falls on Friday! My dad's is also on the 13th, so he has Friday the 13th birthdays too!

We headed downtown and ate at Pack's Tavern...I had my favorite Salisbury steak smothered in blue cheese gravy with onions...mashed potatoes and a Caesar salad. Yummmmmmmy!! Michael got me a cookie cake. The girls always want cake or some sort of special desert for birthdays so we normally just get one of those! We came back to the apartment and murdered some cookie cake. We dropped the girls off at the Y for parents night out...they LOVED it. Its $26 for both girls for 3.5 hours. They crafted a bunch, played games, watched a Thanksgiving movie, mowed down popcorn. They came home with thankful feather hats and a turkey craft. My kids love some crafts. So after we dropped them off we headed to Sierra Nevada, then the house, and back to Biltmore Park Square, where the Y is. We went to the Thirsty Monk, a little dive bar in that strip. The girls were pooped and passed right out when we got home!

Saturday we headed over to the Keller's house for continued celebrations with them and the Dodds...they cooked a pork tenderloin stuffed with feta, pesto, and roasted walnuts and it was super good! Michael and I brought pasta salad and ramen noodle salad. Good food and good times!

Here is Addison's response to Patrick playing the drums!

Sunday was an exceptionally lazy day. We remained on the couch in pajamas watching movies, doing absolutely nothing except making food when it was time to eat...cause you know what's coming our way...craziness, super busy-ness, and getting rid of boxes, and making our house our home....

Finally.

8 Months

Yes friends, building a 1500 sq. ft. house takes 8 months to build in the mountains. Mountain life is somewhat slower than big city life. People move slower, traffic is slower, building a house is slower. Who knew it would take that long!

November 21 isn't a definite date. All we know is that we are close, and the more we go past that day, the more money we will owe. Isn't that fun! I don't even know what will happen is we go over the contracted date of 11/30. So no plans can be made as far as Thanksgiving and moving. If we don't get the house the 21 we don't want to go back to back to Memphis. So we might not be in town for Thanksgiving which stinks...but our friends have invited us over. So it might be we move the last week of November. Who knows...only time will tell!

I did some math this morning and figured we only had 19 days left in between coming back from Thanksgiving or moving and Christmas. I told the girls that we might not be getting a real tree this year. When we get back with a truck, it will just be complete and total chaos. We have three little 4' Christmas trees that we will probably get out. The girls each have their own, and I have a s'more tree. I collect S'more ornaments, that's about it!

But, yesterday our fridge and oven were delivered without flaw. I met the builder as well and went over a few things. He said to push back the lock date one more week past the 21st just to be sure. I told our lender and she said to wait 10 days and we will go from there. It has been super stressful over this lock and spending extra money that we didn't want to spend...but what can we do! Anyway, the dishwasher and microwave will be delivered today. All the inspections go down tomorrow. Then its just a matter of getting it done. The girls toilet is in as well as their light fixtures. Our toilet and light fixtures aren't in yet. Final coat of paint is being applied. Still haven't painted fireplace, installed water heater, a/c, stairs to deck and back, paint deck, outside light fixture, stone around capstone, numbers, and sidewalk. I was talking to the Lowe's guy yesterday and he was asking when we would move in...and I told him and I said I don't think we will make the 11/21 cut off date. He said he thought the same thing when he built his house and then boom they got it together. I am not sure about ours though...seems like we have been at this stage for weeks now. So only time will tell!

Looking into kitchen, bar, pendant lights.

Kitchen prior to fridge and oven. I am going to be putting up a back splash and under cabinet lighting shortly...facebook monies!

Ella Kate's room...I thought they were getting fans, those will come later. Michael said they probably don't need them, but I really like being cold while sleeping!

Girl's vanity and toilet. I called it a commode yesterday and Addison fell out on the floor laughing at that word. She knows toilet or potty.

Vanity with light.

Our vanities.

Shower. While speaking with the builder yesterday, he asked if we liked his $1500 mistake...and I said Oh yes, but we are spending that money saved on our lock rate! So everyone looses!

I asked about this...due to code they have to have access above garage. So it will be easy to put in the stairs to access it. It will be a long set of steps cause our garage is super tall!

Oven in...well not flush on the wall, they left it out so they can hook up the gas.

Fridge in...super glad we went with counter depth instead of full size...that thing would have stuck out and looked ridiculous! It sticks out maybe 2" but its not that noticeable.

Kitchen!

The House.

Oh the house. Its so almost finished. We had flash lights for Halloween and after we finished in our neighborhood we looked in our windows. All faucets, fixtures, light switches, outlets are in. The air conditioner and water heater are in the garage. The only thing the house lacks to us is air vents and returns, painting the fireplace, and the decorative piece under the bar, painting the front door, touch up paint, light fixture outside, house numbers, stairs to the porch, and a good cleaning.

The oven came in yesterday, and should be delivered tomorrow. I am going over there to sign off. We had our lock rate expire which is going to cost us a good chunk of change. The builder will have to sign off on the new date...which 11/21. So hopefully they can get it done. I hope so because if this one expires, then we might owe more money. So close though! I am hoping to take some more pictures tomorrow.

The builder will have us do a walk through and then the lender should flip our construction loan into a mortgage...we are praying that everything goes as smooth as possible. No surprises!

On a different note, we took the girls to a traditional Methodist service Sunday, complete with communion. We like this service better, but the time is at 10:55 and we don't like going in the middle of the day! But I think we might stick with it. So communion...and Addison. Addison was all about the bread, the preacher handed her a piece and she ate it...she refused the grape juice, so I drank hers. Addison asked if that was all the bread she got...I said yes. When we got back to the pew, she asked if that was lunch...and why did I drink that blood. Good times. We taught Ella Kate how to read a hymnal. Its been a long time since we have been to a service like that...Hope Pres was just so different!

We are going to be joining soon, not next week...its a big money week next week. So maybe the weekend of my birthday...if we aren't camping. We were planning to be in the house in sleeping bags!

I interviewed with Snow Creek (Michael's company) yesterday. All went well and they are just figuring out the formalities, computer and desk basically. I will be working in the maintenance department pretty much doing whatever they want me to do. He said with my skill level and many years in the field there is potential for me to work all over the place. It will hopefully become a full time job next fall when Addison gets herself in school. So for now I am looking at working 3.75 hours a day...I also told them that the last several years at Adsit I worked from home...so we might work something out like part time in office and at home. So that is good news for us! As we are burning through cash monies with the house, rent, and now this loan lock thing!

Halloween 15'

We had two little witches for Halloween.

We decided to go to our house and take pictures on our porch instead of the apartment. We trick or treated around our neighborhood, although it took us almost 2 hours to hit 10 houses...all our neighbors got to meet the girls and talk with them and us. We really like our neighbors...we lived in Arlington for 11 years and hardly knew anyone...we know all who live here and the people moving in! Its great! Our neighborhood has around 40 houses, but its one street, a triangle with only one entrance. Some even came out to the next house with us...a progressive trick or treating type thing!

But before we went out for the night, our church was having an Around the World Fall Festival. They gave each kid a passport and we visited 12 countries and they got to do various crafts, games, tasting, and readings at each station. It was fun and the girls had a good time!

This was USA...popcorn, bluegrass band, and a hayride!

France had a face painting station...EK got a bat...

and Big Tiny a spider web with spider!

Antartica had peguins, snowballs, hot chocolate, and see how long you could stick your hand in ice...EK: 60 seconds, Addison 14.

I don't remember which one this was but they did a cake walk. Both got a cupcake! EK won first, then Addison!

You can't go anywhere in Asheville with out a Bluegrass band! Love it!

Listening to music.

Friday night, Halloween Eve, we went to one of Michael's runner friends house for a party...the girls made a new friend! Addison wanted to take it home with her.

At our new neighbors house, he took this picture and sent it to us. They have adopted our girls...their grands live in France! They are leaving today I believe, to spend the holidays in France...they won't be back until February.

Michael's creation!