More Yard Updates

Looking down the row of cranberries. There are four plants total.






















One Cranberry up close- if you look carefully you'll see some of the berries are turning red.



















The tomatoes are finally starting to grow a little.

















The backyard with grass!!!!


















The front yard- the spot without grass is the future dry riverbed. The rocks were delivered today, so hopefully we'll be able to start working on that project soon.

Yard Update

Fruit trees- 2 peach, 2 chinese apricot, 1 bartlet pear, 1 italian prune, 1 nectarine, and 1 aprium.  Yes, they are planted close together, we did that on purpose.  :)
Two Munger (I think) grape vines. We'll string a line between the two for them to grow together on.





The other grape vine and one of the blueberry bushes (below). Hopefully the grapes will grow the other direction and won't crowd the blueberry bush since they ended up closer than was intented.






4 Red Raspberry plants. One isn't looking so good, but hopefully they'll come back next spring.
The lone black raspberry (below). (I'm hoping it spreads like crazy. My Mr. is not so enthused. (he'll love them next year, I'm sure!)). There's also the second blueberry bush (a different kind than the first) next to the black raspberry. It actually has 3 or 4 little green blueberries on it.


The garden with sod around it. It's amazing what a little sod can do- kind of like carpet.

Saturday Project

I've been so frustrated about not being able to plant anything outside, so we decided to work on some inside projects instead. We had all three rooms finished in time for bed. It's really easy when you're only painting a stripe around the walls.

Edited to add: We almost finished in time for bed. C was penned in the play room with his brothers while they watched a movie so I could finish C's room. He was a little fussy, but then I didn't hear him and J said he was fine, so I kept painting, and when I came out this is what I found...

Poor Kid, he was really out, and when I picked him up he had carpet imprints on his cheek. Thankfully the paint in his room was VOC free, and it didn't smell so he could go right to sleep.

We used a tape called Frog Tape, which was really nice, we taped the lines, and painted, and there were only a few spots that didn't come off with totally straight lines. I don't think I'll ever go back to blue painters tape again.

J and A picked their own room colors if you were wondering. We just need to find some "superhero" posters, and I want to get big wooden letters to spell their names out on the wall.

C's Room

J's Room


A's Room

Starting to feel like home...

We've been busy, finally getting some pictures and things hung. Most of these were last night, although a couple have been up longer.

If you can't tell what this is, it's a clothes drying rack. It's on a pulley system so I can lower it to hang clothes on, then raise it to get it out of the way.
This is one of the first things I hung up after we moved in. It was a gift from some family members (Thanks, J, H & Kids), and although it's meant to clip papers to, I'm using it to hang backpacks and things on until we get some real coat hooks installed in the mudroom.
Last saturday my Mr. built the raised bed frames. Now we just have to wait for the builder to grade the lot so we can install and start planting.
This is the half bath, My Mr. built the cupboard for the bathroom at our old house, and even though there wasn't a really useful place for it at our new house, there was no way we would leave it behind. Now we just need to find something to put in it. Maybe a years supply of toothpaste? (The years supply of toilet paper and soap is already in the vanity)
I've been trying to find a good place for this rug, and finally found the perfect spot at the landing on the stairs. It was a wedding gift from friend's of my parents' who have always been like family. I think of them everytime I see the rug.

Clock by the front door. :) I think I can see a clock from nearly anywhere in the downstairs now.

This little candle holder was in the kitchen at our old house, but we discovered it fit perfectly right here in the living room. Now when I walk through that doorway, I can smell the candle and it makes me smile. I've heard that metal scroll home decor is on it's way out, but I don't care. :)
Two small pictures over the couch in the "formal" living room (the room we only look at- there ought to be some sort of use for it...). My Mr. thinks we need something else on the wall, I told him it will be okay once the wall isn't white anymore. We'll see.
This is a frame that my Mr. bought me for christmas.  It's just missing a picture of A, but I'm going to pick up his new pictures today.  

Here is a picture of the picture frame/calendar that my Mister bought me for christmas.
This is a picture of our entertainment center. I love how much space there is for all the books and things.  It does make our TV look tiny, but no, we're not getting a big screen.  The picture to the right is our Proclamation on the Family, and I want to get one of those wooden family home evening job board thingys to go under it

Wild Life

Our neighbors saw a deer a few weeks ago, and today I saw what I think was a zone tailed hawk. It was a little more brown looking than pictures of zone tailed hawks I've seen online, but it had the band across the tail and I can't find any other hawks with the same stripe. If anyone knows what else it could have been let me know, since it doesn't look like zone tailed hawks actually live in northern utah.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is a slender bodied buteo with long wings and tail. It is in appearance much like the Common Blackhawk and nests in the same habitat but is much different in habits.

The Zone-tail is 19-22 inches long and has a wingspan of 48-55 inches. The plumage is a dark black except for a gray ring around the eye, and the tail which is banded black and white alternately; tail ends with a broad black band and a narrow white tip. The undersides are black. Immatures are similar in appearance to the adults, but differs in color. The plumage overall is more brownish; the undersides are spotted white, as well as the upper sides, which are spotted more sparingly. The tail is brown striped with black.

Nests are built in deciduous and coniferous trees; often the nests are built in the highest tree around. The nests are build of sticks, loosely. The nests are reported to be reused from year to year. 1-3 white to bluish white eggs are laid, sparingly spotted with brown. The eggs are incubated primarily by the female for 35 days. The male hunts for food while the female tends the nestlings. The nestlings will fly in 6-7 weeks.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is at home near mountains, valleys or other "rugged" areas. Hunting usually takes place in open spaces such as desert grasslands or in sparse forests. The Zone-tail soars and glides in circles in search of food, which is primarily birds and lizards. It will also eat large insects and small mammals. The Zone-tail is very much in appearance and in flight similar to the Turkey Vulture, and some claim it uses this resemblance to come closer to prey and catch them unaware.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is found throughout Mexico and Central America, as well as southern and central Baja California, southern California, central and southern Arizona, much of New Mexico and southern Texas.

It's all ours

I don't have any pictures, but the house is officially ours (as of tuesday around 4:00).

We've been slowly taking loads of boxes over, and I've been washing dishes. The kitchen is set up enough that you can make a pb&h (no jelly yet) and even have dishes to eat off of.

No other furniture yet. My Mr. is working feverishly (even as I type this) to paint as much as possible before saturday when we are moving the big stuff.

Breaking in

Last night, after I had cleaned out the old house, and I decided to see if the new house was open. To my dismay it was locked. They have usually been leaving it open as of late. I tried to open the garage door but to no avail. I then went around back and looked through the windows - DARN - they had installed the screens on the windows. Anyway, I saw that one of the bay windows in the dining area was open so I took the screen off and helped myself to wander the house.

I had thought of some excuses if I were to be caught by the police because of the nosy neighbors or something. But I didn't get caught. I even tried sending them some bat-signals through the windows to show them I was there but to no avail.

I did find that the carpet layers were finished. Here are a couple of pictures of their work:





The appliances also came and I was well pleased with what he had chosen. I think that the white appliances look really good along the dark cabinets and counter tops.



The picture site is updated with all of the pictures that I took last night.

More Brick and Cabinets

On my run this afternoon, the bricklayers - let's just call them the St. Louis Billikens - were eating lunch in our bedroom. But they had finished laying the brick around the windows. All what is left to do is the brick around the posts. Of course I didn't bring my camera, but this morning, I took a picture of the bricks around the garage:



I also updated the picture page.

The work progresses

The bricklayers have come this morning. On Saturday, they said that it would take a couple of days. So that is pretty exciting. It would be nice if they would pour our sidewalk and entry so we wouldn't have to walk through the mud. I have also updated our picture site. So take a look at that for other pictures.

Vinyl, cabinets, and concrete - oh my!

Lots of stuff has happened since the last time I have updated about the house. Since we sold the house, we are getting even more and more excited. As you can see, lots has happened. I will post more pictures on the picture site, but here is a few of what has happened. Note the last picture the stucco.

And there was much rejoicing...yaaay.

I have mixed thoughts as I am writing this post. But the majority of those thoughts are good - very good. We received another offer on our house (the people who made the previous offer didn't accept out lowest counter) last night. We countered this morning and then they countered back to us. To make a long story short, we accepted the offer. They put on their offer that they would close on Jan 31 so that would help us out even more. So we actually haven't "sold" the house, but we have an accepted offer.

It was for less than what we were thinking of getting which causes me a little grief. But I do have to admit the grief is lessened quite a bit by the fact that it is going to be sold. Especially lately, as Al and I would go by the new house and see various things happen with it, we would drive away and mutter under our breath, "I hope that we will be able to move in." But that has subsided. I have been excited about this house for a long time - when the framers were working, drywall, etc. But now it has become even more of a reality. We are actually going to move into a new house! And what's more, our old house is sold (knock on wood)!

Again, I am relieved. Don't get me wrong. But I wish that we could have got more out of it.

On a side note, this is my last semester of school. I am only taking one class right now - and it is a negotiations class. We discussed how during a single issue negotiation, it is always a win/lose negotiation. A couple of the people in my class didn't understand that. I can fully understand it now. Although I think that in this negotiation, it wasn't just single issue. We did want to sell the house very quickly. So in that instance, it was a win/win issue (at least that it what I keep trying to tell myself). But I still feel that we kind of lost in the negotiations.

We did end up making quite a bit of money on the house. In that I cannot complain. When we bought the house, we knew that we were buying an "investment" property after we fixed it up and stuff. We did really well.

Hoping

We have received an offer on our house. It wasn't quite what we were hoping for - actually it was quite less than what we wanted. We countered with what we know is our lowest offer and told them that. We were supposed to receive an answer today by 6:00 but our Realtor called and said that they wanted to think more about it.

I asked him if that was a good sign or not, and he said yes and no. I am not sure if he was feeding me a line or not. How can it be a good sign? If they were willing to accept the offer, shouldn't they have just accepted it? A few of his comments when we signed the counter offer:

"They wanted to replace some of the kitchen cabinets"

"They wanted to replace the carpet"

"They want the projector"

"They want the sandbox" (I am assuming that he is referring to the play area - which is full of wood chips, not sand)

"They want us to pay for 3% of the closing costs"

"They are getting 100% financing - so the closing costs are important to them"

Later last night after we had put the kids to bed, Al and I were thinking about how that really is the lowest we could go. We (she more than I) go back and forth between just selling it at that price, or hoping that the reject the offer and someone else comes along and takes it at a higher price. But the more we think about it, it would just be good to sell it and be done. What a relief that would be.

Meet the Neighbors

Their house blog.