Now We Know Why...

Why people do not not post on their blogs as much after they move in.............................. They are too BUSY MOVING IN. The house is great! The train is NOT to loud and the neighborhood is wonderful. Need some art on the walls, some rugs and and a plan for the back yard. We just feel lucky to have had the opportunity to have a house like this!

One Week Later

Well a great deal can be accomplished in one week, like almost everything unpacked. We are a bit too "anal" about this so we have killed ourselves in the process. I would post a picture of the Ikea office furniture being put together (Effektiv Storage) which took about 2 hours just for a printer stand. It seems like David likes to do this stuff, I would just end up screwing the parts together wrong and doing it in 10 minutes and not read the directions. I guess that is why I am not doing it.

We found brownies on our front porch after moving in (no, they were regular brownies, no additives if you know what I mean). Alana and Alex made those yummy treats! We still have not seen them though. It sounds like between a new puppy and a cut finger due to meat cutting by a vegetarian they have been pretty busy. We have been here one week and met one neighbor up the hill (David met him) and said he was very friendly. Since we live at the "bottom" of the hill , I feel like a serf and the people up the hill are the lords of the land (they have great downtown view), but it is nice to see they will associate with us. :) I think that we expected everyone to stop by the first day but that was it. Of course we don't have anything on our windows so our every move can be scrutinized by everyone. NOT used to living with nothing on the windows here!! That should be changed next week (we hope).

The neighborhood seems great and we love the house. Now we just need sleep.

It was worth the year wait and thanks to Alana for keeping us positive, it was all worth it.

Move in Friday, first house guest on Saturday

One day after the move and having three rooms (the Living Room, Guest Room & Kitchen) unpacked. We get our first house guest. My Brother-n-law is visiting Austin on Business from Cali and after looking at the guest accommodations he decided to stay with us instead of a hotel. I'm glad that was the first room we had ready to go.

With the frenzy of activity the last few days we have been going non-stop. I have only gotten four hours of sleep the last few days. Now with company here we finally slowed down to smell the paint on the walls. To quote a fellow Agavite "We just love our house!"

I would also like to publicly thank whoever left brownies at our doorstep. It was really nice welcome gift... especially since our wonderful fridge is barren. Who needs food when there is unpacking to do? It just goes to show you how nice the people are out here.

I gota go, the blender is going and I have a feeling that the house guest has found our supply of adult beverages. It's time to kick back and chat the night away.

Moven on up to the East Side

After almost a year in the works (we signed our contract to start construction on November 26th last year) we are finally ready to move in. Not everything on our Pre-Moven Checklist™ got completed but it came darn close. As we migrate to Agave I started to notice a slow transformation: the house is becoming a home. After living in boxes and a small apartment for months it’s nice to see things coming together. I need to sign off now because there is still a million and one things to do.

See ya soon.

Update: We are moved in... Let the unpacking nightmare begin!

Its little things… like Cold (Root) Beer

We have been a bit delinquent in updating the blog lately but that is mainly do to the whirlwind of house activity. We wanted to make sure most of the house has to be set up by the time we moved in next week. The pre-move in check list has about 40 plus items of stuff that must be completed before the move. There are simple things like turning power on or changing the mail address and there are more complex things like painting the cinder blocks or sealing the tile. The last two items were a pain not only from a color selection point of view but we wanted some green friendly products. In the end we decided to use Mystic Paint which you can get at a cool store called Zinger Hardware on Anderson lane and Acri-Soy Sealer from ecoprocote.

Other little things that should be simple have not been. One example has been the refrigerator selection. I now know more about fridges then I ever wanted to. Our first issue that we agonized over was what kind to get. There are basically three choices, Top freezer, Bottom freezer and Side-by-side. I won’t bore you with the details but it took us a while to figure out which one we wanted since each has its virtues. In the end we settled on a bottom freezer. That should have been the end of it right? Wrong! Basically the area where the fridge goes has the potential to blocked by one of the house entrances. I’m not talking a little I mean the house door will not be able to open. This completely befuddled me until I learn about counter depth fridges. Apparently it’s the new thing in fridges. These fridges cost you 20% more for about 30% less space but they go right up to the counter (hence the name) and fit smaller spaces. I was a bit worried at first but today we got the fridge delivered and I’m more than happy about the fit, look and interior space. Take a look for yourself:

It’s now stocked with Beer of the Root which will be needed for the move.

CLOSED

Its OURS... well maybe the bank owns it, but they can't live in it.

The Final Countdown*

We went out to Agave to do the punch list for the builders to complete before we close later this week. The list looks large but they assure us it will all be taken care of. There is still a great deal to do before we move in, cable, security, phone, oh and something on some windows!

We went shopping this weekend and picked up some furniture. I was thinking of posting some pix here but instead I’ll just leave it a mystery. You will have to stop by and see it if you want to know.

Since we are so swamped, I think the blog will go dark for a while we prepare for closing and the move. In the mean time check out these cool pictures at a neighbor’s blog to see some of the homes in the new ‘hood.

*Do not click on this link.

Would you be my neighbor?

Another week another trek to the house. We are rapidly approaching the completion of the house. Most of the major stuff (expect the fence and appliances) has been completed and all that is left is the thousands of little things that need to be fixed.

I do have to say that we are lucky. All the peeps we met so far are super nice and friendly. It’s like we are moving into some modern version of Mr. Roger’s neighborhood without the puppets. Let me give you a few examples of what I mean.

We were invited to a neighbor’s house for a shindig but could not make it because we were just too busy with work and ironically house stuff. We are not in the hood yet and we are getting party invites! They also have been sending us updates on our house’s progress (they can see our house from their windows) since we can’t be out there every day.

Yesterday while measuring windows for window treatments (OMG we have lots of windows) we met two other neighbors who happen to have gone to said shindig and they were really nice. Within twenty mins (we chatted for maybe an hour) we got some good decorating advice and an invite to check out their house. How many people do you know that will invite a stranger (and we are strange) to your house after just meeting?

That is the kinda folks that are living in Agave. I can think of more examples but you get the idea. That is enough of me babbling, I know you really came to this blog for the pictures so without any further ado here is this week’s crop of photos:

After months of have plywood windows we finally have a picture of the Godzilla sized living room windows. They are about 13 feet tall. The cables you see in between the windows are speaker connections for surround sound. The cardboard floor covering is to protect the bamboo.

This is about a 5 Foot wide and 7.5 foot tall window the faces the back yard from the living room.

The front stairs by the sidewalk with the neighbors houses in the background.

Here are the concrete pads leading to the front door with the brand spanking new landscaping.

A picture of the front yard taken from the living room’s front door.