Happy Easter!

Even superheroes need tips from this guy!

with Fr Ned and my sponsor Rick following Easter Vigil

Happy Easter to everyone!   We had a late night with the Easter Vigil at our Church last night.   For the past few months, I have been in the RCIA (Catechism Classes) at the local Catholic parish.  Last night, was a culmination of this process.  I received my Baptism, Confirmation, and Communion all in one night.   It was a great experience and I feel that I have been accepted into a loving community.   This week had been a busy one with Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil on Saturday.  

 



On Saturday, between the Morning prayer service and the Vigil, we decided to go out to the house and take Toyota up on a promotion they had sent out.  From now until 4/22, you would get a 50 dollar gift certificate  if you test drove one of their cars.   Despite the fact that I had a bad taste in my mouth from previously owned Toyotas, we thought it would be fun to do it and get paid to do it.   So, we chose this pretty, ice blue Highlander and the salesman let us test it unaccompanied so we took it to the homesite, which wasn't too far away to check the progress from the last time we were there.  This was like killing two birds with ones stone--so to say.



  

As expected, the house had been sealed up but there was visible progress outside.   The deck was completely finished and looked great!  The next decision is what stain to put on it.   The electricians had been through and installed the ovens and corrected the discrepant light on the garage.   Looks great but it is different from what is on the lighting document.  So, I will be comparing the two to see if we were given a cheaper light.  They also started the concrete forms in preparation for laying in what is to be our sidewalk and driveways.  



So, for the first time, the ground was dry enough to enable me to walk around the house.  Here's a good pic of the back of the house.

So how did our test drive go?   The Toyota Highlander was a mere, "meh".  Peppy but boring styling and cheap plastic interior--the same things that pushed me to buy Subarus in the first place.  The pillars were thick and blind spots were atrocious.  But, the kids had fun and I have to admit, it was fun to drive something that wasn't a million years old (my cars are of the older variety).   Thanks Toyota, for the gift card, I'm taking the family out for lunch!







3/27/2013
Arrived at the house in a flurry of activity inside and out.  Carpet is finally finished!  This is a sign that the construction on the inside is nearly completed.  The house was unusually warm and there was an installer on every floor in between the pad and carpet phase.  The banisters were still in curing/drying and did look rough.  We figured that the shallacking will come later.  The deck builder was feverishly at work and had just framed the deck.  It's gonna be a big un.   When looking at the options for the house, the deck is a big consideration pretty fairly priced for a professionally installed deck.  Brandon told me that this guy is pretty good.  Looking forward to my first BBQ at the house.



3/26/2013

Since alot of the remaining interior jobs dont take more than a day, we had anticipated that the house would be sealed up.  As for the outside, the snow from yesterday hadn't completely stopped, but it did not stop progress on the outside.  When we arrived, we noticed that the rain gutters and downspouts were installed and the deck was being built.  As for the deck, it is a pretty consistent design that Ryan has used for ages.  We see this same design in our old neighborhood of older Ryan Homes.   Just a day over two weeks until closing.