While the song is right this is the 'most wonderful time of the year' we're finding it to be the busiest time of the year currently.
We've not posted a lot recently again, it's been busy. Seems a lot of yearly, bi-yearly doctor and dentist appointments are falling in the last month of the year. We've had dinner with friends, company parties, Christmas shopping, regular grocery shopping, dog grooming and an unexpected sick kitty event happening.
We did make time to go get our Christmas tree and start making the new house look more festive.
As we expected would happen some Christmas items are packed up 'somewhere' and may not make an appearance this year but the very special meaningful one's are here.
We're waiting and hoping that our former house will soon be sold. Things have been a little slow so we've dropped the price a good bit and are hoping something will happen. Part of us wonder if perhaps it's just not a good time of year for someone to purchase a home. We'd love to have some new neighbors.
We hope everyone is getting into the holiday spirit this year. We're getting there little by little. Donald decorated outside last weekend and Serena has added a few touches inside.
Perhaps a tree will be in place next week at this time.
Meanwhile we're trying to patiently wait and see if our former house will sell. We're still under the construction loan while we wait. While under a construction loan the payment is for interest only which means the loan isn't decreasing any. We're hoping someone will come along soon that will love the house and want to make it their own. It would have been nice to see someone in there for the holidays but we're remaining hopeful it will happen soon.
We celebrated our first holiday in the new house on Thanksgiving. We weren't sure we could pull it off but it worked out okay. We thought we were ready until we started looking for glass casserole dishes and realized they were still packed up somewhere. We thought of buying everything we needed to cook but not necessarily what we needed to cook in. lol! We found other pots and pans to use and all was well.
We enjoyed the day with close family and had a wonderful visit and meal. Several of the family hadn't seen the house yet so it was fun giving them a tour.
We had a lot to be thankful this year. Some family members had some health issues this year but are doing quite well now.
On another note our old house should be on the market most any time now. The signs went up Monday, pictures were taken Tuesday and while we haven't seen it on the MLS listing or anything yet we're expecting it most any time. We certainly hope there will be an individual, a couple or a family that will love it and want to make it their own.
Sorry our posts have been fewer recently but things have been busy. We went back to work last week so time to work on things was more limited. We continued to work hard on our old house to get it all ready to go on the market. For those looking for a new home or know someone who is, it should be available soon. They are coming to take pictures early this week. We believe we shared before we will be working with Levi Cox. Yes, we're going to #ListwithLevi.
We took a little time off yesterday to do something fun. Pepper went to stay with aunt LuAnn and we went for a bite to eat and to see Jeff Dunham. It was nice to step away from everything just a bit and a much needed break.
Today we were back putting finishing touches on cleaning at the old house and arranging, working on the new house. We're looking forward to Thanksgiving as we will be hosting a small family gathering. Not everything will be in place but we've got the basics and we'll be just fine.
Some have asked for pictures of our decorating and well, we've still got boxes around and 'stuff' isn't organized or put away yet but here are a few pictures we thought we'd share.
We have our dining room fixed up a bit in preparation for Thanksgiving. The picture is a portrait done by our friend Frank Duncan. It's a picture of the Floyd Country Store. Serena and lots of others are actually in the picture which is cool but it's even more special because that's where we got married almost 12 years ago.
We'll try to work on things more as we get closer to the Christmas holiday. Looking forward to seeing how we want to decorate.
Meanwhile, from our house to yours we wish you all a very wonderful Thanksgiving!!
We both took the week off last week to get moved in and we are we glad we did. Whew, boy did we work. Most all of the items we needed moved to the new house got here last Saturday but in the old house we had boxes, some furniture and miscellaneous items that needed to go somewhere. We have a shed behind the old house we needed to clean out some so it can be moved across the road.
If anyone is interested we've got a huge printer that works well and prints large items, blueprints, pictures, etc. asking $75.
There is also a big heavy metal desk that needs a new home. It's very heavy but it will never wear out. We were asking $50 but to get it gone we're willing to give it away. If you or someone you know needs a good desk, holler at us.
We need these items gone ASAP so we can get ready for that house to go on the market.
We're still working on getting settled at the new house. We were blessed with a beautiful weather week for our vacation time. We even got to sit out on our front porch for a while one day. We're feeling more and more at home. The fur babies are settling in pretty well too. The cats had a little over 24 hours before Pepper came home. They still hide a lot during the day but when the sun sets they come out and explore. They seem to be getting used to things.
It was very busy but exciting weekend around here getting some things moved into the new digs.
It wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the wonderful people in this picture. These people are all family to us, either by blood or by 'heart'. We each have been through good and bad with these folks and love them all dearly. Front Eva Johnson and Serena, middle, Kevin and Erma Stovall, LuAnn Zimmerman, Donald, back Mike Howell and Devin Jacobs.
We're still working on moving some of our smaller items and just getting things arranged and set up in general. Moving is never an easy task but we'll get there. We have vacation this week to try and clean out the old house and get more settled in the new.
Today we brought the cats over. Belle is adjusting pretty well but Jack is normally our 'scaredy cat' so he's still hiding out while she's out exploring. They both hid a good bit of the day. Pepper has been on vacation since yesterday morning. We thought it would be safer for her and everyone else for her to not be here. With open doors and lots of people moving about would have been too easy for her to get out or someone to fall over her. She's spent lots of time up here at the house as it was being built so we think she'll settle in pretty nicely.
We'll check in as the week progresses. Everyone have a great week!
Tomorrow is a big day, it's time for the big move.
Seems it took forever but yet didn't take long at all. Here's hoping we'll be able to get most of the large stuff in place tomorrow, then we can work on the smaller stuff. We are both taking vacation next week to try and get settled in.
We had made a video early on in the process and now that it's finished we decided to do another one.
We noticed we failed to give credit in the video to Michael Krawchison (Kountry Mountain Creations on Facebook) for making the fireplace box and mantle.
We, of course, need to thank Matthew and Jessica Thomas of Countryside Custom Homes for building our beautiful new house.
Enjoy the video!
It's been a good week for only being Tuesday.
Our countertops arrived along with our upper cabinets. The sinks have been put in place, the cabinets look awesome. We have a bench in our laundry room for hanging coats and storing other items. We're waiting on the top for the fireplace box that should arrive Thursday and that's it.
We did the walk through with our builder this afternoon and signed off on everything. We passed inspection with the county of Floyd and we're ready to start moving in!!
We still have the bank side of things to deal with but as far as the house goes, all is done except for final clean up and moving in!
Pictures of the finished kitchen.
Here's our bench in our laundry room.
Last but not least here are our vanities in our small bath and master bathroom.
Our goal when we started this adventure was to be in by Thanksgiving and we're gonna make it. Stay tuned as we'll be sharing a video later this week to compare with the one we did months ago showing the lay out and we'll probably be sharing some of how the move is going.
Not a ton of activity going on this week but there's not a lot of work left to be done for the builder.
Our fingers are crossed that our countertops arrive tomorrow and will be ready to install. The builder made our countertop for the island and it is nearly done. We'll hold off on pictures until it is completed.
We've still been waiting on our wall cabinets too. We've been told they should be completed and ready for install on Monday.
All of the trim has been painted, we're waiting on the fireplace box and mantle, we're almost there!
We have a plan of when we want to start our move but we'll hold off on saying for sure as the final details need to be completed and most importantly getting our certificate of occupancy. We're hoping that will come next week as well.
It's getting closer and closer. We're nervous, excited and a little worried. We've got a lot of stuff to get moved and try to get our current home ready for the market.
We realized we hadn't shared a picture of our completed shower and our half wall in the entrance way. The half wall got painted white today so it will look different in the next set of pictures.
You guys hang tight we're almost there.
While we were disheartened with the news of the delay on countertops last week it's a new week and progress continues.
Our shower got completed and it looks awesome! Our builder did a wonderful job putting this together and making it work for us.
Well, things had been moving on pretty well but today we got some news that has changed that a bit. We believe we had shared we switched up our countertops a bit a few weeks ago in order to get them in about ten days versus eight to ten weeks.
Much like so many other things that are delayed so are our countertops. We anticipated them arriving today instead we're looking at two more weeks of waiting, October 28th is our new date for arrival. We're hoping that date will not move again but with the pandemic we have no guarantees.
We've been blessed to have gotten this far without too many major delays and it's only two weeks but it's still disappointing.
We'll keep the faith that we'll still be able to move in before Thanksgiving arrives but it sure is a bit worrisome.
Sorry we don't have our usual happy news to share and we're a bit down but we'll get there.
They are ready and waiting..........
We've had a little rain and there is more on the way but luckily we're at a point where there is lots of indoor work to be done.
It's only Tuesday and lots of stuff has gotten done already.
Monday saw the delivery of the base cabinets and now that they have arrived majority of the floors have been put down. The trim around the doors and windows has all been done and well, it's looking more and more like a house.
The kitchen cabinets viewed from outside Serena's office.
Stay tuned we're getting closer.
Another busy week here at the Jacobs Homestead.
Even with the rain there was still a lot of activity and a lot got done. Our well and septic tank are ready to roll just need to do the last hookup once everything else is ready inside the house.
During the rain we had some interior doors and some floors installed.
After the rain ended on Thursday morning a concrete truck rolled in to pour the patio. This will be really nice to enjoy in the hot summer months when it's super hot outside.
While things are moving forward we had a 'scare', if you will, regarding the countertops. They cannot be ordered until the cabinets are made. Availability of countertops is not good at this point in time. The schedule for us to get the one's we picked out was eight to ten weeks!! So we started scrambling. Thankfully the builder was able to find some that were very similar and that we liked that can be here in a couple of weeks and he may be making the one for our kitchen island. Whew! Crisis averted.
We already posted earlier this week but work has continued the past several days and we have more to share.
There was a lot of digging going on Wednesday and Thursday. We've got a good start on the septic system and the well.
The porch was completed. We now have steps and a very good solid porch. As you can see there is no danger of Serena falling off. LOL!
The form has been set for the concrete to be poured for the patio out back.
Things are moving right along and we're super excited.
Not really much to share like we normally have. We've been busy preparing for the holidays and just enjoying all that comes with this ti...
