Floor Plan

Can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last post - time is flying by.  Good thing, right? 

This week, we received the preliminary floor plan of our new house - and we like it.  But we don't love it.  The draft gave us everything we asked for and is very similar to the floor plan we sent them - so they did just what we asked.  But the footprint of the house as currently drawn doesn't fit the shape of the lot all that well - and there are a couple odd things about it that we truly don't like.  Our 'hobby room' is only accessible via the garage and has no windows.  There's no linen closet.  There's no windows on the kitchen/dining room side which is where most of our backyard will be.  And that:  the backyard is primarily to the left of the house vs. in the back of the house.  Hopefully S. (builder) can help figure out solutions for those things. 

We sent a 1.5 page list of 'likes and dislikes' off to the team today and will await a time to set a call with the builder - his one comment (so far) was that he thinks the design needs to be wider and shallower to fit the lot.  So we'll see what he suggests when we chat with him. 

I've been back and forth a million times about the timing of when to leave.  I told my boss it would be the end of the school year (June 30th), then panicked about qualifying for the loan on the new house.  Running 'what if' scenarios constantly - realizing that without my income, we'd have to prove retirement income and that's not impossible to do but wouldn't that be way more complex?  A call to the mortgage team reassured us - IF I leave my job at the end of June, we will need to have in place the monthly 'draw' against our savings in place for three months before we qualify - along with confirmations of pension income from CalPERS.  All of which should be do-able.  Still, even just writing this has me fretting - we can do the draw for the savings for three months in advance no problem.  But if they want three months of my pension, too?  We won't have that. 

I'm sure it will all work out.  I'm sure it will.  J. texted me earlier this week 'your 'mom' just flew into the garage, hovered inches from my face and said 'everything will be alright'.  It was a hummingbird.  She always comes to us as either a hummingbird or a dragon fly.  She made miracles happen for our move from Hayward to Tracy so it's quite possible she will do the same this time around, too. 

I am planning to tell our Board my retirement plans at our November meeting - which will make it very real. 

Last week, I spent a day in architect interviews - and at lunch, my boss came to check in with me.  I confessed that I was finding myself more choked up than anything else - and I wasn't expecting those emotions.  To feel so invested in how the new schools turn out and to not be able to be a part of the process?  It's hard.  Makes me sad.  But oh well.  I can visit and I know they will be beautiful.

We had an H. free weekend last weekend - he was at a baby shower on Saturday and helping a friend move on Sunday - we will see him this Sunday which will be nice. 

J. is taking a ton of shred to the free shred event our city is holding tomorrow.  Super glad the timing worked out - he's been shredding a bit each week and putting the plastic bag full of the shredded paper in the recycle bin but at the rate he was going, we would be shredding for months.  We've cleaned out so much stuff!!

We hired a new gardener and so far, he's really doing a great job.  Best we've ever had.  He gets all the debris out from EVERYWHERE - not just the patio - but from around the pool equipment, behind the pool boxes (that hold towels, etc.), both side yards.  Looks so nice to have all that debris gone every week.  He's also trimming our trees a little at a time - shaping them better.  He seems to really know what he's doing and we are pretty impressed. 

The massive list of projects and things to do continues to grow but we make slow and steady progress.  We think the next 'required' trip to Carson City will be in February for a week of design decisions - though we may trek up there with the check for the 50% lot deposit when the builder is ready to pull the permit and start moving dirt. 

Super excited!