WE HAVE ELECTRICITY!!!!!

Finally, we have electricity in our house. FPL came yesterday and, instead of digging up the street, bore a hole in the ground from across the street, then under the street, and up into our yard. A light is on in the upstairs, so it's connected. The carpet people are currently laying carpet, and the sod truck is down the street. We're scheduled to close on the 20th and move on the 23rd. More details and pictures to follow!

Next week's run

Beginning at Crane Lakes, here is our 18ish mile run for next weekend. We'll have to do it Sunday afternoon, after I get back from my weekend retreat. It's almost 18 miles - we'll have to detour past Ritters (to get water, not ice cream) to get 18 miles total.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/fl/port%20orange/446125764951043450

House Update

Well, we're in the home stretch. No pictures today because nothing has changed on the outside. We have, however, encountered a few problems, some minor, and some very major!

Just about everything is finished. As far as I can tell, we're waiting for window treatments, some flooring, sod, and, oh yeah - ELECTRIC!!!! For some unknown reason, FPL decided not to wire our lot for electric when they started the subdivision a few years ago. And for some unknown reason, the construction company has only noticed it NOW. Hmmm.... could it be because they stole electric from our neighbors?? I think so!

So now we are stuck waiting for FPL to come and tear up our street and yard and wire our house. The house can't pass inspection without electric, which means we can't get a certificate of occupancy. And after it passes inspection, it takes a few days to cut the check to pay the impact fees to the city.

When it's all said and done, our closing date will probably be moved from the 16th to the 20th. Not our first choice, but, it could be worse. Our lease at the apartment is up on the 24th, so we'll still have time to get out. The painting may not be done in time, but we can always put the furniture in the middle of the rooms. We weren't originally planning on painting, but one feel of that flat paint led us to call John the Painter. He's scheduled to come in as soon as we close and paint all of the rooms, except the bathrooms.

Oh, and the best part about this is the irony - As soon as we own the house, we'll be putting solar electric panels on the roof!!!!!

On Sunday, Chris and I ran the Daytona Half Marathon. It was my 4th half marathon, believe it or not, and Chris' first. In many ways, this was my favorite.

It began at 6AM, which is good, because it has been unseasonably hot lately. Although it was humid, the sun stayed behind the clouds for the whole race and we weren't too hot.

At around 5:30 AM, we drove through a tunnel and on to the middle of the Daytona Speedway! Although I can't stand car racing, it was very exciting to be there. We got our chips, hit the bathrooms one last time, and lined up to start. The race began on pit row and we proceeded around the track for one lap. Although I knew it was a very steep incline on the curves, it's much more impressive in person.

From there, we ran out of the speedway and on to the beach. It was a great feeling to stop traffic on Route 1! We had to run up the big bridge twice. The Seabreeze band was there by the bridge to urge us on. It really worked for us, too, because Chris knew many of the parents and students and had to look good. We got to the beach, turned around, and ran back to the speedway. We ended near the checkered flag! By this time, it was light, and there were some spectators there. Some of Chris' co-workers were there and took this picture of us.



We were using this half marathon as part of our training for the Disney full marathon in January. I was hoping to finish under 2 1/2 hours, and was delighted when our time was 2:21:17. Except for water breaks, we ran the whole way. We WON'T be running the entire full marathon.

Here we are, running through the final corral. They're tearing off our chips. Then we went in search of gatoraide and water! This race had the strangest food. It included some of the normal staples - bananas and bagels - and some unusual choices - pizza (plain and pepperoni), donuts, beer, mimosas, and sub sandwiches. We ate a bit, then went home to shower. We made it to church in time for the 10:30 service, wearing our race T-shirts, of course. Want some inspiration? Here it is!

16 mile run

Here is the run Chris and I will do next weekend. I'm posting it mostly so we don't forget it!

"Um, we have a problem..."

Those are words you just don't want to hear from your builder. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Barry told us on Tuesday. The electrician was at our house, doing final checks. He went to hook the house up to the street, and discovered that WE DON'T HAVE AN ELECTRICAL HOOK UP!!!! Somehow, FPL skipped our lot a few years ago when they were wiring the subdivision. And it took until now to find this out. A few calls to FPL later, a wired check from Maronda homes, and we think we're on schedule to get the wiring. FPL has to come out and tear up our street. Won't the neighbors love us? Ironically, we will be putting in solar electric panels, but are not allowed to do so until we close on the house. We can't close on the house until we have electric. Ugh.


On a brighter note, our landscaping was put in. We have four trees in the front and some more in the back.
They also put the hurricane shutter bolts on all of the windows. We will get hurricane shuttters with the house. How we'll ever get them up on the second floor, I don't know.

Then we walked around back and realized they had done the porch in a day. The slab was already there.

I like the location of the back door. We should have room for our table, 4 chairs, and lounge chair.

They haven't put the sod in yet, but they probably won't until they get electricity to run the sprinklers! I hope they can keep the trees alive until then.

Closets and bathrooms

Chris and Benjamin went by today to take some measurements and found more work had been done. Here the living room is awaiting carpet. Our stair rail is in. The plans originally called for a half wall, and I'm so glad we upgraded to a railing.

Gotta love those pull-out cabinets!!!

More cabinets!

Master closet now has shelving (minimal, but some shelving.)

Our master sink - a double

Single sink bathroom

Closet in Mom and Dad's bathroom - it has 5 shelves!

Kitchen - appliances will be pulled out and replaced with ones we have chosen from Sears.