Closing in on Closing Day

This past Tuesday, Nathan and I had our "Homeowners Orientation Walk-Through" with our builder, Scott. This was much more fun (and much shorter of a process) than the inspection on Sunday.  Scott showed us how to work all the different appliances and fixtures in our house, and told us he'd fix everything from our inspection reports. 

The last step will be walking back through the house with him next Tuesday before closing and then locking up the house together on our way to the meeting. When we parted ways, Scott said "see ya'll on Tuesday," and it definitely hit home that we were at one-week-out from the big day.  It's all very exciting and though we have plenty of packing to do between now and the move, it's all good stuff. Here are the last photos before closing day!! Enjoy.

View from front door, looking through foyer into den

View from foyer into dining room, with hall bath to the right

Downstairs bathroom

Stairs + my purse, ha

Our hardwood floors, finally unveiled!

Dining nook and kitchen

Den/Great Room

Closer look at the kitchen

Loft (aka: future game room/playroom)

Windows in one of the guest bedrooms

Guest Bathroom

Laundry Room

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Passing Grade!

This will be a short, picture-less post because I'm on my lunch break at work, but for those of you keeping up with our blog, we had our Home Inspection yesterday.  It was a VERY LENGTHY (read: 3 hour) process that involved Nathan being much nicer than I am and listening to our super chatty inspector and me taking note and pictures of more of the cosmetic fixes around the house. As expected with new construction, we PASSED our inspection, with just a few minor items for KB Homes to address for us in the week ahead.

We submitted our list of requests to the builder and will send the inspection list his way today as well. Tomorrow we meet with Scott the Builder to go through the house and learn how to work everything, ask questions, etc.  Then there's nothing much left for us to do besides PACK between tomorrow and CLOSING a week later. Ahh! Exciting, scary, fun, exhausting...but no doubt worth it.

Thanks everyone for your support!!

Counting down the days

Walking through the house this evening, Nathan and I realized it was out last time doing so before final inspection next Sunday. Though there's still plenty to be done for the house to look move-in ready, there were some fun changes this week that we captured on film.  In three weeks, we'll be pretty much all moved in at 313 Riversville Court, beginning to unpack. Hard to believe, but exciting none-the-less.

Our mailbox!!

We have a lawn! With little shrubs and a tree

Starting to all come together now

House numbers on the garage

New front door knob 

Blinds are in!

Door Knobs

Vertical blinds on sliding doors, heading to backyard. And a sneak peak of backyard grass.

Blinds on two of the windows in our guest room

Moving Forward

This past week we got started with the task of packing. So far, most of our upstairs office is boxed up, and today we started on the living room.  Hopefully by this upcoming week, our landlord will have selected a new renter to replace us. That way, we won't have to worry about the townhouse looking presentable as we try to pack everything up and get it ready to be hauled to the new place. 

When we went by the house today, there weren't many major changes. The gutters were put in, all the little paint touch-ups look like they'd been taken care of, and they carved out space for the medicine cabinets in both bathrooms.  Still waiting on blinds, doorknobs, landscaping, and oven installation. Hard to believe our final inspection is only 2 weeks away! Here's hoping the weather is as beautiful for our moving day as it has been today. Have a great week, everyone!

Gutters installed!

Kitchen granite complete and electricity is working!

Another kitchen view

Flooring in the laundry room

Guest bath ready for its medicine cabinet/side mirror

Nate, standing in the master bath shower/tub

Master Bedroom

Potluck Success

Wanted to share another recipe. Brought this to the Career Center's Spring Break Potluck yesterday and it was a hit! I didn't use onions, cheese, chicken, or quite as much cilantro, but it was quite tasty and nutritious. I wanted to use the whole box of pasta since we have a big staff, so I upped most of the other ingredients by 1/2 (ex: 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes, instead of 3/4). I chilled it overnight.

Southwest Pasta Salad (6-8 dinner servings; 10-12 side servings)

1/2 lb bowtie pasta
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 roma tomatoes, diced or about 3/4 C or halved cherry tomatoes
1 large red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 C sliced green onions
1/2 C frozen fresh corn
zest from 2 limes
optional: 8 oz diced cooked chicken
1/2 C Queso Fresco or Cotija Cheese (or you could sub grated jack, cheddar or pepperjack)

Dressing:
6 Tbs fresh lime juice (about 3 juicy limes)
1/4 C white wine or rice vinegar
4-5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt
2 tsp sugar (add a touch more if your limes are extra sour/bitter)
3/4 C canola oil
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro

1. Boil pasta in salted water until cooked.  While it’s cooking, prepare dressing.

2. Zest your limes and place the zest in a large salad bowl.

3. Place the lime juice, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt and sugar in a blender or food processor  (Basically everything except the cilantro and oil).  Process until smooth.  With the motor running slowly, add the oil in a steady stream until incorporated.  Add the cilantro and pulse so it gets broken up, but some pieces still remain in tact.

4. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse immediately with cold water to cool.  Place the pasta in the large salad bowl with the lime zest.

5. Add black beans, tomatoes, diced pepper, green onions, corn (no need to thaw the corn),  and chicken if desired.

6. Toss with dressing.  Taste, and add additional salt and pepper to taste.  For best results, chill for 1 hour before serving.

7. Right before serving, sprinkle cheese on top.  Serve with extra lime wedges if desired.

New Recipes

This weekend we made 2 new dishes worth passing on, Pinto Bean Nachos from Cooking Light where we made our own chips, and Thai Red Curry Mac & Cheese, my first attempt at a dish from Aarti's Party on Food Network.  Both were comforting, warm, and filling. Enjoy!

Pinto Bean Nachos (4 servings)

Ingredients

• 12  (6-inch) corn tortillas, quartered
• Cooking spray
• 1  tablespoon  canola/vegetable oil
• 2  teaspoons  ground cumin
• 1  teaspoon  chili powder
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 2  (15-ounce) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup shredded mexican blend cheese
• 1  cup  bottled salsa
• 1   diced, fresh avocado
• 6  tablespoons  chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.


2. Arrange half of tortilla wedges in a single layer on a large baking sheet; lightly coat wedges with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 8 minutes or until crisp. Repeat procedure with remaining tortilla wedges and cooking spray.


3. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cumin, chili powder, and garlic; cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. 


4. Add pinto beans and water, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 10 minutes. Partially mash bean mixture with a potato masher until slightly thick. 


5. Place 8 chips on each of 6 plates. Spoon about 1/2 cup bean mixture evenly over tortilla chips on each plate; top each serving with about 2 1/2 tablespoons cheese, 2 1/2 tablespoons salsa, and 2 1/2 tablespoons avocado. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon cilantro.

Thai Red Curry Mac & Cheese (6-8 servings)

 Ingredients

Mac 'n' Cheese:

• Kosher salt
• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 (4-ounce) jar Thai red curry paste (I think we used Taste of Thai?)
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups cream (alternatively, use 5 cups whole milk instead of both milk and cream)
• 8 ounces Monterey Jack/Colby-Jack cheese, grated
• 8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

Crumb Topping:

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs or crushed ritz crackers
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Salt generously, and then add the pasta and cook to box instructions, usually 6 to 7 minutes. Drain.


2. In another large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and continue whisking until it deepens in color and releases a light toasted aroma, about 1 minute.


3. Whisk in the Thai red curry paste, and when fully combined, pour in the milk and cream (or all milk, if using). Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, and then turn down to a simmer. Simmer until the mixture thickens, whisking occasionally, about 5 minutes.


4. Off heat, stir in the cheeses until melted. Add the pasta and toss to combine.


5. Turn your broiler on.


6. Toss the panko with the melted butter and season with salt and pepper.


7. Pour the mac 'n' cheese into a broiler-safe casserole dish, sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture, and broil until browned, 1-2 minutes.

Hoorah for Storage

We had planned to go by the house on Sunday, per usual, but decided to check it out today instead before heading to Home Depot to scope out appliances. There was a family party going on a few doors down so the cul-de-sac was hoppin'.

When we parked outside the place, we noticed the garage doors had been painted a richer color than last week.  Upon going inside the house, big changes included carpet (yah!), shelving in all the closets (double yah!) and little blue bits of painter's tape everywhere indicating where touch-ups would be done in the days to come.

It's definitely all coming together, with the only major things needing to be completed being the doorknobs, oven installation, and landscaping. We set our final home inspection date for March 27th, the homeowners' orientation walk-through May 29th, and of course closing is April 5th. Until next time, here are some photos:

Weekly front-of-home photo update

Newly-painted garage doors

Mirror and towel hook installed in downstairs half-bath

Carpet is in! And railing has been stained to match hardwood floors

Nate checking out the storage in our coat closet off the foyer

Our den/living-room, freshly carpeted

Kitchen pantry

Inside of the garage

Laundry room

Big mirror installed in the master bath. And me taking a photo of it, trying unsuccessfully not to get a flash in the shot

Master closet organizer - oh yeah!