3 Weeks to Go!

With only a few short weeks until the projected completion date for the house, we were excited to see they had gotten a lot done this week. It's coming right along!

We now have a garage door. The brick is now done on 3 sides...the only side left is the front.

Here's a closer view of the brick.

Here's the Master bathroom. It's hard to get a good view of it, but to the left there is a tall cabinet for extra storage, then the double sinks, and just past that is the closet. On the right, there is a jetted tub, a shower, and the toilet is through that door straight ahead. Yes, right where that window is...how about moving those blinds to the top of the to-do list?

This is the view from the living room. The front door is behind that pole on the right. The area with the arched window is the formal dining area.

This is the view from the dining area..looking toward the living room.

The bonus room! There is a big stack of drywall just waiting to go in this room.

The kitchen is taking shape!

Another view.

The next time we see the house will be at least two weeks from now. I'm sure it will only have the finishing touches to add by then...it's getting so close!

A Few House Pics

Ryan went to Jonesboro today to meet with the builder to discuss a few final details as the construction process continues. They only have a little less than 4 short weeks to finish our house!

Here is the first sneak peek of the house.

Here she is!


Here's a little closer view of the white brick.

This is the color of the kitchen cabinets.

This will soon be in our master bathroom.

We will head over to Jonesboro again this weekend. By then, the cabinets should be installed so we can see the shape of our kitchen! Hopefully, the brick will be almost finished as well. More pictures to come!

Updates!

Well, a lot has happened since my last post.

1. I accepted a job at St. Bernard's in Jonesboro. I start work August 22, which is the same day Ryan starts classes. The hours are Mon-Fri, 7am-4pm, no weekends, no holidays :)...'nuff said.

2. We made an offer on a house..and then another...and then another...The 3rd time was a charm, though! We are finally under contract! It's a house that is still under construction, so I won't have pictures for a while. The date of closing (and the date it will be finished) will be August 12th.

3. August 12 will also be my last day at work here in Mtn. Home.

4. I discovered Andy's Frozen Custard in Jonesboro...I can't decide if I like it better than Shake's or not. I may have to try them both again to decide.

5. I'm running more each week. Training has officially started for this fall. Ryan and I are excited to be moving to the flat lands of Northeast Arkansas. It's going to make marathon training a little more enjoyable. We will be able to walk out the front door and run a 5 mile loop near our house without running into a single hill.

6. I've gotten my first mosquito bites from the giant Jonesboro mosquitoes. This is a downfall of moving to the flatlands of Northeast Arkansas...lots of standing water.

7. I was chased by a giant rodent for the first time in my life. On my 5th of 7 miles today, I saw a fuzzy creature on the side of the trail. Not sure of what it was and whether it was dead or alive, I ran a wide circle around it. I figured if it was alive, it would run away. But I was wrong. It turned and saw me and ran toward me! When I ran away, it lurched toward me twice, and when it realized I wasn't going to stick around to put up a fight, it went on its way.

I still have no idea what the heck it was. It looked like a small beaver, but it had a fuzzy tail. It didn't look like a ground hog or any other common local creature. I'm not sure what type of rodent would be out in the 90+ degree heat in middle of the day unless it was sick though, so I'm glad it didn't get hold of me!

8. Hmm. I guess that covers most of the new developments over the past couple weeks. I'm sure I'll have more as moving day gets closer!

Summer Break

Ahhh...the lazy days of summer. Yes, I've been on somewhat of a summer break. Not necessarily on purpose, but I've taken the past month or..ahem..month and a half to be a bit lazy.

Running? Yep, still gettin' out there but not as often and not nearly as long.

Strength training? Maybe once a week. (I'm pretty sure that's not effective at all in maintaining lean muscle mass).

Counting calories? Not since May.

Blogging? Let's not even go there.

Well, what have I been doing instead? A little fishing and boating, hot evening strolls in the park with the dogs, watching movies (I think we've gone to the theater 4 times or so in the last month), and waiting.

Waiting to find out where we go from here. Waiting to see if Ryan finds a job. Waiting to see if his job will require us to move. Well, about two weeks ago, we were contemplating the options. No jobs were showing up here (or elsewhere for that matter), and Ryan was wishing he was more qualified for the positions requiring an engineering degree or experience, so he started looking closer into going back to school, again. Well, turns out, he can continue to go to school at ASU since he hasn't been out of school for a whole year and finally get his engineering degree. He has taken all the classes he can here at the local campus, so guess what that means...

We're moving to Jonesboro! It's all happening a little fast, but the timing is right. We can likely get moved by the end of summer break, just in time for classes to start. This means I am on the job hunt over in Jonesboro and hopefully I'll find something by the time Ryan's classes start. We'll see...

As far as my summer break, I'm bringing it to an end. Fall racing season is just around the corner and I have a few half marathons I'm looking at for September, October, and November, then a FULL marathon in December. You may remember my post about this time last summer, when I first uttered the "M" word and set my goal to run my first full at St. Jude's Memphis Marathon. After being side-lined by a stress fracture, I hope to finally reach that goal a whole year after I had originally hoped. And I will.

So, summer break is nearing an end for me. It's time to start increasing mileage, strength training at least twice a week, eating clean, and yes, keeping you all updated on my progress. Oh yeah, and moving 2 hours away and finding a place to live and work in the process! I love it!