Well obviously I've been MIA for a while. The past few weeks have been so incredibly crazy and busy. We've officially lived in our house 9 days, we moved our stuff in on Dec 5-6 and slept here for the first time on Dec 6. Well Stephen actually slept here on the 5th to guard our stuff that we had already moved in. We had our first final inspection on Nov 26, two days before Thanksgiving. It did not pass, which is pretty typical for a first inspection. Because of the holiday and the busyness of some of our subs we weren't able to fix everything requested and call for a second inspection until Dec 3. I was present for this one and feeling pretty good, I knew everything on the list had been accomplished and they are only supposed to re-check the list. However, we got the bad fortune of getting one of Gilbert's most notoriously difficult inspectors for this inspection. I gave him the original failed inspection report but he decided to start from the beginning. Apparently this is not really legal, but he claimed that the original inspector didn't fully complete our original. Sounded pretty fishy to me but you sure have to play nice since they hold all the power. So he failed us and gave us an entirely new list of things to fix. I nearly had a heart attack! We scrambled really fast after he left and our subs were so good to come in either that day or early the next morning and fix the requested items. I'm using the term "fix" very loosely, they are just stupid little things that have no bearing on whether a house is functional or safe and they are very individualized to whatever inspector you get. So frustrating. So I was able to call for my THIRD final inspection for the very next day, Wednesday Dec 4. I was a nervous wreck during the entire thing. My nephew Kelton came down for the week to help me and was trying to keep my calm but it wasn't really working. After 3 failed inspections you have to start paying for them to come back, plus I just really needed to get into my darn house! (Side note: Paul and Heather got married in my backyard of my old house 2 days after Thanksgiving and were going to be renting that house. They were living separately until we moved out because they couldn't fit all 7 of their kids in either of the houses they were living in, plus they didn't want to move twice...so a little bit more pressure or incentive for us to move out!!)
Anyway, at the end of the third inspection Kelton and I were standing near the inspector in the garage watching him fiddle with our electrical panel sending out mass prayers, when he turned around with a smile and said "You Passed." I nearly hugged him. For real.
And with that, we were given the green light to get moving. And we did. And we haven't really stopped since. The house is beautiful and amazing and we feel incredibly lucky to be here. I will start posting more pictures of some of the final stages soon.
