Finis....

....that's a fancy foreign word for "I'm done".  Today I'm finally meeting with Mr. & Dr. T, collecting my final $$$ and signing papers on their new custom home.  Here are some highlights:

It's about 5800 sq ft on a half acre homesite.

Nice and formal, as they requested.

 

The front staircase (there's a second off the kitchen).

Looking up at the 21' high foyer ceiling.

The formal dining to the left off the foyer.

The study to the right off the foyer.

And as the Realtors always point out, "Here's the kitchen".  *DUH!  I would have never guessed*

The small butler's pantry tucked off behind the kitchen.

A small mud room off the door from the 3-car garage.

One wall in the utility room.  It also has space for a second refrig/freezer, and of course the washer and dryer.  It is immediately adjacent to the master closet....

This view shows about 1/3 of the master closet, which opens off the master bath....

Ummmm....

View from the upstairs reading nook.

The chirren's (1) playroom upstairs.

The Juliet balcony overlooking the living room.

:)

Nice, as long as someone else maintains it.

All together there are 5 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths, 3 living areas, and a 3-car garage.  The quality was VERY nice.  (I have some incredible craftsmen!)  In fact, the building inspector even called it "exceptional".  It isn't at all to my personal taste (and those colors!), but I'm not making the payment, so.... 

Now where was I?  Oh yes....retired.  :)

S 

VERY encouraging signs....with EDIT

In my daily drives around town I've begun to pay attention to what's going on around me as opposed to just trying to get from Point A to Point B.   Here's what I've noticed just within 1 1/2 miles of my home:

Everywhere I looked I saw construction.  LOTS of it!  New apartments, retail, a hotel, and more than a few new office buildings.  Yes, I know Dallas and Houston and Austin and Texas in general are doing well, but I suspect if you paid attention when driving around Atlanta or Chicago or Boston or Denver you'd see something similar.

Either our economy is turning the corner as I write this *fingers crossed* or it's close at hand and these forward-looking companies are getting the jump on their competition.  

So, does Obama get credit for this?  Who knows.  I'm of the opinion the President can sit in the Oval Office late at night eating Cheetos and watching porn and he'll still get the credit for or the blame for whatever happens, whether he deserves it or not.  In most cases whatever a president does, for better or worse, isn't obvious until years later.  

You can credit Obama or the Easter Bunny or Batman for this light at the end of the tunnel, I don't care.  I'm just glad to see these encouraging signs.

S

EDIT....from USA Today:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Existing home sales jumped 7.8% in August to the highest level in more than two years, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

In an earlier report, U.S. builders started work on more homes in August, driven by the fastest pace of single-family home construction in more than two years.