Wow, February? Really?

Was it really February the last time I posted? Guess it's time to do some catching up!

It's a rainy July morning in Arkansas. The sky has rumbled all morning and finally Father Sky is releasing the blessed rain. Jool, our cat, is not too pleased with the commotion... she continually tries to climb up my shoulder for comfort.

Our Arkansas Adventure continues to bring us great joy. We love our land and are excited about all the changes that have taken place over the months. The land is now cleared and leveled, ready to accept our home. Our contractor took out more trees than I thought necessary at the time, but now I am happy with the openness of the area around where our home will sit. (More garden space in the sun.) We added raised beds along the driveway and forsythias and iris now welcome us as we drive up the lane. Several weeks ago we began building a shed for all our garage treasures. There will be no garage on our new house to begin with so Jack needed somewhere to store all his tools. Actually building the shed has gone slow due to equipment problems and time restraints. We hope to "get er done" this weekend when we will spend yet another long weekend laboring in the process of building. The septic system was installed about a month ago and while we were vacationing in Branson MO, the electric company visited our land and installed poles and electricity to the neighborhood! We will get hooked up after the house is delivered. All that is left is pouring concrete footings and delivering the house!

Last week, Jack and I excitedly made the drive to Hot Springs to visit Clayton Homes; the manufacturer/distributor of our new home. We submitted our paperwork for the bank loan and selected all the features we want in our dream home. We are anxiously waiting for loan approval and wondering what the price tag for our home will come in at. We restrained ourselves from structural frills like brick exterior and super high roofs but added features that would enhance our living experience - like a built-in desk, big tubs and lots of book cases for all my crystals and books!

If all goes according to plan, our new house will be delivered in late September and we can move in immediately! The cats will move out to the house in December when our lease is done on this rental house. We have found a very small affordable 1 bedroom apartment in Benton that will serve us well until Jack retires. (His darn cell phone still doesn't work on our land.) Once we are settled, Jack will really have a hard time keeping me away from the crystal mine!

It still amazes me that we have been in Arkansas now for 8 months. The time flies by so quickly and before we know it, we will be celebrating Christmas in our new home. I am looking forward to seeing you all as our guests! Happy Summer! Joanne

Below is a link to the floor plan of the final house we ordered for our land. We have flipped it so the door to the carport will be on the west side. Let us know what you think! You will have to cut and paste the URL to your browser!

http://www.sehomes.com/customer/details.php?model=EZ-436