And just like that...

...it's all done.  Okay, not done exactly, but we spent the first night here on August 1st!  I think that's close enough to the end of July to say I met my deadline.

The past two weeks have been a complete blur.   We hustled to get all the loose ends tied up to pass inspections and be ready for the move.  I can't remember the specifics at this point but in the past two weeks:
geothermal, light fixtures and fans, fire alarms, plumbing fixtures, barn door, upstairs trim, pocket door, closet shelving, cleaned up, cable hook up, inspections, moved stuff, built beds, cleaned windows, decorated, and lots of other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting.

For their various contributions in the last couple weeks, a HUGE thank you is in order for: Steve, Sharon, Sarah, Sue, Paul, Katie, Beth, Eric, Healy, Michelle, Sean, Colleen, Larry, Jeff, Pam, Buzzy.  And if I missed anybody, I apologize.  It's almost midnight and the new Bob-O-Pedic is calling...

Here's the story in pictures.  (There will be another batch of "finished" photos once we settle in enough to do it.)

Urethaned a set of three doors so I could install the pocket door that had to be put in before the trim could be done.  Dad painted the trim ahead of time since it wouldn't be accessible later.  Nothing like spending hours trying to get a perfect finish only to come back the next day to find 100 no-see-ums and a daddy long leg embalmed in the no-dry urethane.

Left over materials + 8 floor tiles = countertop in the mudroom.

Had an energy audit done by a third party Energy Star rater evaluating the New Homes with Energy Star program.  Found out the house is as tight as I had hoped and made $200 in the process.  Nice.

Dining room table and chairs (and assorted accesories) Ikea-style.

Kitchen backsplash, cabinets, and counter done and ready for fixtures.

The scratch ticket method of reducing our mortgage failed.  Shocker.

The "staging" dad and I set up to install the cathedral ceiling fan.

Looks safe, doesn't it?

Finishing up the last of the trim.  The pile of boards is getting smaller.  The pile of cut ends is getting bigger.

And the sawdust is building up.  Our battle with sawdust is almost over.  Just some around the table saw in the basement now.

The PVC trim around the bathroom shower transom.  Hopefully I'll never have to deal with rotted wood.

Chandelier in the stair case.

Ceiling fan in the bedroom.

Chandelier over the tub (and the reason I failed the final electrical inspection).  Big thanks to Sue for getting him to come back the next day after I replaced it to sign off on the permit.  I should also thank her for lining up the fire inspection twice, since i failed that one on the first try too.  Who would have thought you'd need a hard-wired smoke detector in the basement?

In the process of trimming the bedroom.  Exhaustion setting in.

Spent a day sanding the stairs to restore them after months of abuse during construction.  Then spent a day doing the last coat on the upstairs and down the stairs.  Neglected to open the windows since the AC was running, so I got a little sick by the end from the urethane fumes. 

Dean finished the island.  Slight moment of panic when we brought it in to find the straps holding it on the truck had left and X on the surface from being in the sun for one hour.  It has faded out since.

Drink break for our little helpers. 

Installing the island pendants.

Flexible track lighting over the wood stove.  A pain to install, but they look cool now.

2 minutes before tracking in massive amounts of mud onto the new floors.

In my mad rush to finish the electrical before the inspector came (I was screwing in the last outlet in the garage when he pulled up) I cut a few corners and got zapped for the first time of the entire process.  I cut through a live wire putting up the outside light fixtures.

Kitchen faucet up and running with hot water.  Amy could finally wash the stickers off the light fixture globes.

Kitchen just about complete.  It required a pretty good wrestling match with the range hood.  It came with 6 screws to hang the chimney part.  I shattered (yes, shattered) 5 of them.  I eventually won the battle, but it required an impact wrench and some sheet metal crews.  Job done.

Anni showing off the best use for the island overhang.

A rare sighting of Amy painting trim.  She limited herself to the insides of closets, but did a great job.

Paul came between mowing lawns and working to wash all of the windows in the house.  I had gotten used to them being "frosted."

The LAST piece of trim!!! I celebrated with a donut.

Amy and Katie moving the Amazing Furniture purchase so they could clean the floors.

A huge thank you to Colleen for spending an entire day crawling around the floors to try to remove the flooring glue that we missed while laying the floors.

Vac EVERYTHING!

Moving day!

Refreshments provided by Gramma Sharon.

The pregnant forewoman overseeing operations.

Healy and the last of the banana boxes coming off the truck.

Pantry shelving in and ready to be filled.  We went shopping yesterday for the first time in over a year.  Filled two carts; emptied one checking account.

Amy happily using her new kitchen faucet sprayer when the handle came off and water shot up to the ceiling.

Dad doing his best to resist lifting heavy boxes and injuring his back worse.  He didn't do a very good job resisting.

What to do with another barrel of wood?

The first beer at the newly built dining room table, courtesy of Paul.

The chaos of the media panel and a 12 way cable splitter.

August 1, 2011.  It's official.

The girls enjoying their rediscovered toys.

Ella also chose August 1 as the day she would get her ears pierced.  Daddy had no input in this one.

The last of the stuff from the Strozina's garage.

Due to a minor mix-up by Bob's furniture this was our bed for the first two nights in the house.  Tonight we get to sleep on the Bob-O-Pedic for the first time!