Occupancy Permitted

It's the end of another month, and this month my hard work has paid off; I received my occupancy permit for my new office.

Now, I should mention right away that this is not quite as good as it sounds; I discovered that doors and trim were not required for my final inspection, so I scheduled it when those were all that was left to do.  The good news is that this means the room and hallway are painted, the flooring is laid, and the heat is installed.  Since acquiring the permit, I even got the hall closet door installed and the frames of the two office doors (entry and closet) primed for paint (the doors themselves will be stained).  So, there’s a good chance that the room will be done by the end of April.

While the project remains incomplete, the good news is twofold: I passed final inspection before my building permit ran out (less than three weeks to go) and we can now apply for refinancing.  When I inquired about the latter last year I was informed that my house couldn’t be appraised whilst “under construction” and of course I could not refinance without an appraisal.  Luckily the rates are still low (we locked in at 5.25%, a full 1.25% lower than our current rate).  Now we just have to hope that the extra payments we’ve made on our mortgage and the additional room in the basement add up to enough equity to allow us to refinance.

In Leah news, my daughter now loves walking (assisted, of course) around and is often not content to just sit anymore.  Our neighbors were kind enough to lend us their child walker and Leah now takes to cruising around the kitchen and morning room while her food is made.  She’s especially good at running laps around the island.  Despite all of the walking behavior, there is still no indication of any desire to crawl, although she recently mastered the art of rolling over both ways (she’s been able to do belly-to-back only for a while now).

Normally, I’d post a slew of Leah pictures, but time simply hasn’t been plentiful.  Which is too bad, because there are some good ones.  I will make a concerted effort to get them up before the end of April rolls around.  In the meantime, you can get your Leah fix by watching this video she created (with some help from her Daddy) for her Mommy’s second surprise 30th birthday (last year’s surprise party was canceled on account of sickness so I threw a make-up this year).  No recent pictures in there, but plenty of recent video!