I'm reading The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict, historical fiction at it's best. "Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters―each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next―dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes. Though they've weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister's lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she's become Hitler's mistress. As the Nazis rise in power, novelist Nancy Mitford grows suspicious of her sisters' constant visits to Germany and the high-ranking fascist company they keep. When she overhears alarming conversations and uncovers disquieting documents, Nancy must make excruciating choices as Great Britain goes to war with Germany. Probing the torrid political climate in the lead-up to World War II and the ways that seemingly sensible people can be sucked into radical action, The Mitford Affair follows Nancy's valiant efforts to stop the Nazis from taking over Great Britain, and the complicated choices she must make between the personal and the political."

Here's the timetable we experienced: November 2021 we looked at lots. Saw one we really liked but first contacted a builder and interviewed him (we were looking for a CAPS certified builder, and found one that was also design-build.) The builder asked to see the lot but also another in the same community. He really liked our choice so we made an offer and the sale was finalized February 2022. Meanwhile we started meeting with the builder's designer in December 2021. We saw the initial house plans in February 2022, worked further with the designer, made changes, and signed off on the "scope of work" in April 2022. Some changes were made, electrical diagrams were firmed up, and we had the final plans in June 2022. The designer prepared the application for the HOA architectural review committee and submitted in July 2022. The committee said it was one of the best applications they'd ever seen, and it was approved by late July. This was one of the reasons we loved working with a design-build firm - we didn't have to lift a finger to make that application. Grading began September 2022. Our builder decided to enter the home into the Parade of Homes in October 2023, so the house was basically finished by then. That was good and bad - they really pushed to get it ready in time, but then slowed down a bit afterwards, even though there were still things to be done. But all that's left right now is installing a dehumidifier in the encapsulated crawl space (somehow that was left out originally) and going through our final checklist, and we should take possession in about March. A couple of issues slowed us down, just because of shortages and problems in the building industry. We couldn't get an electrical transformer box for the longest time. They just weren't available. Our builder just called the power company once a week and got to know someone on the other end of the line, meanwhile using generator power. Eventually the insulation subcontractor said he could not work on generator power, and magically our contact at the power company found a transformer. There are people in our community who have been waiting two years for a transformer. Digging the well was the other big delay. All the well-diggers in the western NC area are booked months, in some cases years, ahead. Somehow our builders managed to nab one. Overall we felt the process was really smooth with our builders. The main part of the build took just a year, and after that it was a matter of putting in the driveway and doing minor things. If you've read this far (sorry so long!), you might like to look at our Parade of Homes virtual tour. The house wasn't really quite finished at the time it was photographed. There was no driveway, and there were no shower doors. There was a faulty lighted mirror, and the electrician had reversed the dining room and breakfast nook light fixtures. It's all fixed now! 32- Gateway Mountain Getaway in the WNC Parade of Homes

I've come to the conclusion that if I fill up my life with misery, the stories consumed through novels, then..... THAT IS MY LIFE. faftris...I'm so sorry for your losses. I understand that good writing and making the reader feel emotions for the characters misery is NOT the course I would wish to set my life on either. I also do not care to hear about drug addiction, murder, racism... or a multitude of other attrocities.

We are in the fun stages of the build where lots of visible things are happening! Drywall took a long time, and the painter continues to be in and out of the house. Our walls are all going to be Chantilly lace white, so the paint already feels “done” even if there’s more coats and touch ups to do. We got AC turned on yesterday (yay!) to prep for the flooring install. They’re sealing our tiles, but unfortunately our engineered hardwood needs to be returned since it’s the wrong color. We had a miscommunication between us and the builder where we provided a sample piece from a box of engineered wood we liked, but we didn’t provide them the spec so a different one was ordered. Oops! It will delay the install that was planned for Monday, but as you can see in the picture of the flooring, the hardwood we received was WAY lighter than the one we expected and is too warm toned for most of the other design elements we plan for the house. Yesterday our garage doors were installed, and we got our siding delivered on Wednesday! Hopefully we don’t block up the work too much with our flooring mishap. Either way, the speed at which the house is progressing makes me want to hurry and pack up all of our stuff! For the US folks - mortgage rates are down! I’m hoping we can snag a sub 6% rate when we convert to a permanent loan, but you never know what rates will do!