This post is actually not about a house

Our quick trip to Austin was fun, stressful, hot, and great! Every time we travel overnight we remember why we hate traveling overnight! Kids slept great, but Carly was in our room and every time either of us moved (or breathed heavy) she would make a noise or sigh. So, while she never woke up, neither of us slept well, thinking that this move would be the one that made her wake up and scream at us. Anyway, that is not the point.

We haven't been to Austin in quite some time, and the last time we went we did not even go into the city at all. So this time when we drove past my alma mater (I hate that phrase, probably because I don't actually know what it means) Concordia University, I was surprised and sad to see a huge "A&R Demolition" sign hung from one of the tall buildings. As we drove by, I saw that the gym building has already been demolished, and the courtyard between the classroom buildings where the fountain was was all torn up too. I was kinda sad about it. Not that I had too many fond memories of the gym, since I think I entered that building twice, ever. But the fact that my school is going away made me a little sad. I always get sad when things get destroyed. Granted, half the buildings needed to be torn down anyway, but still. I think classes have been out for two weeks or some-odd, and the destruction is already coming along.

You see, the school has moved into the richy, woody, nature-preserve area of town. (Out 620 in the Bee Caves area if anyone wonders.) I have never seen the new property, nor am I that interested in seeing it. It's going to be very sheltered from the weirdness of Austin. There will be no homeless people on the corners, and no view of the split decks of IH-35, no constant road noise, no smelly surprise smell coming out of Texas Hall, no shortage of parking, no driving the blocks three minutes after class has already started STILL looking for a parking spot.

Here are some pictures of the destruction: http://www.concordia.edu/relocation/mpgroups.cfm?pgroup=Moving%20off%20the%20Downtown%20Campus

And some of the new campus: http://www.concordia.edu/relocation/mpgroups.cfm?pgroup=Maps

So that's my blog for today.

The Newest House Pics

We almost has a house. Here it is.

The front: The door is red and there's a big big oak tree surrounded by azaleas.

It has a front porch. It doesn't come with the lady in blue. ;)

It has a sidewalk and green grass!

It has a wall of trees shading us from the next yard. And some bushes that need trimming, IMO.

It has a shower with a window.

It has a living room with really ugly drapes.

It has a ceiling.

We are officially old. We have a storm door on the front.

Fireplace that burns wood, real wood!!

Master Bedroom. It has a bathroom with a large open space above it. Not sure.

There is that mysterious woman in blue again!

It has mauve wallpaper. cute.

Two shell-shaped sinks and a closet with candles in it.

It has a kitchen!!

A BIG kitchen with a window over the sink.

And a ceiling fan!

And a light fixture that will be leaving. That closet is the laundry. The door to the far left is to the garage.

And now... the glorious back yard!

Cows live behind us.

Hello Cows!

View from the back of the back yard. In the middle there are two small fig trees and what appears to be blueberries. Not sure yet.

And that is where we will be living on or before June 6th!

Houses

My titles are more often than not about houses. Funny the things that are important enough for me to blog about.

We signed a contract today and it has already been delivered to the title company. 7 day option period, inspection tomorrow, already got funding 90% worked out, We are on track for a closing June 6th or before. This is going to be quick! Just the way we want it.

I forgot (again!) to take my camera to the house when we went today so there are still no pictures available. But believe me, it's beautiful!

But now for your viewing pleasure, is a different kind of beauty:

Watching Basketball

Silly face

Pretty!

Smiley!

Oh boy, look what we've done now...

We made an offer on a house! Still waiting to hear back from the sellers and probably start playing that silly game of back-and-forth. It's a wonderful house in Whitehouse, but on the Tyler side of it, so easy access to Tyler and Whitehouse without having to drive the extra 5-10 minutes into and through Whitehouse traffic. (No, really, there is a lot of traffic inWhitehouse now!!) It is literally withing walking distance of the grocery store, or biking distance at least. We are joking (seriously) about getting Greg and basket for his bike to go get groceries.

Anyway, back to the house, it was built in 1985, has 4 bedrooms, which is perfect for Greg's home office, and a nice big kitchen with pretty updated appliances. The best thing is, it is CLEAN. Clean enough to move in tomorrow. It does have some outdated wallpaper and fixtures but nothing that I can't live with. And the yard..... it is almost indescribable. It is that awesome. The front is a fully shaded St. Augustine lawn with a HUGE oak tree surrounded by red and white azaleas (saw them on the MLS photo since it's now past azalea season) and mature crepe myrtle trees acting like a barrier against the morning sun and the neighbor's property. The back yard. Oh, the glorious back yard. It is fully landscaoped, and I mean fully, like a botanical garden with little patches of flower beds and gardens scattered throughout. The back of the yard overlooks a pasture with cows. It is also mostly shaded and just, whew. Awesome. I'm in love!

Caleb likes it too. He mae himself at home going in and out the doors, locking them, unlocking them, open, close, repeat x 5. The house has THREE back doors, a garage door, and a front door. Endless entertainment for my door-obsessed kiddo.

Now we are hoping the sellers will accept our offer or not counter too high. Trying not to get our hopes up.. yeah right... Read two paragraphs up.. !

Water everywhere.....

We have a water problem here. It has been raining cats and dogs here all night and all morning and our house is leaking!! The master bath has an inch of water sitting on the floor, the back door is leaking from underneath, and the ceiling has three spots, all related, where it is running down the wall and dripping into a bucket.. sigh. Every time it rains we have to plug up holes and pull out the bucket. It was the worst ever this time. It leaked in two places it had never before.

So we called the landlady and a contractor friend of Greg's to come and take a look and see what it will take to get it fixed permanently. The contractor seems to think it will be about $20K, which our poor landlady does not have. The next concern is black mold (or any mold) forming and causing a health hazard.

So we have some things to think about.. should we move and find another rent house? Find a house to buy or lease/purchase? Stay put and deal with the renovations? It is such a great savings here, so we are wary to find a new place that will be as cheap. Decisions decisions.

Catching up.

I've been busier than usual lately and I love it! Just sewing and bowing and tending to the kiddos, but it's taken up all my time. Sunday we went to the zoo with my dad and Melinda, and got to see the elephants up close for several minutes. Caleb really loved them.. just stood at the fence and stared for at least 10 minutes. They were just lazily eating their hay, taking a drink of water every now and then. I have never really watched elephants that closely before. Their trunks are one huge weird-looking muscle that reminds me a lot of a giant gray earthworm. The way it scrunches up and stretches out was cool... and kinda oogy at the same time. And their tails definitely look like big dead snakes hanging off the end of their butts. Elephants are cool!! (Sorry Kennedy, maybe you will get to see one soon!) We snagged a season pass to the zoo so we'll get to see the elephants a lot more this summer.

Speaking of animals, we have one roaming our back yard. And it's not Ladybug! In the building behind the fence there are large piles of poop up on the shelves, so Greg set a small trap three nights in a row and put dog food in it. Twice the thing turned the trap, set it off, stole the food, and ran off. The third night, Greg secured it so it couldn't move, and the thing set it off but couldn't reach the food.. SO he called Tyler Animal Control and this morning a lady brought us out a big mama trap and chained it to the post in the building. She took one look at the poop piles and said "That's definitely a raccoon." She baited it with a can of wet dog food (or it could have been bean dip or cat food ha) . So we expect to hear the chain rattling in the night and hopefully we'll catch us a raccoon! Get that thing outta here!

Took Carly to her four month checkup yesterday, and she is perfectly normal, yay! Our new pediatrician is the one I used to go to when I was a kid! Not that many years ago either... Anyway I had forgotten how thorough he is.. I promise we were in there with him for an hour! I guess it's a good thing but I really didn't expect to be at that appointment for an hour and a half. I wonder if that's the way patient care is here in Tyler. It'll be nice to feel cared about everywhere we go.

We are planning a trip to Austin for the end of May, to see Caleb and Carly's cousins and our friends Brian and Tiana and Kennedy. Brian has never gotten to meet either of our kids, so we are really excited to meet up with them!