Archive for August, 2009

Well, our moving sale was a big success. By estimations of “stuff” in the driveway, we got rid of about half of it. We sold the dresser, the coffee/sofa/end tables, the craft desk, the bookcases, and a bunch of smaller things, too. Emil’s mom came over for a while, and we got to hang out with Jessica some and even see Casey for like a minute. We even got to see one of my brides and her mom who were sprucing up a new first grade classroom in Bryan!

At the end of the day, we were both exhausted. I was also in quite a bit of pain from head to toe. Still, it was worth getting rid of all that stuff and finding new room/space in our lives.

The next phase is for me to go to Bryan for a couple of days and pack the remaining stuff. Then, Emil will join me with the moving truck to take all our remaining stuff to Austin (to a storage unit.) That gives us a weekend before closing in case we need extra time for any projects. Hopefully, we’ll get to spend that wekeend in Austin just hanging out in our town.

Guess where we’re going this weekend? That’s right, Bryan!

We’ll be holding a

We need to get rid of some furniture we don’t want to keep/store. Hopefully, we’ll sell enough stuff to be able to rent a smaller storage unit or one that isn’t climate controlled.

So, stop by Saturday morning if you need any of these things:

• coffee, sofa, and 2 end tables
• couch (hide-a-bed, one corner of torn fabric)
• wooden office cubbies
• dresser
• long, black “crafting” table (one draw is broken)
• 2 bookcases
• heavy duty extension ladder, one of the long ones
• microwave (super nice)
• birdbath
• fishing poles
• unbuilt models
• CDs
• end tables
• Halloween decor
• Christmas decor
• Aggie tshirts
• 8′x12′ bound carpet/rug

I’m sure we’ll find more.

We don’t want to jinx anything with the contract and pending sale of the house, but we also know that both our vehicles are on their last legs: they are 9 years old! And, my truck qualifies for the cash-for-clunkers program if we can catch it when it has money.

With all that has happened in the last few years, we never have gotten around to replacing his car. We’ve had a couple of little uh-oh scares with both our vehicles in the last few months, so when we close on the house, we plan to replace my truck since it has the most mileage and wear.

Tonight, we drove the 2010 Toyota Prius and the 2009 Scion xD and liked them both. We also looked at—and lauged at—the Smart for Two. There is about a $10,000 price difference between the Prius and the xD, so we’ll more likely consider the Scion. The one we drove is “electric wasabi” green and had a ton of nice features inside. We also stopped at Car Max to see what they had. There are some very good deals, there, too. We just found that you have to be careful. Some of the cars there seem like a great deal, but we suspect are going to be expensive to maintain (mileage, parts/repairs, etc.).

We aren’t going to buy anything until after the house closes, but it was nice to look for and drive a new car.

In 2000, I stopped to get gas at an Exxon station in College Station. I was being “good” and filled up with 94 octane. Unfortunately, the gas tank in the ground had been filled with diesel! (Wellborn Petroleum’s mistake and payment for repairs is it’s own story.) Nearing the end of the warranty and with no promise from Nissan that I’d not have problems in the future, we replaced the truck. Within a month, Emil’s truck died. So, the day we went to pick up my new truck, we also bought him a new car. Two new cars at once almost killed us, but it had to be done. A couple of years later, we wanted to go ahead and replace Emil’s car (since we had cheaped out on it) but then ended up getting a new house instead!

Hang

Friday night, we headed to Bryan, had dinner with some friends, went out for a drink at a new bar in Northgate and one other drink in a place where we could talk. Then, we headed home and crashed!

Tree through Plan D

I woke up at 9am and headed outside to start working on the tree that had fallen the weekend before. There were a bunch of little branches to be removed. At about 10:30, I heard voices and figured it was Jes wandering next door to see the tree. No, it was a Realtor I knew from BNI with a family in tow. I told her we had a contract; she said she knew and brought them by anyway. GREAT! a Plan C! So, I welcomed them inside and ran upstairs to make sure Emil was awake. We scurried out of there, so they could look at the house.

After we got back from brunch, we were working on the tree some more when I heard voices again. A young woman and her mom had stopped by and grabbed a flier. So, I let them in, gave the very brief tour of the main floor and then let them browse upstairs. When they left, they seemed very interested and said they’d have their Realtor contact our’s. Yay! A Plan D!!!

After we got the tree cleared out of the main lines of sight, we walked across the creek it straddled and found some kind of root problem that made it black on the inside. Ever since the neighbor behind us installed a hot tub, we joked that he needed to build us a bridge. Now, we have one! Since he’s never home and never uses it, this is an excellent selling point!

Packing an Omen

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing. Our plan was to move all our camping gear, since we plan to camp some weekends in the fall. We also grabbed other stuff we’d missed along the way. At one point, Cady wandered next door to visit and arrived just in time to witness me getting stung by a red wasp. I take this as an omen and sign that this is all meant to be and that one of these plans will follow all the way through to a closing. You may remember that when we moved into the house, we disturbed a nest of yellow jackets (Since the guy before us wasn’t living there, they made a corner of the front porch their home.) Emil and a neice and nephew all got stung, but I somehow survived by only killing the little bastages. I have also killed a lot of red wasps while living on that wooded lot. Early each season, I used to follow them to their nest and douse it with chemicals and watch them fall to their poisoned deaths. So, it’s just that I got stung. It’s also worth it since I know have proof in the way I view the world that this whole house-selling thing is really happening the way it was meant to be.

Back to ATX

After we filled the truck with almost all we wanted to move (the bicycles just wouldn’t fit unless we felt like strapping them to the roof), we grabbed Pepe’s burritos—chili for Emil, queso for me—and then headed back to Austin. We unloaded the truck and sorted/organized a few things.

Fancy Dinner

We intended to grab something little for supper, but were running out of time since a lot of places stop serving at 9pm. We weren’t very hungry, so when Emil spied s sushi place, we popped in. At $4 each $18 for four and with a menu where there was nothing Emil would eat, we left. I’m sure the place is very good because at 9pm, they were packed. We’d been wanting to go to Cool River to people watch (it’s the local Cougar bar! what FUN!) and knew they had a restaurant, too. Find my review on Yelp. We spent way more money than we wanted (especially since we were just going to snack) and weren’t exactly dressed for such a place, but it was a fabulous meal and a nice treat after a very hard day.

It’s not Sunday

At the end of the day, Emil said, “You know what’s awesome? We don’t have to work tomorrow.” He’s right. we’d done more stuff in the day than we usually do in a weekend. Sunday is a great day to rest and unpack a few things.

I give the Tipsy Turtle a mediocre score. I’m glad to see more frozen drinks, especially with the heat. The fixtures and furnishings are nice. The music is entirely too loud. The drinks were fine, but they didn’t have margaritas or daquiris freezing on a very busy night. Since the neighbor-owners are successful, I’m sure TT will be, too. I think if College Station would put back the legal ability to walk around with a drink in your hand, that it would be hugely successful. That is exactly the kind of drink you get for people watching on the back promenade of Northgate.

Plan B is a couple that is looking at the house on Monday evening. They would have been in the running for it, but were insistent that only “their” Realtor could show them the house. One of our Realtors could have shown it or let them in alone to see it; I could have driven over to let them in. One of her/their/our Realtor friends could have shown it…. Before their Realtor got back in town from her vacation, we had a contract from someone else. You snooze, you lose!)

As of late Thursday night, we have secured a contract on our house! The buyer has a 7-day option period and 15 days to finish securing financing and then we are set to close on August 28th.

While we are thrilled, we are also cautious. We both feel a little better, but will be thrilled when this is all over.

To those who have listened to us (ahem. me.) whine and fuss, thank you for your patience.

Wish us luck in the direction of a SOLD sign. We’re aiming for glorious inspections, quick financing, and a smooth closing.

And like we have most of the weekends since we moved, we went back to Bryan this weekend. Instead of some of the projects we had planned—like removing the parts of the fallen tree that were leaning on one of our decks–we packed. Surely, we’ll be back to make the minor repairs found by the inspectors and then again with a moving truck to take the rest of our belongings to storage.

We are one step closer to being real residents of Austin!