To Trade or Not to Trade

Do we sell the Infiniti and the Expedition and get something that requires no car payments for the next three years? I don't feel like I've driven it enough to sell it. :-( But, the thought of no car payment is pretty compelling...

So, we went test driving today. At the top of the potential list is the Mazda 3 wagon. Greg spoke to a guy that posts regularly on the Miata boards and told us who to see in Austin. We show up and the guy actually looked around, said, yeah... we're kinda busy, can you come back later? Ummmm, do you want to sell us a car or not? So, we left. Just up the road is the brand new spanking Infinit dealership and we stopped in to inquire about replacing the center caps that some jackass stole off our car. The guy tell us that the parts guys are only there Monday through Friday. Bummer. We were just chatting and he asked us where we bought our car, and we said Dallas. His reply, oh at Sewell .... No, at Crest from a guy named Chad. Chad May he replies? Yeah, that's the guy. He says the name a little bit louder and out from the other room pops Chad! one and the same. What a small freaking world, huh? He and his family just moved down here at the beginning of summer. He's not selling anymore - just working numbers in Finance. He's going to see what he can come up with for us... In the meantime, the sales guy did give us the keys to a brand new FX and let us take it out for a bit. Sigh... ummm, yeah - that would NOT be downsizing, but what a NICE car. It's like the wagon version of the G. :-)

Also drove the Saturn Vue (eh), the Hyundai Sonata (eh) and the Hyundai Tucson (eh). Of course, it felt like it was 112 degrees and by the end of the day, I was tired of looking at cars. I like my G. I think that's my conclusion. Car payments suck, yes... but I like my car. I'm not done with it yet. I just have to convince Greg of that fact... And somehow find a way to pay for my nice car that I love. Dang... thought I had a picture of the new car on the other computer, but I can't find it at the moment...

Sigh... what to do?

We've Been Here How Long?

Holy moly batman! We've been in Austin for almost a month already! Where does the time go? It has been an eventful week. Last Monday, Greg and I had dinner at Ming's and caught some jazz tunes. Very nice - I mean seriously, where else can you go for Chinese food and get a chick singing smokey jazz accompanied by piano, drums, sax, et al? Tuesday was our very first attempt at cooking at home. I know, shocking - but we didn't burn down the house. The rice was a bit burnt, but otherwise, not bad for first attempt. :-) Wednesday, we met Greg's coworker from Prodika and his wife for dinner at Chuys (yummm). Thursday was a rockstar day. Dinner with Brandon and Goat, then stopped by Sherlock's to hear some music - where my old friend Patrick Donahue was playing. He's got a new band these days Rusttones. Then, it gets even better...we all went to the midnight showing of Superbad at the Alamo Drafthouse. What a great day, huh? Good food, drinks, friends, music, movies... sigh, it was fabu! Friday night Greg and I drove up to Georgetown and we took my grandparents to dinner. They are just too cute - we spent hours listening to old stories of when they first met, their parents, and how it used to be. It was good to catch up and just listen.



And now, poof - here it is again Monday night. The house is almost all unpacked, just don't ask us to get anything out of the closet in the office. When you open the door, it's obvious that we both grew up on Tetris... let's just leave it at that! We never did find our teacups though -- I hope we're able to get our claim processed and get the cups replaced soon. I know - we probably don't need the cups, but our china set will look funny with saucers and no cups!



Allrighty, well - I'm off to read or do something productive for a bit.

One box, two box, three box, four!

What does one do when one has boxes piled to the ceiling? Buy more stuff. :-) Perhaps I should clarify... Greg and I spent an exciting hour and a half yesterday at Ikea. We are now the proud owners of several new book cases on which we will store all the things in our boxes. That's the plan anyways. Since we no longer have an attic or a garage to store things -- they have to be unpacked or left in boxes piled in the corner. Neither of us feel the fung shei of the room will be improved with a stack of mismatched boxes in the corner... so we've opted to unpack. Now we have to spend tomorrow getting everything out of the office/spare room so that we can build the bookcases then haul it all back into the room.

The best part of yesterday however, was stopping to visit my grandparents after Ikea. Grandpa Mike had eyelid surgery last week, and Grandma Jeanne is having a really tough time with her knees. So - we gave them a call and of course they welcomed us over for an hour's visit. Grandpa said the drugs have finally worn off from the surgery, so he's feeling MUCH better! And his eyes look great - the procedure really opened up his vision. That good because I know Grandma Jeanne was a bit worried. I hope the knee doctor next week has some good news. I'll have to do some research on knee replacement, because I'm pretty sure that will be the recommended next step. It's nice living close to them again.

Austin, baby, yeah!

Well, we made it to Austin. (Pictures of the new digs soon...) Our stuff is still somewhere between Fort Worth and here however. Seriously people, is it that hard to find two guys to drive 200 miles south? My original delivery window was Sunday - Tuesday. I called today, and the woman said our stuff would be here on Wednesday. I just hate the thought of it all sitting and melting on a hot truck for no apparent reason... but guess I don't have a lot of say in the matter.

Greg and I made it down here on Saturday and we blew up the air mattress, then looked at each other and laughed. In our effort to conserve space in our cars -- seems we packed ALL the towels, pillows, sheets, etc. Oops. Made a quick trip to Bed Bath and Beyond to pick up a shower curtain (a thank you again to all friends/family who gave us gift cards as wedding gifts) and then we headed over to Andy and Sarah's to raid their linen closet. Thankfully, they were nice enough to loan us the essentials.

It's great being back here. The lay of the land has already started coming back to me and I've already met up with friends and family. I really missed Austin. Not sure what it is about this place, but it's just comfortable. I like the ecclectic mix that calls this place home.

Wow - We have ALOT of Crap

So, we're moving along... the papers are signed (minor drama), and the money is in the bank - literally in the bank. The movers come tomorrow, we sign the lease on the new place this Saturday, and our 18 wheeler of crap should arrive in Austin sometime between Sunday and next Tuesday.

I'm up to box number 40 in the kitchen alone. How scary is that? Granted, there is some random stuff packed in the boxes too -- but the majority of it is all kitchen stuff. This from the couple that doesn't cook! Guess things are about to REALLY change for us. I'm going to put all my Food Network watching to use. I'm actually looking forward to it.... I can follow a recipe like nobody's business. (Unless of course the temperatures are written in Celcius - I speak from experience.)

Greg just called from the airport to say that his plane is running late. He hadn't heard the news of the exploding natural gas tanks here in Dallas. I would bet anything it's disrupted air travel -- I know it's still got freeways shut down, we can see that from our office. Yikes.

Anywho, we'll be up tonight till everything is packed. Next time I write, our first house will be gone. A little sad actually... alas, at least there is lots of excitement in the air for us and the future.

Stress

So... now the close is set to happen tomorrow evening at 6pm. Fingers crossed. It was quite an adventure this week in getting everything set up. The buyers had a sudden realization that we needed to close sooner in order to keep their loan - something about leaving the DISD district within 40 days of the school year? Anyways, since the close date is now sooner - we changed our schedules to accommodate them... they had the nerve to ask if we'd throw in the washer/dryer for free since we'd be essentially leasing the house from them for an additional 5 days.

So wait, I change my schedule to accommodate you because you screwed up -- and then you want me to pay you? You must be kidding!

I just spoke with our realtor, and we're still a go. Paperwork is being faxed from one place to another and back again. The buyers are going to tromp through my house one last time tonight for their final inspection, and then ba-da-bing. One sold house. Soon, there will be fireworks and dancing in the streets to celebrate. I'll let you know when to crack open the champagne. Until then, stress over every tiny detail. Sigh, guess that's just the way it goes.

We Sold the House!

Wait -- I'm not ready to pack! Ahhhhhh!! No really, I suppose this is a much better problem to have than having the house sit on the market for ages. We're waiting to hear what the inspector said over the weekend, but otherwise, we are UNDER CONTRACT! Woo hoo! I think all the subliminal "Buy My House" tactics may have actually worked.

The catch -- The Triangle. How badly do we want to live there? Can Matt the leasing agent save the day? Greg should be talking to him again today in a last ditch attempt to sort out the move-in date and the availability. I really like the apartments - but the more we talk, life would be so much easier if we found a place with immediate availability. Fingers crossed that Matt can work some magic. I really like the complex.

Lots to do in the meantime....