Tomorrow and Yesterdays

I have to get up and get going early tomorrow. Father-in-law and I need to leave town before 8am to make the closing at 11. We will meet Kim there, sign our lives away, then take possession of our new home. This whole thing has been very rough. Not just all of the work involved with buying a house, but the details of changing addresses, utilities and such after 20 years in one place, but also of packing up our lives single-handedly. I am so very thankful that Kim will be here next week to help. He has a lot of stuff to pack himself, go through, and help his dad pack.
I have been thinking of our 20 years here. Of the home I loved until it became no longer my solitude and escape. When the trash moved in and claimed our life, making it impossible to live here.
I will miss watching snow or rain fall on the distant landscape.

I will miss spring, watching everything come to life, blooming, and deer wandering in the bluebonnets.

I will look through pictures of my garden before the neighbor made it a dump/junk yard and hope that I can make my new yard bloom as well.

But I won't miss the dried up desolation of summer. The season that I battle to keep things alive. I will take a large portion of my plants with  me. Moving so late in the summer is good in that I can dig things up and they have a good chance of surviving. Heck, if I can make things grow in this little bit of clay over rock, I shouldn't have a problem transplanting to better ground.

Finishing the house tour

 This is the huge master suite that will be Aaron's apartment (Kim's dad). The open door on the right leads to a huge walk in closet. To the right of the picture is french doors to the deck.

 This is his bathroom. Very elegant. At the right is a very nice shower and the vanity is behind the wall.

 This is what sold us on the house. To the left of the bed, opposite the closet is this room. Sink, storage, set up for microwave, and on the left side is enough room to put him a refrigerator and apartment sized stove. WIN!! He lives with us, but separate in his own little apartment!! He is excited. I can hardly wait for him to see it.

 This is his own little porch deck. That is his door outside.

 This is what you see when you go through the front door. The stairs. To the left is the office and half bath. Not sure about the intense blue of the stairwell and the upstairs hallway. We'll see.

 This is in the living room looking toward the kitchen and the backdoor.

 And looking from the kitchen wall toward the living room. I do not like the green in the room. Will be repainting it first thing. It was originally the same color as the dining room.

 This is the office to the left of the stairs. Nice storage closet. I can see my desk in there and books lining the walls. The red will have to go...it's just that one wall and is a bit jarring.

 Sadly, this is the only spare room until Matt gets to move out. This will be my studio, but I am sure family will want me to make it a guest room. sigh. It's not very big. Closet is decent sized, but nothing like I need.

 This will be Matt's room. It's larger than the other room and I can't talk him out of it. There is another small room off of it. I already know he will want to paint it a different color.

 This is a view of Kim's and my bedroom. It is set up as a nursery right now. The living room color can wait, I have to paint over this pink! I love how the small tray ceiling is trimmed out with decorative wood! It has a bathroom off of it. Nothing to write home about.

And I leave you with a view of the front door. I am crazy about the decorative wood beams and that fab door! In less than a month from now, I will be living there, trying to figure out where to put my furniture. I can hardly wait!

More of the new house

 I thought I would show you more of the outside of the house before I show the rest of the inside. I love the outside. Above is looking at the back of the house. Nice large covered porch off the kitchen and dining room. The wood clad part on the right is the laundry room which leads to Kim's dad's private space. I love the rustic supports. That's Kim looking around.

 This is the view from the front porch balcony. You can see the large shady treed area and the covered carport in front of the garage. This is where you park when you drive up. From the carport, the drive circles back around to the front.

 This is at the side of the garage in the backyard. The cement pad has a drain. I suppose it's for washing your 4H animals. That covered fenced in area behind it....chicken coop! I can have chickens again!!  You can see some trees to the left of the pen...that is fruit trees. This yard is so set up for me.

 This is the front porch. It even has it's own swing.

 And here is the upper balcony porch. The door out to it is in the hallway, so you don't have to go through anyone's room to get to it.

 This lovely view is from the balcony to the front entrance. Too cute! It needs some finishing up. I love the cedar fence in front. Just decorative.

 This is looking from the garage to the back of the house. Swing set not included. You can see the covered deck that leads to the master suite that will be Aaron's.

And this is the garage. It is begging for a barn red paint job! The left part I suppose you could park a car in, but it has a decked out workshop that will be put to very good use. The right side is definitely large enough for a vehicle, but will be storage for now. There is a nice set of steps inside that lead up to the loft area...more great storage. Behind the garage is an open shed that is very large. It houses the chicken house and tons of storage area.

New Home

This has been quite an adventure so far. Drama, heartache, physical pain, emotional pain, joy, a thrill ride. We found the house of our dreams. Well, honestly, we never dreamed of finding a house like this. It is what Kim and I have always loved. The story of it is long, so I will just do a digest of it right now and give you pictures.
We found it in the Hill Country, just a couple of miles outside of New Braunfels. It is in a subdivision called Pleasant Valley, on a road called Pleasant Lane. Perfect. We  just got the inspection on it, which of course, showed problems that we now have to work out with the seller.

 Welcome to 151 Pleasant Lane. It is built in the typical German Texas style with limestone and rustic posts. There are lots of large trees and tons of cute details.

 When you walk in the front door, you see the living room, dining room and around the corner is the kitchen. Right in front of the door is the staircase which will be in another post. To the left of the stairs is an office and half bath.

 This is the dining area. I love the huge windows and wood clad ceiling.

 The kitchen is fantastic. I like that the cabinet doors are beadboard type. The door at the far end is a very large butler's pantry with plenty of storage. And the kitchen isn't cut off from the rest of the house. Hurrah!

 Just outside the door of the dining room is a covered patio and gazebo! I can see drinking my morning coffee on that gazebo.The yard is a dream. As a gardener, I am going to have a blast here!

Look to the left of the previous picture, and there is a hot tub. Divine. The swing you see overlooks a small pond that is full of water lilies and frogs. I will have to get some koi to keep the pond clean. The deck edge you see on the left is off the added on Master Suite that will house Kim's dad. It is perfect for him...large and with a room set up to be a kitchenette.
We are set up to take possession on the 27th of this month. I hope all goes well. I think we will be very happy here. More pictures will be posted later, but I wanted to get some highlights on here now.

I had a house and lost it

I want out of this stinking hellhole...badly. I love my house, but neighbors have made it stressful to live here. So after discussing it with Kim, I started hunting. My sister found this one. It has 6 bedrooms and over 6 wooded acres, just a few blocks from a lake. The house is huge, the yard is wonderful. It needs painting inside and out, a few fixups, and the yard hasn't been touched in a couple of years. It was priced over 50k under what it would be valued at if it were in top form. Two problems knocked me out of my dream home. Hubby balking, and the bank ignoring me. The bank said we were approved for a loan on the needed amount, but I couldn't get the prequalifying letter from them. I picked the loan officer that was too busy and had her head too far up her behind to be bothered to do anything in a timely manner. She never would return my calls and despite telling her exactly what I needed, she still questioned me.
So now we are a back up bid in case the other one doesn't go through. I will not say anymore about how I feel about this except that I am heartbroken. I found the home of my dreams and it was taken from me. I really resent people who tell me that something better will come along. I don't believe that for a second. I am stuck in this hellhole, the butthole of Texas and if I don't stop now I will be crying again.
Oh, and right now there is yet another Mexican Polka party going on. Going to be a real peaceful evening, I can already tell.