She's really excited about her gasoline

She's not even the driver.

Those wacky neighbors

I have no idea what's going on here. Well, okay, that's not true. I have some idea. There's a hose connected to the exterior faucet that's set up to go through an open window into a bedroom. So how come I don't feel enlightened?

Truckvertible

Caught that a few weeks back.

Like dyslexics don't have it hard enough

Raised letters? Really?

Murphy's law (for moving)

On top of the normal moving difficulties and stresses, we got a bunch of other whammies:

• Kieran got sick Wednesday (day before)


• Uma got sick Thursday (day of)


• Flooring was only half completed when the moving truck showed up, so the movers we hired couldn't do the other half of what they were hired for: putting everything where it belongs


• Discovered flooring on site was damaged, as well as flooring in Austin warehouse and flooring in Houston warehouse. Eventually had them finish installation with the damaged flooring, which happened on Saturday. As a result, we had to dig through the garage box piles whenever we needed something for 2 days until the flooring installers put most things roughly where they were supposed to go.


• Wore out my back moving stuff that the movers should have moved (though it seems to be recovering).


• I checked in a bunch of bad code at work earlier in the week because I was distracted by the dozen things I had to do. That caused a bunch of problems when the site got updated, and I was in no position to clean up the mess.


• Discovered that the house didn't have a gas line for the dryer when the movers asked how to hook it up. Hopefully today will see the arrival of our electric dryer so we can have clean clothes.


• House was full of dust from work on flooring, filling everyone's sinuses with junk, and making everything grimy.

Note that much of this happened when we needed to be fixing and cleaning the old house to prep it for sale. We did as much as we could, but not as much as we should have been able to do.

Re damaged flooring: the agreement is that they're going to rip it all out and replace it in a month or two when they can get undamaged replacements at their cost. I personally think they need to do better than that, as this caused us huge problems.

A neighborhood mystery solved?

I may have mentioned that we have some crappy neighbors at the old house. My pal Samir moved out in the summer of 2008, and it was purchased for use as a rental. The first round of tenants were painfully hip and occasionally rowdy, but generally tolerable. Their replacements.... well, they're something else. They've had a car up on blocks since they arrived in November. They used to pile up garbage and junk outside. They've got some weird pavilion set up on the front lawn. It's the sort of thing that makes you want a HOA (which the new neighborhood has). They have 2 adults and 6 kids between 2 and 14 living in a 1700 sf 4-bedroom. It's nuts.

Anyway. That's not the mystery. For a few weeks, we've been hearing some kind of engine coming from their garage. I've been wondering what it is. Since the man of the house is something of a fixer, I figured it was an air compressor for running pneumatic tools. Still, it was strange how often it was on. At night, for instance, or when nobody seemed to be home. How much compressed air does one man need?

The other day, as we were cleaning out the old house, I heard a clue, perhaps the only necessary clue. A friend of theirs that I'd seen before came to visit. As I was throwing away trash (trying to set a good example) or something like that, I overheard the friend ask a single question (imagine the appropriate Texas redneck accent): "So whaddya'll gotta do to get the electricity turned back on?"

Moving day disaster

Short version: flooring wasn't completed when it was supposed to be, so the movers couldn't put most things inside. They finally finished the flooring today. The installers moved some stuff in, but we're still lost in a sea of boxes. At least I have my interwebs, my precious precious interwebs.

Last night in the "old" house

Feels very strange. Seven long and fruitful years. I can't wrap my mind around leaving. You spend all this time so intimately tied up with this structure. Its shape and appearance dictate so much of what you do and feel. Then abruptly you're gone. Not only do you leave, but you can never even go back. The most you can do is drive by and look in from the outside. The door to that part of your life closes and can't be opened again.

A smaller house update

Not as much has happened since the last update as we near the end.

They finally put the garage door windows in.

Gutters.

Nice that they insulate the exterior faucets.

Some pipes sticking out of the walls for some reason.

More gutters. Hey, what's that wooden thing there?

Rear steps.

More gutters.

Close-up of the steps.

Kitchen backsplash, faucet, and appliances are in.

Utility room plumbing. Down at the end is the plumbing for a sink. We're not having them put it in because they charged $1000 just for the sink and installation.

Utility lighting in the utility room.

Powder room. Just so you know for when you come to visit.

Still have our hole in the floor.

Master shower is just about done.

Crown molding over master bedroom door. Also shows the extra high ceiling.

Upstairs small bathroom finishes up.

Closing in on closing

We've got a tentative closing date of March 30. I don't expect it to slip much, both based on the condition of the house and the fact that March 31 is the last day of the quarter. On with the show.

Not much new on the outside.

Fence!

Condensers!

Things that keep water from coming in the vents!

Flood lights.

Mostly the same from the back, but for one subtle detail: they graded it. The drop-off from the house isn't so severe now.

More flood lights.

The stoop was there before, but the light wasn't.

Garage is painted now, with light switches, outlets, and so forth. The yellow wire is for the garage door openers, so there's no visible wire.

There's the other end of the garage door opener wiring.

Tile is in. I'm not super excited about this tile, but I'm not super excited about any floor tile.

The "valet" area is painted now. Also there's blonde hair.

Tiled powder bathroom.

Unexpected floor hole (in the rear study).

Looking out from the rear study with the painted doors.

Light fixtures are in. That kind of light fixture always looks like a breast to me. It's going to be replaced by a ceiling fan/light eventually.

Master bedroom wall sconces. Jessica likes lots of light to read, so we'll probably still have table lamps. This was from the standard lighting line. I expected uglier.

Painted closet door.

Master shower tile work-in-progress.

One of the vanities. The other one is basically the same, but the picture was blurry.

Linen closet/children's hidey hole.

Painted living room.

Ceiling fan.

Countertops are in, though hidden.

Here's a closeup, plus the 60/40 undermount sink.

Tile in the breakfast room.

Pantry.

Fireplace hearth. Can't fall very far from that.

Dining room. That chandelier wouldn't have been my top choice, but I think it's okay. I'm not planning on replacing everything anymore.

Doors at the front study.

Crown molding at the entry.

Entry lighting, very similar to, if not the same as, the dining room.

Railings have been stained and revealed.

Small bathroom vanity.

Fourth bedroom closet.

What I'm calling the "long bathroom."

Uma's room, and part of the view out.

Future home of electric car charger.