Blessed

The last couple of weeks have been pretty eventful around our house. In my previous post, I mentioned that my dear friend, Erin had come into town for a visit. As expected, the time went by way too fast. We really didn't do too much as far as tourist attractions. Mostly, we just enjoyed each other's company through the everyday life events like grocery shopping, baseball games, family time and girlfriend conversation. We did visit the Dallas Arboretum, which was nice. It would have been much more fun had the weather cooperated, but it was still nice nonetheless. Anyway, the time spent together was much needed. Even though I hated to see her head back home, I was so grateful that she came.

A couple of days after Erin boarded a plane home, I was back at the airport picking up our next house guests. Kenny's younger brother, Justin and his wife Jessica decided that they would come out for a visit. When Jessica told me that they were thinking about taking vacation out this way, I was a bit surprised. I honestly thought that Texas was the LAST place they'd want to come...especially considering that for the same airfare, they could have gone to Costa Rica. Hmmm...Texas? Costa Rica? I don't get it, but hey...I was very excited that they did decide to come and hang out.

We definitely did more of the tourist type of thing with them. We visited the JFK 6th Floor Museum, Six Flags over Texas, The Fort Worth Stockyards and even spent an afternoon horseback riding along Grapevine Lake. The horseback riding was a blast. It was their idea....and I'm glad that they had it. We were able to take Jason and Dallas both. (Jason got his own horse and Dallas rode with the trail guide.) And had Jason not been yelling at his horse the whole time for snacking, I'm sure we would have seen some white tail deer, coyotes and bobcats. Turns out the only other animal we saw aside from the horses were a couple of dogs and a few goats that hung around the stables.

Considering that Justin and Jessica were here during Halloween, we also took in a Pumpkin Patch and enjoyed our first Trick or Treating adventure around the neighborhood.

Aside from a nasty bug that worked its way around the boys and Jessica, the time spent together was really nice. We were able to show them around town and take them to some of our favorite places to eat. Jessica even told me that Texas wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Yeah, that's what I think too. Once you get use to it, it starts to grow on you. Mind you, you'll never hear me say that Texas is my dream location....but it's turning out to be alright.

On one final note, we have taken our house in Reno off the market and rented it out. We're still not able to charge enough rent to cover our payment, but it's a lot easier to fork out an additional $150 bucks a month vs $1500. I just hope that these tenants work out better than our last set. And in another year or two, maybe the market will have rebounded. In the meantime, we'll rent out the house in Reno and then try to find something for us to buy around here. In fact, we've already got our eyes on a house around the corner from us that is bank owned. Let's just hope that they bank is willing to get it off their books for the price we want to pay.

Well, I must say that it feels great to finally have the house off of our back and to have been filled up with the love that our house guests brought. It makes the upcoming Thanksgiving season more meaningful. We certainly are a blessed family.

Friday the 13th

We had quite the storm rip through the DFW area last night. This image is of the hail that was coming down in parts of the metroplex. (Hail on left, baseball for comparison on right.) Luckily, we escaped that lovely aspect of the storm.

We were actually in the storm's path last night. The boys had a baseball game in West Fort Worth as the storm began to roll into the Metroplex. Obviously, the game was called once the monsoon hit. I don't think anyone even waited for official word....once the downpour of rain came, everyone just scattered like roaches when the lights come on.

As we were heading home, tornado warnings began to surface. The weird thing was the fact that we had "rain-wraps" where apparently the rain swirling around in the storm clouds made it more difficult to determine what the circular movement in the clouds was. I don't know...sounds like the news doing their best to sensationalize everything once again.

At one point, we were only a couple of miles away from where a tornado touched down. Luckily, as the storm headed NW, we headed due north toward our home. All the while, I sat there dumbfounded at the fact that the new homebuilders out here don't include a basement option. I've learned that in fact, we are in Tornado Alley (wish I knew this before we decided to make the relocation). I suppose it's a matter of everyone's willingness to roll the dice and believe that the likes of yesterday's storm will be few and far between.

I suppose it could have been worse. One year ago....the very first weekend we officially called Texas our home, the tornado sirens were blaring and reports were coming in of softball sized hail heading toward us. Not quite the welcome to Texas I was hoping for.

All in all, the most we suffered is the boys game getting cancelled and our clothes getting drenched. It could have been much worse. Sadly, a police officer lost his life yesterday due to the storm. So, we count our blessings as a family and pray for better weather today.

Sell...sell...sell

Sesame Street is entertaining Keegan so I guess it's a good time to blog. Since I've been limited to my laptop access for the last week, I've got a few things that I'd like to write about. So...let me pick one....um....let's talk about the house.

Our house in Reno is back on the market. This job transfer to Texas couldn't have happened at a worse time when it comes to real estate. A year and a half ago, our model in our neighborhood was going for $60k more than what we have it on the market for today. I can live with that. There is still plenty of profit for us in what we have it listed for. The problem is that it isn't selling.

A year ago, we put it on the market. It stayed there for 6 months without one offer. We were competitively priced, but in a saturated market. After 6 months, we had no other option but to rent it out. That situation didn't turn out so well...and is quite honestly worthy of another blog post on the value of keeping one's word.

Two days ago, our realtor called to let us know that by this weekend, we may have our first offer. Although it sounds very promising, I am trying to not get my hopes up. However, that is extrememly difficult.

Having our house remain unsold makes us question whether or not we made the right decision in coming here. If it would just sell, our family could get on with our life here in Texas. Kenny wouldn't have to worry about gobbling up every overtime hour that is offered....the boys could participate in customizing their own room and backyard play area....I guess we're all just looking for some closure and reassurance that our relocation was the right thing. So far, it feels less than right. And I believe that the emotional weight of still owning our house in Reno is one of the reasons that we feel like square pegs here....and I'm tired of feeling that way. In fact, I don't wrestle with the emotions of this relocation as much today as I did in 2006. I finally feel like Texas can be a great place for us if we'll just let it be so. But until our house in Reno sells, I know the uncertainty of our decision will loom over our heads.

Deep down, I'm hoping that by Monday I'll be able to post the good news of an acceptable offer. I'm ready to move forward but feel helplessly paralized until that house sells. It's hard to lay down roots when they're still grounded in another state. Here's hoping for a successful tug.

Don't Mess With Texas

One of the very first things that baffled me when we begrudgingly moved to Texas was the pride that most Texans had regarding their home state. You see it everywhere, "Don't Mess With Texas" bumper stickers...HUGE lone stars adorning houses...Texas flag colored clothing and hood ornaments...the list goes on and on and on. Literally, Texas pride is EVERYWHERE! Good grief, they've even got a professional football team named after them; the Houston TEXANS. As if being a Texan is something in and of itself that should be regarded with grand respect. You'd think that the sun rises and sets for this State alone.


Don't get me wrong, Texas is a decent place. The schools are phenomenal, the people appear to be friendlier than most you encounter in California, housing prices are very affordable, and where else will you find families that deepen their bond with one another through their frenzied obsession with Friday night high school football? Yet, I still am caught up in amusement over the pride...the Texas pride.

I believe that it starts early...they must brain wash their young from the very beginning. How else could any human being deny such simple facts like: Whataburger is NOT better than In-N-Out Burger. It doesn't even come close....not even a smidget. And landscape beauty....I hate to tell you, but Texas doesn't compare to the slices of heaven known as:

• Whidbey Island, Washington
• Lithia Park in Ashland, OR
• Lake Tahoe, CA/NV
• Any city along the northern CA/OR coastline
• Sierra Nevadas
• City of San Francisco
• Puget Sound, Washington
• Heck, even the populous city of Bieber, CA

These are just a few of the areas that I've been to personally that cast a dark shadow on the conspiracy theory that Texas is the state above all states. I don't know if Texans are in denial or just plain stupid. Whatever the reason is, I don't get it. The sense of pride that oozes from these creatures is downright spooky. Needless to say, I don't let my children drink the water here.

I guess my attitude is so sour simple because I never truly wanted to come here in the first place. It's humid, the bugs are larger and more rampant, people have a funny accent which inevitably my children will pick up. And try as I might, my negative attitude shatters any good that might surround me regarding this state. As I confessed to my husband yesterday, I guess I am just hard to impress. I've seen some of the most spectacular views in this country...and Texas doesn't have any of them. So when I hear of a beautiful waterfall area in a "mountain range" just north of where we live...and I take the day to surprise my family with a drive to such place, I expect to see this...
or this....

I do not, however, expect to see THIS.....

Keep in mind, this picture is very flattering....the water actually seems clean displayed here unlike the true poop brown color that it was yesterday.

So call me hard to impress. I'm fine with that. I know where I've seen true beauty and I know what parts of the country truly have the right to puff out their chests with pride. And for this outdoors-woman and lover of landscape beauty, Texas ain't one of 'em.