Moved and Grooved

We are in our new apartment and the move was relatively painless. Of course, all our stuff is still in Dallas. It's been a rough few days, but we are surviving.

With the move comes an added desire to sell the house in Dallas even more. Paying rent and mortgage together blows chunks. We're lucky we are only starting both now, but the prospect of doing it over a long period of time will be hard. I might need to get a second j-o-b or something.

I just ended a contract for freelance work, so I could concentrate on the new j-o-b I'm working. It would have helped, but it didn't pay much, or often (every three months). So, if I take on extra work now, it'll be faster cash and less cerebrial.

Zoe seems to like the new apartment and has already managed to escape the back porch. She just walked through the railing bars. That was a fun moment ...

Yesterday morning around 7:45a.m., we went for a walk and saw an armadillo scrounging around in the parking lot. Zoe reacts to animals and birds with excitement these days and we watched the 'dillo for a while. She also squeaks in the car when she sees a bird.

The Old 'Hood

We have had a very nice stroke of luck becoming friends with one I dub Old Skool and his familia. Case and point, we've been living at their house in Austin the entire time we've been down here. They have been extremely generous and without that, our transition would be much less smooth.

But, the truth of the matter is we can't live there forever, or even until our house sells someday. We don't even know when the house will sell, so we made the decision to rent an apartment for a year.

One of the only negatives to this decision falls on the house in Dallas and when that will sell. Obviously, we're still paying a mortgage up there. The second negative is also a positive: while we won't get to enjoy our generous friends' company, we will be out of their way.

Actually, I just thought of one more negative that is unrelated: we rented a no-pet apartment. Walker will have to remain at Cicada Oaks for the time being and I'm still figuring out how to make that work well. Roscoe, well, I just don't know. The house-sitter is talking about how he loves the cat and might want to keep him and I'm inclined to let him.

Now for the good part; positives.

• We will live within walking distance of Zilker Park, Barton Springs, and Barton Springs Road (Shady Grove, Chuy's etc.).
• We will live closer to work and day care.
• Our generous friends (see above) are also giving us some old furniture (some to keep, some to borrow), so we won't need to take too much out of the Dallas house (which is staged)
• This one is personal: I will feel more "at home" in Austin, and less of a visitor--maybe I will even feel like an Austinite again.
• ACL for free off the back patio.
• Greenbelt is 20 feet behind the back patio.
• Pool!

Living Strong, Living in A-Town

It has been pretty busy around here. We've had something planned every weekend for the past few weeks. And there are at least two more weekends ahead that are booked.

Things we've done:

• Babysat for my bro and sister in-law so they could enhoy a "date night".


• Looked at Austin homes


• Visited with family from out of town (Dallas, hehe)


• Voluneered for the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Human Race

Things we are about to do:

• Drive up to the Dallas house to gather various items


• Drive to Midland for a fun baby shower


• Meet with a mortgage broker to line everything up for when the Dallas property sells

Funny Observation

At my previous job in Dallas, I covered new restaurants, bars, etc. There were often times, I had to compose a list of top burgers, or layout pages with food shots. After a few hours in the morning of doing this work, I usually began to crave a burger, Mexican food or something that I just finished working on (sushi, too).

These days at my new job, I work for a tech company. Instead of burgers, it's computer components. And the funny thing is now instead of craving a burger, I find myself thinking, "Ooooo, my next computer will have one of those."

Feeling Better

I must have gotten a 24-hour bug or something. Sunday afternoon, I started feeling woozy. Then, the feeling just got worse and worse until I went to bed at nine. If you know me, you know I don't normally do that. I stayed in bed for about an hour under two covers shivering until I fell asleep.

All day yesterday, I felt pretty out of it. Dizzy, hot and cold spells, and headaches. I had a hard time focusing at work. But since I'm still pretty new around the office, I didn't feel comfortable taking a sick day. Funny, I'd rather be comfortable about the appearance of my work ethic, than, well, just be comfortable.

I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. last night and today I feel great. I'm able to focus and no headaches, chills, etc.

So there you go. Sickness is hopefully gone. I say hopefully because as soon as I say it's gone for sure, I'll start to shiver or something; Murphy's Law.

I guess that was before Murphy became Robocop...

That one's for all you nerds out there.