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!