Life in the Texas-lane

Holy crap, is this my second post of the day?!  Whoa!  This is some serious shenanigans!

Snow in October:  Nope, not in Texas.  Nolan and I made a quick trip up to Minnesota to visit my folks, Jeff, and Jeff's boyfriend.  We flew up on Wednesday evening and came back on Monday.  It was pretty low-key, which was exactly what I wanted.  Nolan had a blast hanging out with his grandparents, and I had a blast letting him getting spoiled with attention.

Waiting for the plane to leave DFW

Selfie!

Poor Eunice.

Mom and Dad at the Friendly Inn

Think Grandma likes this guy just a little bit?

We had a great mini-vacation, and it would have been fun to see more people but time just did not allow for it to happen.  The good news, though, is that plane tickets from MSP to DFW are significantly cheaper than from MSP to Spokane.  I anticipate Nolie and I making more trips up to Minnesota in the coming months.

Der Schule: School is coming along well. I'm taking three full-time classes which definitely keeps me busy, but I'm not overwhelmed (thank God).  I'm hoping to be done after winter quarter.  One of my instructors is being very helpful with finding substitute classes for me to take online, which will help me graduate after next quarter.  Huzzah!

Overall:  Things in Texas are going better.  We've gone out to dinner a couple of times with Brian's Italian co-worker and his lady-friend, and I've gotten on friendly terms with  a couple of people at Lifetime Fitness. I still think Texas is ugly and stupid, but it's not so bad.  We're beginning to discover a rhythm, and the fact that we are less than two months away from being in our house is just awesome.

At one of the many Mexican restaurants in this area.

Live music at Grover's Bar and Grill

Federico and Cristi at Grover's.

Nolan listening/watching Dustin Perkins play at Grover's.

Moving forward:  Stay tuned for more updates on our house.  We'll be going by there this weekend to see how it's coming along.  

67 Days Down, 58 Days To Go

Brian and I knew we were at about the halfway point in our staying in our apartment.  I decided I would count the actual number and I was tickled to learn we are nine days past the halfway point.  Huzzah!

On December 20 we will leave this...

... and move into this!

Brian and I took a bunch of pictures 10 days ago (we try and go up every Saturday and actually walk through the house).  See below for your viewing pleasure!  

Side note:  Thank you to everybody who recommended taking pictures of the "guts" of the house before they put up drywall. I have a ton more pictures on Brian's phone, so I plan on organizing them all into a sort of manual or something.

Hmmm.....

Breaker box in the garage

Water heater platform in the garage.

I think this si the backside of the laundry room, but I could be hallucinating again.

GAS DRYER

Plumbing for sink and/or dishwasher in the center island.

Stuff that makes our house warm.  Or cold.  Or both?

Upstairs in the loft area.

Somebody needs to clean this tub.  Brian?

Hookup for sinks in the master bath.

Nolie getting ready to take a shower or a bath.

In the master bath looking towards master bedroom.

More stuff that does stuff.

Climbing the stairs

The hidden "dead space" we thought one bedroom had
will actually house that metal tube.

Two Halves Make A Whole

Exactly what I feared has happened: School has sucked up my previously allotted blogging time, which means I'm writing less. Boo!  However, I'm hoping to adjust things a little so I can get at least two updates a week, but we shall see.

Moving on, I'm sure most (if not all) of you knew that I ran/walked/barely survived a half marathon on Saturday.  Yay, me!

Honestly, it wasn't too bad. I ran about half of it (ran the first five, walked one, ran one, walked one, ran one) and that was okay.  What was NOT okay was how tired I became a little after ten miles in.  I ended up having to walk the last three miles.  My legs were killing me.  My feet were killing me.  My everything was killing me.

Near the beginning of the race.  Notice the lack of sweat dripping down my face.

Right before the first water station (about mile 2).  Look at me keeping up with that thin muscular lady!

Mile 5

"Oh, this is so tiring, why the heck did I do this?!"

"Crap!  There's a camera man! I better pretend like I'm having a ball!"

As many of you also know, I was planning on running a marathon before I turned 30.  My brother, Tim, and I were going to run the Seattle Marathon on December 1.  However, since the Navy decided he should stay out in the middle of the ocean for a while longer, he can't do it.  Therefore, I am using that as my excuse to NOT run the marathon (I love you, Navy!).  HOWEVER, I decided I am going to run another half before December 25.  Two halves make a whole, right?

There's a half in Fort Worth on Thanksgiving that sounds fun, plus it's still about six weeks away which gives me some time to train.  Maybe I'll actually be able to run the whole thing.  If not, oh well. 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more updates on our house!  

Now We Could DEFINITELY Squat Here

Man, these Mexican workers are FAST.

This is the house one week ago:

 And this is the house on October 5:

The shingles are on, a bit of decorative siding is attached (look on the right side of the garage, up above its pitch), windows are in (!!!), exterior doors are installed.  It is CRAZY how fast these people work. 

Just to clarify, I don't mean it as a racist or derogatory thing to say "These Mexicans are fast."  I mean, straight-up, these Mexicans work FAST.  And you might say "Oh, it's not all Mexicans that are working there.  There are other nationalities and races.  I really think that <insert whiny liberal talk>."  

Absolutely there are other races working on our house.  For sure.  But every time I've been up to this house, the only people I see working are Mexicans.  Last Saturday (September 30), they were blasting their Spanish music and working hard into the late afternoon in the mud and rain puddles.  And I honestly could care less if they are "undocumented workers" because they work hard, they are most likely paying taxes and Social Security (because they used fake papers to get the job in the first place), and <insert whiny liberal talk>.

Moving on from that hot-button topic, here are some pictures of our house.  Please enjoy and stay tuned for more updates!

Clearly, this is the exterior of the house.  I'm thinking that I want to put a nice grown-up swing on the front side of the yard so that I can comfortably watch Nolan bike on the sidewalk--once he actually learns to ride a bike.

Brian getting ready to make some dinner (or make me a margarita?) at the island in the kitchen.

The view outside the backdoor in the eat-in kitchen.

Upstairs: Me standing in the rec room looking in to Brian, who is standing in either Sophie or Nolan's bedroom.  They will have to fight to the death over which room they want. 

In the same room.  Both face out to the front yard (they are the windows that you see from the outside in the exterior shot).  I took a picture of this particular spot because it appears that this might be a small wasted space area.  It's about 1-2' deep x 2-3' wide.  It might make an awesome little built-in desk or something.

In the other upstairs bedroom.

Upstairs rec room.  The blue wall faces the back yard, the windows face our neighbors on the right. 

Brian growing impatient (we had dinner plans we were going to be late for) and deciding to head downstairs.  Yeah, 'cause THAT was going to make me hurry up.

Downstairs in the family room.  Our fireplace!!  (Notice that  if you write "stone" on the mantel, that counts as actually laying the stone.  Pretty awesome idea.)

Me standing in the master closet, Brian walking out of the master bath into the master bedroom, which faces the back of the house.

Master bathroom.

Brian and Nolan in the great room, heading towards the foyer and the front door.  Notice the stairs going upstairs on the right.

Say "cheese!"

Me in the guest bedroom, which faces the front of the house.

Archway going into the formal dining room.

In the garage, checking out the service door.

Outside, side-view of the house.

The back of the house.  I can't wait to get Nolan a swing set.

Me standing at the back corner of the yard. 

Outside view of master bedroom.

Fireplace.

Underneath the covered patio.  It'll be great for barbecuing. 

The lovely view of our backyard.  Our property line ends at the orange line.  New houses will be built up behind us next year.