I have been looking in ways to continue my education since last evening. My short term game plan is to go visit Tarleton State University in Stephenville to see if I can contribute something to them while I am waiting a year to avoid paying out-of-state tuition. I have been corresponding with the head of the department and several professors there and looking forward to running over there and meeting them.
Lorena and I ran over to Glen Rose, about thirty minutes from our apartment to do the signing. We were surprised that we had to sign so many pages for what is quite a smaller loan than much larger loans we got when we bought our first few homes. It felt good though, so we ran over to the new Baked Restaurant there and agreed it was great. The one in Granbury is still our favorite, but if we are ever over there again at lunch time, we will definitely not hesitate to stop in.
A little later this morning, Lorena and I will head down to the title company to sign the small loan we need to build our new house. We are very excited to get started. A day to celebrate!
Things are starting to move a little faster now on our house build. All of the build loan paperwork is complete and we are scheduled to close on Friday morning. The permits from the city are on the desk of the last guy who needs to sign. We have been out to the build site with Brad, our designer/builder to answer a few preference questions. We have made a few modifications to the plan (minor) to accommodate future work if we can afford it. We are excited, but actually kind of burnt out from all the moving and paper suffering. I expect the excitement and energy levels to increase some more once some dirt starts to move.
Here is the left side of the house rendering with the correct colors and materials. The AI did not get it exactly right–the door going into the main house behind the screen porch should really be a window and the two first floor windows closest to the front of the house should have transom windows at their tops, but all and all, it gives a pretty good sense of how we hope the house will appear.
I did an AI rendering of the front elevation of the house with Lorena’s proposed colors and materials. We went down to the property with our builder, Brad earlier this afternoon to talk to him about what plants/trees we want to preserve on the property and some placement requirements and ideas about the sidewalk and the approach to the house. We were surprised to see that area where the house will be built is a little bit downhill from the street on both sides and the property has a small downward slope from left to right as you face the house. Actually, because of the setting, we think it will make the house even better.
Christian flew down to Virginia to help us drive to Texas and get into our apartment. It is a great little apartment with a view of the lake within walking distance of a ton of good restaurants. James, Jan and our builder and his family cooked hamburgers for us the night after we arrived and it just felt like home. We definitely made the right choice in coming here. Christian was really the champion of the whole affair. He drove Lorena and navigated a ton of minutiae. We ate way to much food and sat in the car with no way to get any exercise for way too long. Our health program took a hit, but now we are here.
The waiting is just about to be over. We give a key to our real estate agent to give to the new owners, do the signing needed to be done before a notary (the final signatures will be done via e-sign), pack the stuff we set aside for use up until the last minute, tear down the computers, make a few last minute runs to the garbage, make arrangements at the climate-controlled storage unit to receive our goods, and pick up a few extra cartons in case they are needed. The truck arrives first thing tomorrow morning and should be on its way to Texas by tomorrow afternoon. We hope everything fits in the truck.
Everything is just about complete and there is not much left to do. Honestly, we are starting to go a little stir crazy waiting for the move. At least tomorrow we have our real estate agent and good friend Rick coming over to say goodbye, run into Richmond to do some document signing with the real estate lawyer. Today, we have nothing and are going stir crazy.
Moving day is almost here. Only the essentials we need to survive over the next couple of days are already in boxes, we have donated most of the stuff we have wanted to donate and thrown away more stuff than I imagined we even had. It boggles my mind that we trucked all that junk around for, literally, decades. Well, it is gone now and we are grateful for that. Today is the day we clean out the garage refrigerator, give a few more things to the neighbors, and make what I am sure will not be the last trip to the dump. We plan to tear down the computers and set aside other important things we plan to take in the cars on Wednesday. The house will be loaded on Thursday morning. We have one day to clean up and pack the cars on Friday. Christian is scheduled to arrive at about noon on Saturday. We plan to pick him up at the airport and head straight to Trump Winery in the afternoon and then head up the road for a few more hours to find a place to spend the night. We are not sure when we will get to Texas, but we are going to take our time and enjoy the ride.
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