A Little Less Housey

Carousel at the Dallas Zoo.

Nearly a month later, we're back down from three houses to two. We've successfully moved out of the old house and into the new one, though we can't yet park in the garage for all the boxes still to unpack. One should not assume that by "successful" I mean "problem-free." There were the little issues with the moving truck knocking over the brick mailbox (I didn't do it) and the gas explosion that resulted from improperly lighting a fireplace (yeah, I did that one. Check the update to 9 Lives for details.)

The Grand Prairie house is coming along. It's almost completely empty and has been painted and professionally cleaned. The carpet cleaners are coming tomorrow, after which we will know whether the carpet needs to be replaced or not, and the window cleaner is coming on Thursday. We are still trying to find a landscaper to improve our curb appeal, and I'm hoping someone calls me back tomorrow about that. Our goal is to have it ready to go on the market by the end of next week. There have been some emotional moments, since we finally had to face the girls' room to clean it out. It had been mostly untouched since their deaths in 2003.

We have a 10x20 climate-controlled storage area that is completely packed with a few pieces of furniture and a plethora of boxes. K thinks we'll have that sorted out within a year. I'm more skeptical. It would be great if we could manage it, since we may be leaving Texas next year if things don't start improving for K at his practice. I won't go into details here, but I'll just say that we don't think he's being treated fairly. I still have some hope that it will work itself out before next summer, but my hope lessens with each passing month. Most people know that I'm not terribly fond of Texas, but I'd hate to leave my family behind. I think my mom would be particularly devastated. I'm feeling very unsettled at the moment, unsure of the right thing to do and how to advise my husband, full of uncertainties regarding our future.

On a brighter note, a dashing young art student from Israel named Gadi appeared on our doorstep last night, peddling art of his own and of other art students who were out doing the same thing. They're moving from town to town and state to state selling their work and seeing the country. He was everything a foreign art student should be, and I think he'd do just as well on one of my soap operas as he does in the art world! We bought our first pieces of art - two oil paintings of Greece that I loved more for the palettes than the pictures, and one large painting of Spain that we loved too much to let go. At first we declined because of the price, but after he rolled it back up, I had a feeling that I would really regret it if I let it go. K really liked it as well, so we bought it. Now I'm regretting the fact that we know nothing about the artist (the ones we chose weren't painted by Gadi.) There is some form of signature on it, but it doesn't seem to be a name and we don't know what it means.

Cooler days are finally here, and though I wouldn't put it past Texas to slip a few more summer days into the forecast, we were able to go to the zoo today without melting or burning. It was still warm enough for the children to play in the stream, but it was lovely and cool in the shade. Thank heaven for autumn!