Friday, October 30, 2009

The Inspectors are Coming

As if we weren't having enough fun organizing and cleaning our home to spiff it up for our upcoming appraisals, we have just been informed by our "relocation counselor" that two inspectors will be coming by our house. Soon. The first pesky sleuth will be over on Monday at one o'clock. Apparently, Jim's company wants to be fully prepared in the event that we don't sell the place and they end up owning it. I am not overly worried about straightening up for the inspector because he/she will be mostly concerned with things like electricity, plumbing, and the furnace. Unfortunately, he/she will probably need to access our attic to check on the roof and insulation. And the portal to the attic is through the ceiling of my closet. And my "walk-in" closet is anything but "walk-in." It is more like "climb-into-and-scale-the-giant-hill-of-stuff." Now I get to spend my weekend attempting to at least make some sort of clearing in the piles of clothes and other junk on the floor so the inspector can position his/her ladder somewhere in there and get into the attic. This reminds me of another time that I had a strangely similar dilemma. See here.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The Appraisers are Coming

Jim and I procrastinated as long as we possibly could on getting our house appraised and up for sale, but the time has finally come to do something. We have been cleaning and scrubbing and packing, and, quite honestly, things don't really look all that much better around here. Jim's company requires that we secure two appraisals that will be averaged together, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that they will be reasonable assessments of the value of our property. (That is the amount we will receive if we are not able to sell on our own.) We were hoping to have a condo by now to move some of our furniture and junk into, but despite making two separate offers on two different units, we have not heard anything back yet. The world of real estate dealings can be frustratingly slow. We have successfully narrowed down our house choices in Texas, but we want to sell our home in Michigan before we make our purchase down south. Jim's company would like him to begin working full-time in Houston in November, so unless he wants to stay in a hotel for a couple of months, we need to get the appraisals soon, put our place on the market, buy a Michigan condo, buy a house in Texas, fix whatever needs updating in both the condo and the new house, and then move. The company will spring for packers and movers for the long-distance relocation, but they do not transport house plants (I have 20) or pets, of course. They will take Jim's car in the moving van, though, so that is helpful. It should be quite an adventure making the 1,200+ mile drive in our other vehicle with my lovely greenery overflowing everywhere, birds chirping in the backseat, and fish water sloshing around. Hope we have room left in the car for us.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

I Felt Like a Dimwit

Jacob and I flew home from Houston this morning. Jim dropped us off at the airport at 5:45 a.m. for our flight. We checked a bag, breezed through security, and were at the gate by 6:05 a.m., one hour before our departure time. After I used the rest room, we moseyed over to McDonald's to grab a bite to eat. The Delta/Northwest terminal at IAH was somewhat quiet, as Houston is the main hub for Continental Airlines, and everyone seemed to be at the Continental part of the airport. We heard a few boarding calls for other Delta/Northwest flights, as well as an announcement that someone had left behind something at the security checkpoint. (It sounded like somebody had forgotten their belt. Duh.) At 6:35 a.m., the gate agent was preparing to start our boarding process. I glanced into my carry-on bag to rearrange some items and noticed that my mini netbook computer was missing. Huh? I shuffled everything around, certain that I had picked it up from the bin after it went through the x-ray scanner. I told Jacob that we better rush back to the security area to see if I had inadvertently left it there. The two of us gathered up all of our things and hustled back to the checkpoint, which, fortunately, was not too far away. Sure enough, I had retrieved the computer from the bin, but left it sitting on a chair when I had stopped to put on my shoes. Some nice person turned it in to the security guard, who had made an announcement trying to find me. (Yes, the same announcement that I only halfway paid attention to earlier. Duh me.) I signed some papers, picked up the netbook, and Jacob and I rushed back to our gate just in time to get on the airplane. I have never felt so stupid in my life.

It was raining hard and lightening in Houston as we took off. Our flight was turbulent, and the sky was completely overcast all the way home, even at 35,000 feet. When the clouds finally broke, we peeked outside and saw this. Notice our house in the lower part of the picture!

Adam returned home from Houston on Tuesday, as he had to be in class Wednesday morning. We did find time to show him the beach in Galveston while he was in Texas.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Throw'd Rolls

Jim, Jacob, Adam, and I are back in Houston looking at more houses. We went through nine homes on Saturday, and liked several of them very much. After we were done house hunting, our realtor recommended a local restaurant to us. We drove there for dinner last night. The eatery is called "The Potatoe Patch," and, yes, that is the way they spell potato. The gimmick of the place is that they toss rolls to you from across the room. A waiter walks around with warm rolls and throws one at you if you raise your hand.
Notice the red-shirted guy with the tray of rolls in the background of the picture. He pitched, and Jacob expertly snagged two rolls in mid-air. Jim also caught two, but dropped one as well. (His was not the only roll on the floor!) The food was good and the atmosphere was fun, so I'm sure we will be returning to "The Potatoe Patch" for more "throw'd rolls" (their slogan) in the future.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Dental Issues, Continued

On Monday, I had an appointment with my oral surgeon so he could check the site of my recent extraction. Everything apparently looked wonderful, and I don't have to return there until January for my implant. Yesterday, I spent more time in the dentist's chair - two hours to be exact. The tooth that had the root canal last week was ready for a core build-up and crown. After burning away more of my pesky gum, the dentist proceeded to embed a titanium post next to my new, fake root. He added some sort of dental material that would enable a crown to hold tightly to what was left of my original tooth. Numerous gooey molds were placed in my mouth to make impressions. The dentist and the assistant then worked long and hard to create a temporary crown just the right size and shape for me. They were concerned and unhappy that the temp did not match the color of my other teeth exactly. Honestly, the temporary crown is just that - temporary - and will only be in for three weeks while my permanent one is being made at the lab. I assured them that I loved my temp, as it really does look 100% better than the cracked tooth. I walked out of the dentist office with a three week reprieve, as my next appointment is not until early November.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Autumn Activities

Richie brought Jacob to the Cider Mill over the weekend, and they returned home with fresh apple cider and warm donuts. Yum! Jim, Jacob, Richie, and I made our annual trek to the local pumpkin patch the other day, too. It was muddy as we traipsed through the field, and I actually felt about an inch taller after we left due to the muck that had accumulated on the bottom of my shoes. The farmer had a bumper crop of gourds this year, and each one seemed to be flawlessly shaped. We had an unusually large selection of impeccable pumpkins to choose from, which made it easier than ever to find perfect jack-o'-lanterns. We purchased seven all together and will carve them a few days before Halloween.

The boys borrowed a wagon to carry our stash.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

The Plight of Education

While on the road last week, we made a pit stop at a gas station in Arkansas. As I waited for Jacob to finish up in the restroom, I perused a bulletin board that was on a nearby wall. There were notices about upcoming events, flyers advertising local businesses, and numerous postings from people searching for jobs. One in particular caught my attention. Out of the twelve words printed on it, four of them were misspelled. It made me shake my head, astonished that someone seeking work would not bother to double check their ad for accuracy. Instead of ridiculing the writer, though, I just felt sad knowing that this individual must have somehow slipped through the cracks in school. Discouraging.

Hope he or she finds a job.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Root Canal

Today was the day of my endodontic appointment. I arrived at the dentist's office at 12:15 p.m. to discover that not only was I scheduled for a root canal, but I also needed to have part of my gum removed because it had grown over the broken tooth. (And, that will teach me not to brush off the dentist when he describes upcoming treatments to me. I vaguely remember him saying something about the gum, blah, blah, blah, the last time I was in, but I only paid attention to the part about the root canal.) The dental assistant was a bit alarmed that I was oblivious to all of the extra work required before today's endodontic appointment, but I climbed into the chair and told them to do whatever was necessary. After getting four shots of anesthetic, my mouth was totally numb and, as far as I was concerned, they could prod and drill all they wanted. The dentist dug away at the bony structure and ended up cauterizing my gum. The endodontist, who is in the same office building, came over to have a peek, and declared that everything looked just fine for him to begin the root canal. Forty minutes after I arrived, I was on my way over to the endodontist's area. There, I got another shot of Novocaine after I notified the guy that, yes indeed, I could feel his dental "explorer" poking around my tooth. A little over an hour later, my root was removed, the tooth was cleaned out, and I was on my way out the door with a sagging lip and a prescription for 600 mg. Motrin tablets. I took one of the extra, extra strength Motrin, and now that the anesthetic is wearing off, the tooth and surrounding gums feel pretty good. So far. I go back to the dentist next week to be fitted with a post and crown. I still have more dental work in my future, but this particular tooth was so close to the front of my mouth that I was afraid it would break off completely and I would look especially goofy. Glad that part of the procedure is done!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Adventures in Texas

We have spent the last three days looking at houses for sale in the Houston suburbs. And looking, and looking, and looking. We have seen so many homes that our heads are spinning with facts and figures and information. Although the Texas neighborhoods we have been to are quite different than our Michigan one, they are actually quite nice. We are confident that we will be able to find a house around here that we really like.

We took this afternoon off of house hunting to drive down to Galveston. It was (once again) hot and humid out, but the offshore breezes (gales!) kept things tolerable. We liked the Gulf beach a lot and hope to visit often whenever we are in Texas.

One thing that no one informed us about in the Houston area was the outrageous amount of traffic that we would find here. Every hour of every day on every road - the traffic is simply horrible. On the positive side, drivers are not rude or impatient at all, and we never hear any horns honking. Everyone seems content to just sit and wait their turn, as if they don't care what time they reach their destination. Richie became so frustrated while driving through the rush-hour gridlock the other day, that he has vowed not to get behind the wheel again until we are out of the state of Texas!

Jake and Richie walked out on this rocky pier at Galveston.

We enjoy using the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes on the freeways
during the inevitable traffic congestion.