Goodbye to the Burnt Out Hosue!

The house in the lot behind ours caught on fire 11 months before we moved in.  It was being rented by a family at the time who didn't have smoke detectors.  By the time they realized the house was on fire it was too wild for them to put out alone.  Neighbors fought the fire with garden hoses for 20 minutes before the Aubrey Fire Department showed up.  When it was over, almost everything in the house was destroyed due to smoke or water damage.  The family moved out and the owners abandoned the property.  One rumor was that the city was trying to get in touch with the owners so they could condemn the property.  Another rumor was that there was a sale pending. 

Over the next 13 months, the roof caved in, vagabonds took up temporary residence, and neighbors pilfered items that were semi-usable.  Even David took the fireplace grate one night.  The 6 foot deep pool became a pond for frogs.  One was so big, my neighbor O.B. Murphy said it was big enough to eat!  A City Council member told us that Krugerville didn't even have a city ordinance to deal with something like this.  The house sat vacant for 2 years.

When they finally leveled it, everyone had to come out and look.  Dust flew everywhere.  We could see the backhoe smashing what was left of the furniture inside.  They even filled in the pool and tore up the fence.  We are all hoping that they will make this lot a city park.  But most likely there will be another home built within a year.

The view from my patio.

Taken right before the crane came through the roof.

Starting with the garage.

Working into the kitchen.

Front wall in down.

Bye bye Living Room!

No more Foyer.

Only the chimney.

Almost level.

Pile of rubble.

Flattened house.

Somehow the Basketball goal and window survived.

The $30,000 pool.

Crepe Myrtle covered in a climbing vine.  We will have to cut this down in the winter to save our fence.

Two trellises remain.

Roses that David's mom wants to steal.

More roses.

No more chain link fence.

New patio view.

Our Snowmageddon

We had our own "Snowmageddon" in Texas.  We had 11 inches fall in Krugerville.  That was the most in history.  Surprisingly, the roads were not that bad.  There wasn't any ice.  I don't think I have seen this much snow since I lived in Ellensburg.

Xmas 2009

This was a very different Christmas this year. I had to close on Christmas Eve at the rec center. That is no big deal because we close at 5 PM. But it started to snow on my way in to work and I was sick. That means it could only get worse from there. Texas drivers aren't the best in this weather. I only worked 4 hours before I was back out on the street trying to come home. I stopped at the apartment to pick up the decoration box that we forgot to move. Santa can't come if there are no stockings hung! It took me 2 hours in all to get home. Good thing I was smart enough to start a crock pot meal before I went to work. We pretty much just ate and went to bed.

When we woke up in the morning, we had at least an inch of snow and ice on the ground. A White Christmas! Due to my sickness and the weather we had to cancel all family plans. David and I exchanged stocking stuffers. I got him an American flag and he got me work gloves. My "real" present was a 10 inch digital picture frame. It's super awesome. I got him so car part about a month ago from eBay. We tried to take Scully out in the snow. She was not into it. After a leftovers lunch, we went to David's work, then back to the apartment. We tried going to the grocery store for charcoal we had forgotten. And all of them were closed. What a mess! But we found it at a 7-11.

It was a good Christmas, but next year will be merrier!

Snow tracks.

Our frozen street.

Our front yard with the dead-ish tree.

No Xmas lights this year. Maybe next time.

The land across the street. There are horses in there somewhere.

David is fixin' to throw a snowball at me.

Moguls in the back of David's truck.

Our back yard.

Scully and me are kickin' it in bed.

The Big Move

Well, the big moved has finally happened. David and I are now residents of Krugerville, Texas!

We started off on Saturday morning with David being as sick as a dog! I got us breakfast and Sandy and Bobby came over to help move boxes. I felt so disorganized. The 1st load was in our cars. Sandy helped us moved so many little boxes. After the 1st load, Sandy had to leave. Bobby and I returned to the apartment with Jenny and Jared who came fresh from their honeymoon! When we got there, Tim and Melissa were ready to help. We really had an all-star crew. We loaded up a majority of the furniture and the rest of the boxes. After we unloaded those, we were so dead tired. We crashed at the Prairie House restaurant in Cross Roads.

Sunday morning we were right back at it. Bobby, Melissa and Tim helped me clear out the apartment. Tim took down the ceiling fan single-handedly. David and his friends, John and Aaron, cleared out some of the heavy stuff from the garage.


Scully is very nervous in the house still. David was convinced the house was haunted the first night we slept there. He said Scully was looking at something that wasn't there, just like in the Animal Planet show, "The Haunted." I think she is just a spaz. She has already crapped on the new carpet. David was so happy about that. Scully hangs out in our room and doesn't explore the other side of the house. Which is lame because I want her new cat box spot to be in the laundry room.

We are still emptying boxes and making adjustments. We painted and got new carpet. We took all the doors off. We are adjusting to the septic and aerobic systems. My 1st shower there was worse than any one I took at Camp Arrowhead. It will be nice when we have all our appliances in and can stop eating out. And now after the move is over, I am the one who is sick!

I know we are going to love it here!

New House!

We closed on our new house in Krugerville! In the morning we met the realtor at the house to do a walk through. The previous own did a really good job cleaning up. We went to the title company up the road and filled out all the paperwork. We had to wait a few hours until the paperwork went trough to get the key. Finally, in the afternoon, I went back up to get the key. I went to the house and realized I was locked out. The realtor had locked the deadbolt on the way out and the only key I had went to the front door knob. So I had to wait 45 minutes for a locksmith.

We got right to work as soon as we could. The day after closing, David's parent's neighbor, Fransisco, came over to rekey the whole place. My parents and David's Mom, Tommie, went to town on cleaning the house. My mom made the blinds so clean you could eat off of them! We have started painting the closets. Who knew those could get so dirty?

We are waiting finish painting and recarpet the place, then we can move. We will definitely be in before we go on our honeymoon.

Rainbow over Carrollton

I took this picture yesterday. There was a perfect double arch rainbow over my apartment building. It was beautiful!

I Deserved It

I have been working between 1 and 3 extra jobs for the past 6 months. I have done really good with saving, so I figured I deserved a treat. So, last week, I bought a Sylvania 20" LCD EDTV from Circuit City. It was on sale. It is pretty sweet. I am just so proud, I had to show it off.

Sunset at the Anderscoggin House.

The Jacksonville Beach Pier.