Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Quick Trip

We found out, last week, that we needed to jump in with both feet and purchase a home from our preferred builder, in Temple, or miss out on the opportunity to get one of his homes. We hadn't planned to buy this early, but upon hearing this news we dropped everything and dashed down there, leaving early Saturday morning.

On Monday we took care of business. We managed to sign a contract on a home we liked, and get all of the supporting paperwork submitted. We are supposed to close on the house on September 30. We will be able to do that from Albuquerque, so it won't require another trip down to Texas right away.

Here is a picture of the front of the house. I've always wished for a brick home, and soon I'll be living in one!


My favorite part of the house is the kitchen. As you can see, a refrigerator does not come with the house. I can just imagine doing my first Daring Bakers project there. (By the way, for those who've been wondering, I'm on "sabbatical" from Daring Bakers until we get moved and settled.)



Another feature we're happy with is the back patio. It's all covered and is large enough to enjoy both, cooking and eating, outside.


The house has four bedrooms, one of which will be our office space. We'll have a jetted garden tub :-), and his-and-hers walk-in closets. Here's the corner fireplace, in the living room. Can't you picture our grandkids waking up, on Christmas morning, and seeing stockings full of trinkets hanging there?


Since we accomplished everything on Monday, we decided to drive home on Tuesday (yesterday). We usually take two days to make this trip, but wanted to get home, so decided to try it in a single day. It is, typically, a 12 to 13 hour trip. Dan and I shared the driving, and things were going pretty smoothly until we were 90 minutes from home. All of a sudden, traffic came to a halt on I-40. We sat with our engine and air conditioning running for about five minutes, until it became clear that we were not going to be moving anytime soon. We turned off the engine, covered the front windshield (facing west) with a sun shade and opened windows to allow a little breeze - though it was a hot breeze - to move the air.

After awhile, we got out of the car and started visiting with our "neighbors" in the next lane. We even found a spot, in the shade of a semi, that was a little cooler. We waited two hours before the road was reopened. When we finally drove by the scene of the accident, it was a semi-truck, overturned and burned down to its black, charred skeleton! Although our trip was extended another two hours because of this closure, and although we were totally spent by the time we got home, our day was definitely not as bad as that truck driver's!

Looking forward:

Looking back:

Now it's back to work and back to apartment living, here in Albuquerque.

4 comments:

Kelsey said...

Yay!! Very nice. Just to make sure you know, that green stuff out front is what we call "grass". I know it's been a while :) When I first saw the picture of the kitchen backsplash I thought "Man that's a lot of outlets!" Then I realized they're tiles.

It's beautiful and I can't wait to help you break in the guest room!

Linda Judd said...

Yes, Kelsey, those tiles don't REALLY glow like that. It's just how the flash reflected. I thought it looked funny, too.

Oooooh. We wondered about that green stuff! It won't need to be mowed or anything like that, will it? ;-)

Anonymous said...

Linda, thanks for sharing the pics of your house. It is gorgeous and I am so excited for the two of you. Now it will be hard to wait, huh? But now you can make plans for what will go where and all.

No need to mow....buy a couple of little goats! I'm sure the g-kids will love them!

Love,

Glo

Anonymous said...

I like your new house....looks like something we would buy! :) Congratulations!.....Genie