We did go to Galveston yesterday afternoon and enjoyed the trip.  The town is on an island between Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.  It's about an hour's drive on good freeways.  On the gulf side there are all kinds of attractions with sandy beaches, fishing quays, restaurants and a Pleasure Pier with rides and games.

                                   In the middle there are all kinds of beautiful old Victorian houses.

And on the bay side there are docks for ships and loading apparatus.  There is a cruise dock there too.      
We drove around savoring the atmosphere and enjoying the beautiful, perfect day.  There were a couple restaurants that had seating on the open balconies overlooking the street and a diner waved at me while we were stopped at a light.  It was a happy day.  

We stopped at Bubba Gump's restaurant and had a delicious lunch.  It was very expensive but was SO delicious.  I would love to be able to make that sauce.  I have looked online but nothing I see seems to be exactly it.  Jer had a buttery caper sauce on his food and I had a sort of butter sauce with fresh chives and diced tomato.  They were both tangy and full of flavor.  Okay, I looked again and maybe the sauces are lemon caper sauce and lemon chive sauce.  I'll enjoy experimenting.  :o) 

It's not quite fishing season, but when it is we will make sure to go out and see what we can catch.  We fished early in our San Diego life and enjoyed it.  I deep-sea fished in Florida with my mother a couple times and it was great.  We caught some good big fish and ate them. 

Today the man is continuing the repair on the door and getting his computer cleaned up remotely by PCLaptops there in Orem.  He got some kind of thing on it that wouldn't go away so now they are hopefully taking care of it for him.

Tonight is Women's session of conference and I am going with a couple sisters from the Pine Trails Ward.  Our last contact there and tomorrow we will start attending the Kingwood First Ward where our future lies.  

I forgot to mention earlier that we attended a Verdi Requiem concert last Friday.  It was really really good.  The soprano was magnificent!  And the music was great.  We loved it!

Our seats were really close and we could see exactly what this section of the orchestra were doing.  This is before the concert started and we can see that several of those bass viols are really old and beat up but probably the babies of the owners. 

We got to go look at the house again Wednesday with the inspector.  He required that we be there and we were happy to comply.  He was a lot of fun.  He enjoyed having us around to ask questions and explain things to.  I didn't think to start taking pictures till Lara got there, though.  You can already see everything better on the realty site anyway.  We did decide to definitely take the boards off that family room wall.  And we will see what the space looks like with those decorative posts covered as if a wall were there.  I hope it will be fine.  Our only concern is how much light a wall will take away from the family room.  And I have the man thinking about replacing the kitchen.  It will take some time for him to adjust to the idea, but he is willing if there is money available.  :o)  I love the space in all the drawers and the layout, but the drawers don't run smoothly and may be a problem.

                                            This shower is immaculate and looks like new tile.

                          Great laundry area with plenty of storage and also room for the freezer.

 Nice big master bedroom with lots of light in the morning.  And a view of the well kept lawn across the street.

We will take out the kitchen fan and the living room fan and install the wiring in the ceiling for the family room fan and we will replace the lighting fixture over the breakfast area.

Outside, we did see some cracks in the south wall that have been repaired.  We think that is all there will be to it, but Jer will put some sealing into the cracks just in case, to see if they happen to widen at all.  The repair is warrantied and transferable if we need it.

The termite inspector came by to look and he said they had had some work done in the past and now there is no sign of living termites.  They said the older treatments are better since they could use chlordane and they can't now.  

One of the best parts of the visit was that the neighbors came over to say hello!  They are very nice and friendly.  They said that the lady that lived there is the original owner!  I think that's rare nowadays.  And they all said that the neighborhood is very quiet and everyone is really friendly.  So I feel good about being there.  It means a lot to know whom we will be living near for the next few years.  The house could be perfect but if the neighbors are mean then it can't be a happy experience.

Jer is fixing the condo getting it ready to put on the market.  There are a lot of minor repairs that need to be done.  The front door looks as if it has been kicked in several times so he is putting lots of plastic wood in the door and the frame.  The realtor says we should make it as perfect as we can and list it at $75,000.  We paid $62,000 last winter but have done lots of work and will leave all the appliances.  And we will refinish all the cabinets, kitchen and bathroom.  We will see what happens.  Can't hurt.  We aren't in a hurry to get it sold and if we get that price there will be enough money to get a new kitchen in our new house!  :o)

Today we will  be going to Galveston to check out the fishing and see what's fun to do there for when visitors come.  Jer says there is a pier there similar to the one near the boys in California.  Have to see if it's as good as theirs. 

Maybe tomorrow I'll find a doctor just so we know where to go when we need one, and a dentist.  I chipped a bottom front tooth and it makes me sound different to myself so I want to get it fixed.  And now I can't bite my hangnails.  Obviously it was one I used a lot.  :o)

So you all know by now that the deal went through.  YAAY!!  We signed the loan papers today.  We will get a $60,000 loan that we will pay off when the condo sells.  Then we will be totally debt free and able to live monthly on our income. We will have to save lots every month to pay off the taxes at the end of the year and there will be utilities and HOA fee, etc, but we should be able to handle them monthly.  A good thing to look forward to!!  Tomorrow we will go see it again while the inspector is doing his work and the termite inspection guy comes.  We can look all around again and cement in our minds what we may want to do and if it will be possible.  The official closing date is April 22.

I want to tell you about Sunday.  We had the best meeting ever.  The Pine Trails ward is a struggling ward with new members and a fairly low income member base.  The bishop is a young, soft spoken black man with braces on his teeth.  The meeting started with members just around the edges and a big empty middle of the chapel.  He got up and said, "Well, we're really packed today. (we all laugh)  I hope it's not maybe my body odor.  I hope we'll get more people shortly."  He had asked a middle aged black sister to give the opening prayer and she was nervous as she bowed her head and started paraphrasing the sacrament prayers.  When she was done the bishop got up and whispered in her ear and she started again and said, "I pray for the people who are not here.  I pray for the people who have problems.  I pray for everyone that needs the Lord's help and that's everybody.  Amen" 

The first speaker was a sister who has been a member about 2 months.  She spoke on Charity, telling how her mother borrowed her old truck to go somewhere and a man stopped and helped her change a busted tire.  And at the end she said, "and now I'm supposed to tell you the Book of Mormon is real.  I'm not gonna do that.  Duh!  That's like saying sunshine is real.  God told me it's real and y'all are all here so I guess he's told you too.  Amen" 

The second speaker was a hispanic lady that was supposed to speak in Spanish with a member of the bishopric translating.  She said a paragraph and he said maybe 3 words.  That went on for maybe 5 minutes and then she turned to him, smiled, and said, "You're not a good translator.  You can sit down."  And she went on in pretty good English to give her talk on Faith.  And the last speaker told about fasting.  How to do it and why and how to pray during it and how to pay fast offering.  All wonderful talks.  All inspiring and uplifting.  What a great meeting!  I love this ward and will be sorry to leave it. 

We will be in the Kingwood First ward which is the ward Barneys attend.  It will be good to finally settle in a single place again.  Pine Trails knew we were leaving as soon as we got there so it wasn't like a home ward.  I hope there will be some of the mission field feeling in Kingwood First too.  Listening to Lara talk about some of her experiences, I think maybe that can be the case once in a while.    

 

We had a wonderful time with the Evanses on their special day for Alice and got to visit with Erin too!  What a happy time!  We got there Wednesday night late and I realized I had forgotten my purse maybe on the bus and maybe on a bench at the station.  :o(  I can't tell you the agony I went through before Susan called the bus and learned it was still on there and the driver would be waiting for us to come get it.  Just what Susan needed to do after a long tiring day already.  But she graciously drove me there and I recovered it.  I had lost my purse years ago and it had taken more than a year to overcome the problems with checks and credit cards.  I couldn't bear to do that again.  I guess I needed this little reminder to always be vigilant about that bag of responsibility that masquerades as a purse.

But that being over, we could enjoy the children.

                                                   Look at those sweet little chubby legs!

                                                           Susan and the guys!

 Since Erin was secretly coming on Friday Alice and Robert had permission to sleep in the front room and were SO happy about that.  They didn't know she was coming because Susan wanted to surprise Alice with her favorite aunt for her birthday. 

We went to UHaul and got a box for Alice's present.  Erin got there late so the kids went to their room while Bobby and Susan got her "wrapped". 

When Alice undid the bow Erin put down the flap and held out her arms.  Alice was so surprised she screamed and jumped into Erin's arms and tipped the box over.  They fell on the floor and Alice was so happy she didn't even care.

Then they had to show her their sleeping arrangements in the front room and Erin read and read to them.

They stayed up really late and were VERY happy.

Saturday we went to iPower, a sort of jumping/gym place that they loved.

 

And Sunday was the big day.  Alice's birthday when she turned 8 and her baptism day!  She opened her presents as soon as she got up.  She got pioneer clothes and a book about pioneer school.  She loved it all.  She loves to play pioneer (having to live off the land and make do with what is available) with her friends and this will be great for that. 

They decided they wanted to make confetti eggs so they made lots and lots of confetti by cutting up construction paper and emptying out 6 eggs.  When we got back from church the eggs were dry and the confetti finished so they filled the eggs and covered the holes.  After lunch they smashed the eggs on each other's heads!!  What a mess!  But it was so fun for them.

Then they cleaned it all up!

We went back to church for the baptism at 4.  The room was FULL of the people Alice had invited.  She invited the lady that checks them out at the grocery store and all the neighbors and all her teachers from her school and preschool.  And they came.  It was a beautiful meeting.  Alice was baptized and confirmed by her dad.

What a wonderful day!  After dinner the William Evanses came over for ice cream and playing around.  Alice had a candle on her bowl of ice cream and we all sang to her!  I hope all her wonderful wishes come true!

We spent two more days and came home Wednesday the 18th--the day the Orem house closed.  We got in late and had to run around all the next day getting our papers signed and notarized and sent off in the original with our identification verified, etc. and closing out our insurance and utilities.

Friday we had an appointment with the realtor at 2 in the afternoon.  We waited until that time and met her at the front of her office.  She said she had wanted to show us 4 houses but they sold before we got there.  One had come up at noon so she took us to see it and we fell in love!  It was so cute from the outside and roomy and well organized inside.  We made a full price offer on it that hour. 

Now the selling agent is dragging his feet with our offer.  We think he wants to wait for more offers and see if he can get more money.  We have been praying for months for guidance in choosing a home here.  We felt that this was the one.  We know that if it's right for us we will get it.  If not, we will get something else that will be even better for us.  I hope this is it because it's so cute, but we will just wait and see. 

There were lots of things to do today!  We went to clean the church building in the morning and then we got what we needed to make Jer's quilt.  He used to have a silky thin quilt to watch TV with, do you remember it?  And somehow it got lost.  He has been using our old pink thermal blanket to watch TV because it's light, not too heavy or thick.  So I decided that I was tired of looking at that knobby pink blanket in the living room and we went to get some silky fabric to make him another one.  Today we borrowed the quilt legs from the RS and bought some boards and put it on.  We got it put up about noon and finished it just now at about 10.  SO glad it's done.  It took multiple trips to WalMart to get needle threaders and thimbles.  Can I tell you it's a lot more complicated trying to quilt with bad eyes.  But it's done!! I just need to finish the edges on Monday.  So happy for him to have a pretty and comfortable cover up.  And because he helped (yes!  he did do many rows and did them well)  he appreciates exactly what that little quilt means in labor.

 It's this light brown on one side and dark brown on the other so it matches the sofa.  Much better than pink! 

While I stayed home and worked on the quilt Jer took a casserole to the memorial service of a brother in the ward that died last week.  The RS president said it's just a memorial service because he had a "green burial."  That means they bought a little plot in the woods and wrapped him in a sheet and dug a hole and buried him themselves.  Apparently there's a place nearby where you can do that.  No headstones allowed, but she's going to have a rock engraved and place it on his grave so she can go out and visit when she wants.  Like the old days. 

Our neighbor (the poor lonely little widow that has a much more active social life than I ever dreamed of)  came over yesterday and said she has a friend that may be interested in the condo!  It would be so nice for her to get a neighbor that she likes and nice for us to sell it without a realtor.  She said he will pay cash if he wants it.  We will just wait and see how much he's interested.  He may just be being polite to her.  We did stop in at a local realtor the other day and asked how much she thought we could get for it and it's not as much as we paid.  Hmm.  Darn, but we will just wait and see what happens.

I have to say I have stopped watching Inspector Lewis.  The first couple of seasons were interesting and logical in their stories and had just the right touch of humor, but the last one I watched was just too gruesome and I didn't feel good after watching it.  Darn.  I really liked having something I could count on for a brief pleasant distraction. 

So happy that everything is still good with the sale of the Orem house.  We look forward to visiting with Evanses next week and when we get back we will be able to actually begin looking for a place to settle down.  It's almost too good to be true, with so many happy things to anticipate!  

Wednesday and nothing we HAVE to do.  What a luxury! 

We thought about going to Galveston since it's such a nice warm day with sunshine (70s)  but then Jer remembered a legal paper we need to get turned in to be able to sell the condo.  And on the way we could stop at Costco for more canned chicken and at the temple to see if they have pass-along cards in the distribution center there.  On our way we realized we needed to change our info at the EZTag store.  There is a freeway here that requires a toll and if you have a little tag on your windshield it just registers as you go under the receptors so that you don't have to have money every time.  It just takes it out of your credit card.  We got the little tag when we got here but needed to tell them our new Texas licenses.  We did that and went on our way.  The lady was so nice. 

The temple and the distribution center were both closed (we were hoping but no luck) but I got a good picture of the redbud tree that was on the temple grounds.  We have been driving by them all over town and they are so beautiful!!  I needed a picture of one.

About the house:  the termite inspection must have been fine because we didn't hear anymore about it and then they did the real inspection and found a couple little things to take care of like adjusting the furnace so it burns with a blue flame instead of yellow, replacing a cracked window in the basement, repairing the plug in the little bathroom and tacking up one of the fascia on the south end of the house.  All small and simple to do.  The realty office got the furnace and window repaired and the neighbor did the electrical (since he's an electrician) and the fascia. 

And the next day we heard that they had had the appraisal (that we have been dreading for fear they would say it wasn't worth as much as we need) and the buyers adjusted their terms so that we will still get what they originally would have given us.  They didn't tell us what the appraisal came to but they lowered the price offered by $2000 and reduced the closing cost expected from us by $2000.  SO...we think we are out of the dark and on the downside toward getting it sold with enough money to get a good house here.  Jer said they would have talked to their bank about what they would be able to borrow and would have adjusted the offer accordingly.  We are expecting no more problems or hangups!!  They need to have their finances all together by next Tuesday and then the closing is on the 18th.  It's still too much to believe that it really will be done and we can move on toward getting settled. 

I have determined not to even look at the Houston real estate website because it only causes me anxiety and disappointment.  I will just let the realtor find and take us when we have the money. 

Yesterday the man decided he wanted a tablet so he could have it handy to read scriptures and take to church instead of his great big books.  We went to Best Buy and got him a nice little Samsung tablet and there was a sales person there that explained it all to us and got it set up for him.  He likes it a lot. 

If the weather is still good on Friday we may go to Galveston then.  We will see. 

And some really good news is that Kathy and Grace will be coming in April during Spring Break!! What a joy!  It will be so good to see them and do some fun things while they are here.  We are pretty boring and stodgy so we need some fresh young blood to get us moving and thinking about different things.  Jer is checking out all the touristy things in the area as we speak.  :o)

Friday the condo was generally cold.  I decided to go to bed early to get warm and cozy and read a book.  Jer finally came in to tell me that the furnace wasn't coming on because the breaker wasn't working.  He had to reset it several times during the evening.  So the next day we went to Home Depot and bought a new breaker and he installed it.  The furnace came on and we rejoiced!  But in the process the man said he didn't want to do anymore refurbs.  He is tired of getting into strange and uncomfortable positions and trying to adjust things and climb over and around things to do what's needed.  He had to pull out the dryer and take off the vent hose and then put it all back again with a couple tries to get it to fit in the little space again.  So we will NOT be looking at houses that need more than a new coat of paint in a room or two.

He is looking around because I snapped the picture with a flash while his hands were in the electrical wires and inadvertently made him think he was about to be shocked.  Sorry. 

And the next day, today, I put the laundry into the washer and turned the knob and the washer wouldn't come on.  :o(  Poor Jer.  So he climbed onto the dryer and checked behind the appliances to see if the cord was plugged in (yep, it was) and then we tried a light in the top of the plug and it worked.  Yay!  So he just took the washer plug from the lower one and plugged it into the top one and voila!  the washer was fixed.

The house sale seems to be going along okay.  There was the termite inspection that we still haven't heard about but Jer says no news is good news.  The buyers are interested in who cleaned the carpet so it seems they are happy with the results of the inspection.  NO one cleaned the carpet.  I told them it was new and they could talk to the salesman to learn more about it, but so far so good.

Robert sent me a slap bracelet in the mail and Jer a paper with a picture on both sides.  We can change it to fit our mood.  :o)  Here they are.  The post office repackaged the slap bracelet to be sure it got to us.  Very nice of them.  Susan said he sent me the slap bracelet because my favorite color is purple and it has a purple stripe, and also because he cut himself on it.  They taped the sides so it won't cut me.  Also very thoughtful. 

                                                         This is a pineapple man.

                                                             And this is modern art.

                                                                   Very nice, right?

I have discovered Inspector Lewis on Amazon that I enjoy very much.  And there are several seasons too.  I like when there are more than a couple episodes to see.  The series is based on books by Colin Dexter.  I will see if I can find some in the library.  The comments say the books are more interesting than the TV shows.  I like the humor along with the mystery.