Catch Up

Ok... I know.

My last post was in June, so I'm MAJORLY playing catch up. I have back dated the last few posts, because I often find myself referring back to my blog to remember when something happened (so in case you're really confused, I actually posted them all today - not the date that it shows on each post).

The only thing that I still haven't put on here are pictures from our vacation to the beach this summer. I'll get to that eventually... just SO many pictures to go through. ;)

So anyway - ENJOY! I'll try to recommit myself to the blog world for a while.

Moving!

Matt probably can't count the number of times I have told him how much I'd like to be in a house, rather than an apartment. I tell him about how much I would like to have the space to be more hospitable to others, and how much I would love to have a yard for the dog... (whine, whine, I know).

Well, our lease at our apartment ends next month, so we've been talking about whether we want to stay, or go. We REALLY like our apartment. We haven't had any trouble there, we've gotten to know some of our neighbors pretty well, and the location is great. So we certainly weren't just dying to get out. So we decided that we would NOT move to another apartment complex, but that we would look around at rental houses and just see what was available.

Recently, we have been meeting with a group of people who are working to start a church in Pflugerville, just northeast of Austin. We have committed ourselves to this group, and one thing that we both felt pretty strongly about is that we would like to be part of that community. So we focused our efforts on looking for rental houses in Pflugerville.

I won't lie... I completely stressed over this entire process. Matt had to keep reminding me that we were perfectly content where we were, and if we didn't find the right place, we'd still be ok (he's a good man!). 

We finally found a house that we were interested in, so we contacted the realtor about it. They, of course, want you to make a very quick decision and put some money down, but we weren't willing to do that yet. By the time we came back and said we wanted to view the house, the realtor informed us that someone else had already put in an application. She tried to get us to still put in our applications to be "back-up," but it would cost us nearly $100 to do that. "No, thanks," we said. I was disappointed, but we moved on.

We kept looking, but nothing was really standing out to us. When we would find one that looked nice, we'd call on it and find out it was already leased. We viewed a couple of houses, but weren't blown away by any. A few days passed and I decided to contact the realtor again about the house in Pflugerville and just find out if the other applicants were approved, and if it was, in fact, off the market. I was surprised when she told me the other couple was not approved, and asked if we wanted to view the house. I said yes, and proceeded to ask a few questions about the process, and let her know one thing that was key for us - we want a November 1st move-in date (this would limit how much rent overlap we pay between the house and the apartment). I also asked about the possibility of a long-term lease (18 months). She promptly told me that they would not hold it until November 1st, and that it would need to be a 12 month lease. I was disappointed, but we moved on. Again.

Fast forward about two days. I get an email from the realtor saying that the owners were very interested in us, specifically. She said they are a younger couple who, when they purchased the house as an investment property, talked about how much a house like that would've been a blessing to them when they were first married. They had been praying that the house could be a blessing for a young couple, and they wanted to see if we were still interested. 

... Oh, and they would hold it until Nov. 1st and offer an 18 month lease. :)

We went and saw the house the next day and absolutely loved it. We turned in an application the next day, and found out last night that we've been approved! They even allowed us to push the move-in date out one more week, which really helps us a lot financially.

We are really excited about this move. The only bad thing about it all is that we have to pack. :-/ Anyway, I've attached a few pictures of the house below. It has two bedrooms, and two baths. And Ginny will have a yard! :)

I think we need a couple of rocking chairs for this front porch, don't you think? I'm working on Matt on that one... :)

The garage is behind the house. There is a small street that runs behind all of the houses that leads to the garages.

So there it is! We'll post more pictures in 1 month + once we have all of our stuff in.

(update: I just found out the owners both graduated from Texas A&M - I think this is going to work out nicely. ;-) I told Matt that they were both Aggies and got a big, "Oh great..." - Ha!)

A Post About Ginny

A post on this blog with pictures and videos of Ginny? You're kidding!!

....

Ok, I just can't help it. She is so cute!! This first one is from my phone. Seriously... look at those puppy dog eyes... :)

When Ginny gets her way (which is more often that I'd like to admit), this is where she spends her evening - right between the two of us on the couch. I sit on one side, Matt sits on the other, and Ginny whines and snaps at us if we don't let her sit right in between.

The pig. I know that some of you have been (un)lucky enough to hear Ginny's pig. This thing oinks and squeals every time she bites down on it. It gets annoying REALLY quickly, but she absolutely loves it. Even as annoying as it is, it is pretty entertaining to watch how excited she gets about her pig. This picture captures it all... haha!!

This is the cuddly Ginny again...

I stayed home from work one day when I wasn't feeling well. I had some homework to do, so I was curled up in bed doing homework almost the entire day. Ginny was up on the bed with me and I guess she got tired of just sitting around. She turned toward me, growled at me, and slapped her paw down over my notebook. Ha!

I said some word that she knows and got this reaction. Matt and I have really been cracking up lately at some of the words that she knows. One of the other pointless tricks we've taught her, just because it makes US laugh, is to know where the fan is. So we'll ask, "Ginny, where's the fan?" and she'll look up at the ceiling fan.

Ok, now two videos! Matt was practicing guitar one night and he turned to Ginny and asked her what her favorite song was. She gave a look similar to the one in the picture above. Matt said, "Oh, I bet I know what it is..." and started playing How Much is That Doggy in the Window? Ginny. Went. Nuts. We were cracking up - she even managed to bark in the right places a couple of times. So we decided to video it. By the time we pulled out the video camera, she was so wound up that she wasn't super cooperative, but the videos are still funny. Matt sang the song, while I did the barking in the appropriate places. You can see Ginny snapping her teeth back at us while we're singing. Goofy dog (and her goofy humans)...

First try:



Second try: