Reveal V 1.0

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Quirky

The strangest thing happened a week ago--we slept amidst a rain storm and the house did not shake and the roof did not sound as if it was being assailed by missiles. YUP, we are in our new to us forty year old brickalow! The RV has been relegated to storage at the KOA campground lot and they are consigning it for us as their location is much more central to metro Austin.

The first 7 days has pretty much been nothing but a paintathon. After paying (some things are worth having someone else do) a very fair rate to have half of our home's popcorn ceiling removed, we broke out 5 gallons of white paint to repaint the ceiling as well as cover up the dark wood of the 70s that adorned our base boards, shelves, door and window trim. Thirty hours later, our labor of love, Phase 1, is complete. Now time to splash on the COLOR!

While I have manned the paint brush, Teri spent the majority of the week being Mrs. Clean. Our previous owners were in their mid-80s and bless their hearts, but the only thing they may have kept clean were their Depends. The original kitchen hardware was still in place and Teri finally just gave up trying to de-gunk--off to Amazon's website and 2 days later courtesy of Prime and free shipping, all new knobs and pulls have been  installed. Yes, our first new friends have been the FedEx and UPS delivery drivers.

As we did with the RV, we will have a big reveal moment, or two. Not sure if we will wait til it's all complete or roll it out room by room. Stay tuned.

As to the home's character and quirkiness, I have had many "what were they thinking" moments as I explore our new address. Let's take a tour of  them.

Male visitors, please present your Urinal Marksmanship score card before entering our bathroom.

It's called being resourceful--watering your yard with your washing machine drain line. Honestly, the appliance dude who brought over our machine said "Best durn 'maters you will  ever have if you plant your garden right there". Gotta luv the small town folk. Yes, line burial is on the To Do list.

 Don't you love it when they remove 99% of the tree, but leave behind 1% that represents 99% of the weight. Somewhere on Pinterest I hope they have an idea of what to do with leftover tree trunks.

Spring is in the air bathroom. Hideous.

 

 and thus Building Codes were born...

Hey, when you get the discounted dishwasher, the whole thing tips forward when you pull it out. The owners put in new Corian style countertops, but did not resecure the 2 brackets that hold it in place. While I will show some rarely seen grace as you don't simply insert screws into solid surface counters, I don't know how they tolerated this huge inconvenience for as long as they did.

If someone has seen the PVC Jolly Green Giant, I do believe we have found his walker.

There you have it, our week in review--sleep, eat, paint. Time to get back to the brush.

All Kinds of Candles!

...or to us, our one year anniRVersary! We made it surviving together in 185 square feet.

One year  ago today, this was my birthday present. Clyde the Ride sold yesterday to it's first looker, another couple our age just joining the RV ranks. They drove over 175 miles just to grab him. The 2008 Jayco Eagle awaits a buyer-- S T I L L.

Today, this square is driving a Nissan Cube, a rental car until we find a new to us ride.

An excellent birthday cake substitute--from GiGis Cupcakes, a nice, healthy dose of chocolate and caramel. Not to worry about the calorie intake, for the 13th straight year, I was able to finish a 5k course. But man, the love handles bouncing off the asphalt really does produce some serious chafing.

The number of folks who have found it over here in the past year, cheers!

 Guess what returns to the grocery shopping list in 3 days...

Three final days in the aluminum shack---with temps 20 degrees below normal. Of course.Thanks for stopping by.

Closer

Well, one week from today, we hope to be writing out that large check for larger living. Other than it burning down, appears to be no obstacle to getting to closing in our fine small town of Burnet, TX, population 6,000.

How do you know when you are in a small town--when the online newspaper has a tab indicating "Obits" and when you select it, the drop-down option indicates "Pets". You can verify for yourself here.Would love to see a tribute like "In remembrance of Muffy, the family reminds you not to leave the bag of chocolate Oreo cookies next to the counter".

You can lay any doubt to rest that we will be moving near a couple sizable bodies of water. Above is a Craigslist link my adorable wife sent me as a hint. Maybe this will replace the RV adventure.

Speaking of Craigslist, we have loaded up in one week's time--dryer, dresser, lawn mower, king-size bed frame, two couches (story forthcoming), side chair, 2 side tables, kitchen table (no chairs, more fun sitting on floor) and a coffee table. Yes, we are the Upscale-R-Us storage unit.

Let's go to this week's Craigslist Missing Brain Cells' Listings of the Week:

Listed as "Chester Drawers". Glad to see he has stopped  his molesting behavior.

 

The only thing in the listing "Mens New Asics Tennis Shoes". Apparently, the seller had never heard the phrase "size matters".

Titled: guys coffee table top extends out - $100 (central austin) Very informative as I never knew how to tell the difference in sexes of coffee tables.

Unwanted Belly Fat? - Research Study 

Is there any other kind?

Once you get the agreement on an offer, then you have to battle this via text messaging:

Me: "Thanks. Let me know a day, time and address where I can pick it up".

Response: "Work til 5".

What I wanted to reply: "I now have a 1st Place Trophy inscribed with MOST VAGUE CRAIGSLIST RESPONSE-2013 that I will bring over to you".

  

 

 

Perhaps brain-cell loss is contagious. Nothing like buying 2 full-sized couches in 2 days and not being able to sell the first one. The 2nd one was way more eclectic ( I will spot you "lime green", you will have to wait for the reveal) so we decided to keep it and sell this one.

 

Guess who gets to play electrician the day we  move in? Yup, dryer bought is 4 prong, older house is 3 prong. Yes, you  can work on my obit "In remembrance of Dave, the family asks that you seek a professional electrician when working around 220 volts".

The bathtub countdown continues: 7 days. My wife is hoping this is the dude that jumps out of the tub. Hummm, maybe that is why she bought the extra couch-- for me. She is thoughtful that way.

One journey nears an end, a new one about to begin...

Meeting Camerixans....

We have followed their journey for quite awhile, now we finally got to meet our virtual RV friends from Camerixco who host a blog called A Life Made Simple! Canada is their native land, Mexico has been their most current adventure and now they are back in America, all be it we think of Texas as our own country.

Teresa is as sweet as Texas tea. Cassia is their 3 year old whose blue eyes could  melt the Texas sun. And then there is Derek, the Mountain Dew incarnate. He may be the first recipient of a caffeinated pace maker. What energy and cheers to a Libertarian!

This is their motel on wheels. I SHAN'T ever complain that we in our 185 sq ft castle do not have enough room. They found such an abundance of space they decided to haul a  cat and their  large breed dog with them. Hey, that's  one way to create a tight family.

They leave the madness of Austin, Tx. (whose idea was it to have SouthxSouthwest, the Travis County rodeo and Spring break the same week) on a slow northward trek back to Canada crossing the border just as their green card reaches its final tick-tock. But, as 1,000 new daily arrivals into Austin will testify, they are enamored with this town and yearn to come back next year! Great meeting these fun folks and hearing about their journey through Mexico these past few months and comparing all three country's cultures. VERY INTERESTING! Blessings and safe travel.

This family makes number four of RV'ing bloggers we have met and they join the list which includes Jerry and Kim at Creating the Life, Scott and Debbie at Great Escape From New Jersey and Derek and Monica from Roadmap to Nomad!

As to the house with bricks, the inspection passed yesterday, well except for the 28 deficiencies, it is simply awesome! Gotta love the 70 year old country boy inspector who arrived 15 minutes before we did greeting us with "Buying  yourself a fixer-upper, are ya?". HUH! I  mean in 25 years of marriage, the only thing ever fixed up in our  house was Teri's hair and face back when she worked outside of  the home. 

The difficulty is a home inspector is tasked with grading a 40  year old home against current code. I think we concluded once the report was done we would each just take 12 hour shifts to  make sure we didn't sense the roof was about to cave in, the electric panel wasn't about to  become a BBQ pit and the foundation wasn't going to spill  into a sink hole. Might just see if Lassie is available for  a part-time gig. Ah heck, insurance is awesome. Moving in two weeks!

Spent all morning at garage sales. No one wanted to sell theirs.

 

Replacement vehicle hunting also continues, now almost 3 months. This was the truck I almost bought until the seller said it came with a flame thrower, but it wasn't hooked up. I thought I could solve the distracted cell phone driver issue that irks me. Oh well..

And finally, our RV and Truck made it onto Craigslist last night. Time to go study Nigerian shipping rates and the intricacies of Western Union payments.

The RV journey continues.

Eggscuse Me!

Well, after 3 months of mastering fickleness, we have decided the concrete jungle was not to our liking. With a growth rate of 1,000 new residents a day arriving to the Austin metroplex, it was time for us to reevaluate. We have decided our straw hats have requested we return to the country. YEE-HAW. As of today, we have signed a contract to purchase a home just on the outskirts of Burnet, TX., a sleepy town of 6,000 denim wearers and about a 45 minute drive to the northwest of the capital city.

The only tease for now: it sits on an acre and has one of these---with 50 amps! Not for us, but for you readers who want get a taste of BBQ-ville.

Yup, our sellers are RV'ers, as well. Teri commented several times on our journey "wouldn't  it be cool if we ended up in a house that came with an RV pad". Ask. Receive. OH WAIT--STOP THE BLOG PRESSES. We were within a nano-second of having all 9 parties involved in this transaction finalized, including this blog draft started 1hr prior to our realtor sending us over the HOA details. Seeing they were "voluntary" and $35 per year, I decided to peruse them. "No poultry"--that's right, 1 acre in the country, and feathered lay-dies are not allowed--are you kidding? We waddled away probably leaving the other 7 players in disbelief. So, we opted for a 1/4 acre property in town where hens are permitted. Made an offer, they accepted, we close in a few weeks, probably just a few days shy of our 1 year anniRVersary.

Sorry RV'ers, you  can put your RV in storage and come sleep with us for a couple  of nights. We will probably have to charge you for hot water use that extends beyond 3 minutes as we don't want you to overstay your visit.

The house is  mid-70s in awesome condition, including a glittered-sprinkled popcorn ceiling, something I am very satisfied with as searching "disco ball" on Craigslist was fruitless. As RV'ers who sold it all, we have begun our search of replenishing. We picked up 3 furniture pieces yesterday from the Travolta collection. The ONLY thing we will buy new is our king sized bed. No worries visitors, we will  have our exterminator shoot a lil spray on the guest bedroom mattress before you arrive. We are caring like that.

We close in less than 3 weeks and I am already working on my swan dive technique into a hot soaking bath tub. Teri also posted more details today HERE. We will share before/after here in the next six weeks or so.

I guess since I now have a permanent address, I can now search for a local job. Even though I don't "have to-have to" go back to work, I "want to-want to". My wife wants me to, also, cause she wants me to be happy. Or something.I don't want to say she is rushing me, but I think she is quietly Pinning "Husband Work Lunches".

As to specific work type, I thought I was pretty open minded, so I began scanning Craigslist. Here are some opportunities that arose:

• Semen donor- I think I am too old for the Navy
• Egg donor- I will  have  a chat with our hens
• Diarrhea/IBS Clinical Research Participants- Pooping on command not a forte'
• Lice Removal Technician- It's been posted a few times, possibly little interest
• European Wax Center Assistant-  sounded more to my liking. I enjoy detailing my cars and what could be more fun than polishing up the Euro likes of BMWs, Mercedes and Lamborghini. HUH? Hair removal? THERE? WHY? Maybe if the Lice Salon can’t solve it, the Wax Center can--now there is a franchise idea.

So, I remain funemployed. 

Gotta run, the mild 3 months of Austin living is about to turn into 3 weeks of a wild transition, including selling an RV and a truck. OH, and have to make a decision on whether to continue blogging. And on what kind of puppy I want. And figuring out  how to adjust to uninterrupted Internet. And a privacy fence to work on my waxing techniques.

The journey continues as we mark off our 340th day of full-time RV'ing.

Concrete Vs. Rubber, The Costs of Living Comparison

or

Ever been curious which lifestyle is cheaper, Rv'ing or Mortaring? Which one do you have more control of when times get tough? Let's compare our last full month (Jan 2012) in our sticks and bricks house to our 9 month average RV budget which was discussed in detail here including definitions of each line item.

Call me Capt. Obvious, but you will have to apply some common sense to the categories (ie, House has electric bill, RV does not, but would (usually) be part of RV Parks fee). Oh, in neither scenario did we have mortgage/RV financing. Unlike our Federal government, we are debt oppositional.

Again, these were actual expenditure results, not budgeted amounts, for a 1 month basis.

       ITEM                                       STICKS/BRICKS                     RV

1.    Aetna-                                             190                                    190
2.   Samaritan-                                        150                                    150
3.   VSP Eye care-                                     9                                        9
4.   Cell Phone-                                        80                                       80
5.   RV Parks-                                          N/A                                   723
6.   Fuel-                                                  88                                      419
7.  Veh/"Home" Maintenance-                   75                                      311
8.  Groceries-                                          320                                     362
9.  Entertainment-                                    159                                     174
10. Incidentals-                                         89                                       84
11. Health-                                               41                                       14
12. Tolls-                                                  15                                       19
13. Laundry-                                           N/A                                      32
14. Veh Insurance-                                  101 (had 2 cars)                    41
15. "Home" Insurance-                              62                                       28
16. Property taxes                                   220                                    N/A
17. Elec/water/trash                                 241                                    N/A
18. Cable/Net/Phone                               123                                    N/A
19. Life Ins.                                               33                                      33
20. Animal care                                         30                                    N/A
 
  T O T A L:                                         $2,026                              $2,669

Anyone surprised? Yes, the beast of fuel costs and RV park fees raises its ugly head. That being said, those are the two you have the most flexibility with and can shave down costs by staying longer at one place and paying the discounted monthly rate, not to mention less fuel costs by being parked. In the foundation built home, there is almost no room to minimize overhead--drop the cable (don't touch my Internet), adjust your thermostat up a bit, hang out laundry, shower together--OK, OK, I will stop. But you get the point. You also can work-camp and get your RV park fee paid by the campground. Too bad we can't approach the County tax office to work out such a deal.

Perhaps a true apple-apple comparison would be looking at the RV total costs for the 4 months of this 10 month journey we did not move, August, December, January and February (projected). $1,966-- essentially, a wash if you minimize movement. But what enjoyment would that be? Even more fun, sprinting for shelter when the tornado sirens go off in the campground and sharing 6 gallons of hot water with the love of  your life. Good times.

 

Now, an update from us. We arrived in Austin almost 3 months ago. We had 3 primary goals: 1) Find a house 2) Find a job 3) Find a run-about, economical car. Ninety-days later, we still have the same 3 goals. **Face meets palm**. But our owner-financed house did "close", but monies didn't---yet--another 10 days we are told to see disbursement.

Hey, but we are still  happily married--I think. More details on the trifecta hunting in the next post.