To Lake House or not to Lake House...that is the question.

Peter owns a lake house (actually, there are 2 little houses on the property) outside of Burnet. They have been sitting vacant for about a year now, with nary a buyer in sight. Now that we both work in Burnet, we've been looking for a house to buy.

We haven't found a house we're madly in love with. And there really isn't anything within our price range (which is pretty low as it is).

So, we're considering moving out to one of the lake houses. Here are some pros and cons:

Pros
1. Free rent! (Well, sorta). We've been paying the mortgage on these houses AND rent. So, we'd be saving a lot of money per month. Which leads to:

2. Saving money for a down payment! We'll have a nice down payment in a year if we did move out there.

3. Sprucing up the lake house! While we're there we plan on doing some fixing up of the house which will make it more livable and hopefully help it's resale value.

4. A cat door for Sally! Our kitty loves to play outside, but she has to wait until we get home in the afternoon to be able to do it. We live in a rent house now, so we can't exactly cut holes in the doors. If we lived in a house that we own, we could do that!


Cons
1. We're nervous for Sally. This area is a lot more "wild" and I'm worried that she'd get into something or that some big animal would come get her. Though, most of the animals in the area are cows and deer. I don't think they like to eat kitties.

2. The drive is dangerous. The road between the lake house and Burnet is very twisty and turny with no shoulders, and there are a LOT of deer out there. So driving at night can be hazardous.

3. The houses are little bitty. There are 2 houses on the property, and according to their real estate listing they're 1600 square feet, together. So, seperately, they're probably about 900 and 700 square feet. Right now our duplex is about 1200, so that would take some getting used to.

4. The cost of "amenities." The cost for having internet and TV is a lot more than we're paying now. It's hard to get those things when you're 12 miles outside the city limits.

Well, it's neck-and-neck with the pros and cons. I don't think any of the cons are undoable for the amount of time we plan to spend out there. And I dont' think any of them outweight what we'll save for a downpayment (except for Sally. But, hopefully she'll get used to her surroundings).

The idea is looking better and better, but there are still things to think about.

Barb's Baby Shower

My darling friend Barbara is going to be blessed with two children in a few short months. So, we gathered this weekend to "shower" her with gifts for the wee little ones.

Barb's friend JoDee and I painted our butts off on Friday, and got the babies room almost completely painted. (Don't worry, we made Barbara stay in the other room. No fumes for her!) I meant to take pictures of the work in progress and I completely forgot! I'm sure Barb will post pictures when it's done.

On Saturday a lot of us old THS girls and some of Barb's college friends and moms had the brunch shower. Here are some pictures from the day:

This is the wreath I made for the shower (I have to brag, this is the craftiest I've ever been).

Barb showing off her new wipey warmer.



Our friend Mary had never heard of wipey warmers and thought they were hilarious. Barbara's mom, Susan, is in this pic with Mary. Can you believe she's going to be a grandma? No way does she look old enough!

Barb reading her card from us. She loved it and may hang it in the babies' room. Yea!

This is the super cute cake Remica got. It was yummy!

Mommy and the cake!



Tami, Barb, Mary and me
Seriously, if you hadn't seen the other pictures, you'd never know Barb was pregnant! She looks great!

Sally's New Toy

Since we got Sally this summer, there have been a stack of boxes in the hallway that have been her play area. She climbs all over them, pulls out the packing paper inside and has a good ole time.

Well, the day finally came that we were sick of putting the paper back in the box, and sick of the boxes in general. We decided to get her a proper play-tower.

It took her about 30 seconds to warm up to it. She's been having a great time!

This is literally about a minute after we brought it in.

She loves being on top of the tower!

Sorry this one's blurry, but she was moving so fast, it was hard to catch her!

Tagged- Thanks Remica!

Here's the deal:

*Go to the place on your computer where you store all your pictures and open the 4th folder.
*Open the 4th picture.
*Post the picture and give an explanation of what it is.
*Tag 4 people.
*DO NOT CHEAT!! You cannot edit or crop the picture!!

This is a way goofy picture from my 27th birthday. We were at Shady Grove (my favorite restaurant in Austin). For my birthday I got my favorite dessert at the restaurant. 3 large chocolate chip cookies topped with ice cream and chocolate syrup. And yes, I shared with my friends.

I tag Sarah Quiara. I don't have anyone else to tag because they've all been tagged already. :-(

I got the job!!!

Starting tomorrow, I will be teaching at Burnet Middle School! I'm nervous, but excited to start my new position. I'll be teaching 7th grade English and this will be the first time I've taught a "real" subject (meaning not an elective).

BMS is the the middle school Peter went to and some of his teachers are still there! And some of the teachers are people he went to school with which is pretty funny.

I'm sad to leave my kiddos and my fellow teachers in Austin, but I'm sooooo not sad to leave the drive behind. Nelly, my sister-in-law, and I figured out yesterday that I have 5K more miles than she does on my car and her car is FIVE years older. Urgh!



For the next two weeks I'll be in the classroom with my friend Bonnie who just happens to be the long-term substitute who's been covering the class since the former teacher left. So, it's good because it'll ease me (and the kiddos) into the job.

I'm also teaching one class of 8th grade yearbook, so that's exciting! I've heard the girls are drama queens, but what girl isn't at age 14?

Wish me luck! Goooo Bulldogs!

Merry Elfin' Christmas!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas time is here....

Christmas is here! (Yes, I know, it's just a few weeks off, but it's close enough for me). This week we've been having all manner of merriment, we bought our tree and decorated it and tonight we decorated the outside of the house.

We also got Sally all festive and ready to see Santa Claus for the first time. (She put up with us dressing her up, but just barely). She's surprisingly not been attacking the tree or ornaments, but she's had fun running around the bottom.

I also stumbled upon a website that makes really cool personalized ornaments, so I got one to commemorate our big year, and the wedding!

Yea for Christmas!!!

Our pretty, little tree (before we got our new tree skirt).

Sally in her stylin' Christmas gear.

Our fun ornament with our wedding party.