Wednesday, February 12

Left for Dallas Monday AM.  Rented a storage locker and unloaded most of my Christmas stuff and some odds and ends.  There is still lots of room in it.

Had a little time so drove around the area where the new house is.  Can't say I am unhappy that there is a WalMart Supercenter, a Kroger, an Albertsons and a Walmart neighborhood grocery within about 2 miles of the house.  Also, a CVS and various restaurants up on I 20 as well as a mall and a Toyota dealer for car service.  I was especially excited to find a Braums and a Quik Trip.  Both of those things existed when we lived in Oklahoma and I love them both.  It's not that I am a shopaholic or anything but everything is so far away where I live now.   Nearest grocery is 7 miles, nearest mall (small) is about 12 or so and the big mall and the car dealer are probably 20 miles.

Met the inspector and he found several problems that need to be addressed.  The roof has some damage and he recommended we have a roofer look at it, there are some electrical things that either don't work or don't work properly and there may be a broken pipe  on the outdoor faucet.  I left feeling distressed but later talked with the realtor and he said it was not at all unusual to find things that needed addressing and to stay cool.

The weather was dreadful, wet and cold.  Ended up not coming home on Monday because the inspection took til 4:30, had to drive an hour in rush hour traffic to pick up my grandson.  We started home but the temperature dropped and I didn't want to drive in ice in the dark.   We stopped for the night and came home yesterday after the temperature was above 32.  Still was a bit dicey but we did OK.

We stopped to see Cowboy on the way home.  He was eating his lunch.    He was happy to see us and talked to our grandson more than me.  He knew he was a grandson but struggled with his name and who his Mom was.  After he thought about it  awhile he seemed to figure it out.

Got home about 3 and hit the WalMart for some food that he will actually eat.  We had pizza last night but I am making ribs for tonight. (Need to feed the help.)

We have been taking things off the walls and patching the holes, packing up Cowboy's clothes and then took everything off above the kitchen cabinets.   Need to work some more on patching, etc and am hoping we get my good china and things packed.  Mostly am concentrating on getting the heavy boxes into the car to take to storage and the stuff that is up high and requires a ladder.  We are getting there.