Three Years and One Sold Home

Three years ago today I signed papers making the home at 2601 N Locust in Denton, TX MY home.

Two weeks ago I signed papers making the home at 2601 N Locust in Denton, TX NOT my home.

I had moved out two weeks before signing the papers, and was at my new job in Austin when a mobile-notary from the title office came to my office. It was a bit strange, but I was already removed from it as my home since it had been opened up to strangers for showings and an open house.

But now it was official.

When it officially became mine, my friend Stephanie was with me and we had tacos afterward. It was super hard to concentrate on work the rest of the day.

When it officially became not mine, I was at work with coworkers I don't really know yet. None of them know me or the joy I felt in buying that house. I went back to work to my desk, then made a quick trip to the bathroom to shed a couple of tears. I texted some friends back in Denton, to have a small and fleeting connection to something familiar.

The first month of this change to Austin has been tough. Just because change is tough in general. Many, many emotions were felt, including some very intense feelings about a haircut I had paid a lot of money for. Things have finally settled into a groove, though, and I am meeting people and getting to know my coworkers.

I will also love that home on Locust Street. I painted and hung shelves and weatherized my pipes and had friends over. It was full of love, from friends, family and my cats.

One Year Homeiversary

One year ago today I signed papers making me a homeowner! It was fun and exciting and scary, and I had a hard time concentrating on work for the rest of the day! Even though I am holding the key to my home in this photo, I had an agreement with the current owners that they would have the weekend to move (since the closing date was pushed back it messed up their timeline with the home they were purchasing).

This piece stuck out to me:

Sometimes I wish there was someone else helping me with things around the house (and paying half the mortgage wouldn't be bad either!). I am not naturally handy with fixing things. I don't have power tools. I don't know much about planting or landscaping.

But whatever. Things are still going great. There are lots of things I would like to do, but this first consisted of some painting, putting frames on the wall, getting a lawnmower, and just maintaining it. I am saving up for a new kitchen, so that will be my project next summer!

Those Front Flowers

A few months ago I got semi-ambitious and planted some flowers in my front hanging-beds. I had grand visions of them looking perfect and fantastic. Here's what they started out as:

Left side

Right side

Left side

Right side

Here they are a couple months ago, starting to wilt:

Left side

Right side

And here is how they look now: 

Left side

Right side

The cyclamen did not last long. I'm not sure if they needed more water, less sunlight, or a mixture of those. Or maybe they just don't last long, aren't Texas natives. I won't be planting them again. 

The oxalis is very robust! The one on the left side of the house wilted away at one point. I have some of these on the side of my home that doesn't get any sun and they grow with no problem. I think these ones, being more exposed to direct sunlight than the ones on the right side, couldn't handle it. However, they are resilient because just last week I noticed them starting to come back! They aren't as big and bushy as the other side, but I'm very impressed that they came back from near extinction.

The begonia, sturdy Texas natives, must have a short blooming period. They aren't wilted or anything, but they are no longer blooming. I'll see what happens with them next year.

Meanwhile, I'd love to plant oxalis everywhere! I'll have to start planning out my front yard at some point.

Neverending Yardwork

It feels like I've done yardwork every weekend for the past several months. It just never stops. Leaves from the fall didn't go anywhere. Weeds keep growing. Grass keeps growing. Everything keeps growing.

I finally cleared off all the leaves in my front yard last weekend. It was an effort that spanned a couple months and filled up twenty brown leaf bags. I had sore muscles, run-ins with spiders and garden snakes. I had sweat and pain, and callouses on my hands.

And it felt very satisfying.

Today I tackled the backyard, which, since it's not visible from the street and therefore less attended to, was starting to look a bit unkempt. I filled up five leaf bags and could have used more (I really should just buy a bunch of these and have them on hand). The bamboo situation is unfortunately becoming a situation.

I'm currently just in a maintain situation. I'd like to do something great and grand with my yard -xeriscape in the front, garden and deck in the back - but none of that will happen for awhile. So in the meantime I keep pulling weeds and controlling the growth.

Leaves

I have two large oak trees in my front yard. Their leaves fell of months ago. I bought a rake and some bags the first part of January, but every weekend since then it's either been cold, or windy, or rainy, or I have been busy. But yesterday was none of those things (it was actually incredibly warm) so I finally got out to rake up the leaves.

I started mid-afternoon and had to take a break to eat some lunch and take a nap. 

I ended up filling up all ten of the bags, and still had leaves left over. It was a lot of work, but I feel satisfied with my work and the way my front lawn looks. I don't even remember the last time I raked leaves. 

Frozen Pipes

It snowed yesterday in north Texas. Just a small layer of fine snow. It was pretty. However, the snow also brought some below-freezing temps over the night. And when I went to take a shower this morning, nothing came out of the shower head.

I checked the bathroom sink faucets. Nothing.

I checked the kitchen sink faucet. Nothing.

All signs pointed to my pipes freezing over the night when temps were in the teens. Now, I've lived in Idaho and Utah and never once have I had my pipes freeze. In Texas, since freezing events are not common, and because of the ground, we build our homes on piers and beams. My crawl space is quite large, as I live on a slope, meaning I can very nearly stand up in my crawl space/"basement". So my pipes are just hanging out in the cold air with nothing to keep them warm.

I called my friend Stephanie, my trusted homeowner friend (and all-around fantastic friend). She gave the phone to her partner, Chris, who was well-versed in such scenarios. He told me it wasn't really a big deal. He told me that the biggest issues comes when the water thaws and all the water pressure is built up then released. In order to give it somewhere to go, he told me to open up all my faucets. Then he said to periodically check the pipes and make sure they weren't leaking.

That sounded easy enough. I turned open all the faucets and then just waited.

At about 11:15 I was sitting on my bed, taking photos of Biscuit being cute as she laid in the sun, I heard water starting to run! I went into the crawl space to make sure nothing was leaking - and nothing was! It took a bit longer for the hot water to come back, but it has.

Lesson learned: leave your faucets dripping when it's cold, especially in Texas! I'm just glad it warmed up at a decent time to get my water back without any major, costly catastrophes.