Saturday, August 30, 2008

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Oops! Fell off the face of the earth again!

Sorry about the absence, faithful readers.  (If, in fact, there are any faithful readers.)  There's been a lot going on... I'll attempt to condense for your viewing pleasure.
  • Got the car fixed, which happened on the other driver's dime (several dimes really), and was actually well timed enough to provide me with a rental car for my trip to San Antonio for the Texas Choral Directors Association convention.
  • At that convention, I had the pleasure of playing parent to a 12 year old student of mine, the younger sister of previously mentioned prayer request, B.A.S.  The younger B.A.S (same initials, sorry for any confusion) was selected as a member of the Honor Choir that rehearses and performs during the convention, but mom and dad couldn't bring her due to the older sister's surgery which occurred the same week.
  • The surgery appears to have gone well.  B.A.S is up and walking a little each day (with a walker and physical therapist) and has gotten well enough that the Powers That Be felt was was ready to resume chemotherapy.  She resumed yesterday.
  • Andrew and I have decided to put our house on the market!  This decision has been the source of MANY questions and assumptions.  Let me dispel some rumors:
  1. We are not broke, and this is not a "have to" situation.  This is a house that I bought with a single person's judgement, ideas, priorities, etc. and while none of those were bad and I do not regret the purchase... things have changed!  Andrew plans to attend SMU beginning in Fall 2009, and we enjoy Living Like No One Else... so the plan is to rent cheap in order to make SMU happen debt-free.
  2. The house is not falling apart, nor has it been a Money Pit.  I have not had a need to make any significant repairs on my two years living in my historic home, until very recently (an $850 water pipe replacement).  I think someone is going to be happy in this place and love it just like I have!
  3. The water pipe is not the whole story.  The water pipe incident (most specifically the initial $5,000 quote) started the conversation, and got us asking "how much money can we realistically save when we're paying $_____ for housing?"  And the answer is unknown, of course... but we figure we could certainly save more if we were paying less.  So yes, the plan is to rent cheap and return to homeownership some other time... 3 or 4 years probably.
That basically covers it.  School starts next week for both of us (although technically, I'm in inservice this week) and life will continue to change, I'm sure.  I'll try to keep you updated!