Anutta Blog

Life With Poodles

Crazy busy but still loving life!

by | Jun 3, 2017 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Who does this?  Who books a vacation right before they move?  I’d have to say it was someone insane or incredibly optimistic.  Normally I wouldn’t use either of those terms to describe myself, but here I am right in the middle of it.   Last fall we were visiting the big ‘Mouse House’ in Florida when Hurricane Matthew decided to stop in for a visit.  We had only used two out of the four days on our military Disney World tickets before the forced evacuation of Fort Wilderness campgrounds was thrust upon us.  This wasn’t all bad, because honestly how much fun is Disney during a hurricane?  Not much, I can tell you that.  At least with the campground closing they refunded the remainder of our camping stay.   Disney is extremely accommodating to military.  The 4 day Armed Forces Salute tickets are a fraction what you normally pay to walk into Disney.  The kind folks at Walt Disney World told us our tickets would be good for a year if we could find a way to come back.  Seriously, what more could you want?  Way to be awesome, Disney!
What does a person do when sitting on 2 days worth of tickets to Disney for 4 people?  They start planning another trip!  Back in January I thought our best shot at going would be right after school ended, yet before we would be moving.  We didn’t have firm orders at that point, but I didn’t think we would be packing up until mid July at the earliest.  Late May / early June would be ideal for a trip back to FL before we moved.
What is that saying?  Best laid plans?  Yeah, that is totally my life right now.  When we visited San Antonio over spring break house hunting, we really didn’t think we would locate a home.  Our primary goal was to find what areas we loved and keep our eyes out for the right home at the right price.  This might seem daunting to some people, but we have purchased near 50 homes during our marriage.  Long long ago when Keith was in medical residency in Norfolk, VA I started a business flipping homes.  This was WAY before reality TV and all the shows you see today.  While Keith was learning everything he could about medicine, I was paying my dues remodeling homes for fun and profit.  Why do I mention this?  Mostly to show how we can walk into an area and decide what we like in an extremely short amount of time.  I could live just about anywhere and be happy, but with this new house I wanted a few key features.
1.  No dog restrictions in the city or neighborhood covenants, but I didn’t want an area where there are dogs running at large.  A neighborhood so the kids could have friends.
2.  We wanted a pool.  The kids are old enough to help care for and safely enjoy a pool.  Texas is hot and access to water is vital for your own mental stability.  Usually I would travel to water parks, but this time I wanted to spoil myself a bit and have it right in my own back yard.
3.  A large yard.  I wanted something at least a half acre.
The Real Estate market is HOT in San Antonio right now with many homes getting multiple offers as soon as they are listed.  Being flexible on how you play the game is vital.  How we purchase a home in a sellers market is completely different than a buyers market.  That said, we stumbled upon a house we loved during our spring break trip.  After dealing back in forth with the sellers, we came up with a workable solution.  They were given the price they wanted, we netted the repairs we wanted, and closing would happen in June which was as far back as we could push the closing and still lock in a good mortgage rate.
Why am I telling you all this?  Because, you will see why my life is a total mad house right now and why I not on top of emails.  The kids last day of school was the 25th of May.  We left that day for the beach.  After spending two days playing in the sand we headed to Orlando for a week of exhausting fun.  Yesterday was 12 hours in the car for the return to Huntsville (I hate Atlanta traffic!!).  The military packers will arrive on Monday the 5th and start boxing up our home.  Yeah, that is in two days! Everything should be out of the house by the 8th or 9th of June.  We will then spend the next week in an empty house cleaning, touch up painting, doing minor cosmetic repairs.  On the 14th we start out journey to San Antonio to take possession of our new home in Texas.
Being in the military is challenging.  Sometimes those challenges are brought on by your own planning.  Going at them with a good attitude makes all the difference.  Let’s hear it for my insanity!  I’ll get to your emails as soon as I can.  Don’t panic or think I hate you.  I’m just basking in the life I chose… or trying not to drown in it.  One or the other.  I’m still not sure which.
PS.  We should know if Cadence is pregnant not long after we arrive in Texas!  Check back and see what is going on.  I’m hoping Jazz holds off coming into season until July.  I need some time to recover from all this driving!