my souvenir was a house

Orlando was a shocking amount of fun and I can't recommend taking an 18 month old to a theme park enough. It seriously blew his mind. While there we let Truman pick out a couple of souvenirs and he selected a stuffed Hedwig and Fawkes that he loves so much it's ridiculous. My souvenir was a bit bigger and wouldn't fit in my carry on; it was a house.

Let's take a couple of steps back.

If you follow along with my twitter feed you know that our apartment complex has been plagued with many 2am fire evacuations starting on Halloween night. Some were pranks, some were drunks burning food on their stoves, and two were actual fires. As if the late night fire evacuations weren't enough, we were experiencing them during the day as well thanks to on going construction. This was, to say the least, not a good situation for anyone in our family and finally I was given a note from my OB saying my pregnancy is too high risk to continue to live here. As soon as the note was turned into our leasing office I started the hunt for a new place to live.

Our original plan was to rent again but this time a house. We were willing to spend a good amount so I assumed we would have no trouble locating something in one of our top areas. Turns out I was wrong and everything I was finding was over $4500 per month. In a huge pregnancy induced crying jag I sobbed to jparks that we could get a mortgage for less than that a month. I was already working with an agent to locate a rental so with access to the MLS database, jparks decided to look up houses for sale to see if I was right. Turns out I was.

We left for Universal on Sunday and the Friday before that we met our agent at pretty much the only house that interested us. It was in one of my top locations and was brand new construction which was jparks' main requirement. It didn't take long for us to know that we wanted to make an offer but we hadn't been pre-approved for any amount and we were heading out of town before we could get pre-approved.

At this point I was extremely excited to be staying at a hotel with a business center because from there we were able to print all the paperwork needed to make an offer, accept the counter offer, and then submit all the contract paperwork. So there you have it, in less than seven days we had gone from apartment dwelling renters to people with a house pending. It seems like we've made the decision to become permanent Texans for awhile.


I also got a souvenir Butterbeer tankard because there was no way I was leaving The Wizarding World of Harry Potter empty handed.

had to get away

Tomorrow I board a plane with Truman and jparks and head to Orlando for a week at Universal Studios. Obviously at some point I thought this vacation was a good idea, but that was before I was pregnant and we had to find a house and move into it just over a month. In other words, I'm fairly certain this vacation will kill me. Also, since I am SMRT I'm currently watching My Big Redneck Wedding instead of packing. Mostly because I have no idea what to pack when the only thing that fits right now are two pairs of jeans and I'm not sure if jeans at a theme park in Florida are a dumb idea. Obviously it's February and probably not too hot but it still seems counterintuitive to wear them.

While I might not feel too excited about the trip right at this moment, a week ago I was ready to get the hell out of Austin. We were in the midst of some crazy winter weather and while cold doesn't phase me in the slightest, going to bed to not know if we would have rolling blackouts or if the roads would be iced over and the city shut down in the morning was driving me crazy. Of course now that it's time for us to head to warmer weather, Austin has become beautiful and we were able to venture outside for lunch at a trailer.

Lamb spring rolls and barbecue pork banh mis were had and were delicious. But then jparks decided to open a beer and my mood shifted. I was already a bit tired and cranky and there he sat, unintentionally taunting me with my favorite beer that won't be available once I pop this kid out. I really wanted to rip the bottle from his hand.

Oh Strawberry Lager, please come to me.

Instead I had a cup of strawberry jello. It was not nearly as satisfying.


And to bring this back full circle, if you have any advice on making my way through the theme park with Truman, please offer it up. I went ahead and bought him a kid leash because that's been the one thing I said I would never buy and I guess you're not really a parent until you cross your uncrossable line. Any tips on what to bring into the park with us? Things to avoid? Things to not miss?

seriously, it's just a little cold weather

Have you heard, it's cold in Texas. How cold? Cold enough for me to put on a hat just so people would stop commenting about how inappropriately dressed I am.

My plan didn't quite work out though because then people just commented about how I was wearing a 3/4 sleeve tee shirt with a knit hat and where was my jacket for goodness sake!

So to recap, It's cold in Austin right now, around 22 degrees but thanks to wind chill it hovering closer to 10 degrees, I'm not cold and couldn't tell you where to locate one of my coats, and the city is basically shitting itself trying to figure out how to deal with this cold weather stuff. No really, there's been rolling blackouts all day and they were threatening them again tonight but (obviously) I still have power and I'm hoping it stays that way. Then to add salt into Austin's giant gapping wound caused by a fallen icicle, the weatherman mentioned that we could get three inches of snow by Friday. I will believe that when I see it and until then I am going to continue my life as I normally would and not freak the fuck out like some people and buy every gallon of water and loaf of bread at the store.

I'll give Boston and Chicago their freak outs since things like cars and houses are disappearing under snow but Austin needs to fix itself a drink and calm down a little bit. We're just a little cold, let's not shut down completely.

Really the truth is that I'm worried Tru's day care will be closed tomorrow and dear god if someone can't entertain my child for me for a few hours I might cry. Do you really want to make a pregnant woman cry, Austin? Think about it and react properly. Don't be a big mean jackass; keep the day cares open! I believe that's a battle cry many, many people can support.