...cue music and roll tape.

Now that Star Wars is finally wrapped up, the world can go about its business. I still have to get a few hundred dollars worth of Lego sets (shh, don't tell my wife) but that will take years. And I still don't have a place for all of them, really.

But that's about to change. Last week, Mrs. A and I decided that weird noises in chimneys and attics and loud noises from neighbors just aren't things we can deal with anymore. So we're moving. Mrs. A printed off a bunch of listings for houses that met our needs and in our range and we spent the evenings checking them out.

We ran across a really nice model to build on a wooded lot backing up to a greenbelt. We were very close to dropping some escrow money on it. But by the time all the added rooms and extra's were factored in, it would have pushed the cost well past what our limit was. Plus, you can't negotiate with a builder. They say it's a price, it's pretty much that price. It's like getting a high demand brand new car, yeah you could haggle a little bit, but you're not going to save much. It's a principle thing.

And the principle was, I was set on this house. It was in the same area, it was plenty big and was on a nice lot. It was new so we could get anything we wanted and get it right the first time.

That is until cooler and more thoughtful heads prevailed. Mrs. A was wise enough to say, "You know what? I want to be absolutely sure." So she printed up 20 more houses that matched our criteria and we spent some of the day Saturday looking at those. Well, we found one. It's in our neighborhood and has all the things we need, plus it's within our price range. It's 10 years old and has a great, immaculate yard and a wonderful deck. The only two drawbacks it has is it's fully carpeted and it doesn't have a media room. But those are small things and can be overcome. The rest of the house, plus the cost per square foot, is really quite something. There's also something to be said about moving to a new house, but only a couple blocks away. Your house changes, but not really your home. Schools stay the same, shopping, routes to work. I think it'll be nice.

The front of the house looks like the cut away scenes from sitcoms where they've returned from the commercial, there's a jingle reprise and the inside action starts. It's really cute.

So last night we put on offer on it and today Mrs. A is working with both the lender and our agent to get the ball rolling. We now have to think about our house and the things we have to do to it to get it to sell, which isn't much. Repair a fence, trim some bushes and edges, that's about it. I'm sure any buyers will say they want a new water heater or AC or something, but I don't see us budging on much. We'll see.

And for all you Housing Experts out there, I await your calls. I'm sure we're bound to get a ton of emails or comments or phone calls about something, and we could use the advice, so let 'em fly. I don't want to say much more about it right now for fear of jinxing it.

The other exciting thing that happened was a visit from my mom and aunt. (I guess, Grandma Woodland Park and Aunt Littleton? Seems a bit lengthy.) They came down for the weekend to see the family and some sites around Austin. There was an original plan to have a big birthday bash for the little ones in between their birth dates, but no one but my mom and aunt could come down at that time. Work, health, other plans pretty much dictated that.

For those who didn't come, there was no party, nothing planned, don't feel bad, don't think you ruined anything. We went to Red Lobster, saw Robots. It was ok.

So the first day, my mom and aunt and I head to Fredericksburg out in the Hill Country. The Hill Country in Austin in a weird mix of Texas and Germany. Fredericksburg is notorious for wild flowers, peaches, pecans and schnitzel. My mom and I both had a story about going there and eating at a restaurant and asking how the schnitzel was, and both stories end with the waitress going, "The schnitzel is good! You will have some?" Like really overeagerly, like it was some agenda they had to push. Like schnitzel isn't really good, but don't tell the Germans. Like Chilli's saying "Try the Spam! It's good, ya?"

But the main event was the Wild Flower Seed Farm just outside of Fredericksburg. My mom is a gardening nut, or a green thumb however you want to look at it. Growing up we had a vegetable garden and strawberry patch and a rhubarb bush and tomato vines and all measure of flowers and trees. 70% of her photos are of flowers. Several of the trips made to Texas have involved trips to gardens or looking for flowers.

She likes flowers.

So we went to this place, and it was ok. They, being in the German countryside that they are, also had a place to get beer. So all was good.

I felt a little bad because we knew they were coming out, but we ended up using that weekend to find a new house. They ended up watching the kids a few times while we were out. I'd have rather they watched the kids while we went out to a movie or drinking or something, but this was actually helpful, and I dig that. So thanks guys.

By the same token, they were able to spend a lot of time with the grandkids and I'm sure they didn't mind that at all.

Decent weekend.

So the big thing LIA will be keeping track of now is the new home. Home Watch, we'll call it. And on going update from now until we've unpacked the last box. You guys are in for a real treat. Maybe I'll paint the blog and you can watch it dry. Trust me, it's more fun for us.