Goodbye Old, Hello New!

So, it's the strangest thing. We have never sold a house before, and it looks scary and complicated! We hired our friend Jennifer to be our agent, I, of course took the photos, because really? Why in the world would we hire another photographer to take pics of the house? (Oh, and just a reminder, you can click on pics for a better look!)

We finished our renovations which I can safely say was one of the worst 4-6 weeks of my life! We packed tons of stuff and moved it to storage, we decluttered and hired a professional cleaning team, had the lawn mowed and then, if I remember correctly, we listed the house on August 1, 2012.  Within in 6 days, 6 DAYS, we had an offer and a back-up!! Brains exploded and we were on a mad scramble to find a new home! I mean really, who in the world would have expected to sell their house in 6 days? It's that crazy Austin market!

Finding the perfect home was SUCH a struggle! We definitely had a want list a mile long. I wanted 4 bedrooms and a game room for the kids. I needed space for my photography studio. I had to have a formal dining area for my grandmother's antique table and hutch. I wanted a nice kitchen, a well-appointed master bath, a good yard and most importantly, a nice family-friendly neighborhood with lots of kids and good amenities and preferably in a decent school district. Even though we homeschool, it's always good to be in a good school district in case the kids ever do decide to go to public school! Oh and did I mention that we were really hoping for a one story! Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us! Most of the houses had potential space for an office, but no game room or no dining room! I had no idea how hard it was going to be to find those three things in the same house. Brady kept pulling up this one particular house on our property search list, but I kept poo-pooing it because it had NO yard! The house looked like it was in great condition, it was in a nice neighborhood (although it was WAY farther north than we really wanted), it had all the bedrooms, a dining room and an office, but I just couldn't get past the property issue AND it was at the very top of our price range. So he kept suggesting we go see it, and I kept shooting him down. Finally we were looking at some other houses in the same neighborhood and he insisted that we see the house. I walked in the door and my jaw hit the floor! It was beautiful! The space was unbelievable, the layout was spectacular, the kitchen was big and gorgeous, the master bath was to die for and the deck?!?!? Wow. Just WOW. And did I mention that it had 4 bedrooms AND an office with French doors and a closet? Oh, and single story?!? There really was not another house in our price range that even remotely compared. But the YARD! Because of the big, beautiful deck, the yard was minuscule! No chance for my big beautiful veggie garden, no place for the kids to play out back, but time was slipping away, we had to make a move or we would end up having to move into a rental somewhere! So I caved. It's not the perfect property, but it was the perfect house!

So here is a pic of our lovely new home!

I am pleased that it has shade! And then there is the deck! Oh yeah, baby!

It extends the entire length of the back of the house, so I have a sitting area, an eating area and a gardening area! And now that we have nice patio furniture, we have definitely spent a lot of time enjoying our deck! And although I haven't really worked out a space for gardening, I have managed to plant some nice little beds and I found a little washtub that I turned into an herb tub!

Ainsley and I have been working very yard to try to get our small space ready to become a backyard habitat and although we're not fully certified yet, the local wildlife doesn't seem to care!

And honestly, the best part of our new house?

FRIENDS! Lots and lots of friends! We lived in our previous house for 7 years and in that time we met 2 families, one of which moved away 1/2 way through, a pervert photographer that moved in next door and a slightly psychotic woman that I had the misfortune of photographing. People didn't wave hello, they didn't knock on doors to borrow sugar. I think the only time I actually communicated with the people around me was when the SWAT team was in the neighborhood supposedly trying to remove a dangerous fugitive that was holed up in a house, which he wasn't, but the hubbub had everyone out in the street and talking. We've been in our new home less than a year and I already know EVERYBODY on my block. The kids have friends all over the neighborhood and we say hello, we wave when we're driving by, we stop on walks and chit chat, we have poker games, fajita cookouts and monthly Family Movie Nights hosted by a family around the corner! It's wonderful to be a part of a community and to know your neighbors! And for that, I will gladly, well, maybe not gladly, give up my garden. Somehow, I'll figure something out! But Brady and I love it, the space is wonderful, the kids love it and oddly enough, the dogs love it too! So this was a GOOD MOVE for the Woodall clan!

Well What Do Ya Know?

Look who finally decided to get off her butt and start blogging again! I sincerely apologize for my year long (yep, you read it right) hiatus.  There's a funny thing that happens when you put your house on the market. You sell it! And when you sell it, you all of a sudden have a whole crap-ton of stuff to do! In fact, it pretty much turns your entire life upside down. One thing leads to another, busy children, busy husband, and crazy schedules lead to blogs being forgotten and left by the wayside.  Oddly, I got a comment on my public blog about a week ago and I felt impelled to answer it. So, I tried to get into my blog and found out that because of my inactivity I had literally been kicked out of my own space in cyberspace! I had to send emails, wait for responses and jump through a series of hoops and finally, I was able to access my blogs! Glory hallelujah! And strangely enough, the day I was able to access my blog was the one-year anniversary of the last post I had made! Clearly this was a sign that I needed to start blogging again. I'm going to delve in slowly, focusing on this blog as it is the journal of our lives. As much as I enjoy blogging on my other blog, the main reason I started in the first place was to keep a record of my little Woodall Family. So please, come back often and enjoy! I will do my best to post at least once a week if not more, after all, we are ALWAYS on the go!