House Hunting III: Removing the Bid

So, I got a call from our realtor late Wednesday night. She said that the bank that owns it wouldn't even be willing to finance it. To me, that was "enough said". So I went to Marshall on Thursday, looked at it one more time and said "no thanks." So we've decided to go with something a little bit different.

In Marshall, if you find a place to rent, you have to jump on it right away, because there just isn't much. So I found something today, and it's little bit of these two things...

House Hunting II: The Bid

After a lot of prayer (I'd say "and supplication", but I really wasn't sure what "and supplication" means. So I looked it up on www.m-w.com, and it said supplication means "to ask humbly and earnestly of", a synonym is "to beg", and "and" means "a function word to indicate connection"...), Maren & I decided to put a bid in on this house in Marshall, TX. Its not much to look at now...




(And if you notice those kids in the background, that's my niece Natalie and nephew Isaac. They came to visit us and help us house hunt. They've appear to have suddenly aged about 7 years...)

The real one's got a lot of work to go into it, but if the bid isn't accepted, we'll just be as content as this guy...

...in continuing to rent.

(The fella in this picture is my dad 20 years ago...that's our dog to his left, and all that was left of our goats to his right.)

House Hunting

Tomowow, Mawen & I awe going house hunting hewe in Mawshaw, Texas.

ETBU

Maren & I will have a new home, and it won't be under a bridge.

We, or rather I and Maren came along, interviewed in Marshall, Texas at East Texas Baptist University on Wednesday, and on Thursday, along with San Antonio winning their 4th championship, they offered me the position of Assistant Professor of Theatre. I accepted the position and we will be moving there soon.

http://www.etbu.edu

4-D Ultrasound

Here she is! She didn't want to wake up and move around much, despite Maren twisting & turning and the Radiology Tech prodding and bouncing the wand on Maren's belly. She wouldn't wake up for anything....remind you of anyone?? If you said "Maren," you're wrong--she takes after her daddy.

So, the pictures all were profiles views because she wouldn't turn her head. There also could have been more photos but she moved right before the image could be captured, such as her feet. We also saw two big yawns, one on the regular ultrasound and the other she put her hands in front of her mouth at the last second. The Tech said she's cozied up in the placenta. She didn't want to be bothered much.

She's also bigger than average, weighing in at 3 pounds 7 ounces. In fact, the computer said her due date is August 11, which is 10 days sooner than we were told.

Her face is on the left side of the picture facing to the right. So you're seeing her right side of her face. Her upper lip looks crinkled, you can see a nostril, her chin, and her right hand is making a fist at the bottom right.



This picture is similar. She's just got both her hands in this picture at the bottom right.

Colonel Peaches

Pictures will be added later!!

I have a friend in the army who was being promoted and I wanted to be in San Antonio for that. You have to understand something: this is a guy I've known and been friends with since 1998 and was our best man...both times. (German wedding remember...don't think we married & divorced...it was 2 ceremonies.) But a promotion is a big thing, especially to his rank. And Maren & I are PROUD to know him and have really enjoyed getting to know his fiancee over the last year.

Now, first of all, I don't know if I can just state his name & rank here on the blog, but the initials belong to Major Andy Hartman. But for the sake of anonymity, I'll just call him "Colonel Peaches." So Colonel Peaches and I met in the musical "Oklahoma!" on post in Hanau, Germany (which is also how I met Maren). Colonel Peaches is a bit of an actor, though most of his army friends probably wouldn't know that. We needed guys for the show and Peaches was a low ranking officer dragged to the theatre by another low ranking officer, but higher than him, because he doesn't want to become another Elvis Presley. So he comes in and dances, he sings, he blows them away with a killer "To be or not to be" speech...but all behind closed doors. But German buildings still use skeleton keys, so I was the eye through the keyhole. And they said to him, "Sorry, but we already gave some idiot Will Parker...how about 3rd Cowboy on right?" Peaches replies, "How about Curly?" They replied, "No, that guy would win a Tony if we were doing this on Broadway." He asked, "Do I get to carry a shotgun?" They said, "No." Peaches asks, "Where do I sign up?" They said, "Actually...just put your initials on the cast list to let us know you accept the role."

And that's how it got started.

From there, Colonel Peaches filled in for a performance for Ali Hakim. Later he went on to the "Not-so-" Mute Monk in Monkee Business (no relation at all to Adrian Monk), in which he was nominated for "Best Performance by a Soldier" in the 1999 USAREUR Tournament of Plays. Again he was singing, dancing, and delivering lines with the greatest of wit and ease. Finally, Peaches starred in the 1999 USAREUR Search for the Stars in a NY Times* award winning** rendition of "Who's On First?", of which I still have my baseball jersey we created just for the occasion.

So...Colonel Peaches, we love you. We're proud of you. Congratulations on the promotion.

*Not really.
**Really.