Got the Call / How Dry I Am / One House Too Many

Three kind of interesting things happening at the same time, so without further ado . . .

• Starting back up at the IRS next Tuesday, my fourth season. Monday's a federal holiday, so they save some money by not calling us in until the 22nd. I've been told that I will get to be an instructor for the new hires this season, but I won't know that for sure until I get there. Looking forward to doing something constructive, and getting paid. Especially the getting paid part.
• Got up this morning to messages on my voicemail and nothing coming from the faucets. Seems there's a leak somewhere between the meter and the duplex, which makes it the landlord's problem and not the water company's. Somebody's supposed to be out to fix it this afternoon, but I haven't seen them yet. Of course, the plumbing still works at our old house, so there are options.
• But not for long, hopefully. The people who wanted to buy our house back in October still want it, and our realtor says that they've made nice with the bank and things are looking good. Of course, it's not a done deal until we're signing papers and getting paid, but fingers are crossed.

That's all for now. More as it happens.

Back In One Piece

Saw my orthopedist this morning, for the very last time. Three months after ankle surgery, I am officially, completely healed. No boots, no braces, just a 9-inch-or-so-long skinny metal plate and nine titanium screws. The doc did a great job, and he told me I was a great patient, mostly because I actually did what he told me to do. Following doctor's orders is, apparently, a problem with a lot of his patients.

Of course, there's no way I could have pulled that off without the constant help and support of my beloved wife, Louise. The amount of stuff she took care of while I was laid up was staggering, and I love her more than ever for it. Also, huge thanks to the many fine people at Faith Presbyterian Church in Austin, who provided company, meals, rides to the doctor, cards, books, and more. Thanks to you all.

That's a great start to the new year. Now, if we can only get our old house sold, we would be golden. We had accepted an offer and were looking to close in mid-October, but things fell apart. The people who were going to buy the house needed to sell the place they were in to get the financing to work, and when their buyer fell through, so did their deal to buy our place. So now I'm paying rent on the new place and the mortgage on the old one, plus utilities on both places. We moved in order to save money, and all it's done has been cost us.

That's it for now. More if anything interesting happens.