Busy Memorial Weekend...

So a lot has happened since our last post.  Our stuff left in a big shipping container on a 18 wheeler truck late on Friday evening.  It is supposed to make a sailing from Houston on 2^nd June and already expected into Cork on 17^th June so all much faster than originally expected.

Since we are homeless our new house is the Hyatt Summerfield Suites near North Park Mall.  It is not too bad.  All rooms are suites with kitchens and it has a pool so we have been making ourselves at home here although checking out tomorrow and then heading to Cancun for a few days.

On Saturday morning we returned to our empty house to start tidying it up a bit and discarding all the stuff that we did not ship or sell.   Steve Moore was a godsend by getting us a small dumpster which made the clean up much easier than expected.   Gwen shredded all our old tax documents at Office Depot that morning too and I headed out to DFW airport with the girls to meet a guy who flew in from Detroit to buy Gwen’s car, then rented a minivan, dropped off Anna’s rented violin (she’s has developed quite the talent for the violin), deposited the check for Gwen’ car (it was good!), did some post office stuff for mail redirection, had lunch at Lucky’s on Oaklawn  (OMG, their biscuits are amazing!) and finished off the day swimming and sitting in the hot tub at our new digs.

Sunday morning we finished cleaning up the house, headed up to Allen to pick up a 3^rd suit case and  some new crocs for the kids and then went over to Alec’s house for his annual Memorial day pool splash party.  Everyone was there and the food and company was as usual great.  Anna and Sarah were like prunes getting out of the pool after swimming for at least 5 hours straight and we said one final set of goodbyes to everyone again ( Gwen was in floods again!).  Great day out, Alec thanks so much for having us over this and all previous years (many).  Gwen and I will miss you and your great annual event.

So we are back in our new temporary digs now.  Girls are all asleep and we are not too far behind them.

Mexico

We just spend our last night at Vickery Blvd.  Everything had been already packed last night except for the beds so we had an old school entertainment night sitting on the floor, eating to go Thai food while all crowded around an iPad watching the Fantastic Mr. Fox.  The fridge is staying in the house so I was able to enjoy a well deserved cold beer after a hard days packing.

Movers are here again this morning packing up the final few things and then all will be put inside a 40’ container later today bound for Cork.

So when the kids went to bed last night Gwen and I had this crazy idea to check out if there are any last minute deals to Mexico.  We are now homeless and not flying to Ireland until 4^th June so thinking we may as well spend the last few days at the beach rather than roasting in Texas.   We called AA vacations to see what they could do and were able to get us a ridiculously cheap deal with direct flights and an all-inclusive 5 star hotel in Cancun for next week.  We are flying out on Memorial Day, i.e. when everyone else is heading home again thus the great deal.   We’d be crazy not to go so Mexico here we come for our final final send off!   It has been one continuous party for the last few months!

Boxes, boxes, everywhere....

Not sure how many times we would want to go through a move like this.  The house is a bit crazy at the moment but Mayflower are doing a fantastic job and the crew are a nice friendly bunch.  

Movers are here..

The contents of our house are disappearing rapidly into boxes.  Big crew from Mayflower arrived at 8:30am this morning and are doing a really good job packing away everything.   It is all getting very real now...!

The final count down...

14 days until we land in Ireland.

$1.00 = €0.79

Kinsale Weather High 66°F -  Low 48° and Sunny

Dallas Weather High 90°F -  Low 74°F and Cloudy and humid

Cars sold in Dallas = 2

Cars bought in Ireland = 0

Movers arrive in 4 days

Girls are now finished school and yesterday was their last day at WRMS.  There were plenty of tears as we said our goodbyes  although Gwen was doing most of the crying!   

Tonight  we are heading for our final meal at Abacus and then are heading up to Dubliner so if anyone is out and about we would love to see you.  We should be in the Dub at about 10pm.

The Graduate - 21st May 2010

Kindergarten Graduate 2010

Our little girl is graduating out of Kindergarten (Senior Infants) today and will be starting in 1st class (grade) in September.  Gwen and I are very proud!

Another car sold!

Gwen's car sold on ebay this morning.  The auction lasted just 3 hours and some guy is flying in from Detroit to pick it up this weekend.  I have now bought two cars and sold three cars over last 4 years on eBay and cannot imagine a better way to do it.   I will be adding ebay motors to the list of things I will miss about  USA!

First day off work

Busy first day off.  Started the day at 7am at Baylor getting a CT scan (all good) and then off to NTB to get a new battery in Gwen's car which of course is going out a week before we sell it.  Long story short but after nearly 3 hours at NTB with continuous updates after the first 45 minutes that they were only 5 mins from it being ready the car was reported ready.  A little annoyed with them got in and started to drive away when I noticed the girl who was taking care my complaining running down the street after me.  I stopped, rolled down the window and she then asked for my credit card back so they could refund my money.  Not because of the inconvenience but because they never actually installed the battery!   Ahhhh - I do not curse very often but I let lose on her, drove back to the store, asked for the manager who was mysteriously nowhere to be found.  Anyway do not use NTB!  They are idiots. 

So made it home eventually in a car with a dodgy battery and took Jessica out for a walk in her pink car.  Nothing like a 20 month year old to calm you down!

Farewell Party

Gwen and I had a great night last night at Maria and Gerry's house. Thanks so much to everyone involved in organizing this superb party. It was such a fun evening with the best people, amazing food (Prime Rib was spectacular), lovely weather, cold beer and good wine. We are going to miss you all and wow what a way to go out. Excellent party.

Some pictures from last night are located here.

Darren and Gwen Farewell Party

Finished work

Days left in USA =  20

Days unemployed = 1

EUR/USD Exchange rate :  $1.00 = €0.81 (oh yeah!)

Houses sold in Dallas = 1

Houses rented in West Cork = 0 but lots of good options coming available that we will be viewing when we arrive

Yesterday was my last day at work.   The lads gave me a very nice send off by presenting me with an iPad and taking me for a few drinks (Blue Moons) at Palominos.  I was the last hold out in the team without an iPhone (or any Apple products) which has been driving them nuts so they played a cruel joke on me by sending me packing with an this slick, new and shiny device.  Somehow I think I made off better in this whole deal as the iPad is pretty dam cool and I am really getting into it.  I guess that tells you what a great group I have been working with all these years as their idea of a practical joke is buying someone a state of the art device like this.   Thanks guys, it has been an absolute pleasure working with you all these years.

Last Kuby's breakfast..

There is no way we could depart Dallas without one final breakfast at Kuby's.  Smoked pork chops with eggs and German potato cakes which to me is the best breakfast in the city.  Got to pick up some nice lamb chops and medley of sausages at the same time for dinner this weekend.  We are going to miss this "Sausage House"!

SOLD!

Our Dallas house is officially sold.  Closing completed today and we are now tenants in it for the next three weeks.   We had a few false starts this morning but I just got confirmation from the title company that the sale has funded.

Going to celebrate now with a nice Blue Moon although I have nobody to toast as Gwen is in San Antonio at a Hen Party  or a Bachelorette Party as the say in the States!

Dallas house is closing on 7th May

We have been under contract for about a week now but looks like the buyers are eventually committing to buying now.  The option period ends on Sunday night and they stretched it out as long as they could.   They inspected the house twice and it came out perfect on both inspections and was a strange situation where the house seemed in too good a shape.    The only thing we ended up giving up was separately selling them the the kitchen fridge for less that we wanted as they could not find any issues or anything that needed to be repaired.

So good result all round.  We probably could have gotten more for the house if we held out longer but it will be very nice not maintaining or paying for and most importantly worrying about it while living in Ireland.

So all we have left to sell are:--

Gwen's car - 2004 VW Touraeg V8 (loaded) but depreciated by three little girls over the years!
Washer (old but works great)
Dryer - Maytag (gas)
Sharp Microwave Oven - very nice Stainless steel model and quite new.
Kitchen 17" LCD TV (Samsung) (not HD but at 17" it is difficult to tell)
..and lots of small electrical appliances (toaster, blender, coffee grinders, etc...)

Anyone need anything electrical?