Prologue
April 2011: The Exploratory Mission
The trip down to DFW to explore housing for me, my husband and two elementary-aged boys started off pretty weird. You know it can only get weirder when someone says they want to drive to Dallas at 11 pm at night. Six hours and a lot of cat naps later (the road from Missouri is bumpy) I awoke and was gazing up at a six-tiered interchange in the heart of Dallas. We were lost. The Tom-Tom (or the Dum-Dum as my husband started calling it) had taken us downtown.
Ok, let me rephrase that: he had made all the right turns, just not at the right time. Once you hit the city (and this was definitely a bona-fide CITY in our eyes), there are exits to the left and right about every 50 feet. Separated only by SIX LANES of bleary-eyed Texans who know exactly where they are going. At 5 AM. Since nither of us had ever had use for a Tom-Tom before, when the machine said "Turn right ahead." we thought it meant, turn right, right now. NO. Turn right ahead is Tom-Tom speak for "start merging to the right, because I'm going to tell you an exit number soon". I have never heard the word "Recalculating..." so much in my life. Trial by fire my ass. More like trial by asphalt and rubber and raw nerves.
When we arrived at our hotel, the Marriage Gods smiled down on us. I was able to talk the clerk into letting us into our room six hours early (check in was at 1 pm, this was around 7 am) we fell into our small but comfy room, unconscious for at least 4 hours.
When we awoke, showers were in order. We both reeked of gas fumes and road snacks. Our first order of business was to visit the two apartment complexes we had picked from the internet. We had spent the better part of 2011 combing the DFW area (via internet) for someplace we could call home. I started with school reviews, figuring we could find apartments in the best schools radius. This turned out to be a pretty good plan, that way we weren't just casting our line in the water: we had a definite area of attack.
Our first stop was a decent sized property, with a clubhouse and 3 pools. The kitchen was small, and the model that they showed us, the laundry was IN the guest bathroom. meh.
The second place we went, the rental agent was a trip. Or was ON a trip. I couldn't quite tell. She drove us over to "look" at a unit, but we couldn't go inside. (???) "Just Imagine..." she said, "the bedroom is up there, and the kitchen is just about here" (complete with hand motions and big smiles) I was not impressed. NEXT!!!
After that, we decided to get lunch. Found an awesome BBQ place on Main Street, all you can eat for 15 dollars. We found an Apartment Guide stand in the lobby, last one in the box. As we ate, we went through and looked for any larger two bedrooms. After that, we kind of just drove around in the same area, looking for "Leasing Now" signs. The last place we went, looked lovely ( although a bit overpriced) but when we turned the corner to drive around the property...1 and a half buildings were completely burned down. NEXT.
We went back to the hotel. Our plans were to meet up with a gaming friend of my husband's (that we had never met IRL) and go out on the town. Hubby had picked up a six-pack, but I'm more of a hard liquor kind of girl, so I thought I'd wait. I got dressed while he scanned the TV. A knock at the door announced our new friend.
Now, we had both talked to this guy on the internet, chatted about work and bullshit, and general gaming knowledge. Let me tell you, no amount of conversation could have prepared me. Do you ever get a vision of someone, even if it is the person taking your pizza order? I was TOTALLY off. I expected a Type A TEXAN...he sure had the accent! But "Buddy" I would have pegged him as a East Coaster for SURE before I said he was Texan. Backwards cap and beer in hand, he was about two inches shorter than me. I stood agape for about three seconds before I let him in.
The guys shook hands and talked guy talk while I fluffed my hair and stepped into my shoes. From what I gathered from the convo, Buddy is a beer aficionado. Like, he orders it from Belgium. The six pack he had brought was grade A stuff. I smiled, the conversation seemed to be going well, and while I am the type of person that makes friends pretty easily, Hubby is not in that realm. It takes a long time for him to warm up to someone.
Off we went to Arlington, for drinks at a college-type pool hall/pub. After about two hours, re-living the drive down from Missouri to Buddy, we stepped next door to a dueling piano bar. After several unheeded requests (evidently you have to tip more than a $5 to get your song played) we decided to call it a night. A hug and a handshake back at the hotel (was that jealousy that I saw on Hubby's face?), we made plans with Buddy for lunch the following day.
The next morning, we picked a couple of properties from the Apartment Guide and decided to trust in Tom-Tom one more time. We also went back to the first property, Hubby had seen another property across the road that interested him. It was gated (!? Can we afford this?) and three pools as well. It was definitely my favorite kitchen. Instead of being a galley kitchen, it was L shaped, eat-in kitchen with a window. A large living area too. But it WAS a little too steep for our budget. Maybe when he gets promoted...
Lunch was more fun than I thought it would be. We ate at a Cajun place within walking distance from our hotel. Yummy Seafood Fondue, an awesome frozen drink and a VERY steep bill at the end. Ah well, we will save this place for our special guests who come visit us! My drink cost $10, but I got a $10 buzz, for sure!
We said goodbye to Buddy, and went in to pack our things. 7 hours later, we collected the boys from my frazzled mom and headed home to make our decision. We had not gotten the official "closing date" from his Corporate Office, but we knew it was going to be sometime in the summer.
Dallas. In Summer. Yee. Haw.
