MOVING DAY!

It has been a long and hectic week but we just finished moving all of our stuff from our storage unit to our new house! It's so good to see all of our furniture again and I think it'll look really great once we get everything put back together and in the right place.

We got the keys to our house on Tuesday morning and have been working non-stop since. We had the bright idea to repaint all of the doors and trim because they were dingy and yellowed, and they turned out great but it was a nightmare of a project. We just took the panting tape off this morning and the fresh white trim definitely makes a huge difference in sprucing the place up. We also repainted the kitchen because it was a coral/salmon color that would have clashed with our red kitchen stuff. It is now taupe and looks really good.

And by "we"--- as in "we just finished moving all of our stuff" or "we repainted the trim/kitchen"--- I mean Kolby and I with the indispensable help of several key workers. The list of lifesavers that we are ever indebted to includes Kevin (Kolby's dad), Kassidy (Kolby's sister), Brad & Remy (my brother and SIL), Brittany, Alayne & Tommy (friends), Gran & Daddy Monk (Kolby's grandparents), Kolby's Grandfather, and our friends Zac, Kathy, and Mark. Thank you, thank you, thank you. There's no way on earth we could have pulled this off without your help!

Right now we're at Kolby's parents house to take a break and pick up Maya. Maya has been such a trooper in dealing with all the transition this whole summer, but this week I finally started to see signs that she has had enough. We haven't seen her hardly at all this week because we've been spending all of our time either at work or at our new house and she's used to at least one of us being around most of the time. When we got home really late on Thursday night she came up to me and put her paw in my hand and wanted me to hold it. I did, and we just sat on the floor holding hands and watching TV for half an hour. Anytime I would let go she would put her paw back up in the air and ask me to hold it again. That's how a mute dog tries to tell you that she doesn't want you to leave anymore. Little does she know that we're about to load up and head to our new, PERMANENT home... and that she even has a yard!

Now it's back to work, but I'll post some pictures soon.

Birthdays

We just got back from the most wonderful weekend at my parent's new ranch!

My mom and I both had our birthdays on Saturday (yes, we have the same birthday... old news to most of you!) so our family headed down to the ranch to celebrate. We were also celebrating the completion of the ranch, which isn't totally finished but is finished enough for us to spend the weekend there. We spent Friday evening unpacking dishes, putting sheets and comforters on all the beds, hanging curtains, and just getting things settled. The boys installed the backboard to the basketball goal and called mom out to take the inaugural shot (she played college basketball).

Nothing but net!

Dad cooked a big pancake breakfast on Saturday morning... so delicious!

He even grilled the bacon outside so we didn't have to smell it all day. He's a keeper. Then, we kids pretended to head home after breakfast but really went into town to run errands for the HUGE SURPRISE PARTY we were throwing for my mom that afternoon since it was her 50th birthday. My dad took her to lunch and when they got back we had the ranch set up for a smashin' party and a lot of our extended family had already arrived. I still have no idea how we were able to pull it off, but she had NO IDEA about the party... not even the slightest suspicion. More and more people kept arriving and mom's voice kept getting more loud and shrill every time someone new walked in... especially when her best friend from high school and her college roommate arrived. I'm told I do a great impression of her, if you're ever interested :)

The party was incredible and Mom was so happy you can't even imagine. She was thrilled to see everyone and get to show them around the ranch. Planning that party was insanely complicated (and I mean C-O-M-P-L-I-C-A-T-E-D!) but it was probably even the best birthday I've ever had because it was so awesome to see her BEAMING with joy and hopefully realizing how much we (my dad, brothers, and I) appreciate her. And I know how to plan a great party--- if I do say so myself. I got that from my mom :)

Fun in the Sun

Maya decided that this afternoon--- when it was 97 degrees outside--- was the perfect opportunity to head out to the backyard and catch some rays. I don't know how her fur didn't light on fire!

All is Right

Kolby is home from Santa Fe and all is right with my world again.

We found out yesterday that the tentative date for our BIG MOVE is August 22nd. This is much, much later than we expected, but it's totally out of our control so we're just going with the flow. If everything goes as planned, we'll spend a few days the week beforehand doing some projects around the house and getting it move-in ready and then we'll move our furniture in over the weekend. We're so excited! I'm tired of waving to our house as I pass our neighborhood on my way back from work--- I'm ready to GO HOME to it!

In other, trivial news, I have a new favorite thing about Maya. It probably holds true for most dogs now that I think about it. Maya is SO easy to surprise. When the day came to go pick Kolby up from the airport, I told Maya all morning long about how today was the day we get to go bring Kolby home. I said it straight to her face--- multiple times--- and yet she was still completely shocked with excitement when she saw him. She didn't even know what to do with herself she was so surprised and happy to see him. And then that evening we decided to take her to the dog park and even though we said the words "dog park" out loud in front of her... she almost peed her pants (fur?) when we pulled up to it. Dogs are smart, but they obviously aren't that smart.

August will break our marriage-long streak of living off of a single income. I have now started a real job and Kolby will still get a paycheck for the 2008-2009 school year. But don't worry, we'll be back to our old ways in September. We wouldn't want to spoil ourselves! I worked part-time while I was in school and Kolby is doing the same, but a handful of hourly wages just doesn't compare to a salary. We're fielding ideas for what we should do with the extra money this month, but I'm leaning towards getting a horse for our backyard. Or saving for a car. It's a toss-up.

Work is still going really great but it's definitely a rough adjustment to have such an inflexible schedule. How I miss the life of a student! My best friend, Laura, spent several days this week shopping for a wedding dress and it nearly killed me to have to miss out. Then Kolby and I spent this evening going over a timeline for getting the work done to our new house the week before we move in and I hate that I won't be able to help out during the day. Basically I'm having to finally grow up and I don't think I was quite ready yet.

All in all, our life is wonderful as always!

Hopefully Kolby will put a post together about his time in Santa Fe soon.

SPU Summer Residency

Kolby is LOVING the summer residency for his grad program! He took this picture with his cell phone from the balcony of one of the buildings where they have classes.

I'll let him fill you in on the details once he gets back, but I just wanted to post this picture that he sent and let everyone know that he's having a great time and feels really optimistic about this program being exactly what he was looking for!

Public Service Announcement

If you ever see a "Found Dog" sign in your neighborhood or elsewhere, please do me a favor: call the number and ask if they have taken the dog to a vet or animal shelter to get it scanned for a micro-chip. If they haven't--- suggest that they do. Nowadays, all adopted dogs are micro-chipped (a tiny chip is inserted into the extra skin at the nape of the neck) and it's pretty common for people in general to micro-chip their dogs, especially if they are prone to wander away. Anyone who finds a stray dog (that doesn't have a collar with a phone number) can bring the dog to any vet or animal shelter and they can scan it for a micro-chip. If the dog has one, the owner's contact information will pop up on the computer.

I do this anytime I see one of those signs and yesterday I called about one and the guy said he hadn't heard of micro-chips before and that he would bring the dog to the vet because it was so affectionate that it must belong to someone. Today the sign was taken down. Mission accomplished.

So, spread the word about micro-chips! Our biggest fear with Maya is for her to get loose without her collar and for some well-meaning family to take her in, put up a few "Lost Dog" signs, and then just keep her when no one ever called--- when all they had to do was take her in to get her scanned and we'd get her back right away.

Santa Fe

Kolby leaves for Santa Fe, NM tomorrow for one of the residency portions of his graduate program. He'll be back in early August. We still haven't heard when we'll be able to move into our new house, but our "renters" close on their new house on August 5th so we're hoping the big moving day will follow soon after Kolby gets back in town. He's excited to start back to school--- he's patiently waited 2.5 years and it's finally his turn again.

We are now residing at Kolby's parents' house... our 4th residence in less than 2 months. Things are going great and we are continuing to really enjoy our time with family. Maya doesn't really know what to think about all this but she is always a trooper and knows how to go with the flow. We're very ready to get into our new house, but we all are cherishing this phase that we're in now.

I'm still adjusting to life in the real world. I have to say I don't care for the six o'clock alarm, the rush hour traffic, nor the pantyhose. But I really like my job and I'm so happy to have found something that fits me.

And that's about all that's going on here!

Alaska or Bust

Kolby's grandfather made a dog weight-pulling sled for Maya. As with any project undertaken by Grandfather, the sled is a piece of art. And the sled has a name.

We asked Grandfather to make Maya this sled for several reasons. Foremost, the ranch house that my parents are building is situated on over 100 acres of land and we wanted to find a way for Maya to have enough freedom to roam around off-leash but not enough freedom to run away since the barbed-wire fence around the perimeter of the property is not what we call "Maya-proof". We entertained several ideas like a shock collar (too risky), a GPS collar (too expensive), and a no-jump harness that keeps dogs from being able to extend their back legs far enough to jump up on people and thus would also keep a dog from being able run (too complicated... we couldn't even get it on her). One day when I was killing time at Barnes & Noble (this happens a lot being married to Kolby), I was reading a book about huskies and it went on and on about how they love to pull stuff. It showed these huskies training for mushing by pulling weighted sleds through grass. Apparently huskies LOVE it and to walk/run 1 mile pulling a lightly weighted sled is the equivalent of walking/running 5 miles. So we decided to give it a shot since she'd probably like it, it'd give her good exercise, and it would be cumbersome enough that she probably couldn't make it through the barbed-wire fence at the ranch and certainly couldn't go too far if she did.

Thus, the Alaska or Bust was born.

Maya isn't too sure about it yet. We can't even get her to pull the empty sled more than a few yards. I think it'll take her some time to get used to the sound and feel of something dragging behind her. She gets better at it each time we try, so we're still assuming that husky instinct will kick in any day now! Although, her penchant for laying outside in full sun during the heat of the day until the point where her fur gets so hot it could burn your hand suggests that her Siberian instinct is nowhere to be found these days. We'll see...

Also, I helped my mom create a blog to document the progress of their ranch since it was getting cumbersome to e-mail multiple pictures to all the curious family members. She just updated it this week: http://www.lostcreekranch.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings

As promised, here are a few pics from our whirlwind of wedding weekends:

Kolby and I with our friends Erin & Tyler at their rehearsal dinner. Tyler has been one of my best friends since we were in the 7th grade and later became a best friend to Kolby as well. Kolby was a groomsman in their wedding, which was on June 27.

The Baylor group (plus Kolby) at my college roommate's wedding in Memphis, TN on July 3. Her name is Emily but we know her as Griffin because 3 of the 5 girls in our apartment were named Emily so we resorted to last names.

Front Row: Katelyn, Emily [Stocks], Emily [Griffin], Laura, and me.

Back Row: Austin (Stocks' boyfriend), Lynn, Benton (Laura's fiancee), and Kolby.

Laura, Brittany, Katelyn, and I at Brittany's beautiful wedding in East Texas on July 11. Brittany is a dear friend of mine from Baylor and she and her husband will live 10 minutes away from us when they get back from their honeymoon! It was A LOT of wedding festivities but we survived it all and enjoyed spending good time with great friends!

Graduate Thesis

Here's the Abstract (aka summary) for my graduate thesis paper, which is titled Micro-Credit and Household Productivity: Evidence from Bangladesh.

This paper tests the effect of micro-credit on household productivity to determine whether micro-credit programs facilitate productivity gains through skills transfer and human capital formation in addition to the provision of credit. The data come from two rounds of household surveys in rural Bangladesh conducted by the World Bank and the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies to analyze the impact of three micro-credit programs: the Rural Development-12 program of the Bangladesh Rural Development Board, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, and Grameen Bank. Controlling for macro events and household and village characteristics, I find that participating in a micro-credit program increases output per unit labor for household non-farm enterprises in a large and statistically significant way. These increases in productivity can provide the means for sustained improvements in standard of living and contribute to the economic growth of low-income countries.

And here's an excerpt from my Conclusion:

I use cumulative borrowing to proxy for micro-credit participation and find that a 1 percent increase in borrowing increases household productivity by 0.3 percent. This means that on average, a 100 percent increase in borrowing increases household productivity enough to generate an additional $45 in monthly revenue for the household’s non-farm enterprise. As the median revenue for these non-farm enterprises is $136 per month, a $45 increase is quite significant. After controlling for inputs such as capital and operating expenses, I find that nearly half of the gains in productivity are attributable to increases in total factor productivity. This suggests that the non-financial services offered by micro-credit programs, such as skills training and organizational development, as well as knowledge spillover resulting from the group-based nature, indeed serve to increase the productive capacity of borrowers.

I promise my next post will have some pictures. I'm not sure what they'll be of... but I know it's lame to have posts without any pictures!

Update

It's been a little while since I've written a post of any value so I'll try to catch you guys up on what's going on, although I'll say that there still isn't much of value to write about.

We bought our first house yesterday... so that's pretty cool. It'll likely be mid-August before we're able to move in (we're "leasing" it back to the family we bought it from until they're able to move into their new house next month), but we'll start working on some things around the exterior of the house next week so I'm hoping that will make it feel like it is actually ours. The house has a detached garage that needs to be re-painted, a fence that needs to be repaired, an old A/C unit that needs to be removed, and some wiring that hangs too low across the backyard and needs to be lifted. Also, there is a wooden gate that used to go across the driveway that we'll need to re-attach so the backyard is fully enclosed and ready for Maya. Then we'll install a gate opener that will allow us to open the gate with a remote, just like a garage door opener.

We're going to the house on Thursday evening to take a closer look at a lot of stuff so we can soon make a trip to Lowe's/Home Depot and buy things we need since I have some coupons that expire at the end of the month. The house is in really great shape as is, but there are a few things we going to update to make it our own. We like all the current paint colors except in the kitchen, which is a salmon color. Most of our kitchen stuff is red, which would most certainly fight with the salmon--- so we're planning on repainting it a light taupe. We're going to sand and repaint all of the interior trim and doors so they'll be nice and white instead of 50-years-worth of layers of off-white paint. We'll also change out the doorknobs--- from ones that are shiny brass to ones that are oil-rubbed bronze. Last, there are two light fixtures and one fan that we'll want to replace with something we like better. All in all, it's not too much work or too much expense... which is great.

In non-house news, we are in the midst of a wedding frenzy. Our good friends Tyler & Erin got married two weekends ago, my college roommate Griff (Emily Griffin) got married last weekend in her hometown of Memphis, and a great college friend of mine, Brittany, is getting married this weekend. Kolby was a groomsmen in Tyler's wedding and I was/am a bridesmaid in Griff and Brittany's weddings. Busy, busy! I wasn't good about taking pictures at any of these events, but hopefully I can round up a few from others to post once everything settles down a bit.

July 4th was the 1-month mark for our stay here at my parents' house. We are SO, SO very grateful for their hospitality and have had the best time living here and getting to spend so much time with them and with Russell, who is also living here for the summer, and Brad & Remy, who live just a few minutes away. We are spoiled here--- a pool, a stocked pantry, unlimited Coca-Cola AND bottled water (both are luxury goods for us!), TiVo, central A/C, and free rent! Our lives will never be the same again! Since I start my new job next Wednesday (gasp), we're actually planning to move out of here and in with Kolby's parents early next week. Moving there will cut my commute down by over 30 minutes each way. It's looking like after all is said and done we will have lived with each set of parents for just over a month. We weren't planning on it being such an extended stay, but we know that we'll never regret getting to spend this time with them. I was frustrated when we found out that we won't get to move into our new house as soon as we were planning to, but it is certainly a blessing in disguise. We love our parents so much and it's so great to have the opportunity to see them every day and hang out with them so often.

The ranch house my parents are building is almost finished! My mom is supposed to upload new pictures to a website that I made for her so she could document the progress. I'll post a link once she puts the new pictures up. Also, the cabin that is on the land that Kolby's parents have in Wimberley is now fully renovated and vacation-ready! We're super excited to have both places to gather with family and spend time away from the city life.

That's all for now!

Today.

Today. We. Bought. A. House.

!!!

Kolby's First Webb Family Vacation

We were hanging out with my parents and Brad & Remy the other night and started reminiscing about our first vacation as a family of 7. It was August 2007 and Brad & Remy were weeks away from their wedding date and Kolby & I were just a few months away from ours. We took a trip to Wyoming to visit Yellowstone and spend some time horseback riding at a dude ranch. My family is pretty crazy and isn't really risk-averse so our vacations typically end up a little on the wild side. This took some 'getting used to' for Kolby.

Our first stop was in Jackson Hole, WY and our first activity was a whitewater rafting trip... on which Kolby managed to fall out of the raft. Poor kid. It was the very first day of his very first Webb family vacation--- you would have thought he could have lasted a little longer than that! We still all laugh every time we think about it and we laugh especially hard every time we look at the pictures.

When we got the pictures out to look (and laugh) at the other night, I decided to scan them and subsequently decided to post them here for everyone to enjoy. These pictures were taken by the rafting company, FYI.

Picture 1: The whole family happily paddling along with our guide. Starting at the back left there's me, Mom, Brad, Remy, Russell, Dad, and Kolby. We were about to hit a pretty big swell so we voted for Remy to move to the front and just ride the raft like a buckin' bronco. So far, Kolby looks like he's hanging in there.Picture 2: We approach the swell--- Remy gets thrown forwards while Kolby quietly slips out the back. This picture cracks me up because it looks like there's nothing too crazy going on with the raft yet Kolby somehow loses his hold and has no hope of recovering it. We hadn't even hit the swell yet.Picture 3: NO IDEA what's happening here.

Picture 4: ????? Seriously???
Picture 5: I was the ONLY person who knew Kolby had fallen out (I watched the whole thing happen... see pictures 3&4!). Everyone had their eyes locked on Remy (even the guide) to see if she'd be able to hang on, which she did. In this picture you can see I'm frantically looking for Kolby in the direction he had fallen out but he was resurfacing (rather creepily) on the opposite side of the raft. Mom and Brad had NO IDEA that he had fallen out nor that they were banging him with their paddles! Picture 6: The front of the boat is laughing at Remy's wild ride, Mom is trying to figure out what keeps getting in the way of her paddle, and I am SCREAMING "Kolby fell out!!!" at the top of my lungs. All this happened in a split second but it seemed like an eternity before I could get anyone to realize Kolby was gone. At this point, our guide was the only one to notice Kolby clinging to the side of the raft for dear life.

Once I realized where Kolby was, I grabbed him by the life jacket and pulled him out of the water and into the raft in no time. The guide had hollered for me to let go of him and he said that he'd pull him in once we got through the rapids but I was not about to let him spend one more second outside that raft. Talk about the power of adrenaline... I pulled him up and out of that water completely by myself. [And he's not small... just take a look at picture 4 again.] If not adrenaline, it could have also been the power of a bride-to-be who already had her wedding dress and was NOT about to lose her fiancee that gave me the strength to get Kolby back in the raft. Either way, he made it back safely and lived to tell "his side" of the story. Basically, he just never thought he (or anyone) would actually fall out so he wasn't hanging on that tight. He fell (flipped?) out and wound up resurfacing underneath our raft but had the presence of mind to guide himself to the edge while even remembering to keep his legs up so they didn't get caught on any rocks. He said it all happened too fast for him to be scared and all he could think about was how cold the water was.

Such a trooper!

Lost and Found

We celebrated Kolby's 24th birthday on Thursday by heading out to the Rangers game with his family.
Check out these great seats!

The game was great, the weather wasn't too hot, and the Rangers won.

Unfortunately, when we called my parents on our way home to check on Maya we found out that she had escaped from their backyard. We rushed home to look for her and searched the neighborhood until 1 am with no avail. We had to go to bed that night knowing she was out on the streets somewhere which was NOT fun. We woke up at dawn yesterday morning to start our search again. I made signs to put up everywhere hoping someone might have spotted her at some point and could give us a clue as to what part of the neighborhood she was running around in.

It wasn't long before my phone started ringing with calls from people who had seen her at some point in the night. Then we finally got a call from a lady who was on a walk and had just seen her on the street that my parents' house backs up to. So we headed that direction and got another call minutes later from a man who had her by the collar at his yard sale. I guess she was just in dire need of a garden gnome to give Kolby for his birthday.

As much as we brag about Maya for being the best dog ever, she does have ONE awful flaw. When she escapes (which isn't very often- it had been almost a year this time), she is in no hurry whatsoever to come home. Although she has a great sense of direction and we never find her more than a few blocks from home, she gets on her own time frame and likes to soak up the freedom for as long as she possibly can. It's annoying to say the least.

So Happy Birthday, Kolby! And Maya says she's sorry for ruining it there at the end.

New House!

I thought I'd share some more details about our new house in case anyone is interested.

It is a pier & beam house (I'm still not totally sure what exactly that means, but I know it is an alternative to a slab foundation), was built in 1957, and has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. There is a nice-sized living room and a there is a large breakfast area off the kitchen where we'll put our dining table. The entry, living room, hallway, and bedrooms have the original hardwood floors. The house is in really great condition and the sellers have made a lot of updates during the 9 years that they've been there.

The kitchen cabinets are original, but there are new granite countertops (AWESOME!), a new tumbled marble backsplash, and new ceramic tile floors. The sink, electric cooktop, and dishwasher are new as well. Here is a picture of the kitchen (all these pictures are from the listing website):
The sellers completely remodeled both bathrooms (down to the studs). These first pictures are of the guest bathroom, but I wish I could post pictures from a typical bathroom in a 1950s house to make you appreciate how amazing these bathrooms are. The bathrooms in the other houses we had looked at were AWFUL. We love the beadboard (which is also in the breakfast area) and the tiled tub and the vanity area. And the new ceramic tile floors. We pretty much love everything the current owners have done to update the house, which is so great.

Below are a couple of pictures from the master bathroom. The first thing you'll probably notice is that it is tiny. There is just enough room for the sink, toilet, and shower. This is true for ALL houses of this size that were built in that era. It is a negative attribute for sure, but we decided that the "positives" that go along with such a unique and quaint house are well worth the sacrifice. The wall to the right of the sink is nothing but built-in cabinets, which will be great for storage. The sellers replaced the old tub with a large tiled shower and it looks really great.

I didn't want to post pictures of the other rooms since they'll look totally different once we put our furniture in them, but our plan is to use one of the extra bedrooms as an office and the other as a guest room. The house has a great yard full of great trees: magnolia, crate myrtle, cherry laurel, bradford pear, red oak, pecan and hackberry. I love that they are all different. There is also a cedar deck off the back of the house and it and the backyard are shaded enough to actually be usable even during the summer. I'll post plenty more pictures once we get settled in.

It is such a great house!