TIME TO PAY THE PIPER

The very first house we owned, way down in south Texas, after our initial stint overseas.

We've owned our present home for around nine or ten years now, which makes it about fifteen years old, I suppose. The longest we ever stayed in any of our other houses was five or six years, and only one of those wasn't practically brand new when we moved in.

Our first house in Houston, where daughter Lexie was born.

The first time we moved to Houston, we bought a house that was about twenty years old. We fell in love with the neighborhood because of all the great big gorgeous trees that lined the sidewalks, turning our street into a shady bower. Little did we know, those trees would become the bane of our existence, forever invading our pipes, popping up our sidewalks, and causing our foundation to shift.

The first house we built out in the west Texas town of Midland, just 20 minutes from where hubby grew up, in Odessa. I was way pregnant with Austin when we moved in.

Since we loved decorating houses way more than we liked having to repair them, every house after that was in a newish neighborhood, and we always seemed to get transferred before the newness wore off. Until now, that is.

Another house we built in Midland, after coming back from our stint in Indonesia with the kids. Probably our favorite house ever, so, of course, we only got to stay in it about 18 months.

Our house in the Dallas suburb of Plano -- also newish, but because it had been a model home, the builders over planted everything to make it look lush right away. This is where Lexie graduated from high school.

Our last house, in the Houston suburb of Katy, where Austin graduated from H.S. I let hubby buy this one without my ever seeing it in person.

It looked a lot less bleak by the time I'd finished with the landscaping.

Now, well, I guess it's time to pay the piper -- for all those years of carefree living. Up until this past year, other than paving our main driveway and installing a water catchment system, most all of our money here in Wimberley has gone towards fun, decorative improvements, like adding the terrace and fire pit, adding the dining porch, adding the Cantina Garden, and redoing the bathroom and kitchen. Within the last few months, however, our heater went out, our septic system backed up and flooded the house (twice!), and our well quit pumping. Plus, all of our major appliances seem to be on their last legs, and the entire house needs repainting. Just when hubby has finally retired and there are no more bonuses for that kind of thing. The party's over, my friends.