The Amazing Adventures of Us

We're here!!

We got here the night before last (so Tuesday night) after 2 days of driving.  Ugh.  The worst McDonald's ever (in Gilroy - terrible, really - bad service, stinky, dirty bathrooms), fog, 12 hours of driving in one day, and bored bored bored kids.

But we're here!!

The house is gorgeous.  Packed with boxes right now, but that will change slowly. 

Yesterday we got lost in the city (on purpose) and found the most wonderful street, Terwilliger.  It's curvy and there's a walking path the length of it and the houses on it look like Sea Cliff in San Francisco - I can completly see us parking there and doing some hilly walking.  We also went to visit Leslie, meet Peter (who seems to be very nice, I'll let you know later after we've spent more time together - just kidding - Hi Peter!), saw their great house (beautiful house!), and saw the kids for the first time in what?  3-4 years?  Wow they've grown!  We had dinner with mom and A's real estate agent, Greg, who is so nice and answered ALL our questions.  I think he'd be a good one for us to use when the time is right.

Today our moving trailer arrives, so we will be unpacking.  And a little shoe shopping.  And Leslie is coming over to visit.  Friday is all about unpacking.  Saturday is Leslie's babyshower and all the adult womenfolk are going, leaving the kidfolk with the dad - I think he's planning on taking them to the children's museum (yay kids!).

Robin has caught Stu's cold so he's not feeling well.  Today he will stay bundled up on the sofa in front of the tv.

I've been taking photos, and as soon as I have a computer to download them and internet service to upload them, I'll post some for you.

Homsickness is starting to creep in. 

I am packing, the moving van arrives in less than two weeks and there is more to pack than my husband thinks there is.

I tried a new recipe this morning for orange honey muffins. I made them with low fat sour cream instead of butter and they are delicious. I'm not sure my daughter and her friend who spent the night will like them though. So I've set the table with fresh strawberries, scrambled eggs and coffee in my birthday present french press.

Jeff and Robin are in Pasadena this weekend for Jeff's niece's wedding. It's a traditional Korean wedding and I hear it was "pretty cool mom." That and there is a swimming pool at the hotel.

I've been walking 2-3 miles most mornings recently. I'm working up to urban and non urban hikes in Portland, rain or fair weather.

My emotions are on hold right now as I just do the work needed to get done so we can leave.

We're home. 5 long days of packing and more packing. We tried to make time to take a break and go to the movies, but we never could. We did make it out to dinner once. But the rest of the time was spent packing and packing. And then collapsing on the sofa and watching some tv, but really we were falling asleep.

Photos fom the trip -

Arriving in San Francisco-

The packing begins-

We did have time for laughing. My daughter and my sister kept us in stitches the whole time.

We left yesterday, right after the movers arrived. Mom is leaving for Portland today.

We found this in the stacks of packed boxes, it feels like we really are doing the right thing -

(Click to make it larger and then choose "all sizes" to see the writing.)

I went for an early morning walk today. It was lovely. And cold. And foggy.

The kids are old enough that I can take the cell with me and they can call me when they wake up and I'm not there. Heck, they were still asleep when I got home. And I was gone for an hour!

Yesterday we ate breakfast out with Joy-

And apparently I took one too many photos -

Oh well.

We've been cleaning (again) and doing minor packing and disagreeing about Thanksgiving (which is not much of a holiday for me - too much cooking and cleaning up involved).

I'm finishing up the newest shadowbox, working hard on the colors for the box. It's not easy. And it may still not be finished by the time we leave, but it will be closer than it is now. The problem is the ship - I pronounced it done, but the more I look at it the more it feels like stuff is missing. So, I'll paint the box and get the ship hanging in there and come back to it again later. I will post photos of it soon.

Jeff is working hard. He's started his final MA class (YAY!) and that means a lot of reading and gathering information. He's also been subbing everyday for the past week and a half. Today and tomorrow he's in a kindergarten class (and he's getting little kid hugs!).

Robin and Stu are just kind of coasting. Helping out here and there, playing with friends as they can, and wishing that the grownups around them weren't so weird (and by weird I mean stressed). They are so ready to move. 1 more month!

We are fluctuating between biding our time and packing for the big move. Things are crazy here, including emotions.

I'm hurrying up finishing my HUGE shadowbox. I got it all paper mached last night before I went to bed. I started gessoing it this morning, but I ran out. So, I'll pick some up later this afternoon and finishing that part before bed tonight.

The kids have been saving their money for quite a while now. Robin's been bidding on "Naruto" stuff on ebay and Stu had enough to buy herself an iPod Shuffle. Robin's packages are slowly trickling in and he's loving visits from the mail lady these days. Stu couldn't be happier with her purchase. She's been holed up in her room with stacks of books and hours of music.

Jeff subbed in a middle school yesterday and came home looking as if he'd been in battle. He also came home declaring how happy he was we homeschooled. Me too.

Today we are flea bombing the house. They are everywhere! The kids and I will spend the time out walking and getting some excercise. Also some gesso (must remember the gesso).

This weekend we'll be collecting boxes from neighborhood stores and doing some more packing. 1 more month!

Our house has not gone on the market yet, it's a long story and I'll fill it all in later. In the meantime however, all the photos I took of the house may have generated some work for me.

Judy (our realtor) told me how much she liked the photos I took of the house, so after much in my head debate I decided to offer my services (for free) as a photographer to her and her office until we leave in November. She said yes and that she would pass the offer on to all the other realtors she works with.

How cool would it be to build up a (small) portfolio of photos that I can then take around to realtors in the Portland area? Maybe I can get myself a (teeny) job taking photos of houses for sale. I think I can do that and still homeschool the kids and do my other art (which I seem to have put on hold for a bit).

So we'll see what happens. I'm trusting in the universe to provide for us.

Since we decided to move NOTHING has gone right. Except the decision.

I'm not going to list it all, I already know all the things that have happened or not happened. And just to add insult to injury - my glasses just broke.

shit

We've been relgated to the back rooms of our house for ther past few days. The painter has taken over the kitchen, diningroom and livingroom -

Getting ready to sell a house is a long process. Fixing things that we just lived with suddenly becomes a priority. We paint over the drawings the kids made on the walls many years ago. The mayonaise that somehow splattered up to the ceiling a few years back and no one cleaned up gets scraped off and primed over. Curtains that we've lived without because we never quite finished a room all of a sudden need to be purchased and hung. And so much stuff gets hauled to the dump. Who knew we were living with that much garbage??

We're so close to being ready. As my son said a few weeks ago, "It's a shame we couldn't live here when it looked nice." I promise to finish all the painting and decorating in the new house so we can enjoy it before we move.

I spent about 4 hours on Saturday finishing up the new (old) french doors. They look incredible!

Before I scraped the paint off the windows, but after the painting was done.

And after I scraped the paint off the windows. I'm so happy with the way they turned out. What an incredible amount of time we put into them!

Today the new ceiling man is coming. YAY!! I can't begin to tell you how happy I am about that!

Robin has been moody lately. Snapping at people and then apologizing (to everyone but his sister, he only does that when told to - bleh!) I do'nt konw what's going on with him. I'm not sure he even knows. But I suspect it's a combination of moving and puberty hitting. Poor kid, growing up is tough.

This is my dad. He's one of the smartest men I know. He's funny, kind, generous, and very loving. He's also staying here when we move and I'm going to miss him so so much I can hardly breathe.

He's been coming to our house for breakfast almost everyday since we moved here (8 1/2 years ago). We have lunch with him almost every afternoon, he pays. He takes my kids swimming in borrowed pools, hiking on Wednesday mornings, terrorizing in department stores (they've been asked to leave a few of them), he reads with them, plays with them, and loves them more than I ever thought possible.

I feel terrible that I'm taking them away from him. He's tried again and again to help us figure out how to stay here, but we just can't make it work.

So I'm hoping that he'll hop in his plane (he flies a little 2 seater) regularly and come stay with us. I hope he takes the kids swimming in borrowed pools, terrorizing new department stores, and hiking in new places.

And he can have breakfast with us and treat us to lunch in Portland. Maybe he'll move there someday. That would be just about perfect.