How many square feet in an acre?

Okay, so today we saw a gorgeous 1955 bungalow. The bungalow is smaller than the yellow house and the price per square foot is way higher, but the house has such great character. I fell in love with it on site. Oh boy is this going to be tough. Yeah we saw like 9 other houses too, and one other sort of stood out, but the 'yellow house' and the 'bungalow' are at the top of our list. Tomorrow we'll see more houses in Oxnard. I'm getting tired and they are all starting to blend together. It's weird to be looking at peoples houses while they're still living there. I mean, people whose homes are for sale should know to expect, you know, people to be looking through the house. So this basically means don't leave your dirty clothes lying on the bathroom floor. Perhaps do something about that bad, bad cat smell. Definitely clean the kitchen. Oh, and worst of all are those people who watch the house flipping shows and decide that they can do it too, except that they have no taste or attention to detail. And now some photos.

We're moving to California? WooooHooooo!!!!!

Aidy and his new favorite toy.

Aidy and his cousins. No.. you're kidding, these boys are related?!

Could this boy be any cuter?

Mystery at the Radison

Our first night in SD S was up at 3 am. Typical jet-lag adjustment. So he got up to do some work and then at 5 am he decided to take a drive around SD County. On his way out the door he nearly bowls over/is nearly bowled over by a man carrying a rather large flat panel TV.

S thinks this is slightly odd and a bit suspicious, and proceeds on his way. Later that morning when we go over to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, we see that the police are there dusting for fingerprints. Yeah, you guessed it, a very large flat panel had been stolen from the restaurant.

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We started our house hunting this afternoon. The morning was devoted to a tour of the area where everyone did their best to convince us that we didn't want to live in Oxnard. We toured neighborhoods in Camarillo, Oakbrook, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and west Simi Valley all of which have Blue Ribbon schools and great shopping. Yes, basically it was major information overload.

In the afternoon we looked at 9 houses in Oxnard; 2 of them were scary beyond all reason, 2 were not bad and then we saw the the yellow house. The yellow house tops our list thus far, the best stuff about the house isn't in the photos. Tomorrow we look at 11 houses in Camarillo and then on Wednesday we look in Thousand Oaks

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I miss my babies, one in Illinois and one with his grandmother in SD. I have some fine photos of Aidy and his cousins that I will post just as soon as I find my PCMCIA card adapter so I can download them to the Precious and upload them to my blog.

TTFN

...and then you found $20?...

You know those times when someone is mean to you and you just can't think of how to respond or what to say or do, but then hours or days later the perfect comeback comes to you. Don't you just hate that.

The other day I parked at the mall and because I have such a big rig, I pulled through from one space to the one ahead so that it would be easier to drive out when I left.

When I left the mall and pulled out of the space to drive away, I was, of course, then driving down the parking aisle the wrong way. I hadn't gone very far (and it wasn't far to the end of the aisle - maybe 4 cars length.) when faced with an oncoming car. The young woman driving the car had steered it right down the center of the aisle and she was not going to let me by. All she had to do was back up a half a car length back into the cross aisle to let me out. She mouthed to me 'You're going the wrong way'. Yes, but she was closer to the end of the aisle than I was so I smiled sweetly and waved for her to back up. She shook her head no and waved for me to back up. Ok, I would have to back up the entire aisle, like 20 cars or more. We exchanged 'waves' again and again she refused. Really not wanting to have a 'Fried Green tomatoes' scenario on my hands, even though I am 'older and have more insurance', I put the car in reverse. I was pissed, but I just couldn't see arguing over it. But still, that sort of confrontation always makes me seethe.

Then a miracle happened. I saw the perfect 'in your face' solution. As I slipped the car in reverse I'm thinking 'This will be fun, backing all the way down the aisle' on the heals of that I think 'I'll just back far enough to get over to one side to get out of her way', on the heals of that 'I probably only have to back as far as the space I left because that's probably what she wants', and then on the heals of that 'Hey, I'll just back into the space I left, she'll have plenty of room then!' Insert mental evil cackling here. I smiled sweetly at the little &#&$&%#&@*itch and backed back into the parking space that she obviously wanted and that I had just vacated and then I very sweetly waved her on down the aisle. The look on her face was priceless even if she did flip me off as she sped past, it was so worth it to trump her. Sometimes there is justice in the world.

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I'm trying to 'midwife' Aidric's arm through his sleeve and he's not being the least bit helpful. I thought that he'd be more cooperative in the dressing department as he got older, but instead he really seems to resist the procedure. When he was a baby, trying to put those long sleeved onesies on him was not fun, but now that he actively resists the process it's worse. Being a winter baby you'd think he'd remember the long sleeves, but he seems to be completely baffled. He stares at the sleeves and then pulls his little fist back in so that the sleeve flops over, the flopping sleeve-end makes him giggle and it makes the struggle worth while.

On the moving front, the Sycamore house is finally finished and ready for sale and we're off to California for house hunting on the 13th of October. We'll have one week to find the perfect home. That should be plenty of time right?

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It seems that the corn and soybean fields have turned brown over night and fall is definitely in the air. The leaves of the maple tree in front of the Sycamore house are turning yellow and red at the edges and the pear tree in the back is so heavy with fruit it is actually losing branches. The air smells cooler, even on the warmer days.

So of course this is the time of year when a visit to the local orchard is absolutely required. Something about that smell in the fall air just screams apple orchard. So the day before S headed back to France we visited Edwards Orchard in Poplar Grove. Aidric is too young for apple picking or eating caramel apples (though he did taste a little caramel and loved it.) or apple donuts but we thought he was old enough for the petting zoo part. He seemed to enjoy watching daddy feed the goats. He giggled at them, but in a sort of high pitched nervous way, and then he was very quickly done enjoying that adventure. We'll try again next year.



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Aidric has been enjoying spending time with his sister and new brother. With S still in France Matt is trying to make sure that Aidric gets good healthy doses of guy time.







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Aidric has a new front facing car seat on account of his being too long to continue sitting in the rear facing seat. He loves looking forward and being able to see the world. He also can share his seat with his best pal, a gift from his sister.