Who moved my cheese?

So, the 'household goods' have finally arrived from France and the unpacking commences.

First I am forced to comment that homes in Southern California do not have basements. Let that sink in a second...

So imagine, all of my Midwest friends, that your basement suddenly disappeared and you had to re-distribute everything that is currently down there. Are you getting a picture in your mind...

Secondly, the household goods had to have been packed by men. Yes, most of the kitchen items were packed together, but would it have killed them to say, pack one whole set of 12 glasses into only one box. No instead I open a box to find it filled with plastic containers, 5 glasses, assorted dishtowels and 3 plates. Another box contained 3 more glasses, pots and pans and a few bowls. Yet another 1 glass, the lid to one of the pans and most, but not all, of the silverware.

Now you know that that's now how my kitchen is set up. My kitchen is highly organized. Things weren't stored in different places. What did these guys do, just wander aimlessly around the kitchen and snatch things up will nilly? All of the boxes market 'cuisine' are empty and I'm still shy two plates of my good china, three glasses of the above mentioned set, the lid to my big frying pan, several coffee mugs and more. Tomorrow I'll start opening the boxes marked 'bureau' and I'm sure I'll find the missing dishes among my scrapbooking supplies.

The good news is that I finished my Christmas shopping, the bad news is that I can't find any of the stuff I bought among the towers of boxes...

Don't worry kids, I should finish unpacking by Christmas and I'll get stuff right out to you.

More later....

"What are the three terrors of the fire swamp?"

Well, in California they are freeways, fires and of course earthquakes. If one doesn't kill you the others will.

Well, the traffic you get used to. You get used to either avoiding it or you find a constructive way to pass the time while you commute. I've seen many a commuter reading the paper or chatting on the phone. One very busy and enterprising man was reading the Wall Street Journal, that was resting on his steering wheel, while chatting on his Blue Tooth and tapping away at his lap top (with an amazingly dexterous right hand), that was precariously perched in the passengers seat, all while sipping his Starbucks. Now that's what I call multi-tasking.

This weekend we sort of experienced fire. Waking early on Sunday to the smell of smoke from the Moorpark fire several miles away. You couldn't be outside for too long for the smell, and anything or anyone foolish enough to spend too much time outdoors soon developed sore burning eyes and was soon covered in bits of black ash. The sky stayed a creepy darkeling orange most of the day and we could only envy those whose skies looked very blue to the north.

As for earthquakes, well we wait, like all Californians for the fabled big one. Anything short of that you'll find most of us will just sleep through.

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Shower, shmower. With a kitchen sink this size who needs a tub.




Hi friends! I'm doing great!




I know it's in here somewhere.....

"Helloooo....hello.....llo....oooo"




OJ anyone?


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Well, no furniture yet, but maybe next week. I have a new gas efficient car. S is driving my beloved beast the short distance to work and back. My Honda will get me back and forth to San Diego to see the girls and kids more economically, but not as happily.

The other day I went to Target to get some items for the house and when I got out to the parking lot I had a hell of time trying to pack everything into the car. It was a close thing, but the other choice would have been to go back into the madness in the store and return some items. So I crammed everything in. It helps to come from a long line of pack rats. But it was a rude awaking to the capabilities of my new car. I love my new car, but I hate it.

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Ummmm, I have to buy actual gifts for the nieces and nephews this year AND wrap them. I cannot use the excuse of living in France to send out the easy gift cards, the little guys want actual boxes with paper and fun things inside..... I hate shopping..... I hate the holidays..... I really hate malls this time of year..... Enough whining?

Amazing feats of prestidigitation!

Ok, so we didn't go with the bungalow or the yellow house. On the third day we found a totally cool house that we really liked. Now in the two previous posts, as you may have noticed, the words 'bungalow' and 'yellow house' were links to the listing information for those houses. Actually the links may not work anymore if the houses have been sold. So it is with the house we bought. I wanted to link to the listing page because it had 7 or 8 great photos of the house, but since the house is off the market it is also off of the listing pages. Unfortunately we only took a couple of pictures of the house ourselves.

Below you will see a picture of the family room and the kitchen. What can I say about it, wood or stone floors throughout, crown molding in all the rooms. All new windows and French doors leading out to the patio from the family room. Fireplace, granite counter tops in the kitchen. 4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms. Good sized yard with landscaping and a fountain.

We asked for a thirty day escrow and all seems to be on track for a closing on November 20th. S will be home from France on the 12th and we will be checking into a Residence Inn for a week and a half until we can move in. S will start his new job on the 13th of November. We will have little by way of furnishings until the household goods arrive from France sometime around Christmas, but we'll have a bed for us and a Pac-N-Play for Aidy and a few dishes. We'll have to buy a fridge, but the washer and dryer were shipped from Illinois so we will be able to get by until the rest arrives. The house is in Camarillo and I'll forward the address to you all as soon as we close.




In the meantime Aidy and I are in SD with family and our lives have been busy with catching up with people and everyone wanting to get their first glimpses of Aidy. For Aidy's part he is really enjoying his cousins Nick and Michael, they're like the older brothers he never had. (Except of course for his biggest of all brothers, Matt, whom he misses A LOT!) They rough house with him and let him play with their toys. He loves seeing their smiling faces in the morning and will immediately look around for them when he hears their voices. They both have him in stitches regularly and work hard to outdo each other in hilarious antics to earn Aidy's giggles.

The other night we were invited to Ardo and KM's for dinner. Ardo fixed us a fabo dinner with a 'to die for' cream sauce, I must get the recipe. Aidy was introduced to Sabby the giant cat. Sabby weighs nearly as much as Aidy and is the most unbelievably patient cat I've ever seen. Aidy was fully laying on the cat and had both hands firmly dug into the cats fur and Sabby just sat there and took it and purred away. It was amazing. I was afraid Aidy was going to get himself mauled, but Ardo sat by and assured me that Sabby wouldn't hurt him and he was right, Sabby was a real trooper. Belle, who is not pictured, on the other hand saw one little pudgy hand drift her way and she ran for it.




We did dinner one night with Z and her man Rich and their combined brood of 6 kids. Aidy, as the newest of the cousins was the center of attention. He was a bit overwhelmed at first by all the attention, but he was soon in the middle of the chaos and loving it. He has started full on crawling and is anxious to be on his feet and chasing after all of the kids, especially when they run up the stairs.

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.

More Photos

A quick peak at some photos

All Dressed up and...What a gorgeos little kid in his tux.





Ava Lynn, the flower girl, is she adorable or what!





Ummm, can I get out of this monkey suite...please!





Aidric at his baptism, the day after the wedding. "Yeah, another tux, this one white. Am I stylish or what!"





Jess and her bridesmaids. Didn't all of my girls grow up to be absolute beauties.

The eagle has landed

So I'm wandering through the grocery store, just picking up a few essentials, you know, checking stuff off of my list when I suddenly see the Gray's Cream Soda. Put a 4 pack into the cart. Ooh, cottage cheese with pineapple, Oh, and a chocolate milk Chug, Oh, Pop Tarts, chocolate donuts, creamed corn, apple butter, Kraft singles! Intervention!!!!!!

King Bed?! Cool! So where are you guys going to sleep?

Aidric approves of his new brother, Matt. He's ok even if he is a Packer's fan.

"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes."

"Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos." -- Snoopy

"Don't be dismayed at goodbyes, a farewell is necessary before you can meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends." -- Richard Bach


Dinner at Mags last night with Eliane and Daniel too. All my favorites were served, foie gras, champagne and Mags got Marie from the Killarny to do a take out order of her famous whiskey chicken and potatoes. What a meal. We all had a great time and nobody cried, well, almost nobody cried. I'm going to miss those two wacky women. They have both offered to have S over when he comes back for home cooked meals. They picture him eating out at McDonald's every night, they don't know him very well do they?

Have paid for a 1/2 page ad in the AIT newsletter for next month. I've listed all the items we will be selling. Hopefully we'll get rid of all the stuff and put a tiny bit of green back in our pockets. It looks good so far as some items have already been spoken for. The list isn't long but it includes my car which has still not been sold. I really wanted to get it sold before I left, but what can you do.

We're off in the morning first thing and will hit the windy city by 3:30 tomorrow afternoon local time.

So see you all on the flip side.