New Home

So, we have finally settled into our new place. Here are some pics:
It looks a tad bit gloomy on the day we took the photos, but it is a cute little place and we have tons of parking off the street which is nice. The backyard has an apricot tree in it and it used to have a pepper tree as well, but the landlord took it out while putting in a new fence, which did not make our neighbors out back too happy. Our most favorite piece in the house right now is this addition. We have had to use quarters for way way too long. :) In other news, I am trying to piece together the last preparations for our golf tournament which is this next Monday. I will be so happy when it is over. We have two flights at one golf course which means I have to be at the golf course at 5 am and we will probably not finish until 10:30 pm or so. I will be one cranky person at the end of that evening. I am also pretty tired of dealing with all the golfers. Boy are they particular on all the little aspects of the game...hello people this is a "charity event".
After the tournament it is time to reevaluate what I want to do. I think it might be time for me to step out of special events.

Bizarre Month

The Open Road:The month of April was a complete blur. We moved into a new rental on April 1st. It was a fast move and I feel that we are now pretty much settled here. We also took a road trip across country to retrieve some family heirlooms that we were meaning to bring out.
Our itinerary was to fly into Chicago, see my family in Illinois, visit Jon's sister and brother and pick up the furniture pieces we wanted. Drive to Kansas City where we would visit friends and then pick up another important piece of furniture and then head home with some fun stops in between. We did pack a lot of visits into that short trip, but I wish I had had time to see some of my other friends that are back in the midwest and I hope to be back soon to visit them.
Trip Highlights: Friends that we did see, Family that we saw and caught up with, the steaks at our friends place in KC, the Vapor Caves in Colorado, and the Hoover Dam. I think Jon might also like to add the Comfort Inn's free waffle breakfast to that as well.
We were able to see a friend before he went off to the Peace Corp in Africa which was nice considering it was literally right before he left and I am sure everyone was vying for his time. We spent some quality time with my parents and had a nice lunch with Jon's Aunt who drove up from Iowa.
We then drove to Jon's sister's place where we picked out the pieces of furniture that we wanted. Once the car was all packed up, we headed to KC where our friends grilled the best steaks ever and let us crash in their comfy guest room. They also had a cat that was so similar to Woody, we could almost mistake them. Mr. Grimace (Woody's twin):The next morning we met Jon's cousin who handed over an antique table (early 1800s) that was brought from Haiti by Jon's great great grandmother. We had lunch and then hauled it across the state of Nebraska. That was the longest drive day...a total of 11 hours. We made it all the way through to Glenwood Springs where we went to the Yampah Caves and relaxed in the sulfury heat. Absolutely lovely. We then headed out to Nevada where we stayed at the Comfort Inn and went on the Dam Tour at the Hoover Dam.
We finally made it back to the West coast with no big issues, just a ton of dead bugs on the windshield. We came home to Mr. Woodrow who greeted us warmly and said he did not have too many parties while we were away.I promise to soon write about our new nest and fill you in on the copious amounts of laundry which we are doing in our fantastic "doesn't require quarters" washer and dryer. Hope everyone is doing well.

Busy Bees

Well, after seven years of living at the Beach, Jon and I are moving inland.
A ghastly 4 miles inland to be precise.

Oh the tragedy of moving so far away. It will now be a 10 minute drive to get to the beautiful sands of Redondo.

Actually, I am still getting used to the fact that we are leaving this neighborhood. So many things I will miss. The pier, the quiet neighborhood, the wild parrots, the drugstore right up the street, and the amazing beach sunsets that we got so used to that we started taking them for granted.

The new neighborhood is a cute tree lined street with little bungalow houses, one which we will be renting - yes, we are still renting....prices are still insanely ridiculous out here for homes. There is a small downtown area nearby with a Fosters Freeze, a small town bakery, and some nice non-chain restaurants. Jon will be able to walk to work as he will be so close to the office. The one thing that I believe is the icing on the cake is the fact that we will have a washer and dryer....one that I will NOT have to feed quarters. YEAH!!!!!!
I wonder if I will still collect quarters like a squirrel collects nuts. There have been times at the store where I will hold up a line just to count out the change in smaller denominations to save the quarters in my coin purse....No more...I will hand over that quarter with glee, unless I find out it is a rare quarter from some special year that is worth more. And I will still hold up the line with coupons.

The place we are renting is a small three bedroom with a fireplace, a little backyard and a HUGE garage. The bedrooms are very small, but I am hoping to fit all the furniture into them.

Well, that is also why I have been so lax on updating the site.
We are in the midst of packing:
Right now I am shoving things into boxes a little haphazard. I dumped all the drawers from the kitchen and living room and labeled it combined junk drawers. Hopefully the movers we hired will know exactly where to put that valuable box.

Trying to purchase new items:
We must find a washer & dryer to buy before April 1st when our sales tax in this state reaches an all time high...what was it again, 90%? I also want to buy an area rug, curtains, and a huge bottle of Excedrin.

Writing a list of places I need to make sure get my change of address:
Whew...so many, I cannot believe we have been in our place for 7 years....too much has accumulated.

Setting things aside for Yard sale:
Well, a couple of days ago a few very expensive items that we could have probably sold to a collector were taken to the goodwill. I tried not to get too upset as I should have said something before, but blast it, they was worth monies.

Stay tuned for pics and for things I will NOT miss! :)

The Odds

I started out on Sunday with some shopping and then as I returned home and parked the car I bumped the curb with my right front tire. Thought nothing of it until later that evening and realized I had popped the tire and it was as flat as a pancake.
Well, no worries on that one. Not a big deal. Swapped it out for the spare and then the next day we took it to America's Tire. Yeah, New tire, rotation. Swell!
Then on Friday, we went out to dinner with some friends and we drove through a construction zone. We hit what we thought was a little gravel and I kept hearing a sound come from the rear right tire. Jon figured it had to be a rock stuck in the tread, but all I could think was...not again....so when we arrived at our friend's place I got out to look and sure enough I heard the distinct hissing sound of a punctured tire. It seems that one of the construction workers left a utility blade out on the street and that is what lodged in the tire. Kinda looks like a ninja blade. Yeah, we were hit by ninjas in our beach community.So, once again the spare was brought out from the trunk. BUT SERIOUSLY....Two flat tires in one week!!! What are the odds?
I have found this week has been full of eating a lot of food. Note to self: STOP immediately before having to purchase elastic waist pants.
I have gone out for lunch a couple of times this week, ate Portillo's sandwiches (makes me miss Chicago) with friends who went out to Buena Park to pick it up and a vast variety of other lovely items. There is a show on the BBC called "You are what you eat" and in the show the host has the person who needs to lose weight write down everything they eat in one week and then they display the entire contents of that one week on a table for the person to see and be horrified by all the food that they have eaten. Well, this week I kept thinking about that table. At least I did get to the gym a little bit.
Hoping I have more time this next week even though I do feel cheated a little cause we just had to "Spring Forward" an hour.