Tag Archives: moving

Wheels on His Feet

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Another new year and in a month or two, we’ll be in another new location. “But didn’t you just move to Tulsa?” My friends ask. “Yes, but David has wheels on his feet,” I reply. 

And it’s true. We move more than anyone I know. Mostly I’m okay with it. Each new spot is someplace to explore. New restaurants, new things to do. Sometimes I’m lucky enough and there’s a Kroger to shop in. 

sanjose

This time we’re moving to San Jose, CA. California is a state I’ve visited but never in a million years thought I’d live in. 

We went to San Francisco for our 20th wedding anniversary to watch Metallica in concert with the San Francisco Symphony. We took the boys out of school and it was an awesome trip. I’ve always wanted to go back to San Francisco with David alone and stay at the Fairmont Hotel and do adult things. Like shop and eat at good restaurants. 

Shortly after that trip, I took Geoff out to Malibu to attend a baseball camp at Pepperdine University. We stayed in a surfer motel and I really loved it there. I noticed that the Pacific Ocean looks very different from the Atlantic Ocean and we ate breakfast every morning outside on a deck over the water. I could have been happy living there.

As it turns out, David’s new project is in the San Jose area and I’m pretty sure I will like it there, too. When he told me we were going to be going there, I started looking at the different areas to see where I thought I’d feel more comfortable living. I told him I’d move if he let me live in a high rise and got me a bike. He was okay with that.

So after looking  around on Google, I decided that the downtown area of San Jose is where I want to be. They have, what looks like, a thriving downtown organization. There are places to eat, shop and be entertained. On Google Earth I have walked to the library from each of the places we’re considering living. The library is super important to me and it looks like they have a nice one.

My friends who are aware of my raw veganism have suggested that it will probably be easier to live as a raw vegan in California than in Oklahoma. I think I’d agree with that even though I have no direct knowledge yet. I’m really looking forward to checking out my new home and seeing what all it has to offer. The fact that it’s neither as cold or hot as Oklahoma is appealing, too. 

When David took this job, he was to be based out of our home here in Tulsa. And I haven’t seen him since. He’s always gone so the main attraction of the move is to finally be able to live, like really live, with my husband. I miss him terribly.

The hard part will be having to give up my frequent visits with the Glambaby. I’ve been hanging out with her for twice a week for a while now. I know it helps Nikki out but my time with her is the high point of my weeks. She’s so much fun, so inquisitive, so smart. I love having a running conversation with her. And run it does. She doesn’t slow down too much. I love hearing her pick up new vocabulary and ideas. I love sharing songs and toys with her that I loved when I was a kid. Facetime just isn’t going to come close to what we have now. But, at least we’ll have facetime. I keep thinking how awesome it would have been for my mom to have facetime, or even email, when the boys were small and we were living all over the world. 

glambaby

Since we don’t plan to sell our house straight away, I figured i’ll be back frequently to have my hair done and get my glambaby fix. I also hope they’ll come visit us so we can show her California. 

I think living in the Pacific time zone is going to be difficult. I’ve never done that before and I watch David when he’s there and it seems like he puts in more hours at work just so he can be awake when the East and Central time zone people are awake. We are early to bed kind of folks. I wonder if we’ll want to go to sleep at 7 p.m. every night since it will be 9 p.m. central time?

Thanks to twitter and facebook I have friends that live in the Bay Area so I will already know people when I get there. Also, my aunt Nani lives north of Sacramento. I’m looking forward to hanging out with her at least once a month. We haven’t seen her since we went to the Metallica concert. Her daughter, my cousin, Maile, lives in NV but not too far away so I’m looking forward to seeing her again, too.

It will be different and I’m not looking forward to all aspects of the move but over the years, because he has wheels on his feet, I’ve definitely learned to bloom where I’m planted. I think my blog will become more exciting as I explore and learn about my new location, too, so you have that to look forward to. 🙂 

Punked…again

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By a box.

The first time was on April Fool’s Day. I was looking for dress shoes to wear to Lyndzee’s bachelorette activities. I knew exactly where my shoe boxes were because I remember feeling happy when we were unloading the truck and seeing boxes labeled “Lauri Shoes”.

shoes

When it came down to it, though  I could just find the one box. And when I opened it up? There were no shoes inside it.

Well played April Fooler.

Today, I was looking for my second slow cooker to take for Lyndzee’s rehearsal dinner. I went into the box that said, “2nd Slow Cooker” on the side and, you’ve got it, there was no slow cooker in the box.

slowcooker

Punked…again.

There were indeed baking and kitchen items in that box. I found our third blender. Who in the heck needs three blenders? But no crock pot.

I was also looking for a red raincoat that I have. I knew I had seen it but couldn’t remember which box. I opened up a box and found my Death Row tshirt.

deathrow

When Brandon was in high school he played at both tight end and defensive end. The boys on his O-line senior year called themselves the Death Row. And they were good. The team won the district championship that year. They also made me an honorary member of the Death Row. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling now just like the day Mike Crews gave the shirt to me. 🙂

Anyway, while I try and figure out what is in all of those boxes, I don’t believe a word of what’s written on the sides of them. And I’ll probably just leave them packed. Blender anyone? 😉

 

Secret for calmness while moving

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calm

Yesterday, we had to stop by Wal-Mart and pick up box tape. We’re moving again. I know. Wheels on our feet.

Anyway, as we were walking to the front of the store, David asked if we needed anything else. I made a quick turn around and headed the other direction.

Me: “Yes, candy.”

David: “Candy?”

Me: “Yes, candy. It keeps everyone calm.”

So we picked up some gumdrops and some caramel creams.

caramelcreams

I don’t know why it is when you start packing things up that tempers flare and people get snippy. At  least that’s how it happens in this house. And all of the other ones we’ve moved out of. 😉  It’s really counterproductive and when I discovered the secret of applying candy to the moving/packing situation a couple of moves ago, I was amazed at the results.

Voices start to raise, “Oh get some candy”. Candy is eaten. Peace resumes. It works. Really.

I know the lady at the Walmart though I was joking around with her and she was laughing as we left. But I know it works. I just hope we don’t run out! 🙂

So how about you? Do you have a fabu secret to keep the peace during a move?

I filled it up!

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A little less than two weeks ago, I called to have a dumpster delivered. I asked David how big it should be and he thought a 20 yard dumpster would be good. When I called, she didn’t have a 20 yard dumpster available for two weeks but could deliver a 40 yard dumpster the next day.

I said, “Wow, that’s gotta be pretty big.”

“It’s huge,” she said.

Still, she could get it to me the next day and it was actually cheaper than the 20 yard dumpster I had priced at another place so I told her to go ahead and bring it.

Well, guess what? I filled it up!

There’s something vaguely embarrassing about being able to fill a 40 yard dumpster (which is indeed HUGE) but I will tell you, it was all garbage.

As I went through the contents of the Big House, it became apparent that David and I had cornered the market on cardboard. So much of what I threw away was just cardboard boxes.

I like the plain brown type. Hey, you never know when you will need to mail something.

He likes the multicolored variety that you get when you buy something. “I was afraid we would have to return them so I kept the boxes,” he said.

I was supposed to have the dumpster until next Tuesday but after a run-in with some dumpster divers on the second day I had it, I decided I didn’t want to leave it unattended the whole weekend while I was in Oklahoma City so I arranged for them to pick it up this morning.

After I placed the “Danger of death” signs on it, I had no more visitors. 😉

It was full. There’s not much else to throw away.  I got lots of bruises.

Next week, it’s on to re-boxing the rest of the stuff we are keeping from the Big House and loading the PODS container and having it taken away.

Turn the page.