November 20, 1015

Not gonna lie: last night sucked.  I was cold, then I’d remember what happened, then sirens, then other noises, then I’d be cold again, remember what happened…ad infinitum.  Somehow, however, waking up in Ocean Beach made it better, with that San Francisco magic.  The kids were better, too – Mags had slept well and I knew though  Ethan was still down (we feed off each other) he was on his way up.  We dressed, I texted the lady with the stolen purse and off we went, with our mega-European luggage for our little one-night stay.  

We headed to Java Beach and we ordered breakfast – to go, so we could enjoy it on the beach.  Once we were properly seated on the sand dunes, we were surrounded by a flock of seagulls (I sang…).  The kids adopted one and named him Jeff.  He had brown coloring to him and had quite a smooth personality.  There was another bastard unnamed gull who kept bullying Jeff, but Jeff always managed to catch the food and escape the wrath of unnamed bastard gull.  It was a great morning.  We headed home, planning what we would do...

...which included eating quickly (them) and heading immediately to storage.  We had stopped by L’s house to pick up the dually, but there were no keys, so we’d get that later.  Naturally as soon as we were heading to storage we got the text that keys were in the dually.  And of course I had left my purse in the dually (with cash for fuel for the bus).  We grabbed a load, brought it to the new house, then picked up the dually.    This was going to make things much quicker.  The dually held so much more that we knew we could finished up tonight and focus on the house tomorrow.  In between here I received a text from the woman who was so thrilled to have gotten her purse back.  That made it worth it.    Back and forth a few times…and storage was almost empty.  We have a few more boxes, which we will easily get tomorrow.

The problem which has not left me in the last few days is keys.  I keep misplacing them (along with wallets or whatnot).  I exaggerate not when I say I misplaced keys at least 3-4 time today, which resulted in wasted time as we looked for them and they were always “right there” (I know, I know, why not look “right there” first?  Trust me, I do, but seem to gloss over them each time).

 

Ethan and I grabbed the last load (Mags was tired) and I must say – this kid is turning into a man right before my eyes.  He is opening up to me – sharing personal feelings (nothing like that, but rather his thoughts and ideals).  These last 24 hours have been one hell of a ride: we were on our way to Europe, ended up at a beach, walking under the moonlight and seeing shells.  This morning we sat with seagulls and now here we are in Placerville again.  It has been surreal.

 Pictures: Brother and sister look at the Judah tram; Jeff the Seagull; "my" new Japanese Maple smiled at me in the moonlight and welcomed me home; All my current keys.

November 14, 2015

Saturday morning and I was awake at 6:30, but when one falls asleep at 11, this is to be expected.  I knewknewknew I had a long day ahead of me, which made getting out of my beautifully cozy bed that much more difficult.  The duvet is heaven to me.  I think I roll around in bed during sleep just because it's so comfortable and I get more "feel" out of it.

I did finally get up though, and felt overwhelmed.  I don't know how I will clean the carpet  with all these boxes strewn about; some full, others half-full, many boxes still flat.  I'd start in one section, move the another before I was finished and continue this process everywhere.  Eventually I'd come across my first task, "oh, yeah!  That's what I was doing!" only to leave it minutes later.  I was also distracted by music..wanting to find that perfect "packclean" tune. Then, Rich called from Cedar West, the rental agency.  I knew he'd was going to tell me that I couldn't stay in that house because Landlord dude had called and told him I had walked away from him..., so I was grateful when it was about more money for a pet deposit.  Man oh man...the amount  is becoming astronomical.  Maybe I'm really buying the house....

Finally, somehow, my groove started grooving...  Boxes where packed, I tore down the gazebo, which reminded me of the Hips show in Santa Cruz when the first gazebo collapsed due to snow.  Such a lovely evening... My car wouldn't make it up the hill do to snow, so I parked and walked up with Mabi, who had accompanied me to the show. I used the recip saw on the gazebo, then used it to cut up wood so I could burn.  I feel so much more alive when I'm outside doing physical labor (not that packing isn't physical but it's boring as hell).

Eventually, the darkness began to fall, so I started loading up the bus so I could do some storage facility runs.  At this point, I swore I heard music coming from Emmitt's house...RAP music, which meant he had to be dead and his offspring were in there.  I texted Brent then saw he had three lovely candles in front of his door-blue, white and red in honor of the killings in Paris.  This man.  I will miss him so much.  He has been the best neighbor I've ever had...they all have.  Brent came over and once we determined Emmitt wasn't dead, he offered to help me move on Monday with his parents!  I am in complete and utter awe that I have so many people offering to help me move, usually people run the other way.  I shall take them up on their offer on the 30th, because packing up this whole house has been a chore: the storage facility is almost full.

I made two storage runs in Lizzie.    I noticed the Lion's Club across the street was have some sort of festivity with live music; heard a little Lynyrd Skynyrd.  My body is done...  I burnt my finger when I was distracted with Mabi  and picked up the HOT metal cover for the fire, plus I only bent my knees once to pick up and that was the very last box I loaded, so my back hurts.  Home to split pea soup which has been cooking all day and now, a hot soak with Epsom  and lavender.  What a day.  Tomorrow has more in store.  Fun.


 Pictures: A break from packing before I headed outside, thank god for Dennis's Dirty Impound;  My dad's key/change holder from my childhood.  It sits on my fridge just like when I was a kid; I did NOT use my knees today; Hipnic, Site 9 stuff.  Sadly the decorations had to go (though I kept the owl!).  The wood I'll burn at my new home; No more gazebo,

November 5, 2015

Dark-thirty as I stumbled into the kitchen…I was the interruption, so it casually rambled back behind the built-in counter, filled with holes and plenty of escape routes: a mouse-rat the size of a small rabbit.  Good god…is my coffee ready yet?    After I dropped the kids off at school, I had an appointment with Lizzie, so we headed to Breaker Glass, where Kevin, told me it couldn’t be done (the windshield gasket) – there was too much other stuff that needed to be looked at first, so after a stop at the bank, I went to the auto-body shop, set an appointment for the 16^th, then off tooooo…..

Storage, where I saw Ricky, a friend, who also happens to be a mover (!).  Problem 2 was solved – after I get back from Switzerland, I will spend the next 2 days moving into the new house with Rickey’s help (though he’s a pro, so it’ll probably just be one day)  I love Universe [putting what I need where I need it (the mice are also a huge incentive…I am counting the days).   

Headed home and started to try to stop the mice from entering, but the problem is this – they have a HUGE city commune thing happening behind the dishwasher – I can’t take the dishwasher out (well, I could but the 2 weeks isn’t worth it for me).  I looked at the corners I had stuffed with steel wool and next to the corner is a good 6 inches of an inch entrance into Who-Knows-What.  How the hell am I supposed to block that??  So, more traps, more peanut-butter   yet last week after the mice-capture…I had just finished reading about bubonic plague being transmitted by fleas and rodents.  I do not want that.  I also made up with Landlord guy.  When I returned with Lizzie, he was building a fence between my house and the house next door and, since I was happy about having a gorgeous new house (and he had given me a great recommendation), I decided we were all happy again.  

 

Time to head to work for my one client, though I had been there earlier to make some phone calls.  Recently, I have begun feeling much more grown up and “official” than I often feel.   I actually understand, more often than not, what I am doing and what needs to be done. I know this will soon change and I’ll be completely overwhelmed again, but it’s a good feeling while it lasts.  The session ended and I was driving off to meet pick up my kids in Camino when Ethan texted and said they were being given a ride home.  Awesome.

I beat them by moments and we had a fabulous crockpot dinner with homemade garlic mashed.  I’d had my chilisalad for lunch and a was feeling quite good...until I started making dessert (guess what that was).  My ass started hurting again as if it was growing and I wasn’t even putting anything in my mouth.  Imagine what’ll happen later when I eat it.  . After dinner, and I packed up a bit while Ethan did homework and we danced to Lionel Richie.  Be Tee Doubleyou – I know these are often slapped together, often (usually) without any editing and are at times quite dull….  I do think of all sorts of things during the day yet often can’t jot notes down and then forget.  And sometimes, Life is without any chaos – which is awesome.   No real point to what I just wrote, so now I’ll take my contacts out and rest, hopefully mouse-free.

Pics'n Flicks: Annie eating her lunch at the table, "proper-like" ; So full...; I gave my Charles White lithograph of "Diablo Hills" to my sweet neighbor Brent; Tennis after bible study, anyone?; The sound of mice, working on their home....

October 26, 2015

Mornings have changed so much since the kids have created their own routines.  It isn’t as hurried, as rushed, we all do our own thing. Today, we grooved a little to some Bob Marley, then we left. On the way - The Weeknd's song "Can't Feel My Face" came on, which I absolute adore because it has such  a great beat.  I told the kids from the get-go that it was about cocaine,  but then I sing and dance to it every time, like a Solid Gold dancer, minus the gold Lamé.  Maggie giggled and said that of all the pop song, I love the one about drugs. I like these kids.  I know everyone loves their kids, but I like mine, too.  I think they are really responsible, good kids with character and integrity.  I like that. 

After I got back, I started house-hunting. It’s a bit worrisome, considering that I’ve been looking for a few weeks, there aren’t new listings popping up.  This could cause troubles.  The site I signed for after talking to Josh Friday night showed me one I hadn’t seen on the webpage, so I called.  It was nearby, so I left to go look at it – it was…almost perfect.  Well, location wise, yes – it’s in a nearby valley, there’s a lovely tree in the back.  I hugged the tree. I talked to it.  I also ate some cherry tomatoes which had been forgotten.  I’ll cross fingers and tour it tomorrow..  I dropped by The Bookery to sell back my 54 philosophy books and many others.  It hurts my heart, but.... At home I called about another house, but they told me I was $432 short of making three times as much income to qualify.  I said thanks and hung up – didn’t even think about child support, so I’ll call them back tomorrow.  It’s good to get on as many lists as possible.  It wasn’t long before it was time to head off to school.  Scratch that, personal therapy (it’s near my school).  As I drove I listened to the Ted Talks Radio Hour and the topic was… OpenSource, which I appreciate very much.  It’s the sharing of ideas and helping one another – it is the collective instead of the individual.  I think about before the Internet and what Life Was Like – we went to a library, we looked in Encyclopedias or books for information, we talked to librarians.  Now, we go to our laptops.  I miss the Dewey Decimal System and writing out reports by hand.  The sense of accomplishment seemed different because it was more time-consuming to gather facts.  Now it is done with the touch of a hand. It's good, of course, but it's also helped quell our collectivism - we can now do it all ourselves.  This part I don't like so much. 

Therapy was interesting.  It always is.  This woman digs and analyses, which I like to do, myself.  Connect G to A somehow…think until you see the connection.  Today – I told her of my constant “never finished”, always feeling I’m running behind.  There is something behind me, like a light over my head and it pushes me forward.  It guides me – because I’m not sure where I’m going, only that I’m not finished yet – far from it.  I will never be one of those who is satisfied…I have to continue.  She asked me if I’m running away from something to go to CH – no, I’m not.  I’ve asked myself that very question, but I’m not running from, I’m running to.  Off to school then to drop off hours and I saw Wendy.  Talked to her for a while, which is so nice.  She made a good suggestion.  Talk to L- the kids can stay in the old house and I'll sleep in the bus.  Sounds good to me;  All I need is an extension cord and I'm good.  Then Weber showed up.  Poor guy...he thought he was done with me and here I am, 5 days later.  I asked if he offered a doctorate degree and he said no.  Humph.  No more school with some favorite people.

 

Headed home and the single plume of smoke I'd seen became two and one was massive - I checked on scanner-nothing - but an odd audio interference.   I checked Yubanet once I got home nothing there, either.  I kept looking and saw it was a prescribed burn.  I guess The Powers That Be are fairly confident we will have rain Wednesday.  

 Packed up the bus a bit after talking to a neighbor.  She saw the sign, the packing.  It'll be so sad leaving this neighborhood: Brent, Sandy, Terry, Stephanie, Steve, Carol, Bill and Judy.  What an incredible group of people.  Lizzie and I headed back to storage.  My heart has been heavy since getting home earlier and I'm not sure why.  Such a sorrow within, I feel as if I've been weeping all day.  Being in Lizzie cheered me up, though. This bus is a friend to me, which is really weird.  One drop off to storage and then I needed peanut butter, so to the store I went…and there they were: cranberries.  My world just exploded (I had written to Jake earlier today asking if he had divorced me since I wasn’t there but I was packing up/moving my whole house so did that count as weights?)  He had responded as I was entering the store, assuring me all was good and yes, moving a house solo counts as weights.  Universe has a wicked sense of humor.  **This is the severity of my love life** When I posted a picture of the cranberries and wrote “it happened” a friend 2,000 miles away thought I meant sex.  I responded no…that (my chance for sex) was hit by an asteroid, the Sun was blocked, and it (my chance) had  died.  Silver lining: I really don’t even need to shave my legs in the summer. 

 I bought all the necessities for CC and some scented candles.  Dessert and candles:  My world really has exploded.  At home, I easily and effortlessly made the cranberry crunch then soaked in the tub for a bit.  My back is hurting a lot.  I really am foolish in moving these boxes alone yet I’m not sure I’ll ever learn.

In honor of OpenSource, here is the recipe I created many years ago.  I've held onto this recipe only sharintg it with two parties who were sworn to secrecy,  hoping someday I could do something with it, like be on Good Morning America with Joan and Charlie, but that clearly won't happen.  If YOU end up on Good Morning America, will you at least mention my name and see if I can be at the taping?  Enjoy. xo

Cranberry Crunch

Preheat oven to 375.  In a bowl, combine half a bag of cranberries, a full container of sweetened condensed milk, and lemon zest from a whole lemon.

In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup butter with 1 1/2 cups biscuit mix (I use BisQuick but they all work - one day I'll figure out how to make it from homemade ingredients), and stir until mostly mixed.  Then add cranberry mixture and spread into a buttered 9 x 9 inch baking pan.  

In a smaller bowl, combine the other 1/2 cup biscuit mix, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter and sprinkle over cranberry crunch. *Trick - I add more butter and more brown sugar because it's just good, common sense. 

Add walnuts if you so desire (FYI: these put the "crunch" in Cranberry Crunch, yet also keeps Maggie from eating it, a win/win)

Bake 70 minutes (though I take it out after an hour due to our oven, so know your oven!).

Sauce: in a sauce pan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tblsp cornstarch, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and add cold 1/2 cup water.  Add the remaining half of cranberries.  Cook it over medium low heat until it thickens and cranberries are exploding in gleeful joy, then pour over the baked goodness of Fall.

If sharing this recipe doesn't help me lose weight, I'll be really angry.