Andy's 30th Brithday

He took off an extra day for his birthday weekend; he had Thursday - Sunday to do whatever he wanted. We went out for lunch on Thursday to one of our favorite restaurants in the area. As we were finishing off our appetizer, he looked up and saw his mother, father, and maternal grandfather walk up to our table. Mary Beth and I had been planning this surprise since before we left Texas. Andy had NO clue that they were coming. After lunch, we showed them the house we are trying to purchase. We met up with more family for dinner. We had a lovely time with them Thursday and Friday. They were able to spend time with other family and friends Saturday and Sunday morning before their flight home.

For his birthday he got some Bose earbuds (LOVES them), running shoes, and some clothes. He claims that 30 feels no different than 29. Hopefully, it not be a big deal for me when I turn 30.

Carmageddon

This weekend is Carmageddon. I don't know if it has been talked about elsewhere in the country, but we hear about it every day. Sometime on Friday the 405 will be completely shut down. Everyone is talking about how bad it will be in LA. We are so thankful that we don't live in LA.

Poor Puppy

Andy and Bandit go for a run most evenings. There is a large field behind our hotel that is perfect for them to use. Andy even lets Bandit off of the leash to chase rabbits. Bandit loves the freedom and the chase! They came home one evening last week and we discovered that Bandit was licking and chewing on his paw. We couldn't really see what happened though because the issue was between one of his toes. We watched it for a couple of days hoping that it would heal up on its own. It didn't. So, we went to a vet yesterday to get it checked out. It turns out that he got a good size cut. They packed the area with some stuff and wrapped it. The dog is not happy with a cone around his head and a back leg encased in bandaging. Since we are in a hotel, he has more small spaces to maneuver. Poor puppy whacks into and scrapes by things. Now his bandage has come about half off. It looks like he has a clown shoe on that foot. So, back to the vet we go tomorrow to get it re-bandaged.

Return of the Civic

We got our car back after several weeks without it. It cost almost $6000 to fix all of the hail damage. We are so thankful that we have an insurance company that is easy to work with. The company that did the repairs even fixed a couple of dings and scratches we've lived with for a couple of years for free. The car practically looks new. Even better than that is having a vehicle at my disposal. Best of all, we now have a vehicle with working AC.

We found a house

It seems like there have been so many times when I've been house hunting online that I see something I think we will love only to find out that it is not available still. Some of my least favorite things to hear are "pending" and "back-up offer". Sometimes the listing will still be "active", but it isn't. Not everyone updates their listings quickly. It's been disappointing to ask about 12 places to find out that only 4 of them are actually still available.

We saw several places on Saturday. It was a good day because there were several that had high quality interiors, lovely views, and space. One was fabulous though because it would only be 10 minutes to Andy's work (opposed to 30 minutes for the others), it is directly across from the largest, nicest park in town, it has one of the best elementary schools in the area, it is finished, and the price was good (our higher end but well worth it). Unfortunately, two offers below the list price had already been put in. Our agent let the seller's agent know that we would offer the list price. I just found out that one of the other offers then jumped at the opportunity to buy the house at the list price. We are disappointed, but know that we still have plenty of time to find something else. I think that it will be hard to find something we like as much so close to Andy's work again.

Back to the drawing board...

First Week

Andy's first week at his new job went well. It was nice that he had an off Friday during this first week.

I tried to handle all of the details with moving, renting our house, and work on our car's hail damage claim.

We've got the ball rolling with our Texas house. Repairs, cleaning, and updating to code are being done. Hopefully, once all of that is finished, it will be rented quickly.

We were thrilled that our truck was delivered this week. That allowed us to drop our car off to be assessed. I don't know how long it will take but look forward to hearing what they think.

We were shocked to learn that it costs $4-5 to wash and dry one load of laundry. Four loads later, I'm really hoping that our temporary living stuff will be delivered this week. Beyond just more clothes, we will also have coats and cooler weather items. Andy was able to comfortably wear shorts and a t-shirt one day this week. Apparently, we are supposed to see 90 sometime this week. I never imagined that this would be the case when it is 100 degrees in Texas.

THE MOVE (parts 4 & 5)

Saturday, we drove to Phoenix from Las Cruces. This drive felt like it took much longer than the previous two days.

Sunday, Andy got to take the dog for a good hike with the dog before we left for day 4 on the road. We drove the rest of the way to California today. Now, we are getting settled in at the Residence Inn by Marriott here in town. We have a 2 bedroom suite and are thankful for the extra room.

Andy will have a short drive to work tomorrow morning. He has to be there at 6:30 am. We will have to see if he needs to continue to start so early. I'll try to talk with all of our relocation people to coordinate drop off of our stuff and be armed with information for the next while.

THE MOVE (part 3)

Andy worked magic this morning getting the stuff back into the car. However, there were are few hiccups along the way. He was supposed to stop in Pecos for us to have lunch. I was buried in a book, looked up to ask about how close we were to lunch, and he told me that we passed through Peocs 30 minutes ago. Oops! Thankfully, we still had Van Horn before the long way to El Paso. I was very happy for us to have some lunch and thought things were proceeding smoothly until he slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road. At first, I thought something was wrong with the car, but we were being pulled over by a police man. He was very nice and only gave us a warning for going 88 in an 80 mph stretch. After a some construction and traffic in El Paso, we made it to Las Cruces. We were able to meet up with my great-aunt on my father's side and some of her family. It was a lovely dinner and visit! We feel quite a bit more tired this evening than yesterday so we off to bed early (we've crossed into Mountain Standard Time).

THE MOVE (part 2)

Today, I worked magic! I packed the car with an amazing amount of stuff with room for both pets and both of us. Pictures will come later.

We drove for about 5 hours from Fort Worth to Odessa. The drive was actually pretty easy. We gave the cat medicine so that he was sedated and didn't meow the entire drive. We are comfortable in our room at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott. There is plenty of room for us and our stuff.

Tomorrow, we are headed to Las Cruces.

THE MOVE (part 1)

So, we are once again moving; this time to California. We had packers come on Tuesday, and movers came Wednesday to load the truck.

Tuesday took much longer than they anticipated. The packers arrived at 10:30 am and left at 11:30 pm when the job was estimated to be 4-6 hours. We would have been finished earlier, but one of the packers didn't label the boxes with the contents that he packed. This wasn't discovered until they were doing the final paperwork. So, the boxes had to be opened and inspected so that they could be properly labeled.

We also had the car's windshield replaced on Tuesday. For those who didn't know, our car got hit pretty hard while at the DFW airport when the storms came through last Tuesday evening. We will deal with the body's damage once we get to California.

Wednesday also took longer than expected, but thankfully not as long as Tuesday. The movers disassembled the furniture and loaded everything on the truck. We were a little concerned though because we didn't know when they would arrive. They finally got to the house at about 1 pm and left at 8 pm. Andy and I tag teamed throughout the day. We both ran errands prior to the movers arrival. I got to visit Mother. Andy got to go to work one last time. The truck was picked up to be shipped to California. After the movers left, we met up with Andy's parents and grandparents for dinner. Then, we crashed!