Floating

We are moving again! Into a different house this time, but less than a mile away.
Seems the house we rented had black mold, air quality that children should not be subjected to and now a water bill that is costing us over $500 for one month! The landlord has given us until the 26th - this Friday to be out. We will put our things in storage for a week and move into another house on the 4th of OCT. There we will settle.

I feel like a fish swimming in murky water because the water has been changed so many times. We are happy and doing fine other than these minor bumps.

Life is funny - just when you thought things were calming down they get a little rougher.
I am lifting it all up at this point and letting God sort some things out, no fighting. Just floating....

On the move....

Yesterday I took Van to the beach and we brought the dogs along. Since Van and I are staying at my moms and the dogs are still in the house we rented he doesn't get to see them much. So we walked out onto the white sand. Van was in nothing but a diaper, white birds were all around us and the dogs ran into the water, a gentle breeze blew by us. The water was crystal clear and there was not a person in sight. For a moment I got a feeling of what heaven might be like except my husband was missing. No bugs were in sight, the heat was not that bad and for a moment I took it all in. It is for moments like these that we moved here. Lately I have really been missing home (California) my friends, having the door open in our house and letting the cool breeze blow in, watching Van play outside in our yard while I do things in side. The comforts of our life are so missed right now. It's funny that saying "you don't know what you got til it's gone". It's true. We will try Florida out for a year and see how it goes. I know it takes time to build a life anywhere, but it's hard. I know why people stay put now....

We looked at it as an adventure when we were packing up and leaving. Today it seems much harder than I thought it would be. I know this much Van turns one and a half this week and he knows his family, and it makes me smile to hear him call my mom's name "non". I always felt out of place here in Florida, the minute I arrived in California I knew that was where I was supposed to be. Turns out that is where I found some of the most important people in my life aside from my family. I love you Conner, thank you for enduring for us, I know you have given up so much to be here. What an adventure we are on huh?

This little house!

It's been almost a week since my last post and I honestly cant remember a time when i have ever been this busy. And I have help! Van's Mimi flew down to be with us for a week while I looked for a place to live... I have found two houses one is amazing and all we could ever want but $200 over what we had budgeted a month. It is on the water, brand new and has 3 bedrooms & 3 bathrooms! It's absurd. Next is a house with a yard that has 2 bedrooms, and 1 bathroom. The kitchen is the size of a tuna can and it doesn't have a dishwasher. They are both a block from the beach! So that part is great.
The little one has a fenced in yard for the dogs, and the big one with the ELEVATOR does not have a fenced in yard. Oh and that price is $200 less than we had budgeted for which means we could start paying some debt down! I have been so stressed about this decision that I have not had any other time to think about anything else. My emotions have taken a break lately and I have gone into robot mode. When your in robot mode you can't really write anything that anyone would want to read either. It's too shallow. It's basic and weird. I will have more soon when I get back to normal. I will have photos too!

Ready, GO.

Well we have arrived officially. It was hard to say goodbye but we did it and by the time all of our things were out of the house it truly didn't seem much like home anymore. It was hard to say goodbye to all of the people who we will miss so much. Friends who we will continue to miss and love forever. This is quite a journey. Tonight I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the dogs. they flew today and happend to be on a plane that got stranded in Texas for three hours, Zeke doesn't fly well either. I know he will be scarred from this trip and it will take a little while for him to get back to normal. I plan on taking them somewhere to run and play tomorrow. Van is adjusting well, tonight he danced with a waitress from Thailand who fed him every last bite of his sweet potato and the band sang twinkle twinkle little star and the itsy bitsy spider to him while he sat in his high chair on the dance floor. He is happy and that makes me feel content.

Don't try this at home

Today was full, and packed literally with things to do. We are weary and tired. I must say i will never again in my life pack up an entire house to move thousands of miles away by ourselves, with a small child running around in circles. Tonight when we got home from our little going away party. I heard Conner say to Van let's go upstairs and get ready for bed, so I thought awesome time for me to separate the recycling. I heard Conner coming down the stairs a few minutes later with a huge box (my clothes) and I said "hey where is Van". Conner said I thought he was with you. "uh NO, you took him upstairs to get him ready for bed, Hello!" Our front door was open so I immediately ran outside, and found him standing by our Pod (storage container) talking nonsense and pointing in the sky, as if it were some alien ship that just landed in our parking spot and is now sucking up all of our belongings and turning mom and dad into zombies.

I freaked out, but everything was alright. Last time, we will let this little guy out of our sight. It is soooooo difficult to pack boxes and be efficient with a little one running circles around me. It's tiring enough just taking care of him! So anyways. The pod is cool and all that but having people to help is so much cooler.

Trouble in paradise...

This week has been trying, losing my cousin, packing up my house to move, Van getting a new tooth, and since toddlers are such creatures of routine this whole packing the house thing is overwhelming to him. He has been crying a lot this past week. I pick him up and try to console him, when we leave the house is when he returns to normalcy. Thank God that I have had Conner's little sis here Kat to help me pack and play with Van she has been a God send. I did need help, and I am so glad I asked or I would be doing this alone while Conner works. Anyways I gotta keep it short. I have been really sad about the death of my cousin, so I am not so inspired to write much this week. I will get back on the train shortly.


Oh I do want to say one thing,
hey you people who drive SUVs, throw perfectly recyclable bottles and cans in the trash, clean their bathrooms with — gasp — bleach and think nothing of sometimes blasting the air conditioner or taking wickedly wasteful long, hot showers. (okay I do the shower thing every once in a while).

You think you know the type: the ones who think global warming is a hoax and scarf up natural resources like candy.

Start teaching your kids that this planet is not here for us to destroy, it is here to start preserving for them. Not sure if you have noticed or not but the entire US of A is switching over to greener, more sustainable ways of life. You should too, start somewhere, you have no excuse except that your lazy.

Reasons to start reducing, reusing, and recycling:

1. conserves natural resources; consider that if we didn't recycle newspaper we would have to cut more trees to produce new newspapers,
2. conserves landfill space; landfills would fill up proportionately to the amount of materials we don't recycle - if we didn't recycle anything, most landfills would be full 10-30% faster than had we all recycled,
3. saves us money; yes, actually it does - a new landfill costs millions of dollars to develop and build - money that could better be spent on schools, roads, and public safety, and
4. it makes cents - yes - more people are employed with recycling businesses and many people sell recyclable materials.

peace brothers & sisters.

Nostalgic already

Today I got a little emotional when Van and I were playing in his room, we made a fort out of sheets and played with his toys in there. I tried to take the moments and capture them in my memory. His room, the breeze blowing in the window, the curtains billowing. The music floating through the air. I started thinking about all of the hard work and energy we put into designing his room. Conner worked so hard on it. The thought of leaving the first home we owned and the place we brought our son home scares me a lot. There has been something really nice about being in our own little bubble out here. Change is hard on me, I start missing a place before I am even gone. I know it will all be fine but the waiting is harder than the arriving. I look around at this beautiful place and know it will live on in my hear and mind forever.

I just read this article and I am getting nervous about flying my dogs across the country in the middle of summer.... What should we do?
Our only other option would be to have Conner drive cross country with them when he comes in August. He will be out of the country for about two weeks in July so we would need to board them in a kennel and I think that would cause more stress on them than the scary six or seven hour flight across the hot country....

Blue Skies Ahead...

Well this week has flown by. Yesterday I saw three accidents in 3 hours while I was out. It kind of freaked me out a little bit. Conner was in an accident yesterday too but I didn't see it, Zeke was riding in the car with him. They are both okay but Conner was a little shaken up afterwards so Van and I took him lunch and went to the beach together afterwards. It was nice, I never do things like that. We had fun exploring the beach together!

Today while I was talking to my neighbor on my way out the door, I forgot that I left the front door open. Thank God I took the dogs with me, but I left the front door open to the house for a couple hours. I like my neighborhood but it is not the safest in San Diego, so I ran upstairs and tried to get Zeke to protect me. I checked all of the closets and showers, no burglars. whew

We met my cousin Jeff for dinner this week, and he taught Van a few things!!!!


There I said it now it is out and in the open.

have a good one.