TGI NOT LAST WEEK

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Last week was one of the most stressful weeks I have spent in a long time. After nearly losing our deal on the Florida property -- which would have forced us to lose the deal on the house here in California, not to mention a lot of money -- it was a mad race for documentation and dollars in order to make our closing on the California house on Friday. But we made it!

The worst part of the whole thing was that I spent most of the week extremely angry and frustrated at the subintelligent beings who were essentially controlling our fate. The adrenaline was constantly pumping. Being as I could not exactly hit anyone (which I badly wished to do), there was no choice other than to let the adrenaline flood my system. I think I spent 48 hours mostly awake and with my heart beating at a very rapid rate. Like a bad coffee trip.

That's why this weekend, there are no photos of any fabulous new adventures in San Diego, because we didn't have any. We just slept and went shopping.

So now my adrenal glands are all shriveled up like dried fruit. At least now we are on track to move into our house in July! We are renting the new house back to the sellers for now. They told us one of our next door neighbors is a bachelor oral surgeon, and on the other side lives a Michigan couple with a kid in college and another at the local high school (aka a BABYSITTER?!). I am starting to let myself get excited about living there.

IT CLOSED

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

We have sold our Marco Island place. In the process I got to spend a lot of time talking with our realtor and the buyer's realtor. Here's a portrait of them, at least, how I like to imagine them.

CASUALTIES OF THE MYSPACE AGE

I rarely write about work, but I just have to share. I am interviewing a young guy (John) today and I googled him as I always do everyone I interview (to make sure he was not on 20:20 for drug trafficking or some such small thing that headhunters somehow don't manage to catch).

Well this guy had a myspace page so I read it. He has posts about... err um... Little John out there. So now I know more about this guy's private parts than his actual work. How will the interview go, you ask? I don't know. Hopefully I won't read about it tonight on his page.

WILL IT OR WON'T IT?

Without going into details, there are some very shifty dealings associated with our FL property buyers, coupled with confusion from the village idiots who are representing us. For each one of them there's a different story about what is going on with our property. But the bottom line is, we did not close yesterday.

We had better close today or we are in deep shit. And perhaps, in for more apartment time.

BACKSLIDE

Sunday, May 07, 2006

It seems the more we get settled on the surface, the more unsettled we can feel underneath.

Last night, when I was tucking Becca into her bed, she said, "Mommy, I miss my Lisle bed." Poor little pumpkin. Everything that mattered to her has changed. It's really insane just how many things have completely changed. Sometimes it's like living someone else's life... we are driving around in the same cars and wearing the same clothes and walking the same dogs. But everything else in the immediate universe is different. Strange. Foreign.

Eventually these feelings will go away. But for now, they wake us in the night. We wonder if we will ever truly love it here. We are starting to miss it Back There. Sarah said she missed snowmen the other day. She even looked confused while she was saying it, because even Back There the snowmen have all melted this time of year. She just knows she feels out of place here in Paradise.

The out of place feelings come with guilt... why? Better schools, better climate, the promise of a better life (once we get out of the apartment and such). How can you be unhappy when you have it all?

It's going to take time. For now, we'll have to live with those loose ended emotions.

MORE ADVENTURES

We spent this Saturday at the Scripps Aquarium and then wallking around La Jolla. On Sunday, we drove an hour out to the foothills to explore Julian, one of the old California gold rush mining town that's known for its history and b&bs (and apple pies).

Becca running away from a life sized whale painting at the Aquarium.



The girls playing with craft purchases in Julian.

Beautiful cove along La Jolla's coast.

IT'S REAL

Thursday, May 04, 2006

We went back to the house we're buying and spent some time inside measuring and rephotographing. It doens't seem like a strange place anymore. It's real... even though the move is sort of far away.

Becca measuring the back fence to see if she might be able to squeeze through.