Home at Last

Finally made the last leg of the move - we're in our home and with our own stuff.
...Well, half of it.  It wouldn't all fit in the trailer.  But at least we're done moving around and are preparing to settle for a while.

I'm loving the new place so far.  The rooms are so big and spacious, it makes our massive furniture look sparse, and actually to scale.  I have so many kitchen cupboards, some of them may remain empty for a while...

One of the funnest things about the place is the wildlife in the back yard (not the golfers, the animals.)  We have quail running around in the back yard almost every morning and every evening.
Quail!  I LOVE quail!

...I'm peeping at them through the blinds - hence the glare.

I knew the tile floors would be COLD in the mornings, but I wasn't prepared for the fact that they hurt my feet and ankles to walk on them.  Hmm, going to have to try to find a solution for that - some very plush socks or something.  (They also KILL the knees when I scrub!) 

Oy.

It's been rainy and cold all weekend, but the sun is finally shining today, so took a walk around the neighborhood.  I've been wanting to do this since we got here - it finally feels like I'm someplace safe enough to go for walks.

I ended up being gone much longer than I intended, because I promptly got LOST.
 One of the hazards of living in a neighborhood where all the houses look the same...
I need to print out a map of the place before I attempt that again.  (Used the big casino as my guide post to find my way back.  How ironic is that?)

Still have lots of boxes to unpack, so -

Later :-)
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Moving on...

Tomorrow, we will get the keys to our down-here house.

I'm so excited for the next step in this adventure.
Living in this little apartment has been fun, but it's next to no maintenance, and I am SO out of things to do here!

Remember this scene in Two Week's Notice?

Lucy Kelson: [on the phone] Hi, Mr. Wong, it's Lucy Kelson. I need one No. 13, two No. 7's...
George Wade: [walking back and forth] I can't believe how small this apartment is, it's actually shocking!
Lucy Kelson: I need three No. 8's, no garlic...
George Wade: It's a very good thing your parents went to the movies, we'd never have squeezed in!
Lucy Kelson: I need one No. 7 and...
George Wade: You realize, I can actually move from one side of this apartment to the other in 6 seconds. Watch this,
[steps off]
George Wade: one...
Lucy Kelson: ...and a No. 11, please. No, actually, this is for two.

Well, that pretty much describes this place.  It's nice enough, but barely enough space for the two of us.   It will be nice to be somewhere that actually feels like a home - and where the family can come and visit without being on top of each other.

Plus, there are walking trails up there, where I can actually move about in the fresh air, and there is a park with a pond and Canadian geese to wander around and explore.
At some point, I may actually get brave enough to mosey down to the clubhouse and check out the pool...

I'm looking forward to our stuff coming down, because it will take me at least a couple of weeks to get things set up the way I want them, so I will be too busy to notice how many hours I am on my own.

It's pressure time for hubby - the store will be opening Feb. 18th, and he'll be working 7 days a week until then to get it ready.  The poor man is already running ragged - they know him by name down at the city offices.  (Water, power, Fire marshal, etc. )  I won't see him much for the next month.

We attended church in the new ward last Sunday.
(I was starting to feel a little bit attached here, and I didn't want to do that since we'll be leaving so soon.)  ...And I met a few of my soon-to-be neighbors.

They seem like really fun gals - I think I will enjoy getting to know them.
They insisted on taking a photo for the church directory, and made me fill out a questionnaire before the meeting even started, and I started getting emails a couple of days later...
Makes a body feel welcome, and sort of befriended already.

I need that.

It will be a week before we have furniture enough to stay at the house (the stuff here is rented,)  but it will be nice to know that it is there - inspiring me with ideas for projects to make it look homey.

Now all I need is a car, a job, and a puppy!

...And my kids.  (Please?)
:-)
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Sponge Mom

Been down here for 18 days now (really? is that all?) ...and have pretty much settled in to the routine.
Hubby works ten hour days, and with no car, and no place to go, the days get pretty long, dull and lonely for me.  I haven't left this apartment since last Sunday!

I try to keep busy, to keep my spirits up, but there's precious little to do. 
I tried to make a batch of cookies the other day, to break the monotony, but halfway through, I realized that I had forgotten to buy baking soda.  They were already mixed up, so I baked them anyway.
 Holy hockey-pucks Batman!  They were just that flat and hard. (But they did taste good, at least...)

I'm starting to feel like my muscles and even (or especially) my brain are turning to mush.
I started doing walkies around the apartment (something my Dr. told me to do when I had my heart surgery) this week just to get the blood pumping again.

I've read 3 books this week -  (more than I've read in the last 6 months.)  Other than household chores, that's pretty much all I've accomplished.  (The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom, and Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley, both great books, and Cooking the Books by Bonnie S. Calhoun - just so so.)

We'll be able to get into the house we're leasing next weekend, but our stuff won't be here until the following week.  It would be nice to be able to go there and start arranging things, but there won't be much we can do until then.  The furniture we have here is rented, so it's no use to us over there...

Meanwhile, here I sit.

I wish I knew what to do with myself down here.  It's been so long since I've done any serious crafting, that I wouldn't know a creative idea if it bit me.

...I'd kind of like to get a job to help my girls with their expenses at home, but without a car - and being so far away from everything, that's not an option either.

I've walked to the shopping center up the street a couple of times out of sheer desperation, but it's 5 miles round trip - on a very busy highway, so I'm not wanting to do that too often.

Hubby informed me last night that he will be also working Saturdays from now until March.

Sigh.

Hurry Spring!
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New Year

We spent New Year's day - in fact, the last three days, driving around looking for a home.
I've been looking them up on the internet, then drawing up my own maps to find them. (Google maps are not always the best routes.)  So far, that has been working well for us, but yesterday, I was off my game somehow - we drove around and around and didn't find one of them.

After three days of this, the neighborhoods are all beginning to look the same - and the houses all look the same.  How do you tell a good neighborhood from a bad one?  I just feel so lost and clueless down here.  I don't want to get roped into a year lease, then find that I live next door to an axe murderer, but you just can't know those things...

So today, I am exhausted, frustrated and discouraged.

I don't really understand what my role is down here.  I'm a mother - without my children, a worker - with no job.  I don't have a car to get me anyplace (and I really don't feel safe walking.)
...A really strange and foreign existence.

Meanwhile, hubby is doing really well at his job.  This week they will have HEAT in his building (a big relief - he's been letting everyone go at 4:30, because when the sun starts to go down, it gets really cold inside!)

Monday, he came home and told me that the police had his parking lot all blocked off - there had been a shooting on the highway right in front of his store...
Welcome to Las Vegas.

I asked him if that scared him off, he said it didn't.  I asked what it would take to scare him off - he said if the shooting were inside the store.

Oy.  By then, it's too late to change his mind and go home.

They are going to start out with two armed guards in the building, and another one outside.  I hope that is enough.

I often wonder if we have completely lost our marbles coming down here.
The jury is still out on that one...
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