Well, unbelievable once again . . . There is a guardian angel on my shoulder, and whoever it is, wants us to live in Colorado Springs.
Friday morning I talked to my best friend, Cherrie and my goddaughter Shelby. Shelby’s going to art school, but on a break and won’t go back until mid-July. She’s come to visit us since she was about eleven, criss-crossing the country all on her own. She was scheduled to come and visit the week I fell and broke my ribs, so we postponed and she still has a ticket.
SO-O-O, I asked Cherrie what Shelby was doing, and she’s working double-shifts as a waitress trying to earn some money. I suggested she get on a plane and come and spend six weeks with me. I told her I’d pay her what I’m paying CJ, which is a veritable fortune to her, she’s FANTASTIC with kids, super babysitter, taught swim lessons for bunch of summers (actually started her own swim lesson business, takes after her godmother), and on top of it all . . . According to her the best part is she gets to come and spend time with people she loves. Ah, how sweet, and my sentiments exactly. I do adore her and cannot wait to have her here, she is one of my all-time favorite people. She’s got a GREAT sense of humor, very dry, is positive, a great helper, adventurous, artistic, got beautiful blue eyes and a smile that lights up the room. She and I have always been close, even if we don’t talk for a year, the very next time we do it’s as if no time has passed. Kind of like her mother and I. Although I think of Cherrie’s two kids, her second daughter Emily is far more like Cherrie and Shelby is actually far more like me (and her father of course!)
So. One fell swoop, nanny problem solved. Shelby’s thrilled. I’m thrilled. Doug’s thrilled. Frank’s thrilled and I’m sure Beck will be too, they’ll get along great. She can only stay until June 15, and no matter what, I’m going to need some help through mid-July-ish and I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. BUT, I’m leaving it to a higher power because so far, everything seems to have worked itself out.
So I’ll throw it out into the universe and see what comes back to me. I’ve got to go to Chicago June 21st through 23rd, and to our niece Ally’s wedding in early July, and will need help in order to do both, and then there’s the whole moving thing, which I actually think will be pretty easy, it’ll just be the transition time and when our house sells in relation to when school gets out, and in relation to the Chicago trip and the wedding. BUT, again, I’m sure it will all work out.
Uncle Jeff and Quentin were here yesterday to help Doug with the patio cover. The handyman and his helper got the fence done (beautiful job), two other projects, and helped Doug and Jeff with the patio cover, and were only here until about 2:00pm. They’ll be back either Thursday or Friday to do the upstairs painting. They are great guys and would highly recommend them to anyone.
I got a lot of packing done yesterday, I’m making excellent progress upstairs. Again, it’s not really packing, it’s getting rid of stuff. The garage/moving sale pile is enormous, and I hope we can sell the majority of it. Uncle Jeff is interested in our lawn mower, and grandma wants one of our chairs which is really hers anyway.
Doug will be packing today for their Yosemite trip and they’ll leave in the morning. Both are so excited and Doug did admit yesterday that they may come home early given a trip of that length and level of adventure might be hard on Frank, but also didn’t seem to have a problem, just an acceptance. He said they were going to completely wing it and was sure that no matter what they did, no matter how little, they’d have a blast. He’s so happy these days.
We had a nice talk with Jeff yesterday, and Quentin and Frank had a ball. We’ll plan to get them together when I come back to CA and bring Frank with me. And Jeff asked us to be sure to invite them to visit us and said he really wants to come. I think Doug has been disappointed by the turn his relationship with Jeff has taken, but there are ebbs and flows with every relationship and it isn’t to say that they won’t be close again. Sometimes proximity doesn’t equal closeness because you get lazy about getting together with people. My friend Chris says she’ll probably spend more time with me when I’m in town for meetings because we’ll actually plan something instead of procrastinating. I totally agree.
The Easter bunny (me) is ready for the kids to wake up and play, although I also so enjoy my morning quiet time, I don’t mind the extra sleep time for them.
Even though it’s Easter, I’m going to tackle my office today and get it off the list. It seems like it’ll be huge job, and I’m hoping it goes easier than I expect.
The garage is a WRECK, but Doug will have a couple of weeks after Yosemite and pretty much only the garage to worry about. I’m going to schedule a dumpster to be here when he gets back so we can get RID of junk, and get this place on the market. Two houses on the street right behind here just listed for a ridiculous amount of money and they are DEFINITELY comps for our house. Should be INTERESTING to see what happens with them. Doug and I both think if we come in a little lower our house will sell VERY fast.
Okay, Daddy’s up, Beck’s up, time to wake Frankie up before Beck finds all the Easter eggs.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Bizarro-Chango
It’s been BIZARRE here to say the least in the last week. We’ve known for one week and one day that we are officially moving, and the garage is full of boxes, Doug has a “leave date,” oh, and quit his job. I told the company I’m working for that I’m leaving and they in turn told me I wasn’t. And yesterday, CJ quit. We worked it out so he’s giving us some notice, probably about three weeks worth. Unless he finds a job sooner that requires him to start sooner. I guess he’s gotten a lot of pressure from everyone in his life to start looking for something else, some of that is reasonable and some of it isn’t.
Our life is so good, and that isn’t something I take lightly. We’ve worked VERY hard to make it happen.
My mom is here for Easter, tomorrow our house will be FULL. We’ve got Marlena coming to entertain the kids for a few hours, Tony the handyman coming to fix the fence (and I think he’s bringing a helper), Jeff and Quentin are coming over so Uncle Jeff can help Doug finish the patio cover, and as I said my mom is here visiting too. It’s going to be a madhouse.
Doug and Frank leave Monday for a Yosemite adventure week. They’re going to camp, and sleep in the Suburban when it’s too cold, and just wing it. I’m so glad they’re doing it. It’ll be an adventure neither of them will forget.
I’m packing and packing and packing, actually more accurately, I’m sorting and sorting and sorting. The garage is getting very crowded with boxes of moving sale items. I’ve got the entire first floor of the house done with the exception of the toys, most of which I think we should just keep, pack and move. The boys are going to have playroom-gameroom-plus space they’ve never imagined since that is how the houses in Colorado are designed for the most part. The main floor and second story are pretty normal, average houses; and then there is a “basement” which doesn’t really seem like a basement because the “back” of the house is three stories. So you have windows and sliding glass doors that go out into the backyard. And that floor usually has a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms, a “wet bar” which is almost always a mini-kitchen, a gigantic family room and game room, usually some “unfinished” storage area (like the size of our entire garage), and sometimes a home theatre (on the front side of the house where there aren’t any windows). Why get rid of stuff they can play with when they’re going to have so much room to play in?
I believe one of the things that contributed to Frank’s incredible imagination was how much he played with toys (and ones that required imagination and pretending rather than interactive that did everything for him), and how little television he watched. And reading, of course. Both my boys have a deep appreciation of books and love, love, love to read and be read to. There isn’t anything like having the ability to entertain yourself, not needing constant “entertaining.” Both my kids need their quiet, play on their own time. Each of them will suddenly walk over to the bookcase, take out a pile of books and sit and read and read and read. Frank would even do that when he was on playdates, and the other kid’s parents would always comment on how funny it was, that their child would try and try to get his attention to play something and Frank would just sort of zone out for a bit until he regrouped. Beckett is exactly the same. He’ll be playing and bringing me toys and getting all his baskets of toys out and then all of a sudden I’ll think, what’s he doing? And sure enough, he’s gone to the reading corner and he’s as a quiet as a mouse.
I was having a surprise going away party for Doug on May 6th, but one of the neighbors (yesterday, day after the invitations went out), came up to Doug and said, “I’ll be at your party on the 6th!” Oh well, no longer a surprise, and no big deal either. Doug was still happy (he’s so-o-o-o happy these days.)
I’ve got some serious work to get done, and have no business updating the blog instead of doing it . . .
Our life is so good, and that isn’t something I take lightly. We’ve worked VERY hard to make it happen.
My mom is here for Easter, tomorrow our house will be FULL. We’ve got Marlena coming to entertain the kids for a few hours, Tony the handyman coming to fix the fence (and I think he’s bringing a helper), Jeff and Quentin are coming over so Uncle Jeff can help Doug finish the patio cover, and as I said my mom is here visiting too. It’s going to be a madhouse.
Doug and Frank leave Monday for a Yosemite adventure week. They’re going to camp, and sleep in the Suburban when it’s too cold, and just wing it. I’m so glad they’re doing it. It’ll be an adventure neither of them will forget.
I’m packing and packing and packing, actually more accurately, I’m sorting and sorting and sorting. The garage is getting very crowded with boxes of moving sale items. I’ve got the entire first floor of the house done with the exception of the toys, most of which I think we should just keep, pack and move. The boys are going to have playroom-gameroom-plus space they’ve never imagined since that is how the houses in Colorado are designed for the most part. The main floor and second story are pretty normal, average houses; and then there is a “basement” which doesn’t really seem like a basement because the “back” of the house is three stories. So you have windows and sliding glass doors that go out into the backyard. And that floor usually has a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms, a “wet bar” which is almost always a mini-kitchen, a gigantic family room and game room, usually some “unfinished” storage area (like the size of our entire garage), and sometimes a home theatre (on the front side of the house where there aren’t any windows). Why get rid of stuff they can play with when they’re going to have so much room to play in?
I believe one of the things that contributed to Frank’s incredible imagination was how much he played with toys (and ones that required imagination and pretending rather than interactive that did everything for him), and how little television he watched. And reading, of course. Both my boys have a deep appreciation of books and love, love, love to read and be read to. There isn’t anything like having the ability to entertain yourself, not needing constant “entertaining.” Both my kids need their quiet, play on their own time. Each of them will suddenly walk over to the bookcase, take out a pile of books and sit and read and read and read. Frank would even do that when he was on playdates, and the other kid’s parents would always comment on how funny it was, that their child would try and try to get his attention to play something and Frank would just sort of zone out for a bit until he regrouped. Beckett is exactly the same. He’ll be playing and bringing me toys and getting all his baskets of toys out and then all of a sudden I’ll think, what’s he doing? And sure enough, he’s gone to the reading corner and he’s as a quiet as a mouse.
I was having a surprise going away party for Doug on May 6th, but one of the neighbors (yesterday, day after the invitations went out), came up to Doug and said, “I’ll be at your party on the 6th!” Oh well, no longer a surprise, and no big deal either. Doug was still happy (he’s so-o-o-o happy these days.)
I’ve got some serious work to get done, and have no business updating the blog instead of doing it . . .
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
A Little Brother
Frank says the only bad thing about having a little brother is the PAIN. (Beckett beats up on Frank a lot.) I doubt this counts. It probably makes up for most of the pain if not all of it.
Beckett Turned Two
Beckett turned two on February 16. We took him to the Long Beach Aquarium and the photos say more than I ever could. I’ve got two pretty great kids.
Back Again
Wow, has it really been three months? I’ve intentionally not written since things have been so up in the air in that time. For a while I didn’t think we were going to move to Colorado, I had pretty much given up on the idea frankly. And it was too depressing to write about. And I also wasn’t yet ready to give my attitude a positive spin and talk about all the reasons I was glad we weren’t moving—because I wasn’t glad we weren’t moving.
Anyway, WE’RE MOVING! It’s official. Last week Doug was offered a position in Colorado. And me? I took an in-house job in December as a marketing director. I expected to enjoy it. I expected to make a big difference in the company (which I not at all humbly did), and then help them find someone to replace me. Little did I know I would actually love it, and then be sad about leaving them. So I’m not. I’m staying on and working from Colorado (from home), and then flying out once a month for two or three days for meetings.
Ummm, so . . . could life BE better? I’d be hard pressed to come up with HOW.
Right now we’re working on getting the house ready to put on the market. Last weekend I sorted through the entire downstairs of the house, leaving either what we need for the time being or what we’re taking with us, and moving everything else into the garage in preparation for a HUGE moving sale. Doug worked on fixing this and fixing that, and we’ve got a couple of handyman-type people coming today and tomorrow to give us estimates on fixing everything else.
The biggest news? Doug is leaving in about three or four weeks. We’re not leaving until after the end of the school year. It’ll be a tough couple of months, but we’ll get through it. The boys and I will miss Doug a lot, but in the long run of life, it will be worth the effort.
A funny story: Doug gave his notice at work last week. His boss asked him where he was going. Doug told him Colorado Springs. His boss said, “I’m looking at houses in Monument.” His last day is the same as Doug’s and he, too, is moving to Colorado Springs and looking for houses in the same small town we are. How bizarre is that?
My mom is seriously considering moving too, but keeping her house here. Sometimes when I talk to her I think it’s definite, sometimes I don’t. She’ll be here for Easter this weekend and I’ll get another feel for where she’s at this week with it.
We’ve actually done some pretty fun stuff in the last three months, and fortunately I’ve got the photos to remind me of what it was. I’ll try to update retroactively in the next few days. Actually once Doug leaves for Colorado I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to catch up, when I’m awake at 3:13 in the morning thinking about everything I have to do and not wanting to do it.
Anyway, WE’RE MOVING! It’s official. Last week Doug was offered a position in Colorado. And me? I took an in-house job in December as a marketing director. I expected to enjoy it. I expected to make a big difference in the company (which I not at all humbly did), and then help them find someone to replace me. Little did I know I would actually love it, and then be sad about leaving them. So I’m not. I’m staying on and working from Colorado (from home), and then flying out once a month for two or three days for meetings.
Ummm, so . . . could life BE better? I’d be hard pressed to come up with HOW.
Right now we’re working on getting the house ready to put on the market. Last weekend I sorted through the entire downstairs of the house, leaving either what we need for the time being or what we’re taking with us, and moving everything else into the garage in preparation for a HUGE moving sale. Doug worked on fixing this and fixing that, and we’ve got a couple of handyman-type people coming today and tomorrow to give us estimates on fixing everything else.
The biggest news? Doug is leaving in about three or four weeks. We’re not leaving until after the end of the school year. It’ll be a tough couple of months, but we’ll get through it. The boys and I will miss Doug a lot, but in the long run of life, it will be worth the effort.
A funny story: Doug gave his notice at work last week. His boss asked him where he was going. Doug told him Colorado Springs. His boss said, “I’m looking at houses in Monument.” His last day is the same as Doug’s and he, too, is moving to Colorado Springs and looking for houses in the same small town we are. How bizarre is that?
My mom is seriously considering moving too, but keeping her house here. Sometimes when I talk to her I think it’s definite, sometimes I don’t. She’ll be here for Easter this weekend and I’ll get another feel for where she’s at this week with it.
We’ve actually done some pretty fun stuff in the last three months, and fortunately I’ve got the photos to remind me of what it was. I’ll try to update retroactively in the next few days. Actually once Doug leaves for Colorado I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to catch up, when I’m awake at 3:13 in the morning thinking about everything I have to do and not wanting to do it.
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