Neighborhood Newbies

Warning: This entry may contain some pretty heavy sarcasm. While I'm very happy in life, I find humor in sarcasm. Please don't mistake it as bitterness. Enter at your own risk :).

So, it's been a little while since I last wrote... And, it's been quite an eventful few weeks, to say the least!

Number one news: Pete and I are officially homeowners! I've also been back to WV for my second trip back to the office, since I started my new work arrangement. So, while I should be elated that everything has been going so well, today I'm somewhat melancholy. Maybe overwhelmed is a better word. Generally after a certain point, my mind kinda goes into the overheated, auto-pilot mode and I find myself staring blankly at nothing. Luckily, I have an awesome fiance who puts up with me and encourages me through these little spells :).

So, to start where I left off last time, I flew East, for two weeks in the Fairmont office, about three weeks ago. Things went fairly well. Busy, as usual but all in all, pretty smooth. The feline divas even 'handled' my absence better than last time, which was a relief for me.

Towards the end of my trip, we also closed on our house in San Jose! EXCITING does not even describe what we're feeling about that! We LOVE the house! But with that excitement, came moving all of our 'stuff' out of storage and into the house. Now, keep in mind, this is not a mansion we're talking about :). It's small, but perfect for the two of us and the occasional visitor. But, we have accumulated lots, and lots of 'stuff' over the years and now the challenge is figuring out where to put it all! So, I got back to California last Friday night, 8/13/10. Yes, I flew on Friday the 13th :). On Saturday, bright and early, our movers showed up at the house and the unloading commenced. Then came the POD and all of the unloading we did ourselves. We succeeded in unloading everything into the house and putting boxes in the general area where they might eventually go, so we were very pleased with that. Sunday, however, my 35 year old body HATED me! All is well now, but Sunday morning, we were hurty :).

What happens now, you ask? Well, after all that unloading, we still haven't stayed overnight in our house. I went back over Monday and Tuesday, and managed to unpack the kitchen, plant some flowers and kill some bugs. Pete is so tickled to have a yard to play in, he's sprayed Turf Builder on the front and back yards twice already :). Now comes the termite fumigation. I didn't see this as much of a hassle; just something we knew we'd have to have done before we moved 'all the way' in. We had hoped to have this done last week, but with a small delay in closing escrow, the termite tenting wasn't scheduled. And now, the earliest we could find anyone to do it is this Friday. We thought they'd just come, do what they do, ventillate the house and we'd be allowed to move in. But NOOOOOO. Not that simple. Nope, now they say we have to get written permission from our neighbors, which could be fun since no one works 'regular' hours anymore. I started to panic. I mean, what happens if no one is home? Or someone is on vacation? Answer: We can't get the fumigation done! SWEET, right?! WRONG!!

There are all sorts of things they don't tell you beforehand. For example, our backyard is completely fenced in. This is one of the things I love about the house! But for the fumigation, they 'may' have to remove a portion of our fence to get the tent around the house. That being said, they'll be charging us $75/hr. with a minimum charge of $150 for any labor they have to do. GREAT. So, they're going to charge us $150 to take down a portion of our fencing and not put it back up? Doesn't sound very good to me.

Another thing is that the process 'may' kill any plants close to the house. Just like the gorgeous landscaping I love in the front of the house! After this process, all of that 'may' be dead, including my very fragrant gardenia bush and the hibiscus that attracts up to 3 hummingbirds at a time! Not to mention, that everything has to be cut back, away from the house at least 1 foot. Again, not the end of the world, but I really don't want to lose all the plants in the front of the house! So, I'm praying and crossing my fingers and toes, that everything goes well, on schedule and we can at least save the gardenia, hydrangea and hibiscus bushes. Tonight, after dinner, we're going over to 'prepare the structure' as instructed by 'Discount Fumigation'. Nice name, huh?

So, this evening, I'm feeling a little bit defeated. I really want to get things situated in the house and move in. We've already started planning a house warming party, so that's exciting. It's also a big motivator for us to get everything mostly settled in the next few weeks! Hopefully. So, please, PLEASE pray that things go as planned and we can move in next Tuesday :).

That's about all that's been encompassing our world over the past few weeks. I'd say it's enough. We're very blessed, that's for sure.

So, that's it for now. I'm planning to take pictures and video of the house, as soon as things are a little less of a mess, so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading :)

As Always,
Easily Distracted