The Moving Fiasco

We are renters. I've blogged about that. With renting comes the possibility that you could find yourself in a house that's for sale and you aren't buying it...which means you need to move. That's the place we currently find ourselves. No biggie. Go on Craig'sList and find a new place, right? Unfortunately, it isn't always that easy. Combine our family size (which, yes, we CHOSE) with the tight and expensive rental market in the Bay Area (and yes, we choose to live here) and you find affordable pickings rather slim.

We found a place back in early July. We were stoked. It was in our neighborhood and a nicer house than the one we currently live in though almost identical. It had a little more square footage and NO PINK CARPET. After some negotiation, we agreed on a tenancy start date of mid-August. We gave notice on our current place and go about the prep for moving in, offer to take care of some stuff at the new place to ease the stress of the owners, get their approval and appreciation...looking like a dream landlord/tenant match. Then one day...

For nearly a month, the house had been vacant except for our casual comings and goings to plan what would go where, the painter taking care of some stuff, a flooring guy repairing a problem, cleaners cleaning. Once all this was done, my husband started loading a few things into the place assisted by X.

X: Daddy, what is THIS????? (she points to her feet and lower legs)

Daddy (looking closely): Ummmmm... (examining his own feet and lower legs now, too)

X: How is dirt moving?

Daddy (looking skyward with a very pained expression, heaving a huge exhale): It isn't dirt. It's fleas.

The place was infested.

Some people are completely nonplussed by fleas, but neither of us were interested in taking on the beastly task of eradicating them or holding the population at bay or ANYTHING to do with living amongst fleas.

We did a lot of research on fleas and how to eliminate them from a house. We learned so much...life cycles, resistances, etc. What we determined is that the previous tenants had a cat (we saw the cat). The cat had fleas. When they moved out, they flea-bombed and vacuumed and shampooed the carpet. This got rid of the adult fleas, but the eggs hatched and the larvae pupated and the pupae were taking their sweet little 4 weeks to mature. They then felt the vibrations and heat of potential hosts when we started moving around in there. This triggered their emergence as adults, wherein we discovered them. Yay.

Getting rid of the adults isn't that difficult. There are ways to render the eggs no longer viable that aren't too invasive or time-consuming. But the pupae. Their little cases are like concrete. Eliminating these is next to impossible. You pretty much have to wait their 4-6 week maturation and then provide them with a host or they'll just hang out in a dormant, suspended state waiting for just that. Ugh.

And so began the communications that ultimately led to our legally terminating the lease, getting all of our money back and not moving in there. It wasn't fun, but we're counting our lucky stars that it went fairly easily.

However...

We had given notice on our current place. We have negotiated an additional 2 weeks. What that means is: We now have one month from Sunday to find a place and move into it and completely vacate our current home. Just a leeetle bit stressful. Yes, the home ownership conversation has been opened. I'm not sure if we could make that happen by October 15th...and still not sure if we want to take on those different sorts of headaches. I guess, wish me some luck!

Hope all of you are enjoying peace and sanctuary in your homes! And no pests!

Recommencing...

A lot has transpired since my last post way back in mid July...enough to overwhelm me to the point of saying let's leave it at that and start from here.

It was a super busy summer. Yes, we went to the zoo. Come on...it was vacation. Of course we went to the zoo! No elephant penis this time, but.... the alpha male baboon was extremely happy to be alive. The kids giggled but it wasn't particularly noteworthy. The baby baboon, on the other hand, was adorable.

Family-friendly photo.

My kids are still super amazing and beautiful. Yes, they FINALLY all started school this week. I now have a kid in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary school and one in preschool.

Lest you think I now have tons of time to live a life of leisurely manicures and pedicures (which I've never been inclined to get anyway) or fun shopping excursions to places other than the grocery store or daily yoga/pilates/whatever classes now that everyone is out of the house for the better part of the day, think again. We are in the midst of a moving fiasco. Most of you know that moving in and of itself is a pain in the ass, right? Okay, now throw the word "fiasco" in there. It super sucks. I'll explain more later. Maybe. If I remember.

Bottom line on family life: All's well. Yay.

Today I met with awesome singing injection doctor for the seventh time since February. There have been some ups and downs regarding my overall health and my hip, but things seem to return to a level place eventually. I've done precious little in the way of exercise, and that's still been okay with me. But...

After conferring with my physical therapist, my chiropractor, my massage therapist, my awesome singing injection doctor and MYSELF, it has been determined that it is not unrealistic to start a little running again at the end of the month and additionally not unrealistic to possibly run 5K on Thanksgiving (yay, Sonoma Turkey Trot...of course it won't be to defend my title...lol).

I'm hoping to post more frequently now that the kids are back in school, but that most likely won't really happen until the moving situation is sorted out.

Nonetheless, here I am :)

Hi!  *smiles and waves*

Hope you all are doing well and hope we can get reacquainted.




If you want to see some photos from our summer adventures, I've been posting on Instagram...xlmic.

The Gate

We are renters.  We like it that way.  But with renting comes an element of uncertainty.  When we rather suddenly needed to move last year, we spent a lot of highly concentrated time looking at places.  Well, I spent a lot time, anyway.  Poring over Craigslist for hours on end.  Every day getting on there, hoping to see and snatch up the perfect home for us.  24 houses total over 3 months time... actual appointments and go-inside-of-it looking.  That doesn't count my drive-bys.  A lot of places.  And with a 6-month old...oh, and 3 other kids.

There were just a couple of neighborhoods in which we were looking.  Family-friendly, close to amenities, easy access for commuting... Schools were not an issue because our kids would be staying where they were.  We wanted something big enough so that we didn't feel like too many rats in the cage.  We wanted something nice but not fancy (fancy does NOT work if you have kids).  A nice landlord was also a must, as was a yard for the kids.  And, of course, we had a price range.  lol

We ended up in a place we would NEVER have considered in the beginning of the hunt.  But after seeing all that I saw and evaluating what was REALLY important to us, we wound up not in the charming, character-filled, 100-year old brown shingle walking distance to shopping and other amenities that we had envisioned but in a cookie-cutter development... a Gated Community (we joke about it, saying the words like the South African bad guy in the movie "Lethal Weapon" says "diplomatic immunity" and laughing uproariously ... we're weird that way).

It is right by the water and a stone's throw from a waterfront trail.  Because it is near the ghetto (no lie) it is very affordable... but it is quite separated from the scary places by a freeway, and there is a police headquarters in the middle.  And there is The Gate.  The Gate tripped me out at first.  Who wants to live in a place where you need to be locked in and others need to be locked out?  But I have grown to love The Gate.

The Gate means I can run at night!  That is pretty much the only time during the week that I can run.  I have a loop that is 0.6 miles and I can mix it up with a couple of figure 8's on the dividing streets.  And right now I don't really run all that far so it isn't too boring yet.  I can leave the front door open and if I scream from anywhere in the development, my husband would most likely hear me.  If it weren't for The Gate I wouldn't be here... on this blog.

The Gate also means that my kids can run around the neighborhood and ride their bikes right out of the garage into the streets without being nailed by an oncoming car.  This is not common in these parts!

When people get freaked that I run at night, I simply claim, "Gated Community" in my best Afrikaans accent.  They never get it.

I need help...

And I'm looking to you for it.

I have a couple of on-going house projects that are proving to be something akin to the bane of my existence.  The garage is Numero Uno.

Here it is:

From the outside:

From the inside:

Please understand that this is VASTLY improved from when we first moved in... 10 months ago.  Back then it was seriously like a 4-D puzzle.  It was packed.  PACKED.  Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, front to back.  There were no pathways, no wiggle room, not even mouse-sized.  My mission when we moved in was to get it half-empty by June 1st.  Which I did (thanks to a local town-wide garage sale on Memorial Day... nothing like going for it last minute).  My next vow was to get that half cut in half again... by December 1st.  Hmmmmm....  I know.  It looks like things have gone backward.  And they have :-(

So here is my plan... and I'm implementing the whole "just 15 minutes a day is all it takes" strategy that my husband shoves down my throat reminds me of daily... at least one big plastic tub a day eliminated from the space.  One of these:

I am going to post the progress and tell of my finds, holding myself accountable.  What is in there?  I don't know about you, but I seem to keep just waaaayyyyyy too much crap.  I am sure I'll need it again, or it's just "too cool" to toss, or the kids might really want this, or "this has got to be worth something", etc.  It is time for it to GO.  Well, maybe not all of it ;-)  Some of it really is too cool to toss!

Encouragement appreciated!  And if you see anything in the posts that you might want, speak up!  We'll see what we can do ;-)