I'm so EXCITED

I found my old blog and remembered the recovery email & password - YAY!!!! OK that's all.

Living in such a beautiful place can be a hinderence

I have to say that I love living in Southern California. I was born in Ventura County have been in this area consistently since 1980 (the first decade of my life was spent traveling hither, tither and fro but we always came back home). What's not to like about it? The weather is always great, a little boring since it never changes but who can complain about 68-74 degree weather almost year 'round. There's no humidity, hardly any rain and NO BUGS.

And this is what I see first thing in the morning (as long as I leave the house and go to the beach that is).





I'm very sad to say that because of the fire, being under insured, some issues with the city and so on that we may be leaving the area for a more affordable life style. At this point we can't re-build without taking on additional loans, it would be a huge mistake and we believe a sin to take on additional debt at this point. We'd also be in danger of being upside down on equity if we did that.

Our prayers are that God would show us where He wants us to be. I'm talking big, wide open doors (or shut very tightly so I can't finagle myself in because we all know I would try).

If the insurance doesn't come through we're planning to head towards Memphis where Barry's family lives (did I mention big bugs and HUMIDITY). I'm hopeful and praying that I will be able to telecommute at my present company. That would take make the process easier in my opinion. Moving to an entirely different local with a job! How is that a bad thing?

I'm OK about the move, it's an adventure right? I'm heartbroken that my older children will stay here.If I could just pack my whole family up in a box and move us around together I could live anywhere happily.

Moving on after a fire

It's been almost 4 months since the Tea Fire. I thought that I'd have been pretty well "past" it but I'm finding out that the more time that passes the more crappy it is. The reality of the situation is enormous now. At first we were so grateful to be alive and to have gotten our pets out of the fire. Now it's just overwhelming.

I go from being grate (See above) to being really pissed off at the college kids that "allegedly" started the fire. I pull the "it's not fair" card occasionally and try not to wallow or be a victim.

Sometimes I'd like to just lay down and wallow in a really good pity party.

Update

Well it's obviously been a while since my last post. We moved into the rental and that's going well. It's not home but at least it's comfortable and well decorated. This is the first time I've lived in a home that's completely "put together". I swear I will post pictures one of these days. We've been in the house over two months now and I have yet to take that run along the beach I was so anxious to take. Nor the bike ride... Of course we still don't have any bikes, good thing this is that this is the rainy season.

We took a trip to Memphis to visit Barry's family. While not a true vacation it was enjoyable. Both Barry and I had some sort of allergy/sickness thing going on. I started getting congested 2 nights before we left and stayed that way most of the trip. No amount of medication helped me feel better. Barry found relief in generic Zyrtec D.

We are in the process of making some tough decisions on whether or not to rebuild our house. This is a developing story.

Here's a link to some pictures that Barry put together - kind of a before and after series.

House hunting complete

We found a really pretty home to rent in the "Mesa" area. We'll be two blocks from Shoreline Park, a beautiful park overlooking the ocean.

The house is so peaceful feeling, decorated beautifully but comfortably. If I were to pick out a house and decorate it this is close to what I would do. It's light and airy but comforting as well.

It has a few really great features

1) Near the beach. We can ride our bikes (once we get some) and I can run directly from the house.
2) View of the ocean from the upstairs deck
3) Jacuzzi in the back
4) Great garden area
5) Brandon's friend from K-2nd grade lives right around the corner
6) Fully furnished (this may become a burden later on but it's great right now)

I'll post picture once we move in.

Our Holiday House

Brandon and I



It's merry but not bright (no electricity lol)

Adventures in house hunting

Since we've been living in our "in progress" remodeled house I thought I wouldn't be so picky about a rental. Well I was wrong.

As I'm searching for a furnished home that allows children, a dog and a cat I'm forced to admit that I may be a bit of a snob *gasp*. But only just a little bit.

There seems to be something wrong with each house, I feel like Goldilocks. So far I've been contending with houses that are just plain old and haven't been updated. When I sleep (which isn't often), I'm having nightmares about harvest gold tile and gold leafing. If I happen to find the "perfect" house then it's in the wrong location (too near the freeway or train tracks) or doesn't have an adequate fence for the dog. In one case I found the most beautiful guest house, incidentally it was bigger than my normal house. The entire property was fenced, I could just see my Lab up at the main house making himsef at home.

Hopefully we found the perfect rental house but I'm not saying anything about it until the lease is signed...