We are at our New Home!  
Well, for a few days, anyway.
This trip it feels different, in that I know that it will be permanent really soon.  Like, I have a date. Its looking like the final trip will be around the 8th of October. And as more personal things are taken away from the Santee house, it is feeling less and less like ours now. Hmm. One of the goals is to keep the plants and yard somewhat green in the 105+ degree heat that has settled in the last several days. It would be really disheartening as a buyer to get the keys to a house that you saw in its’ green glory now all brown just a couple of weeks later. I am really lucky to have a couple people come by to do the watering.  No news from the realtor – which really is good news at this point. 

We had a great trip up this time; taking three days to get here instead of the usual two. We stopped by to see Ethan and Sarah in their new house – what a treat to be able to sit and visit for a while. They have found a nice house, and all it needs is for them to put their own marks on it – it’s still in the ‘blank canvas’ state. They are lucky in that the previous owners left everything in whites or light neutrals – easy to go over with whatever colors you like. ( the complete opposite of what we are leaving our buyers ) It was fun to watch the cats warily check out Sunny. 
We left there and had a relaxed drive to Roseburg, where we spent the night.

Today we drove the last leg, stopping at a little place on Hwy 26 ( which goes from Portland to the coast ) called Oney’s – had a good burger and great fries ( always a wonderful thing when they’re fresh cut ). Got here around 2:00. We had to do a little bank/ business/tax/ stuff but got it all worked out – I love technology sometimes!
It looks like Gretchen and Tom, ( and possibly Ryan and Mom ) will join us for the weekend. Yay! I also need to mention that over the weekend is  http://www.funbeach.com/events/cars/RodRun/index.html which is one of the reasons that we decided to come up this week. 
It was great to fire up the Tiger and run into town this afternoon. And the weather looks to be good for the next few days, so I see some topless time ahead!   whoo-hoo!
We need to bail out of here on Monday though, and get back to Santee to move out, as the house should no longer be ours on the 14th.

We got to go to Aidan’s birthday on Saturday, and he is getting so big – but still adorable. I’ve tried to upload pics, but somethings’ witchy there- boo.
I did meet with my wealthy client on Friday, and as of now its looking like she might just be flying me back to San Diego periodically to fit her. There was even talk of her putting me on the payroll. Might turn out to be an okay gig after all. hmmm. We’ll see how it works out, but it should be interesting at the least. 
I’ll try to put up some new pictures in the next day or two. 

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once again…..

things change. 
I waited until today to call Sal (my boss on the upcoming show ) and found out that though he is still doing the show, it is now going to be shot in LA.  Crap. Well, kind of. He said that he still wants me to do some of the work – the custom built pieces (yay!) – but this puts the likelyhood doing all of the alterations at zero. Which has usually been the bread and butter of my work.  I’m hoping that it will work out well for my part ( one of the crew members lives here and can deliver things back and forth – and we’ll be using Fed-ex  so there won’t be a lot of freeway to LA time) There was some elaboration of the story: it is set in present day but there will be flashbacks to other points in time – anything from the 1970s to the 1600s – which will make for some interesting costumes.  The shooting schedule has also been pushed a week to start the third week in July. I expect to start on some of the projects next week or so. 
With the delay and change in the show, this will make it easier to get some of the other sewing done for a couple people that I’ve had to put off while getting the house ready to put on the market.  Also it will be easier to extract myself from the project when the house sells.

Leaving Seattle Sunday early put us back in Santee early Monday evening. One more trip completed without incident. God how I am sick of I-5. But, it is really not practical, both time and money wise to go up the coast. That is something that we can do after we move and time is not chasing us down the freeway. 
On the trip home in the middle of nowhere in the central valley we stopped for coffee Monday morning. Leaving the northwest means there are no more little coffee huts dotting the landscape. I walked into a Starbucks, (which is a rare occurance) and am always baffled by their goofy names for things – so I ordered a couple of ‘Medium’ mochas ( getting a look of ‘ don’t you know our  special names for the sizes” ). Standing there waiting to give my order, I noticed in the case “Top Pot” donuts – which are something of a sensation in the Seattle area. Not only could I not fathom how they are distributing donuts a thousand miles away, but I was stunned to see that a single ‘old fashioned’ sold for $1.85 !!  Who on earth pays nearly two dollars for a donut? Especially when there is no way in hell it could be any fresher than about 24 hours?  This, along with a conversation that I had with Justin last week about the fact that Starbucks is not so much in the business of selling coffee as they are in selling MILK left my head spinning. I did do a little research on the milk thing and found a couple of interesting pages –

 http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/_/2005/01/report_starbuck.html
 
http://www.dairyfoods.com/CDA/Articles/Supplement/84f2b8981f0a7010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0

http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/_/2006/09/a_reader_asks_i.html

as I left with there with only my two drinks, I actually heard from behind the counter to the customers waiting for their drinks, a call out ” One Venti Hot Water!”  – why can’t at least that be just a large, or huge. whatever.

 To my delight, the fence is finally going up between our house and the house to the east of us. Really! ( we took bets on the way home as to whether or not it would have been started – it had not – until yesterday).

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planless ( is that a word?)

This is my latest tack to take.  Just as we think we have the plan firgured out – it is upended. Yesterday the painter decided to show up afterall.  So he is doing the prep and painting of the outside eaves and trim. I expect he’ll be done tomorrow, if he doesn’t flake out.  Now we need to schedule an appraiser to come. So that as soon as we return we can get this thing on the market.
I have indeed lost my momentum, and find myself kind of flaking out my own self, not quite sure what to do next.  I’m thinking I need to declutter a lot more than I have.  uggggh.
I lost a whole day yesterday due to dealing with taking the truck in for service and a couple of problems there ( I had to pick it up today) , and a too-long dentist appointment ( which is getting a tiny bit easier, thankfully). 
We sold a few more odds and ends on ebay last week, and also the remainder of the slate  is being bought by Richard’s sister – a ton and a half, which will go away this weekend, cleaning up that side of the house.  Still the fence is not up.

The Tiger now has a new heater and defroster so it is nearly ready to go next week. Richard can also now mount the roll bar, as he got the spacers milled down. That and a tune-up and a lighter outlet and it will be ready.

Its kind of silly that I’m excited to be going back to work in a few weeks. Maybe its because I need a change of pace from what I’ve been doing for the last few months.  I think the show is called Moonlight.   My friend Julie will help me out as needed, and that will make the transition for her to take over for me when I leave a lot easier.

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Just as I think I can let go of this whole “getting the house listed” thing, like it is a race – I pick it right back up again. Over the past week I was feeling almost smug, beginning to think it would be no problem to actually have things ready to get it listed before we go. . 
Wrong. wrong. wrong. 
The painter has put us off until next Friday, and his part will take a couple of days to complete. grrrr. Just today, the carpenter finally came back and put in the tracks for the closet – he seemed to get really flakey throughout the week. So I ended up sanding, texturing and painting the closet myself. grrrr.   I want to have an appraiser come to give us a current real value before we set the price. But I want the appraiser to come after everything is done. 
We plan to leave here on Wednesday the 6th of June.    There is just not enough time. 

I did a little art project for one of the bedrooms and it turned out adorable! Its a funny thing to decorate a room for a non-existent girl ( but it is a fun and creative part in the whole thing). I’ll put up pics when I finish in there.  Lots of packing got done throughout the week, and I’m finally beginning to feel like that part is getting closer to done. Now with the closet done in the third bedroom, I can now clean it and put it all together as well.  Today I spent washing all of the windows and screens. God knows that hasn’t been done in too long.

So here is some good news: 
My old boss Sal,  from V.Mars called today.  He called looking for a referral for a seamstress, thinking I’d already moved. Seems the new deal is that he is doing a show ( in the studio formerly occupied by the now cancelled V.Mars )  which begins to shoot mid July. Sooo, we agreed that I will  work on that show until I move.  Starting just after we return from this coming trip.  I don’t know the title, but it’s something about vampires and for a real network  – CBS – and already has a 9:00 Friday night time slot. I expect that it will have a nice budget. Lots of custom built clothes – very cool for me. Not just the ‘jeans and t-shirt’ show that has become the norm for the past three years.  Like he said – bummer for me that I haven’t moved yet, but good for him.  Richard has already committed to working for the last week of July into the first week or two of August, so even if the house doesn’t sell right away – things will be kind of alright I guess. Actually, its kind of a relief for me, as I am beginning to stress – having not worked for a while now and having two mortgages is beginning to put a crimp in things a bit. 

So things may really work out just as they are supposed to.

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Almost gone.

This has been a really hectic week here. What with getting things ready and into the trailer, realtor issues, car moving issues, and work. 
Turns out that the trailer had the wrong wheels and tires on it when it was built. This took a couple of days to iron out, but short story is that we bought four new wheels and tires ( at a discount, but still it angers me to have to spend the money when it should have been right in the first place ). But you gotta do what you gotta do, and the trailer will have over 10,000 miles put on it over the next several months with all of the moving.
Richard went to pick up the Datsun 510 last night. Finally.  I’ve no idea if it  is truly done, but he drove it into the trailer. Now, this afternoon we can load the rest of what we’re taking into it, and with any luck, we’ll leave tonight.
The LaDawri was picked up by Horsless Carrige on Wednesday night. Fussing with the money was a bit of a hassle, but its done now, and the car is gone. Richard of course had a bit of sellers remorse.    There is also someone who is going to buy his ’57 GMC pickup – one more down – whoo-hooo! We’ll deal with the details of that when we return ( he’s in Arizona and needs to get it shipped ). 

We’re grappling with the fact that the real estate market has “adjusted”, as the realtor says. We don’t have a firm number yet, but its not looking like what we want it to be. And he is strongly suggesting that we have the engineer come and do a full re-evaluation of the house ( another $575 that we don’t want to spend). I feel a bit anxious about that, but what are you going to do? If that helps to sell the house, I guess its worth it. 
Work has kept me busier than I had expected this week. I also got a call to work on a concept presentation that will be a two day shoot next week, but I had to tell them sorry- I’ll be gone!    So, as of now, guess I’m unemployed!  yippee!

I will, or should be able to post while we’re gone, as I bought a dealie that will let me teather my cellphone to my laptop and get a broadband connection, with the addition of a service on my Verizon account. I thought about getting a little network card, but that comes with a two year contract, and I don’t think I want it for that long.  This setup should get me through the move, and its only a month to month charge. 
Gretchen and Tom are at the house, and will be there for a day or so after we arrive on Sunday sometime.

don_quixote    

will come out on Sunday,  and stay for a day or two.  We will be making a trip into Seattle to take care of some business for a couple of days, then back to the house for a couple days before heading back to Santee. 

The list is long for today, and its not getting done while I’m sitting here, lots to get done before we gooooooooooooooooooooo.

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fer sale

  The realtor that was to come by and have a look at the house somehow had put the wrong date in his book, so that won’t happen until Monday. ( this is not making any points for him ) . We need to go ahead and talk to a couple of local agents so that we have more input on the things that need to get done before we list it around the end of April. 
Over the weekend Richard will bring the trailer here and we can begin to load it with stuff to take to the house in a couple weeks. Good thing I am about recovered from the last couple weeks of achiness ( a tiny bit sore on the ribs, and a lightening bruise ) because the work is really about to begin.
Over on eBay, the auction for the LaDawri is getting a lot of interest   ( 4508 had looked at it and 125 people are actively ‘watching’  it as of this morning ), but only eight actual bids so far,( which has put us over the halfway mark). Richard has gotten a few phone calls, and there are two different people coming to have a look tomorrow. He also got a call from one of the guys who came a few weeks ago to tell him that he thought it was one of the best ads on ebay that he’d seen, and was impressed with all of the questions and answers that I’ve posted.  There was also a call from a historian in Florida that Richard’s been talking with for the last month and he offered to put in a ‘bid’ for just under the reserve to help drive up the bidding. (That seems just wrong, so we declined. ) Hopefully there will be a frenzy of activity on Sunday afternoon when it ends – timing is everything, and we will go over our $5K reserve. 

We went to dinner the other night at one of our favorite restaraunts for our anniversary – 14 married years! A little hole in the wall in Carlsbad called Jays. We ate there the first night that we moved into this house, and on our wedding night, and lots and lots over the years. We figured that this would likely be the last anniversary dinner there. It was great.

Work is winding down, with only one episode of V.Mars left. I’ve a few things to deliver today, and the weekend will be free.  I don’t think there will be too much between now and the end of shooting which is two weeks from today. Can’t wait.

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So the day after Valentine’s and I’m still in the spriit so I’m sharing a couple of pictures.  The first is of a quilt that goes on the bed this time of year – I made it for our anniversary six years ago ( it’s comprised of over 1300 little rectangles and about fifty different fabrics, mostly with hearts on them ) . It always makes me smile when I bring it out; I love how it plays off of the black furniture that we have in the room. 
      The second is a little project I did yesterday for our dinner table. A ‘carnation chandelier’ ( the idea came out of a magazine ) which turned out lovely with all the candles lit. That is until just as we were through with dinner and I was clearing the plates, I knocked over a full glass of red sparkling wine which really did a number on the antique linen cloth 😦    , but I think I can save it.
(The wine by the way was a wonderful Australian sparkling Fox Creek ‘Vixen’ that was a beautiful compliment to the lamb chops with basalmic & black cherry sauce. )
                                                  
I did get a call in the middle of cooking from work, but I was able to beg off and go in really early this morning for a few hours, and get everything done there. There are some things I won’t miss at all about this job.  Supposedly I am caught up for the next few days.  I’ll know for sure when the phone doesn’t ring.
My foot is better, but still darned sore. I miss walking – as does Sunny. She’s about to climb the walls, I think.

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The week was a little quieter than I had expected. Mostly what I did for the show was a lot of personal stuff for Kristen. not really for the show, but it pays the same, so it no matter to me.   
I got a box loaded with pictures of the cast in costume, along with two dolls, oops- action figures; put out by the same folks who are doing these new ones. Sideshow Collectibles. What I got were “the cigarette smoking man” from X-files, and “Willow” from Buffy. The clothes for him are pretty intracate, and her, not so much. (though if I were that actress, I would sue for having my supposed likeness made into such an ugly doll – she looks more like a 40 year old than a teenager! ) So far, the exec who is heading up this project hasn’t called me to talk any more about it, as he promised to on Thursday. I did send him a list of questions that I have yesterday a.m. which he hasn’t replied to. Who knows if it will go any farther, as I’m sensing a flaky-ness. If, after not responding for several days he comes up with a deadline of a week or two, he will be SOL.  We’ll see. Until I hear any more, I’ll just sit on it.
My other work news is that I think the last novella has been cancelled ( no official word, but its 99% ).  The good part about that is that when V.Mars is over in about six weeks it will mean that I’m done!  I can then concentrate on packing and readying the house for the sale.  I can get the stone work in the back done, before the heat arrives.  This keeps us on track to put the house on the market around Easter, mid April.  And watching the market here, prices in this area are at least holding steady.  It’s looking good, I think. 
We went to see “The Last King of Scotland” last night.  My best actor vote is for Forrest Whitaker. It was a really powerful film, and well done. Another telling example of how power breeds evil in one way or another, in my opinion.
Today Richard is at the yard, it is clear and warmer than its been in weeks; and I took a four mile walk with Sunny. Without the fear that the phone would ring about work. 

lastly, the most recent entry in  http://www.threadbared.com/  has me smiling.

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Brrr….. for real!

So it’s been really chilly here, to the point that crops are freezing, even. Not to mention all of the damage in everyone’s yards. Out plants are not used to the freezing temps. And lots of them look dark, black, and sad. But I guess I shouldn’t cut them off until this ends, which should be in a couple of days.  We spent Sunday crawling around in the attic, putting insulation on all of the water lines. 
Needless to say, it’s been so cold in the morning – 29 degrees! – that I am in a heavier jacket, as is Sunny.  And looking at the weather page on Yahoo it looks like we won the cold prize for overnight. The funny thing is, that it warms up somewhere between 30 and 40 degrees, to the low 60s during the day, and then right back down again.  
We got pictures from the builder of the new garage, and the floor should be poured this week, after the snow there melts. Here is one:     I like that from this, the west side, it kinda looks like a (plain) little house. A little landscaping will do wonders. Although I hope the color is more cafe` than the yellowish color that I’m seeing there. We gave them paint samples, so I hope. On the other side, are the two huge doors to drive in.  One of our plans it to add a guest house onto this side of it. 

Yesterday was full of work, and I just learned that the Novella won’t start for another three weeks. And V.Mars isn’t exactly intensive, so, I have time to get more done on the new website. good. Still lots of research to do; as well as the patterns and actual sewing. 

On a bummer note, I learned the other day that

thenewstrums

     are having even more problems with their post office – they never recieved our Christmas package; and got a bunch of broken ornaments from Erynn on Saturday. I got a package of the same ornaments on Saturday, too, and from the looks of how they were packed, I can’t imagine how theirs could have gotten smashed without someone deliberately messing with them.  In another odd Post Office thing, on Saturday my PO box was laden with a bunch of mail that was forwarded to some other family – but with our box number on it ! !  I’ll try to get to the bottom of it today.  What are those quasi-government folks smoking?

by the way, I am loving my new psp. Locoroco is a hoot!

One last thing, in searching for website stuff, I came upon this site the other day:  www.threadbared.com  Mostly lots of commentary on vintage patterns and craft stuff, with great pictures, by two women who don’t sew. I especially liked the 40’s and the 60’s pages. If you have some time to kill, there’s some pretty funny stuff there.

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lemonade………..

Well, it had to end. After nearly a month off, the phone rang at about 10:15 pm. Suddenly there is stuff needed for V.Mars that is urgent, so, this morning I went to the studio to pick up a pile ( guess they had been saving it up until there was something urgent ) of stuff. I need to have a couple pieces done and returned there by this afternoon.  Not a big deal.  The rest of the things aren’t needed until next week. 

When life hands you lemons…… well, you know the rest. But in my case, I have several dozen of them, all handed to me by a couple of neighbors.   So, tomorrow I will juice a bunch of them, and freeze some of that juice in ice cube trays to save for a later date, and my plan is to make a few batches of lemon curd ( I found a recipie that can be frozen ) , and try to make some candied citrus peel. Beyond that I don’t know what else to do with them. Any suggestions??   ‘Tis the season, as I see them on the ground everywhere around here when we’re walking in the morning. Our poor little dwarf Meyer lemon ( sweeter type ) tree only managed to carry two pieces of fruit to term this year for some reason, which I will pick tomorrow. Next to that, we have a dwarf blood orange tree that is five or so years old, and never even blossomed until this year, and it is loaded with fruit ( I counted 27 the other day) that is nearly perfectly ripe. Not sure what to do with those, either. 

Richard surprised me this morning with a gift of $$ to go and purchase the psp that I have been pining for ( he knows what a deal shopper I am).  Along with that, he is having a portrait done of Sunny (painted by Julie’s boyfriend) for me that I am sooo excited about. Craig has done some truly amazing dog paintings, that you would have to see to believe, and has been wanting to do one of Sunny for quite a while. Julie said yesterday that it will be another week or so before it’s finished “he’s very meticulous” ( I’ll post pics of it ) I can hardly wait . I also recieved some really interesting yarn from my sister, Debbie – kind of a do-it-yourself-surprise-kit.  cool. And we’ll be going to dinner tonight. 
It is shaping up to be a wonderful birthday.

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