The Big Move: Day 1

July 30, 2012 ~ JodiLea ~ 1 Comment

Friday, July 20th – our first day of retirement.

We celebrated by working our butts off. The moving company sent 2 guys over to help us pack up. In three hours, all our belongings going to the new house were boxed up and ready to load on the truck the next day.

When I say all of our belongings, I mean everything not nailed down. Our cupboards were empty. The drawers were empty. The dusty shelves in the garage were empty. I knew this, and yet I kept looking for things that used to be located there. Like baggies, scissors, postage stamps. It was maddening. I opened a drawer to get whatever was supposed to be in there, and of course it wasn’t. It made me think of a Polish joke my father used to tell – something about driving one crazy…

Have A Box Or Two — Grateful for large computer boxes from work

We made plans to go out to dinner that night, knowing that we I would be too tired to cook. Even if there was any food to be found. My very best childhood friend joined us and we reminisced about our youth and bitched about aging. We vowed to keep in touch, and get together for a few games in the coming football season. Only 10 more days until pre-season started 😉 GO Niners!

Thankfully, our bed had not been dismantled (yet), and we were able to get 5 or so hours of sleep before it was Saturday…

Hello World, it’s me again…

July 29, 2012 ~ JodiLea ~ 1 Comment

Temporary Computer Desk

It is so great to be back!

We now have TV, Internet & Phone service up here in the forest. I really missed y’all. And I know you are dying to find out about the BIG MOVE because as you know, everything this crazy woman does has to be such a damned “adventure”. You’ll only have to be patient a bit longer 😉

<— Hubby made me a temporary desk today after the cable guy left. (Not Larry, Sean was his name) We will be in search of office and living room furniture this week, and will actually venture out to the stores in the “big cities” of Sonora & Manteca.

I think I am halfway unpacked now, after a week of hard labor. Nothing seems to be in the right place yet, so re-arranging has been the hard part of the labor. There are little yellow sticky-notes on cupboard doors so hubby knows what is where at any given time. I won’t admit it, but I often need these little notes myself.

Tomorrow is Monday. When I don’t have to get up and get to work, Monday’s are really quite pleasant. In fact, the other six days are pretty cool too. I totally recommend this retirement thing 🙂

The Day’s Quote

July 20, 2012 ~ JodiLea ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday, yours truly retired from her day job. Yep, I did.

Tomorrow, I move out of the town I have lived in since my third birthday, to a smaller town that snuggles up to the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Today, I ask myself what was I thinking? I am not a mountains kind of gal. I’m more of a beach bunny, Sun God worshiper, the “I only like to camp at the Hilton” kind of gal. I just happened to fall in love with a mountains kind of guy. Bottom line, I will go wherever he goes and he is going to the mountains. Who knows, maybe I will love it up there once I’m used to the elevation and the isolated winters. I heard someone talking about wearing snowshoes one year. Once I can get over worrying about our neighbors, I mean the non-human ones that live in the forest. The human ones I haven’t met yet, but Hubby assures me that they are OK. Many people have told me that once I settle in, I will LOVE it.

I hope they know what they are talking about.

The fact that there is only one grocery store for miles, is making me nervous. No Starbucks. No Wal-Mart in a 50 mile radius – maybe farther than that. Civilization, as I know it, is not up there.

THANK GOD THEY HAVE INTERNET SERVICE THERE. So I will be back on-line July 29th when they install it. I really suck at keyboarding on my iPhone, so I will spare us both the annoyance. If I take a cool picture of something I will try to post it for your amusement. This offer is not guaranteed, BTW.

Oh, sorry! I got side-tracked there for a minute. I belong to an email list that sends me a Positive Quote of the Day every morning. Today’s quote is:

“It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined”

— Henry James

Wow! How did they know?