Images from Moving Day and Day One

It has been caaaaraaazy the last several days.

Movers arrived and successfully loaded our house up into the van.

The "head" mover confided to me that he had been Casey Anthony's bodyguard during her trial. By the looks of him, I believe him!

I was skeptical that it would all fit, but it did!

Long loading day.

Long driving day for Mr. Tennis today.  At least he had his able assistants...

We are settled into a La Quinta in Mobile, Alabama for the night.

Tomorrow, we aim for Lindale, TX.

(Waves to Pat from Corn in My Coffeepot - stop by and take a read! I know you are no where near there, but hey, we will be in the great state of Texas nonetheless!)

Over and out!

Moving Madness

Didn't realize I would be cut off from the world (read: Internet) so soon!

Once we get on the road and I find WiFi I can post properly.

(don't you feel sorry for my rustic conditions? Lol)

Mr T arrived safely and it has been a marathon ever since. 

Sunday, some very good friends organized a wonderful get together for us and we got to see so many good friends that we have connected with throughout our years here.

Bittersweet.

 That should actually have been my post title.

Tomorrow the movers arrive. The truck was expertly parked in front of the house this afternoon by Mr. Tennis. We have boxed and taped to the hilt. We shall see how "the experts" do tomorrow loading the truck.

Nervous about that.

That aside we hit the road with the Boston's on Wednesday and from there we shall see what happens.

Hugs to our family and friends here in Orlando. We hope you will come see us soon. You too Mr Connor!

And to my friends in blog land I thank you for all your words of encouragement. And I hope to see you at some point soon too!

Bittersweet.

Boston Lady and Mr T out until further notice.

"Hurricane Flowers", The Last Chicken Breast, and I'm OK!

These Bromeliads have been blooming like crazy around town. 

 I think they are just spectacular in color and in flower-type - so dramatic.

  Although they are Bromeliads, a friend of mine (BE) told me a couple of years ago that her family always called them "hurricane flowers" since they always bloom at the height of hurricane season here.

True enough.

  Late August and September are supposedly the most active months.

 Just ask the people in the Miami area who were hit with Hurricane Andrew - 

and then us Central Floridians who had Charlie to deal with in 2004.

Hurricanes, please hold off until we leave and are settled in the land of earthquakes.

And so that brings us to the chicken breast saga.

Can she finish them all?

How many different ways can she eat them?

Well, I will spare you the gory details, but this is my last one tonight.

I chose to eat it in what for me is  "comfort food" fashion.

My mother often used leftover chicken to make sandwiches. Not chicken salad.

Nope. Toasted bread. Buttered. Sliced cold chicken, salt and peppered.

Oh I felt quite comforted after eating it, along with a large helping of my fav veggie.

Asparagus - which has been on sale here in FL.

Does asparagus go on sale in CA?  

Strange as my dinner tonight might seem, it was delicious for me and... comforting.

And as I said in the header for this post - I'm OK!

Yep! The lease scenario is progressing well.

Garage Sale on Saturday will empty the house of some of the clutter and thus make

me feel less out-of-control.

Good friends are helping me to price and run garage sale. That's always a good thing.

Mr. Tennis arrives Saturday late afternoon!

Who will be happier?  Me or the Bostons!?

So, all is good here at Boston Manor.

Huge, huge! Thanks and gratitude to all of my bloggy friends

and relatives who have left such positive, encouraging and uplifting

comments.  

It has helped me tremendously!

Although I try to keep my blog focused on the good stuff  in my life,

I didn't want to be disingenuous and not blog about the

stutter step in our moving-saga. So, while I strive to just focus on the

positive in TBL's life, I never want to be a Pollyanna and pretend

everything goes smoothly

.  I don't dwell on negative issues in our lives here on the

blog, and yet I strive to be truthful.

Thank you my good friends.

Next? 

OMG.

 Getting "The Truck", 

"The Loaders Arrive", "Can this Marriage be Saved" (JK), 

"The Drive With One Man, One Woman and Two Bostons".

"Why Did We Move to LA?" (Again, JK)

TBL out, until next time....

What's That Old Saying? If You Want to Make God Laugh...

...make a plan?

So, we had a plan.

Plan A.

Sell the house.

Got a great offer.

Buyers' financing fell through.

Not sure that I'm laughing, and I really don't think God is either, but he's always whispered something in our ears...

....wait a minute, that was my MIL, Orlando Grandma. 

 How many times has she called me up and said, 

"So here's Plan B".

And then we laugh.

So, here's Plan B:

We will be leasing the house.

This was our original Plan A, believe it or not, but we wanted to try selling.

It was all going too smoothly folks, let's admit it.

So after I adjusted my thinking (read, cried on the phone to Mr. T) I am up and running again.

Very few differences does this make.  

Still having garage sale (in the carport, yes Bostons, I know) on Saturday.

After garage sale, handy-man John stopping by to look at some interior painting issues and do a few small jobs. Will haul away leftovers from garage sale and give to his church if they can use them.

Mr. T arrives home late Saturday afternoon.

YAY!!!!

Sunday we pack, clean, pack, clean, pack, clean.

Then go to a lovely going away soiree with many friends present.

Monday we pack, clean, pack, clean, pack, clean.

With perhaps John showing up to do said painting touchups.

Pick up Moving Van - GULP!

Load car for shipping and perhaps eat at some point.

Tuesday movers arrive between 10am and 11am. 

Movers will swiftly, yet gently load our possessions onto Moving Van.  

I THINK guy will show at some point that day to pick up car to be shipped.

 That's Mr. T's territory, might as well have it all happen on one day, right? 

 Maybe John should come paint while the movers are here just to make it interesting.

Did I mention "we" will be driving this baby across country?

The four of us - I've been coaching the Bostons on truck driving tips.

Wednesday, our former "closing day".  We arise, do last minute things, and leave.

I think.

I'm still trying to figure out the finer details to Plan B.  

Thank goodness Plan B used to be Plan A and we checked out all the deets about leasing, having a leasing agent and if places were renting well in our area.

Supposedly they are.

So, since I can't call you all up individually and say it like Orlando Grandma, I'm putting it on my blog:

"So, here's Plan B".

You have my permissioin to laugh!  Go ahead!

I think this Boston looks like George Washington and it made ME laugh!

We're Confused!!!!!?????

First of all there are now no rugs on the floor and we are FORCED to sit on our uber-comfy beds when we aren't taking over HER bed.

Then... it's raining to boot and Sadie needed to don the Thundershirt once again. (Do they work for earthquakes, anyone know?)

In addition to THOSE things, SHE and her friend, CG spent a good part of today cutting cardboard, messing around with packing tape and playing around with bubble wrap (whatever that is) - all to cover up some dumb old mirrors and paintings. 

WE got NO attention AT ALL. Hmmmmmph!

The rugs we have found. Apparently crazy woman (the boston lady) is having a garage sale (even though she doesn't have a garage - just a carport) next weekend and OUR rugs are to be sold.  For MONEY!  Not even rawhides or treats!

And WHERE is MR T?!?!?!?  He is not in OUR big bed, nor in his office.  In fact CW (crazy woman) and CG moved his file cabinets out for the bogus garage sale into the carport.

AND.... his side of the closet is bare!

It's NEVER looked like that before.

SHE has stocked up on weird stuff in the cold box:

And get this, CW has been cooking chicken like there is no tomorrow.  

We heard her muttering something about COSTCO and why did she buy so much chicken.  After this cooking session, she cooked FOUR more pieces the next day and CLAIMED she would have some tonight on a salad.

HAH! 

Sure she went to the food place and came home with some lettuce, but then as she was stowing it into the cold box she let out a sound that seemed just like one of our happy barks.

Over this....

THEN, she talked a lot about since it was raining and the sun wasn't beaking down on the house, she could turn on "the oven" and cook that thing.

That SHE deserved it after a day of packing and if she was going to have leftover chicken again (which, by the way, WE love to eat!) she was going to have it with a baked potato!

So what if she hoped that all this packing, moving stress and taking care of OUR needs would cause her to lose "wait". How long have WE "waited", CW, for Mr. T to come home, to have an explanation as to Miss Bumby's whereabouts, and for our tennis ball time?   Hmmmmm?  CW? Aka The Boston Lady?

HMMMMMMM?

Boston Lady's note:  I have obviously not had a lot of time to read or post on the blogosphere.  Panda and Sadie graciously said they would do a "fun" post about the moving chaos and I had no idea they were so bitter and well, such Divas!  Panda, yes I knew, but Sadie?  All is going well here and from what I hear and see all is going well "over there".  Thanks for reading!  Linking to the gracious Elaine at Simple Sundays at Sunny Simple Life. Please stop by and see her blog and the creative people who join her on Sundays.

And thanks to CG (Center of Gravity) for helping out so much today and to all my friends who have lent a hand, listened to me gripe, made me go to the movies or lunch... I could go on and on.

Yes, Yes, Yes, I've Been Packing....

I haven't been sitting around watching the Olympics, Lifetime Movies, playing with my Kindle, visiting with friends, going to the movies, reading blogs, stalking FB, having lunch out, going to the gym (occasionally).

Oh wait, yes I have been doing all those things.  BUT I am packing too!  See I have evidence right up there in that picture.

I am also preparing for a garage sale the last weekend we are here, so as I pack I've been putting things aside for that as well.

The Bostons and I are a bit lonely for Mr. T and Miss Bumby, but from all reports they are doing quite well in LA.  The Maven and Darcy arrived there safely on Tuesday and settled in quite comfortably.  They even experienced their first (small) earthquake yesterday morning (Wed).

Not sure how I will react when I feel my first one!

Next packing project:  The Boston Lady's room with all her Boston "stuff" and her desk area.

Simple Sunday: Peek at Newlyweds' Home

I'm joining Elaine at  Sunny Simple Life with a quick peek at The Writer and Sammy's new house in LA.

It is a 1920s Spanish Style home (forgot to take pictures of the outside), located in an older area of central Los Angeles.  The house had been totally refurbished before going on the market and includes a Master Suite addition.

 Living area

The Newlywed's have done a really nice job of decorating, adding some built-ins and making the most of their space.

Dining area

Glassed in shelves added under kitchen bar for more storage

Kitchen

Storage benches in "eat-in" end of kitchen

Hall closet cleverly turned into open storage and display space

 Shelves added in extra space in hallway by Master Suite

As you can see Stanley has also settled in nicely.

I also forgot to take pictures of their nice backyard with a couple of citrus trees growing back there!

Nevertheless, a cozy, comfortable, pretty home.

And The Number One Pick Is.........

Number 2!!

Owners packing for THEIR move and getting the house ready to rent, so things were in a bit disarray.

Each of these houses had good points and locations.  No highway noise, good backyards.  I didn't show option 2's backyard because the picture I have of it doesn't do it justice - there was a worker there sprucing up the outdoor patio area, but this is the picture I took.

Again, things are being readied for renters so we had to look beyond the tarps and tools.

Front yard.  It's a corner lot on a cul de sac.

Lots of plants, a wall safely surrounding the backyard so no Bostons will escape and a detached garage!  We've never had a garage!

Inside my picture taking was limited as the owners are still in residence and I was chatting a lot with the current owner that I forgot to take a lot of pictures inside.  

The current owners are the mirror image of us.  They have lived in the house for 21 years and are relocating to the east coast.  And they have a dog and a cat.  I think they could relate to us and felt we would be good tenants. 

As Laura stated in the comments, the rents are high out here, but we are renting "in the valley" where the neighborhoods are more traditional and the rents more reasonable.  If we had been in the hills or Burbank or another trendy neighborhood our rent would be double.  It's high for us, but we will tough it out for one year and then hopefully purchase a home thus lowering the monthly payments.

Pat hit the nail on the head for the room to be Mr. T's office - with the corner windows.  And Claudia and Razamataz thought like me and liked that vaulted ceiling and space in that part of the house.  The kitchen is very modern and was recently remodeled, my picture doesn't show how nice it is.  Another good feature?  All appliances included.  The other two choices were missing fridges, washers and dryers or both. 

Dining area for us, owners are currently using it for dining and as a office space as well.

So our move in date to our new 'home" in North Hills, CA is August 27th!

Back home in Orlando the Maven has been holding down the fort with the Bostons and letting in the buyers' bank appraisers, that is the final piece of the puzzle we are waiting for.  I fly home on the red eye tonight, Mr. T stays here for a couple of weeks and starts familiarizing himself with the new area.  The Maven will fly out here next Tuesday with Darcy the cat and will settle in the room that Bumby and we have been inhabiting.  Mr. T will get an extended stay hotel room closer to the area we will live (about 45 minutes from the Newlyweds) so he can scope out his territory and perhaps start running appointments.

Sneak peek at Newlyweds' home:

That's all the news that's fit to print other than the fact that I now must get serious about the packing!