#trellisway

[valerie]

summer break begins

It's summer break! Well, the kiddos out this way are on summer break. Even though I work for the school district, I work through the summer. The joys of being a 12 monther! ;)

https://flic.kr/p/2sgL8pb

Even though it was a five day work week, it seemed to fly by faster than last week's four day work week. Maybe it felt faster this week because it was finals week and the students were off of school earlier than normal. I'm just so glad that the school year is over but I still have so much work on my desk. I have a lot to go through. It'll get done. It must get done.

https://flic.kr/p/2shwGbH

Unpacking our stuff has led to so much nostalgia for me as I find places for the things that have been packed away for far too long. The picture of the childhood home was taken in the early 80s and comes from a album full of photos from my elementary school years. I think I was the one who took a lot of the pictures, especially the ones later in the album of my classmates. Was I really taking pictures as a 12 or 13 year old? Maybe so, maybe so. I'm glad to have these things. Memories are great but having something to anchor of those memories is a gift.

https://flic.kr/p/2shvzQv 1982, San Diego

I think I need to commit to an app or something that I can use to scan family photos that are in albums. It's easy enough to peel back the clear cover but sometimes not so easy to take the photos out to scan. It would be so much easier to just take pictures of the photos.

https://flic.kr/p/2sgpiFj

Riley Green announced more dates to his Cowboy As It Gets tour and lo, two of them ended up being in driving distance of us! Would it be Wheatland or Mountain View? Hotel accommodations ended up guiding our decision and Mountain View it is! Yes, I used the presale code so that I could buy tickets on Tuesday morning. No, I did not pony up the ridiculous amount for VIP (which did NOT include a meet and greet with Riley, so that's softens the sting a bit). Yes, I managed to get aisle seats in the lower section.

This will probably be our only concert this year, though if Tyler does that show at the Hard Rock Sacramento, I will be quite tempted. ;)

I am excited to see Riley in concert. I wouldn't mind meeting him but I'm not paying stupid money for that. Maybe I need to haunt the radio station socials to try and win a meet and greet. It would be cool if being in his fan club meant getting meet and greets for discount or something. Is it too much to ask?

https://flic.kr/p/2sgAMuP Riley & Jordan

Oh, and Riley Green's merch shop is running a "free shipping for orders over $50" and I just had to buy something. When they said free shipping, they meant it! When I looked at the shipping choices, ALL of them were free. So just for kicks, I chose the most expensive shipping choice. I don't care if I don't get it faster, I just wanted to see what would happen. I ordered two things, one of which I can't wear unless the temperatures drop drastically but maybe I can wear it for the concert.

https://flic.kr/p/2shxFF8

More book shelves delivered this week and we put them together this weekend. My shelves are so chaotic! At some point, the Pop! Funkos are going to have to move because I know I have more books that need to go on the shelves. When we finally get to our storage units, it's going to be a real adventure for sure! So much stuff.

https://flic.kr/p/2sgYYq5

My Book of the Month books arrived this week! (If you'd like to give them a try, click on my referral URL.) I got two books (Rings of Fate and Blood Bound) as well as a cute book tote. I chose Rings of Fate and they added Blood Bound to my order for free. Neat! I need to finish my audio book and Kindle book then I'lll start on one of those new books. I already know which June book I want. Maybe I'll stick around with Book of the Month long enough to fill one shelf. We shall see. ;)

https://flic.kr/p/2shvzSp

I should never say things like, "There's nothing to watch," because we have so much stuff we can watch. DVDs, blu-rays, 4K/UHD-- we can never not be entertained. And if we don't want to watch anything, there are all our books and comic. And we don't even have all our books out!

https://flic.kr/p/2shx2YW Mulders

My baseball corner is getting full. I had to take the Cardinals version of Mulder out of his packaging because the packaging got crushed. I was obviously a Mark Mulder fan. I have more things of him than I realized. Ah, when baseball had more of a hold on my heart. Miss those days.

https://flic.kr/p/2sgFCtL old tv shows

Random musings

- During our weekly department meeting on Friday, I spied a black widow and her egg sac. YIKES! She did not survive our meeting. - The childhood home is officially a memory. - The hottest our house has been so far is 74F. Or was it 75F? Either way, not too bad! And it does cool down quick enough once the a/c turns on. - I would like to figure out my desk situation. Oh, and chair. - I just bought some fountain pens since I need to fill my blank books. - I've been feeling out of sorts since yesterday. I took a long nap today that might have helped. - Seriously, how is it summer break already? https://flic.kr/p/2shsnhm

Here's to a good week! May I get through logging those transfers and prepping those expulsions.

:D

[valerie]

warming up

It's early Sunday afternoon and I've already been out and back home. Got a haircut! It was time for it, for sure. She curled my hair after it was cut and dried. Since she used a wand, I'll probably not be able to duplicate the look as I don't have the same kind of tool.

https://flic.kr/p/2sgdrbQ me with a fresh cut

This past week was actually lovely in terms of weather-- cloudy, cool, even a bit of rain a couple of days. I definitely savored it because I know that the temperatures are going to warm up in the coming days. Must enjoy the cool spring days! I say that as it's 85F outside. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Even though it was a four day work week, it felt like a full week. Someone commented to me that it's probably because we cram in a full week's worth of work in fewer days. There might be something to that perspective, eh?

https://flic.kr/p/2sfCSvi

Friday was the last full day of school. This coming week is finals and graduations. I'm so glad it'll be short days for the students because that means that it'll be calm when it's time to leave work. Well, we can hope. ;)

https://flic.kr/p/2sg6XBP DVDs

We did more unpacking this weekend. How can we have so much stuff?! When we started renting, we packed away a lot of stuff and didn't bring them out because our first rental was smaller than the house we owned. Our next rental was even smaller and we put stuff away in storage. When we were in our long term rental, the house was too small for us to empty our storage, so we just lived out of what we had before. We accumulated a lot in those years. Now that we're in our own house again, it's time for everything to get unpacked and into their proper places. I foresee some letting go of things. Hopefully.

https://flic.kr/p/2sg7QRZ movie theatre buttons

I found my movie theatre buttons! My first job was Festival Cinemas in Hayward and we would have to/get to wear buttons promoting the latest movies. I kept a lot of mine, of course, and I do so treasure them. I love that I have these because they harken back to days past. I need to figure out a way to display them because it's a shame they're squirreled away in a heart shaped tin.

https://flic.kr/p/2sgeNcB my yeabooks

My yearbooks were unboxed yesterday and I couldn't help going through them for a bit. I have five because back in the day someone thought it was a good idea to have high school be 5 years (8th grade to 12th grade). Crazy, right? At the time, I didn't see the big deal but now, I can't help thinking, "WHO THE HELL THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?!" It didn't last too long, thank goodness. I do remember one of my uncles disapproving of the notion, remarking on how it was inappropriate for 13 year olds to be around 18 year olds in school.

It's fun going through the yearbooks and seeing who wrote in them and what they said to me. I wonder if I was as thoughtful in my inscriptions to my friends in their yearbooks. I hope I was. And lo, the senior ads! I just went through some and found the ones from my family and friends. Ah, the hit of nostalgia.

https://flic.kr/p/2sgfcgc senior year

Random things:

- I subscribed to Book of the Month. I got suckered in by the cute little book tote. Like I need more stuff?! I'm committed to three months. We'll see how I feel after that. Maybe I'll keep it enough to fill one book shelf. We shall see. - I should look into getting a new desk. This one I'm using is fine for now but not for the long run. Maybe I'll put this in the room downstairs. Maybe even with this chair. I wouldn't mind a new chair too. - I keep finding Oakland Athletics memorabilia I've bought over the years. Bobblehead, coasters, figurines. I just opened a box that I thought was a Barry Zito bobblehead but no, it's a figurine! Where am I going to put all of this stuff? My baseball corner is going to turn into floating shelves or something. I just want it to be tasteful, you know? - We ordered more bookshelves. It would be nice if we didn't need them but we definitely need them. - A parent brought pastries to the office as a sort of apology/thank you for the back and forth regarding a request. It's nice when people are nice. So be nice, people! https://flic.kr/p/2sg8Xa5

One of these days, I'm going to find the Employee of the Year plaque that has my name on it, along with my fellow Festival Cinemas co-workers. It's around here somewhere! Or in storage. That'll be a fun find. ;)

And that's the end of May! Summer will be here before you know it...

[valerie]

long weekend

It's weird that the long weekend doesn't go right into June. We have another almost full week of May left after today. Such is the calendar, I suppose. As I sit here in my home office, it's cool enough for me to open the window to a pretty early evening breeze. As I look over to the open window, I see a family getting into their vehicle across the street, presumably after spending the day at the park. It's a lucky thing to have the park in walking distance of us. One of these days, we'll take a walk to it...

https://flic.kr/p/2seYwRN our vinyl collection

We stayed in for the long weekend. We're slowly but surely unpacking and it's almost like Christmas discovering items packed long ago. I keep finding Oakland Athletics memorabilia, which is fantastic. We got to a few boxes of books and I'm glad to have some of my hardcover books on the shelves yet I know I have more. I also found my ten year high school reunion program and remembrance booklet, which I'll add to my yearbooks when I get to them.

https://flic.kr/p/2sf9Rue yep, I used my favorite photo for my 10 year reunion booklet

It's so great getting our collections out of boxes and onto their places. LOVE that we have a vinyl collection, which we will slowly grow. Our movie collection is also growing but now we also have laserdiscs out and logged along with our blu-rays and 4k movies. We have always kept our analog collection in good condition, whether movies or music. I'm still going to buy digital music because not all the artists I follow release even CDs. I even have 45s. It's amazing that they still play.

https://flic.kr/p/2sf7YAU the laserdisc collection

The laserdisc collection is not likely to grow by very much since they don't make them anymore. We had a small collection, gave some of the movies to my dad then took them back and more after he passed away. He stuck labels on some of them, with his name and address, and I find it oddly comforting to have. Dad loved watching movies.

https://flic.kr/p/2sfa7XD my current set up

While writing this, I took out my DSLR and shot some photos. I really should take it out into the world again. It's an old camera but it is still quite capable.

https://flic.kr/p/2sf9fAA https://flic.kr/p/2sf3mDN

I am sitting here in my home office and one of the end credits is playing from Thor: The Dark World in the loft. It is night now, about an hour before bedtime. It's already under 60F outside and the breeze whistles by then wanders in with a cool caress. Like now, just a soft, almost imperceptible touch. I can hear the cars pass by on O'Hara Avenue. Sometimes they turn on to Adams Lane. But not at the moment. Right now it's just the wind and my fingers on the keys of my Macbook Air. If I lean forward a bit to look out the window, I can see the street lamp in front of our house. Our house.

https://flic.kr/p/2sfa7XJ - I didn't go out to see The Mandalorian and Grogu this weekend. I think I need to go out next weekend because what kind of Star Wars fan am I if I don't see the movie in the first couple of weekends? Oi! - We did get The Mandalorian seasons on 4k steelbook. It'll fun to re-watch that way! - Ordered a Riley Green vinyl because I want more vinyl. - Super tempted to join Riley Green's fan club. What am I saying? I'm going to end up joining, aren't it? https://flic.kr/p/2sf2ZRL

[valerie]

warming up

music: "Worst Way" Riley Green

It's Sunday morning and I'm sitting in the loft while the house fan runs as it's still under 65F outside. I've got the dryer going as well and a load in the washer ready for the dryer. I've already folded a load of laundry. Not bad for before 9 AM, eh?

https://flic.kr/p/2sbSUjV Snack Time!

I ordered the collectible tin from Bath and Body Works on Star Wars Day. It arrived on Friday and is the freakin' cutest thing! It's a nice addition to my home office/fangirl room. When I got that email from Bath and Body Works, I just knew I had to have it. I had a couple of discounts too so it wasn't as much as it could have been. Sweet! ;)

https://flic.kr/p/2sbUkJA because I'm a bit of a nerd

music: "Baby Blue Day" Christina Chong ft. Ethan Peck

https://flic.kr/p/5jRwv9 October 2006

It's Mother's Day. Here's a family shot from October 2006 in Hawaii. Happy Mother's Day to my mom and my sister. :) And a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms I know!

It's the afternoon now. I've brought my computer chair up from the garage and I'm sitting at my little desk in my home office. I'm not sure about my desk set up yet but I'll make it work for now. I've got my MacBook Air on the desk in its place, as opposed to the loft. Eventually I'll have a bookcase in here. I think that's a project for next weekend.

https://flic.kr/p/2scjkAY my baseball corner

I found some of my bobbleheads and have set up one corner of my home office with 1) the photo of me and Mark Mulder, 2002, 2) A's beanie plush on top of 3) my autographed Mulder baseball, 4) Barry Zito bobblehead, 5) Rich Harden bobblehead, 6) Jason Kendall bobblehead, 7) a couple of out of country souvenirs, and 8) personalized baseball notepad holder. Office/desk things!

I plan on (FINALLY) getting my fantasy portrait and Young Hercules poster mounted and framed so that I can hang them in my room. It'll be so cool to have that stuff up. I have other movie posters from my movie theatre working days. If I find a good one, I can get it mounted and framed too...

https://flic.kr/p/2sciP3X

Okay, I just looked and OMG, I have the movie posters for Speed and Star Trek Generations! Not only that, but I have several mini-posters of each. Why do I not remember how I got them? I bet someone gave them to me but I can't remember who. Whoever it was, THANK YOU!

We're in the home stretch of the school year! Even though I'm not jazzed about the warm up in the weather, I am looking forward to the high school across the street being quiet and the days at work slowing down a bit. I'm going to take my usual week off in July, I think. :) I wonder what movie comes out around that time...

https://flic.kr/p/2sc1ZK2 me at work before opening up

After I posted last week, I realized that I didn't mention a work thing that had me irritated. It was probably for the best because I couldn't really go into details but I wish I could write about it because it's a great example of stalker behavior, enabling, and courage to report. I wonder if that will be enough for me to remember this particular incident when I look back on this. We'll see...

https://flic.kr/p/2sc6UZU fan/light installed!

R installed the lights in the three bedrooms and the light/fan combo in our bedroom yesterday. We have a fan in our bedroom! I love sleeping with my window open but even with it open, sometimes I wake up a little warm. (I think it's a getting old thing too.) The fan feels so good! Slept with it on last night and even though I woke up in the middle of the night, it wasn't because I was too warm. Sweet goodness! :)

https://flic.kr/p/2sc9Pbm Saturday afternoon

We went out yesterday afternoon/early evening for a couple of drinks. It was nice to be out and about but I was happy to go home after my two drinks. I'm a bit of a lightweight these days. I don't mind so much. Plus it was warm out and I prefer the cooler temps. We're starting to warm up and I'm trying not to be too annoyed by it. :P

Here's to a good week as we head to the middle of May.

https://flic.kr/p/2sbWp8k

[valerie]

middle of spring break

It's the middle of Spring Break and I made a four day weekend for this weekend. Go me! This means that I might post this on Monday because it's already Sunday evening as I start this. ;)

https://flic.kr/p/2s38DN9

Project Hail Mary - Of course I had to see this movie. Biggest reason - RYAN GOSLING. When I found out about it, I decided to read the book before seeing the movie. I ended up reading half of the book then finishing via the audiobook. I liked the book and I liked knowing a bit about the story going into the movie.

The movie was very good. I enjoyed it very much. Ryan was fantastic, of course, and he got me teary eyed at least two times. This is how I know he's amazing and that the movie is so good. When a movie can squeeze your heart one minute and make you chuckle at another, that's a good thing... I read that a lot of the set was practical and I think it made a difference. The movie felt real and tactile. Practical effects are the way to go, IMO. You're not looking for digital artifacts or seeing glitches... I would absolutely recommend PHM. Everyone should see it. And that's not just me saying that as a Ryan fan! :D

https://flic.kr/p/2s3EU9h

How does it fare as an adaptation of the book? I think they did a fine job of it. They chose well in how they trimmed the story and made the science easier to understand. (The book was quite science-y, which I loved but it also had me cross eyed at times.) Ryland Grace was smart but very human and even with the book, I got teary eyed a few times. Ryan did a fantastic job of bringing him to life. Since I went into the book knowing who he was playing, I got to imagine him as the character. The audiobook had different voice than the one I had in my head when I started reading the book but I got over it after awhile. Read the book or listen to it, the story is a treat either way!

https://flic.kr/p/2s3884b

And it's now Monday! I have the house fan on so that I don't have to turn on the a/c until the hopefully late afternoon. We shall see how it goes! Also, how long should I run the house fan? These are things I need to learn. (I got up and turned off the fan but am keeping two windows open for now.)

Earlier this week was St. Patrick's Day! I will use any reason to wear green and this time I busted out my Ireland shirt, which I of course bought in Ireland.

https://flic.kr/p/2s2GzXZ

It was a good day at work. Nothing too exciting happened. I just went through the transfers on my desk and all of that. After work, we went to 311 Oak St Pub, where they had the corned beef dinner. It was very good, especially paired with a Jameson and ginger. After our meal, we headed for Hop Asylum where I had a proper (Imperial) pint of Guinness, as one does.

https://flic.kr/p/2s2Nop3 https://flic.kr/p/2s2NosE https://flic.kr/p/2s2MZRm

It was a lovely way to break up the week. I don't mind working during break because it's not bustling and I can get my work done with minimal distractions. I also like that the dress code is a bit more casual and I can wear jeans. Always a good thing!

Oh, and on St. Patrick's Day, our first house gift arrived!

https://flic.kr/p/2s2Koug our first house plant

Thank you to the McLaughlins for the very lovely plant! It'll the first of plants and flowers we have in the house. Once I find my vases, I plan on buying flowers at the farmers market whenever we go. Because why not, right?

https://flic.kr/p/2s3fjNK

After the movie on Friday, our new sectional was delivered! It's a combination of what we both wanted - a sectional (me) with recliner (him) at each end. NICE! It's very comfy and I've already taken a nap on "my" end recliner. Love it!

https://flic.kr/p/2s3sziV

On Saturday we headed out to our old haunts-- Modesto! Back in the early '00s, we lived out in Salida and our "city" for shopping and restaurants was Modesto. We drove out to Vintage Faire Mall, which looked the same as the last time we were there but different from when we lived there. I ended up buying a Pop! Funko of Superman with heat vision. I just couldn't resist.

https://flic.kr/p/2s3GbpJ my latest Pop! Funko and lo, that old frame photo of me and Mark Mulder...

The Johnny Carino's is still in Modesto! It looks like it shares space (and a kitchen?) with Famous Dave's. I had the baked cheese tortelloni and it was yummy! The bread that came out before the meal was so good. I miss have a Johnny Carino's. We had one here in Brentwood but it has since been turned into a AAA. Alas.

https://flic.kr/p/2s3x9Jd https://flic.kr/p/2s3yrka

Before the mall, we drove by our old house on Stillwater Drive. I didn't take a picture but we did spend a minute or two reminiscing about living there. I really liked that house. It was tiled throughout except the primary bedroom and the middle bedroom. The laundry area was in the hallway, making it rather convenient. There was a living room and a family room and we spent the most time there. We had a nice backyard but didn't really do much with it though I did love the Japanese maples we had. There was an above ground pool that we never used. It was taken out when we decided to sell and was replaced with grass. It looked really nice after that. We didn't take advantage of a lot of that house's amenities but I did love it. It was our first place with a/c and we haven't looked back since! :)

https://flic.kr/p/aHW1Tg I do not remember this set up of our old living room...

Driving back home from Modesto, we followed what was our old commuting path. When we lived in Salida, we worked in Concord and the commute was an hour and a half one way. So at a minimum, we drove three hours a day five days a week for work. YIKES! (My commute from Salida to Dublin was only an hour but I only drove that for a year or so.) The drive from Modesto to Brentwood looked today as it did twenty years ago or so. Time does fly.

https://flic.kr/p/2s3y3wi

It was nice going out to Modesto on Saturday and being in a real mall and it did awaken a bit of nostalgia. Yet as much as I liked the house there, we never made any local friends there. We didn't hang out at any bars there and sure, we took routine trips to the mall for something to do. But we never made personal connections. A lot of it was our work schedule and maybe some of it was also wanting to spend time with our dogs. I don't really miss much from living out there except for the house. I did like that house.

Now I'm sitting in our loft in our new house. I had let go the notion of owning a new house long ago and now here I am, living in a house that no one else has lived in. It still boggles my mind. Sometimes it doesn't feel real yet the things in this house are our things-- our bed, our dresser, our armoire, our bar. I knew that we'd have our own house again someday but I never really imagined it would be new, especially here in Brentwood, much less California. I honestly feel so very lucky. We have our own house again and we'll be getting our steps in because it's two stories. :D

https://flic.kr/p/2s3F3C9

Now it's time to do some unpacking. Or cleaning. Or moving stuff to other rooms. All of it! :D

https://flic.kr/p/2s3ABQW

[valerie]

adjusting to a new place

It is great being in our own house. We are HOME and it's an amazing feeling. Now I have lots of time to go through our stuff. What to keep, what to toss, all of that. There is so much to unpack! But we can take our time and that is pretty cool. ;)

https://flic.kr/p/2s1u83s

My routine seems the same but it feels different because our space is new and we're still getting to know it. The timing is the same for me on workdays, which is nice, but I know I'll probably have to adjust myself on certain school days. I'll figure it out when the time comes.

https://flic.kr/p/2s1JyHK

It's now Spring Break, which means I'm taking some days off during the next two weeks. I'll be doing some unpacking, of course, but I do have a movie to watch on the 20th. (Always yes to Ryan Gosling!)

https://flic.kr/p/2s1Lcxh

I'm hoping to clean up my desk at work. I bet I have a lot I could shred or file. Oh, definitely some stuff to file. Fun times. Let's see how much I get done.

https://flic.kr/p/2rZWzvq - Last weekend, we went to the post office to get the keys to our mail box (mail is delivered to a central place in the neighborhood instead of to the house). When we got home, we found that the key opened the wrong slot! (We tried them ALL.) So on Monday, I had to go to the post office to get the right key. Thank goodness, it was the right key! - Our loft is slowly coming together. We got another one of those spineless couches for the loft. Hoping it poofs up in the next day or so. - We went to the furniture store and found a reclining sectional. It'll be nice having new living room furniture. It's time! https://flic.kr/p/2s23Uc4

"If I Don't Leave I'm Gonna Stay" Carly Pearce & Riley Green - This song dropped on Friday and I like it very much already. The video is lovely too. I've been listening to Carly since I saw her in Gilroy that one time and I've enjoyed her music all these years.

https://flic.kr/p/2s2hkV9

I had my corn in a cup and a Guinness on Saturday. Ah, the simple things.

https://flic.kr/p/2s2faCK

Oh, and there's the proper Imperial pint I had later. ;)

https://flic.kr/p/2s278gC

The views from our new house have been super gorgeous. I think some of it is that we have two floors as well as having the park across the street, which is the way to looking towards Mt. Diablo. It's so nice. It's only been a bit over a week here but it still feels so new. I have moments where I just stop and think, "Wow, this is home."

https://flic.kr/p/2s1FKBc

[valerie]

homeowners once more

It's Sunday afternoon here in our new home! The house was "delivered" to us on Tuesday afternoon after a few days of wondering if we would fund in time. Even though I knew that it would happen, it was still nerve-wracking. Moving day was Thursday with The Handy Movers, the same exact crew who moved us last year almost to the day. (They are fantastic!) Friday was us moving the rest of our stuff from the rental and then cleaning up. By the end of the day, we had given up our keys to the rental.

Scenes from the rental:

https://flic.kr/p/2rZHXeU https://flic.kr/p/2rZKKY4 https://flic.kr/p/2rZCvz5 https://flic.kr/p/2rZHNoz

The last ten years of renting was through a property management company that was fair and responsive, the rent reasonable for this area. I'd talk them up but I think the business is winding down. Renting always felt temporary to me, even though we did it for so long. Every November/December, I felt like the company would tell us, sorry, the owners want to sell. When it finally happened, we knew that after our next rental, we would be making a change.

https://flic.kr/p/2rGz3GR

We were contacted about the house a week after Dad died so the emotional aspect was interesting to navigate. I don't know how well I went through it. I feel like I compartmentalized much, perhaps focusing on the excitement and anxiety of the whole home buying process more than the very real, very heart-twisting grief. We didn't want to share too much online about the house because there was always that little bit of doubt, that "what if it doesn't happen," and it seemed best to not say anything until we had keys in hand.

https://flic.kr/p/2rJfLNT us in the hard hats

The house was set to be ready for us late February/early March, the timing matching the end of our rental lease. What are the chances? We got to visit the house while it was still in construction. We did not pick any of the touches for the house, so no upgrades and the like. Honestly, it took a lot of the pressure off for us. We are fine with all of it.

https://flic.kr/p/2rKxP67

We drove by the house at random times and I would take pictures whenever I could. It was fun watching it go through its changes. It was exciting when the scaffolding was down. When the driveway was being prepped, it started to look more and more like a real house.

https://flic.kr/p/2rNZs8S

We had a "tile walk" in January. It was like a "pre" walk thru of the house. The tile was installed but not yet the carpet. It gave us a chance to check out the appliances and cabinets and such. It was really coming together and the excitement was steadily ramping up for us.

https://flic.kr/p/2rSP59h

The main walk thru was two weeks before getting our keys, in mid-February. The carpets were in and the house looked ready for us to move in. It was a rainy day, so we couldn't go our to the backyard, which was fine since it was all just mud. The backyard will have to wait.

https://flic.kr/p/2rX3rZV https://flic.kr/p/2rXbftW https://flic.kr/p/2rXaszX https://flic.kr/p/2rX3mR8

Home Delivery day aka Keys in Hand Day finally arrived on Tuesday. We signed the loan docs the day before and were funded in time to get our keys at our appointed meeting. FINALLY!

https://flic.kr/p/2rZoXyc homeowners once more!

Moving day was Thursday. We had the same crew from The Handy Movers that we had last year and they did a great job, as always! The armoire was the piece that they had to take apart to bring upstairs. Otherwise, they moved everything as needed up to the second floor.

https://flic.kr/p/2rZCoG7 ready to move out https://flic.kr/p/2rZM6UA ready to move in

Friday we moved the rest of our stuff then cleaned out the rental. We were finished by the afternoon and ended up getting In-N-Out to bring back to the house. It was our first meal eaten in our new home! (My last meal at the rental was a chef salad from Mr. Pickles.) Moving our stuff from the rental and cleaning the house was EXHAUSTING. But hey, we're done!

https://flic.kr/p/2rZFxw5 https://flic.kr/p/2rZXu55 https://flic.kr/p/2rZRu96

And some random stuff:

- The first movie we watched in our new home was Spider-Man: Homecoming. - First DoorDash - Big Bear Diner today (Sunday). Yum! - We're slowly unpacking but there is so very much to do. But hey, we have LOTS of time to get it done. Can't wait to get the downstairs looking presentable enough for visitors. Soon? We shall see. - We ordered one of those spineless couches for the downstairs bedroom as it can convert into a bed. I'm sitting on it now here in the living room, wondering if it's going to puff up more. - We were able to hit the farmers market on Saturday morning, which was a nice bit of normalcy. I got to have my corn in a cup, washing it down with some Jameson and ginger. As one does. ;) https://flic.kr/p/2s16nBd - I look forward to the day when I don't feel the burn when going up the stairs. Whew! Our first place together was two story but since then we lived in one story homes. I suppose we're going full circle with our last place being two story. - It feels good being a homeowner again. No one can ever tell us, "Sorry, we're selling the place, you have to move." SWEET GOODNESS. - The view from our bedroom is so cool. So I'll end it here with a shot I took the first morning waking up here. https://flic.kr/p/2rZSo3G

[valerie]

should be doing anything but this

I should be packing. We're moving this week and moving sucks but packing must be done. It'll get done. The most productive thing I'm doing right now is laundry. I should fold clothes but I'm here, sitting in the living room while typing away because I'm the best procrastinator. Ha!

TV/MOVIES

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - The first season is done. I really enjoyed this show and I'm looking forward to more. Love the relationship between Dunk and Egg. I haven't read their stories but maybe I will before the second season airs. If there's source material, I want to read it.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - I am digging this show so much. Yes, it's a bit YA but there's still that something that is so Star Trek. The most recent episode just squeezed my heart in different parts. I love when shows that do that. I'm glad SAM is better. I'm a little bummed that Tarima isn't in the War College anymore but the show is called Starfleet Academy, so I get it.

The Bluff - Just finished watching this. Always love watching Karl Urban work. He's ever the treat to watch. This one was violent and bloody. Decent watch.l I wonder what kind of accent Karl was doing. Priyanka Chopra Jonas was super kickass.

https://flic.kr/p/2rYMg5P me at work

I find that I like taking selfies with my Z Flip 7 before everyone comes in at work. It's weird, right?

- The Samsung 26 series was announced this week. I wish I wasn't so tied to Apple because the Samsung phones are always so pretty. Being a Captain 2 Phones Jr. means I'm always going to have an Apple phone and my second phone is going to be something fun and flippable. As tempting as the folding phones are (the book-like ones), I can't justify having one of those when I have an iPhone. And yes, I don't *need* two phones but I like keeping up with the different mobile operating systems. ;) - I finished the book Project Hail Mary. I had started it by reading the library ebook but I didn't read fast enough and the loan lapsed. When I finished my previous audiobook (John Scalzi's The Shattering Peace), I saw that I had Project Hail Mary in my library. I guess I used one of my Audible credits to get it a bit back. I queued it up and it picked up from where I had been reading it. Neat! I enjoyed the book. So much science! It was cool. - So Carly Pearce and Riley Green have a duet coming out soon? Looks like they've done a video and I cannot wait to watch that one. I've always liked Carly. She's one of the artists I buy without question, most of the time. I might have missed a couple of her newest songs but I won't miss the one with Riley. - Speaking of Riley Green, what is this about him making his acting debut? Ugh, am I going to end up watching the show? (I think we know the answer to that one...) - I have not written anything to any of my stories these past few weeks. I think my mind just likes to hibernate in winter time. Life probably distracted me in general too. I'm trying to at least keep reading/listening to books. https://flic.kr/p/2rYCpqP

We could have done more on the packing front this weekend but maybe we like the stress of an impending deadline. There's always after work and such. As long as the big, heavy pieces get emptied and we pack as much as we can, we'll be fine.

https://flic.kr/p/2rZ7gXT

Managed a bit of time out of the house yesterday with a couple of drinks. I had a triple IPA at one place then a Pinot Grigio at another. It was a nice break. The weather was warm enough for me to wear shorts. I'm not ready for the warm weather. It feels like we never get to enjoy sweater weather. Alas.

https://flic.kr/p/2rYjueU

Since Friday, I keep thinking to myself, "This time next week, I'll be in a different house." When we left downtown yesterday evening, we detoured to our soon-to-be home and it was the first time one of our vehicles slipped up the driveway. It was a nice feeling. It'll be a better feeling when it's finally ours. I'll have no excuses for not unpacking and eventually purging the stuff we don't need. I'm too sentimental, I think. Must strike that balance or learn a new mindset. I like being sentimental but maybe I don't need to have so much stuff, eh? Then again, I do like my collectibles much too much. ;)

https://flic.kr/p/2rYZRDC

I'd love to meet Karl again and take a picture with him. Then I can have a "then" and a "now" thing. ;)

Here's to a good week to one and all. Find that bit of joy and beauty, even in the little things...