hey! i am still in california?!

just before c.j. flew away...
air force one @ the ronald reagan presidential library and museum in simi valley


with the help of uncle dave, eli braved the big bucket and survived

here we are!

we took a look at the calendar the day before we were supposed to fly home and realized c.j. was coming back down here the middle of august. well, why not stay, do some home searching in orange county and fly back with c.j.? oh, alright...

the kids and i have relocated down to dave and lisas neck of the woods: ladera ranch. it is pretty fly.

not taking many pictures for some reason. more business than pleasure i guess. focus. focus.

where the wild things are

we have been staying at a hotel the last few days/nights. it is located in monrovia and sits practically ON the 210 freeway. we figured we would move to a hotel to get out of stacey and aarons hair {and hopefully not get them sick} and to get a good nights sleep, as the aerobed we were using was on its last inflatable leg {poor thing, we spent a couple of nights doing surgery with all kinds of tape to save her}.

i am afraid to report our move to a different location was for not.

cars. whizzing by. ALL NIGHT.

stacey informed me that her kids appear to be sick. {WE ARE SO SORRY YOU GUYS}

shoot.

**********************************************************************************

a few days ago we were driving somewhere. i turned around to talk to eli, he had his head cocked to the left and his mouth cracked open when i looked at him. "eli, where did your tooth go?!?!" he looked back stunned and we both suddenly realized that his little nubby tooth next door to his 2 front teeth was gone! gone! gone! we laughed and laughed. dude must have eaten it with one big mouth-fulls of food. hilarious.

ida has started to wiggle her tummy back and forth to music. it is this funny, jerky motion. she does it anywhere. sitting up, in her car seat, while i am nursing her. i love it.

c.j. may shave today.

we have a channel here at the hotel that is live feed from NASA. it shows the shuttle orbiting the earth, feed from mission control room, outer space. it is so amazing and calming. we had it on all night, no sound just space.

this is going to be amazing.

on the 210

we are at a hotel.

taking things nice and easy.

indecision '09

we are in a pickle.

3 out of 4 of us are sick and when i say sick that means: ida is croupy, c.j. has head/chest cold = sleeping all day and eli continues to cough and cough and cough...

do we fly home tomorrow or do we wait it out? do we go get a hotel room for the rest of the stay so we don't get stacey/aaron family sick {could be too late}? do we move to california? do we like this house or this house or this house? do we like this neighbourhood? what are the schools like? we can't afford that... what do you want for lunch? do i take a shower? should i prop her up while she is sleeping? i can't hold her vertical all night...

i knew this was going to happen. the day we left, eli came down with a cold {surprise, surprise}. we rolled the dice {as we always do = retarded} and decided to go ahead with the trip since we felt pressure to get down here and get looking since we are technically homeless.

it has been extremely stressful the past few days. the nasty heat, the driving, the looking, the sickness, the sleeplessness, the decision making, etc, etc, etc...

so, as i type, {it's 2:37 in the afternoon} ida is sleeping propped up, c.j. is on the floor passed out and eli is watching a movie, trying to relax and get better. and time, is, ticking.

sweat'n

holy crap its hot here.

yesterday we drove by every home we had flagged online {about 30 homes}. that process eliminated a few. it was a really good exercise, but a long day of driving. eli read us jokes and ida napped.

today we are looking at homes in the glendale area which we are really liking right now. specifically this one and this one and this one... with a few more sprinkled in.

will see how it goes.

quilted

"those were sure good times when those hollywood people were doing cartoons..."

-eli's comment after watching some oldie goldie Loonie Tunes.

i have been a bit disjointed lately. i haven't checked my email or my messages on my phone. i have not slept the last few nights, worrying/checking on eli and searching for homes online. now that our house has sold, we are in a position to really, go anywhere. nothing is holding us back and everywhere is being considered. it is kind of a crazy situation to be in. it is like someone handing you a million dollars and asking "now, what are you going to do with it?" there are so many things to consider, choices to make, needs/wants to be met. it is a true mind game. just ask yourself, if all your crap was packed, no debt, you could work anywhere - where would you go? would you stay put?

oh dear.

so, yeah, i am a bit disconnected.

i should probably do some internet banking, look at my calendar and jump back into life.

being so out of it, i looked at my phone today and realized i had 2 voicemails. one of the calls was from the quilter that is working on my quilts. she said the quilts were done and i could come and get them. ALL RIGHT! i buzzed down south and picked them up today. i think they look great. i need to bind them and give them a good wash and they will be done.

eli is still suffering from stomach cramps, ETC. today was the first day we saw some firming up of things... hopefully he is on the upswing of this funny bug.

ok, got to go make some choices, choices, choices.

NOTE: the million dollar question is rhetorical. no, i don't have a million dollars in the bank... just in case you were wondering :)

fluuuuuuuu or not?

eli is sick as a dog.  

we have been up all night with him.  terrible stomach cramping every 10 minutes.  we have chucked 2 pairs of underwear, some pj bottoms and a couple socks.  they were unsavable.  at least he isn't puking.  c.j. is in town right now getting some flu supplies...  kind of can't tell if he has food poisoning or the flu.  i know they are different, but produce the same result?  

so tired.  hope ida doesn't get it.  blah.

moved

yesterday the house got moved. 2 trucks and 4 dudes came and like busy bees loaded it up and took it away.

today was our day to finish the cleaning and get the last bit of junk out of there. in the afternoon, eli began telling me that his stomach was hurting. it kind of has been coming in waves all day. no other symptoms, just stomach cramping. poor dude. at one point this evening we went to the house to try to help c.j. clean and eli was miserable. on the way home he said, "when we get home can we "google" it and figure out why i am sick?" unfortunately little man, sometimes we just get sick, and no amount of "googling" will figure it out...

{as i sit next to him on the floor typing this (he is sleeping on an aerobed) he keeps waking out of his sleep with stomach pain. this may be a long night.}

i feel bad because we couldn't help c.j. tonight and because we all didn't really get a official "later skater" with the house. a bit rushed, a bit sick and a bit tired. it will be nice when it is all over tomorrow afternoon. hopefully eli feels better, we will have the check from the lawyer and it will be the weekend and we can have a big fat let down. it will all be done.

hello out there invisible readership!

this is it. the last day in our unpacked house
this lady is SPUNKY to the MAX




the hair right on the top of her head won't stay down, just curls right over like alfalfa


crazy sunset @ about 11:00 pm on one of the last nights in our house. it was like fire in the sky

so, um, we have moved out of our house?!

we have been living a bit of a blur lately. it has been a whirlwind of house cleaning/organizing/weeding-out/packing/moving/unloading/decision making/chucking/eating, eating, eating/more organizing... we finally got to the point on saturday where most of our belongings {clothes, toiletries} had been moved to my parents.

we have been there ever since.

all the work we have done at the house over the last few weeks has paid off. the "packers" come today and eli and i watched them stealthily pack the joint to perfection. at one point in time, one of the packers came up from the basement {which was the most disjointed level of our house} and had me a screw the size of a large grain of rice wondering "what that went to down there since he had packed everything else". who knows dude, but thanks for noticing.

they started at 9:15 am and left at 6:00 pm. done like dinner. after they left i walked through the house and choked back tears. i can't believe we are moving. anyho.....

the "movers" are coming tomorrow morning to throwing everything in the moving van and deliver it to c.j.'s studio for storage until the time comes to move it to the states. next step in this little adventure: find a house. but not just a house. a house in a good school district and a good ward and a good neighborhood and a good place to be.

start wishing us luck.

on the immigration side of things, all of my paperwork is IN. when we went last week everything flowed smoothly, no crowds, no frustrations. we had pictures taken, fingerprints done, payments made. it was kind of freaky how smooth and easy the process was. the kids were with us, of course, ida was great, eli was there so they could see him and get his US passport going. we just shook our heads in the elevator and couldn't believe it.

it. was. done.

now we will just wait.

{i just looked down and caught sight of the tires of blubber orbiting around my waist. i am going to blame it on this move. i have discovered i am an emotional eater and am eating my way through this thing. donuts, have mercy on my soul...}

UPDATE: rats, i didn't win the janome 6600 that i thought i was going to win in the quilt along i was participating in. bummer. {the quilt however, is almost done being quilted. should be back july 15th, can't wait to see it}