Home Sweet Home

Wooo hooo I finally have internet access! After a scary drive through a Chicago blizzard, many days on the road with three fussy boys, and too many nights in hotels, we are now all moved into our new home in Monterey. Well, actually the house is still pretty chaotic - there is still one whole room of boxes to go through, but we're making our way through the mess and starting to put things in order. 

So far we LOVE it here!! The area seems very cool and we really like the house. Once things are a little bit more together, I'll post some pictures. Honestly, I really haven't had much of a chance to break out my camera since we left Michigan. 

I'm really glad we made the decision to move here. I can't wait to get out this weekend and do some exploring! 

The Way We Live Now

We're gearing up for the big move. The moving truck comes tomorrow and we have been packing like crazy people.

This is what our house currently looks like:

And that's just one room. We're pretty much living in chaos right now. 

I will be soooooo relieved when we finally get to our new house!

Wish us luck!

Right Now

Right now I am...

• Packing and packing and packing: Last weekend we had a big moving sale and sold most of our furniture and now I'm packing all of our remaining possessions and making Goodwill runs on a nearly daily basis. By the way, isn't it amazing how much extra stuff we accumulate? I'm going to try to live a more simple life once we get settled and buy only what I need/love.

• Reading: The Bone People by Keri Hulme. So far it seems beautifully written and I'm really liking it, but I'm only about a hundred pages in. It won the Booker Prize, though, and I am usually a big fan of books that win that award. Another digression: I think I need to make subcategories to my Book Recommendations page to differentiate between books that I absolutely love and those that were just pretty good. I'll get on that one of these days.  (Follow-up on this book: I wholeheartedly DO NOT recommend this book. I liked the stylistic writing, but did not care for the content at all). 

• Looking forward to: Warmth! And non-terrifying driving conditions! Noah has his first ever snow day today. We had a big ice/snow storm yesterday and, even before that, we've spent the last week slipping and sliding along the roads. Poor Isaiah has been telling a story about how we were "sliding and sliding and sliding down the hill (by our house) and a nice lady stopped to help us" to anyone who will listen. He keeps saying how the roads make him "a little bit nervous" and he wants to go to California. A boy after my own heart :-) 

• Considering: We're thinking of buying a truck. We have a U-haul truck reserved to move our remaining belongings and haul our car, but we may buy a truck instead and haul a trailer out. I am a huge Craigslist addict, so it may be useful for us when we get out to Cali too because then we'll be able to haul my furniture finds back to the new house. I am in love with vintage trucks and have dreamed of buying one for years, so this may be my chance to get a little bit close to that dream :-) 

• Planning: I've been checking out my Pinterest pages for decorating ideas for the new house. We could tell pretty early on that this was not going to be our long-term home so we really never settled in. In fact, we never really fully unpacked or decorated. I want our new home to feel like "home" and so I am going to put in a real effort to decorate and get settled this time.

GOING BACK TO CALI

Soooo we have an announcement to make - We're moving back to California!!!!

I am both excited and terrified. 

As much as I LOVE living near my family, I have to accept that Michigan is no longer home for me. Don't get me wrong - I love Michigan for so many reasons, but there is one thing that I cannot seem to get past - WINTER! I've always hated the cold, but my years spent in California seem to have ruined me for winter for good. I become a useless hermit for the duration and it is very apparent that I cannot live like this long-term. The boys deserve a mommy who can stand to leave the house between the months of November and April :-)

We're headed back in January. Again, I am excited and terrified about the move. I know that I will miss my family so, so, SO much, but they have promised to visit often and, now that I'm not working, I will be able to travel home during summers with the boys and stay for longish visits. 

Eek - let the new adventure begin!

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