Packing, by the square foot

When the representative for the moving company came out to give us a quote, he did a walk-through and made lots of notes on his tablet. The result was sticker-shock, so I called him a couple days later and went over things...we decided not to take the second-hand table. There were several other things we wanted to sell, and we wanted to pare it down from 19 bins to something more affordable. So he offered to come back out the following week. We spent the weekend repacking, recycling, re-homing and selling.

Even though I'm still not fully packed, the second visit was a success. We got the quote down to $3,000. That includes the couch, love seat, glass-topped coffee table, glass-topped end tables, computer desk, small desk, small chest freezer, bed, drawers, and bins, this time, only 9 of them, plus some boxes. We still feel this is a better deal than trying to stuff a U-haul and drive it through possible winter weather over 2,000 miles while towing our car. The good thing is, nothing needs to ride empty. I can put light-weight plastics in the freezer and pack all kinds of nick-knacks and clothes in the drawers.

Then I hit a snag....."Living room: 3 small boxes, one medium and one large."

Small. medium, large...all relative. What did it mean? I packed 3 small boxes that I had and they quickly filled up with books. I pondered the list. Then I noticed...square feet:
Small = 1.5 cu
Medium = 3.0 cu
Large = 4.5 cu

We finally settled on buying boxes. What a difference! I was able to pack all my books in one officially Small 1.5 cu box, plus the remaining few in the second box with lots of room left over, and I still have another small box for other things!

Everything for the movers needs to be ready to go before the 29th. The movers will box the glass table tops, wrap the couches and bag the mattresses. We need to do everything else. It's going quite well this time.

Now, in addition to the square feet, there is also weight. They need to weigh our stuff after they pick it up. If our stuff weighs too much we need to pay more. <sigh> Thankfully our stuff seems pretty lightweight.

I am also putting together the items that ride in the car. Liquids cannot go in a moving van, so any shampoo, after shave, soap, stuff like that, rides with us. I'm also taking my jewelry. of course, and the laptops, and what clothes we need for the trip, and other items we need while waiting for the truck to arrive.

Time is starting to fly! Need an oil change before we go, and a travel itinerary.

And some really good news....my daughter and her husband are already planning a trip out to visit us this year! We will only be about 4 hours drive away from my other daughter, so we might have a mini family reunion. That would be awesome!

Happy New Year 2016!!!

Hubby and I celebrated together YAY! He has today off plus Rumiano gave everyone a year-end bonus. Yesterday we went out after he got off work, shopped and drank coffee together. Then we celebrated at home with some Risata and movies. Happy New Year everyone!

It's Not Midnight Yet

I can't sleep. Well, I slept some, and then I woke up. Hubby is still sleeping. He has a long day of work ahead. My alarm is set for 4 AM. We had a nice day today. It was another sunny Sunday. We drank coffee in Brookings and did a little shopping. Hubby bought me pretty flowers. It was "reminiscent day", I guess, because we both started talking about when we first met, and our fun times in Kosovo.

It's been very cold. We've had frost on the roof and cars, even on the grass, every night all week. It's supposed to cloud up at midnight. I looked out the second story spare bedroom window and could see the moon and Orion. So far my succulents have been fine with a sheet of plastic over them. This cold is unusual. December is supposed to be warmer.

Tuesday is December, so I am going to try to do a quick "Ten on Tuesday" on Sunday night. My subject is:

Ten Things I Would Change

1. Windows....I would like more of them, and some facing south.
2. More sun....on sunny days I am in the shadow of other buildings here at Seawood.
3. Lower rent or buy....too much $$ goes for rent.
4. My job....I am planning to quit Walmart the end of this month. That's one down.
5. My health....stress levels, they go down on my days off, up on the days I work.
6. My diet...more home cooking, more veggies.
7. Local groups....have Saturdays off to join in on a "Cash Mob"
8. Photography....again, another local group...enjoy a Saturday Photo Shoot with the online group members.
9. Volunteering....another local Facebook group, active in promoting our city and getting projects started, chance to meet people, make friends.
10. More time for hubby, home evenings, cooking food we both enjoy, doing things together.

Numbers 4 through 10 will fall into place when I quit working. Hubby can take the car or I can pick him up. No more walking home in the dark or in the rain, or riding his bike in the rain. Better for both of us. If you are wondering what a "Cash Mob" is, that's when an event is planned where people show up with at least $20 to spend at a local business. It's part of the group I mentioned in # 9.

Here are the pretty flowers hubby bought me. The red Cyclamen flowers look like hearts to me :)

Vitamin D and Sundays Make Me...Happy

I haven't been sick!! Yay. I have dodged the sneezing, coughing customers as usual but since I started taking the Vitamin D I have remained healthy. The only side effect appears to be gas. I hate that, but it's better than the horrible colds I was catching every time someone sneezed.

Being Sunday, hubby and I both had the day off. We did some work and cleaning in the garage. I needed a hole drilled in a pot I'm using for succulents. I planted a succulent in a pot I bought at Safeway, but since it had no drainage, my succulent was suffering. Here is my "Zen pot" before drainage. I removed the plant and set the pot aside until today.

Hubby started with the cup on the right, as a test, but the concrete drill bit was going nowhere. Judging from the dent it made, this was going to take all day. So hubby bought a spendy diamond tip bit. It went through like butter. It all goes to show, Diamonds are a pot's best friend. Now I can re-plant the succulent in the Zen pot and I have a cup to plant as well. Yay!

As I was sweeping our mostly empty garage, I mentioned to hubby how sunny it was in there. This time of the year the sun at "high noon" looks like 10 am, but it's a perfect angle to warm up the south-facing garage. Two lawn chairs, a table, music on the car radio (my car has awesome speakers), maybe the grill out on the driveway, and we have a party spot! I might even string up some party lights. Hey, it's a big room and the car isn't in it...why not. If you are wondering why the car isn't in it, there is no automatic opener, so it's a pain in the butt.

Later we drove to Brookings. I bought Crocus bulbs. I love Crocus and was delighted to find out they grow here. I snapped this shot with my cell phone on the way home. It was a pretty day. Having Sundays together is wonderful.

My New Passion

Succulents! I have always loved them, and now that I can grow them outside year-round, I'm just tickled pink! One of my neighbors has a yard sale and I bought two large plants for only a dollar each! I still keep some of my plants inside. Here are some of my lovelies:

 Upstairs window, left to right, Jade, 2 more Jades and a Haworthia (in white pot), a small Portulacaria, 2 Haworthia Alba and Senecio rowleyanus - String of Pearls

 Outside, in front, left: Jade, Stonecrop and small something I haven't ID'd yet. Right: a basket from Home Depot for the awesome price of $17. Has a little of this and that...blooming Ice Plant, Jade, Kalancho, something else, something else....will repot in the spring.

 Kalanchoe - Mother of Hundreds or Mother of Thousands, pink version (Pink Butterflies or Pink Ladies)

 In the jade family, I like they geometry. There is a stunning red variety but it needs full sun, and I would need to order it.

 A small Jade that belonged to my mom years ago, a treasure. I repotted it in this pot but the pot has no drainage, a problem I will be working on tomorrow.

 Haworthia Alba.....love it, bought this one many years ago, maybe 20 years ago. I have divided it into 3 pots now.

 Bottom, left to right: Aeonium ($1 plant), NOID X-mas cactus. Top, left to right: Kalancho Mother of Thousands Pink Butterflies, Aeonium (the dark variety, another $1 plant), a mixed pot I haven't identified yet, a small pot of Aeonium, and Sempervivum (Hen's & Chicks) Spider Web.

Not sure

 Left, a Jade with folded leaves, right, a mixed pot that I need to transplant, with Aloe, Burro's Tail, Pencil Cactus and a small Adromischus cristatus - Crinkle Leaf Plant

 Left, grafted cactus, center, Kalanchoe tubiflora - Chandelier Plant, another type of Haworthia that I call Window Plants because they have "windows" on their leaves.

 Very tiny ground cover Sedum japonicum 'Tokyo Sun'

Catching Up

Wednesday my hubby had the day off YAY so we went shopping in Eureka. That town is a madhouse, traffic is crazy. It's so much nicer up here, even though Eureka has way more places to shop. We found much cheaper groceries at a WinCo store. We might actually drive the 80 miles there once every couple months and stock up.

After I was sick in July, Walmart told me I can't get sick until after September 28th, but my body didn't listen. I caught ANOTHER head cold that went into my chest. I have not needed my asthma inhaler here, except when I get a chest cold, so I had not noticed that it was empty, and it was midnight.

I was going to tough it out but hubby insisted he take me to the ER. They wanted to give me a treatment but I can't take albuterol, and they didn't have Xopenex. So they kept me for awhile and sent me home with a script. Hubby called off work to stay with me. I had a doctor note saying I could return to work after two days.

This time I made an appointment with my doc in case Walmart called me in for another "coaching". Previously they had recommended I ask why I get sick all the time. My doc ordered a vitamin D test. I'm low, so I am to take 1000 IU of D3 per day and get checked in about 6 months. Apparently vitamin D is connected to one's immunity.

Anyway, I am finally done coughing up junk, however I am going against Walmart policy and avoiding the sickies. No, really, I'm supposed to approach them with a smile while they cough and sneeze all over and ask them if they need help finding anything. I'm also having problems with my neck and arm. It started when they had me zone the grocery isles, especially the heavy stuff. It involves bending and reaching in odd positions and pulling everything forward. My neck has hurt ever since and my right arm goes numb when I hold it up. I don't zone other parts of the store anymore, ever since the pharmacist found out they were pulling me out of my area, but every day that I work I'm not allowing my neck and arm to heal because, well, my job is mostly zoning.

So hubby and I have been talking, and looking at our budget. We are very close to paying off the last of the credit cards. My plan was to continue working until we built up our savings, at least through the winter, but it looks like that will change. The reasons....my health, the rainy season is coming and he will need the car, and we miss each other. Ok, maybe the last reason made you roll your eyes, but honestly, we need to be home at the same time and enjoy life together. It's been a long five months, ever since my hubby started work at Rumiano, no time together unless he took a day off to match mine. I only have time to cook from scratch on my days off, that means 5 days a week I'm eating junk. I'm exhausted.

It makes me very happy to think about quitting work.

Life is Getting Better

At times I have thought about the isolation here. But I would rather take my chances with the best doctors being 60 miles away than to die slowly in the city. The trucks rumbling down I-80/94 did not whisper to my soul.

I mark my days by the sunsets I've seen and the rocks I've gathered.

A typical view of the sunset from my back window where I lived in Indiana. I did have a better view at the park, but it was often too humid, too cold, had too many mosquitoes or bad air. I cried a lot in Indiana.

Now, a three minute drive takes me here. The sweeping views heal me. I breath, and I don't cry.

Rocks and flowers make me happy.

I think I will be done at Walmart in the foreseeable future. That is a good thing, for I did not come here to work at Walmart.

4 Years!

My hubby and I have been married 4 years, as of yesterday, August 17th. I bought this card, with words made of wood. I loved it the moment I saw it...it's so "us".

Beautiful Summer Weather Today

Today and tomorrow are my days off. The weather is glorious. I'm not sick. All the bills are paid for the month and we aren't broke. Life is good.

North Coast air conditioning:

North Coast heat: