Well that didn’t take long. My first Texas cold. It’s 89 degrees out and I’m wearing a sweater. Not much of a voice either, but thankfully I don’t need to be able to talk to blog!

Today we sent the boys home. I know they were anxious to get home to their families but I felt sad seeing them go. We really couldn’t have done this without them. Thank you boys, love you and can’t wait for you to come back. Hooray! My 12 year old granddaughter is still here. We have lots of adventures planned for her. We sat down and wrote a list of activities and things to do while she’s here. Shop for cowboy boots, go horseback riding, and just exploring in general.

Regarding said list, nowhere on the list was the removal of a dead skunk. When we first got here, there was definitely an “au de skunk” odor in the air but I just figured there was a skunk out on the property somewhere. Well, in fact there was! Right outside the bedroom window!!!  I elected not to be a part of the removal process but I’m told it was pretty gross   (In 12 year old terms!)

Tomorrow the house will be full with the arrival of the big truck with all of our stuff (enough of this glamping already!). Drywall guy, painter, granite guy. It’ll be a busy day.

i think that’s it for today…smell ya later! (Skunk humor)

We woke up this morning only to discover that there was no water pressure. Zip. Zero. None. Nada. Before (in California!), I’d turn the handle and water would magically come out if the faucet. Now, we have a well…not so much the wishing kind, but if it was, I would have wished for water. It seems that when the pool guy serviced the pool yesterday, he opened the valve to add water to the pool and left it open. All afternoon, all night, overnight. Long time, huh? Yep, long enough to empty the storage tank.

So, being unable to take a shower what does one do? One jumps in the pool (that’s where all the water from the storage tank was anyway, right?). This was at 8:30 in the morning. Let me tell you that in CA there was no way I would have ever done that because the water in the morning would have just been way too cold. However, that is not the case here! The pool felt amazing, a great way to wake up. I swam back and forth a few times, and was just beginning to marvel at how nice the warm sun felt. And them I saw it. Oh my gosh, what is that? No, it can’t be. It’s a – a snake! Everybody out of the pool! Okay, it was just me – I don’t know how I did it but I was out of that water and standing at the side if the pool in a flash. You have to understand that I do not have any appreciation at all for crawly things, be it spiders, lizards, etc. I cautiously bent over to get a good look at the anaconda that had interrupted my morning swim only to find out it was actually the hose on the pool sweep. New pool, new equipment. Heh, heh..[insert red face here]

Well today was certainly a big day. After three days on the road, we finally arrived. It was a beautiful day (okay, it was a little on the warm side), blue sky, a few puffy clouds floating along. You know, the pretty cotton candy looking kind. 

Having been empty for almost a year, the house seems happy to have us here. I know that sounds funny, but that’s how I feel. We’ve had some remodeling done and although it’s not quite complete, I would consider it move in ready. We’re looking forward to bringing both the inside  and the outside to life as we make it our own.

Remember the pup I told you about ? She was so excited when we arrived. She hopped out of the car and immediately started exploring. She didn’t know where to go first, so much to see, so much to smell! As we all wandered into the backyard, she took one look at the pool and in she went. Picture the commercial where the dogs have big denture looking smiles – that’s how happy she looked!

The guys unloaded the smaller truck – may we all just take moment and give a big round of applause to everyone that helped with the packing, the cleaning, the driving, and now the unpacking…Woot! Woot! Now we wait for the big truck to get here. That’s when the real fun starts. You can’t see it, but I have a really fake, forced smile on my face right now. I am not looking forward to unpacking all of those boxes. Ugh.

At the end of the day – ick, I hate that saying, but I really do mean literally at the end of the day, we turned off the lights and went outside. The stars! Millions! The Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, the Milky Way, it was really a perfect way to end the day.

And now, Its time for some much needed sleep. More adventures tomorrow. Nitey nite zzzzzzzz….

No ifs, ands, or buts – this week was a whirlwind. On Monday, packing was coming along nicely, Tuesday came and the pace quickened. By Wednesday, I wanted to slow the clock and today I just wanted to stop time completely. I did a monumental job of keeping the tears at bay all week long, but today has been a day of waterworks. Goodbyes are just so hard, and I’ll be back for frequent visits (quite soon, actually) so rather than goodbye, it’s really more like “see ya later”.

My last day at work was tough. I made some really good friends at work, I spent lots of time with them which made it especially hard to say goodbye. So I didn’t. I just said, “see ya later”.

Tonight was a fun family dinner (minus one, who had to work). The kids gave me a framed photo of all of them together. It’s beautiful. They’re beautiful. So hard to leave knowing I won’t be seeing them as often. I look at this photo and while my eyes fill with tears, my heart swells with pride. They are all amazing, smart, talented, loving (I could go on and on!). They’ll be fine. Truth be told I think I need them more than they need me.

Tomorrow we hit the road so it won’t be goodbye, just “see ya later”.

Me? A blogger? How did that happen? Although I’m a reader of blogs, I never imagined that I would be writing one. That is, until I found myself taking this giant (ginormous, as my daughter would say) step of packing up and moving from Southern California to Texas. You see,  I’m a born and raised Southern Californian. A wife (no, not one of those Southern California housewives!), a mother, a daughter, a sister, a nana, and yes, even a great nana – albeit a young one!

Initially I thought about just keeping a journal and writing down everything about this process of moving. Starting with the visits to Texas, finding “the” house, making the decision to move, and all the ups and downs along the way. I had no intention of sharing it, thinking someday when  my kids are cleaning out” the” Texas house to sell it, they’d find it and have a front row seat inside my head and then they would say, “Oh mom, you were so brave to take that big leap”.  I know, morbid.

But then…as moving day grew closer and closer I thought, why not document this whole journey? And then family and friends started urging me to take pictures and share details of the trip and the new home. So here I am.

And that, is how I got here.