Finally Recovered! A Few Pictures of the New Place

Wow, that was an insane move! It made me so tired, that I'm just now recovering. Where do I begin? We used the same moving crew we did last year, and they were just as good as the last time. They worked so hard, and it was so darn hot too. The main living area is upstairs, so they had to climb many times hauling all our stuff, but completely kept their sense of humor.  We are really liking the house and adjusting to being in a different town. So far it hasn't been at all bad and it helps when the new neighborhood is quaint and you have a nice neighbor. What a concept huh? Nice people to live next to!!!  The house was very nicely redone by the landlords and we are enjoying all the nice features, such as the beautifully finished hardwood floors. I just gave them a few squirts of "Bona" floor cleaner and look how pretty they are.  This half of the house is pretty bright and has a lot of beautiful natural light, which I love and it will be good for taking photos in the winter months. I'm not sure if I want little Riki bird there all the time, but so far we haven't come up with a better plan for him. I think he may rotate around the house. He will not be there when dinner guests are coming, that's for sure hahaha. This weekend we will be hanging the art work up and this side will be done! We will also be picking up our coo coo clock up today, after being in repair for 13 months!!! I can't believe it is finally done, I sure did miss her, and I have just the spot for it.

I'm almost finished putting my studio back together also, pictures will follow soon I hope! It's just been so hot here, that I start to move around then I get hot and just sit :( The house has a great AC at least :)

All the fruit trees out in the yard are heavy with fruit and I can't wait to start harvesting them. Happy that we still have a lemon and orange tree also! The most exciting though, as I may have mentioned, is the avocado tree in the front yard. If you follow me on IG you may have seen the pic I took of one starting to grow. It's a beautiful healthy tree, as are the fruit trees. The neighbor has a really pretty apple tree near my fence. I bet that tree looks beautiful when it blooms in the spring. Speaking of blooms, there are some really pretty roses and also three or so peony bushes in the back yard as well.

Well, I must get to some more boxes, and I'll update soon as things start to come together, but thought I'd pop in so you didn't think I got lost in boxes and paper!!

Our New Place

 Breakfast nook, but I'm getting a kitchen island to put in this spot. Light fixture above is antique

 Love this built in bookshelf!

 Built in vanity

 Main bath

 Down to the lower level to laundry room, garage, and basement room

We move tomorrow, and I'm totally wiped out both mentally and physically! It's been tough looking for a place this time in our town. Extremely low inventory of rentals and prices sky rocketing like no bodies business. We had to move a bit farther afield to get this gem of a little place. I have some mixed feelings about leaving my town that I have lived in for over 20 plus years, but I'm afraid nothing quite this charming exists in my town that would be in my price range. I'm being a bit of a whiner right now, as I'm only about a 10 or 15 min. car trip down the freeway from said town. I was spoiled up to this point with everything being close at hand. I moved to a town that is closer to David's work though, and now his commute is only 10 min.  Now he can even come home for lunch.
The town is quite historic, and has a charming old town feel. It's has a mixed population and does have a reputation of more of a blue collar town, and with that you can imagine there are some less desirable areas.  The neighborhood where this house is though, is really quaint and has some beautiful vistas. The house sits high up and I'm sorry but I forgot to take a photo of the front before we left this evening. The landlords are very nice, and I think this is going to be such a better tenant landlord situation!  For that alone we are excited to get the heck out of this house and on to a much better situation.
The kitchen is one thing I'll have to get use to since it is on the small side, but to remedy the situation, I plan on getting a movable kitchen island to put in that little nook( this one). Other wise it has a great fridge, much bigger oven than I have now. The table and chairs in the picture are not mine, and I think ours will look really nice in this space! I'm excited for all the built ins too, and the bathrooms are fun!
I'm in love with the yard! I was really going to miss the yard we have now with all the citrus and all, but guess what?   This yard has an orange tree, lemon tree, several fruit trees like peaches, nectarines, persimmons, and plums. Oh and an avocado tree!!!! Yes you read that right, an avocado tree :)   I see many pies and tarts this summer.  I'll take better pictures of the yard soon and the front of the house.

The storage below the house, since it sits up high, is enormous and we can store some of our family room furniture that doesn't fit.  Lots and lots of storage thank goodness!

Well, I'm off to back up the last of the stuff in this house and I'm done!!!!

Moving Update # 3

Well......still nothing!  Because there is nothing, and we don't want to give this landlady any more rent money, we decided to put all of our worldly possessions in storage and stay with family in town. We could have stayed here through June, but I can't take another minute here. We are not sad about leaving this house at all, but sad that we don't have a new home yet! We never got attached to this house, and in all four of the bedrooms, we didn't commit to hanging very much or anything on the walls, so this will make it quicker this time to pack things up( well kind of). Even though I tried to make this place homey, it just never felt like home, given the situation with the back yard creature.   I have also decided after much thought, that I'm not going to write the whole story about our dreadful year in this house on here, because I don't want anymore pictures of this house or memories of what happened on my blog, BUT if you want to know the story with a few pictures, drop your email in the comment section and I'll tell it to you in private.
Since last week we have looked at a couple of condos to see if we could go that route. One was very pretty, but a tad too small and the layout was a bit tricky because when you opened the front door you had to go up stairs to the living quarters. Not a fan of this, and thinking about our ancient piano that weighs a ton, going up those stairs, scared me! The girl who owned the condo was so sweet, and had it decorated really nice. It was the first place that actually looked exactly like the pictures in the ad. I also drove by a house that was listed and got the address after I made an appointment to see it. Since it was empty, I decided to peek in the windows and look around. YUCK! It was just as ugly as the serial killer house we saw the first week we started looking. I called the guy back and cancelled the viewing appointment.
Then another condo came up, and by the pictures it looked like everything we wanted. We both got our hopes up on this one and could not wait to see it. It had a lot of square footage and beautiful views and the kitchen looked so nice in the photos.  Walking up to the front door we were met by a very nice lady and her dog. The minute I saw the way the front door area was kept, the red flags went up. Inside we saw an extremely messy house by the tenants in there, and they hadn't even started packing!  It was dark, and had popcorn ceiling from the time when builder thought that was cool. It had laminate flooring that was so so downstairs and not very well kept carpet going up the stairs and into all the bedrooms. OK.....If I have to see one more property with other peoples junk and dirty carpet one more time, I'm going to cry!!!!! The kitchen was not great, and looked far from how it did in the ad!!!! We decided that there was no way that we were going to push our budget and move into this place!  That is the other annoying thing with these landlords that use old photos of when the house was clean years ago, and then you walk in and everything, like the carpet and appliances, are about ready to be replaced, and they have wasted my time and hopes that it would be something I want. This lady was nice, but the other red flag was how she thought the walls looked just fine, and there wasn't really a need to paint them! REALLY, are we looking at the same walls?! When I spoke with her on the phone she said that she had been in there and that it was clean. For the life of me I just can't understand how people can live the way these people were living, and making the excuse that they had kids! My house never looked like this when I had little ones! There were three rooms in this house that had the most insane amount of legos that I have ever seen in my life! ANYWAY, we took an application but decided there was no way, even with it cleaned up, that we would enjoy this place.
Yesterday Zarin, Cyrous' mom, was so sweet to come over to help start packing. Her mom was the kind person who is letting us stay in her condo while we look. Caitlin and Cyrous will be there as well, so we will be roomies for a bit. We just don't want to rush into another property because of lack of time.  This is a first for us. Not finding a place to move into is a bit odd, and I feel as if I'm twisting in the wind a bit. The only time we have put our things in storage was when we moved to France, but that was an exciting move and perfect for that time in our lives. This time, it feels like we are putting ourselves in time out mode and taking somewhat of a break from life in an odd way. I can't wait to write a post which will include pictures of our new home. Last week I thought I'd try and do some sewing before I had to pack things up. The first picture is of the garment that I started to cut out when I got the certified letter that we had to move. My heart is not into finishing this, so I think I'll pack it up as a WIP and look forward to completing it sometime soon.
Well, break time is over and I have a mountain of things to do!  Not sure when I will be able to do another post, but I'll certainly try.  

Moving Update #2

I'm feeling rather defeated today because there is nothing new listed to see, and normally there are a few for weekend viewings. Wednesday we decided to step out of our town and look in a cool hip part of Oakland that would be fun to live in. In the past I have not considered moving through the tunnel because of what you get for the price. In our price range you would have to look for two bedrooms, which is fine, if the place is amazing, charming and worth it. I would be willing to pair down in an instant for something like that, but in reality, it doesn't exist and it only cemented what I already new about the area when I saw the house listed. Too much of a pie in the sky choice.  This place was built in 1919, and in the photos looked promising. It even said it had some basement storage. The minute we walked in, it smelled old and musty and was way too small, even though we were willing to pair down. Our bed would not even fit into the larger of the rooms. We went out to dinner afterwards, to take our minds off of the situation, but it really didn't help.
Today I am looking at another place that I don't want to go look at, mainly because I misread the location of this house and I don't like this neighborhood, but I'm looking anyway to confirm it for sure. I figure that we have only really just started looking and I don't want to grab something, only to be miserable again for a year or more. We are holding out hope that there will be more next week, but I'm not going to lie, the negative thoughts are creeping in about every 10 seconds.  Everyone keeps telling me to keep busy and not to worry, things will turn out fine. They usually do, but somewhere in my mind I keep hearing....."This time it won't." That nagging little voice keeps me from doing anything normal throughout the day, even though it would probably make me feel better to get my mind off of things. Instead I sit here hitting the refresh button one too many times and panicking :(    It also does not help to hear and see the creature out back roaming in the yard without a care in the world, and not knowing what torment she has caused. All because she can't be loud with her friends without being told to keep it down!
Since we have always rented, I have always fought to find the perfect, or near perfect nest for us. I feel like we at least deserve that, since we are unable to buy anything. Now I feel defeated and that even that is going to be taken away from us.   We seriously need some miracle to happen soon! There is just way too much on our plates right now that is causing too much stress.

Not the blogpost I was hopping to post today, but I'm keeping it all real and documenting the highs and lows, so hopefully when things are better I can see that sometimes it is darkest before the dawn.............

Keeping Busy

Well, after the shock of having to learn that we have to move again, I'm trying to keep positive and keep busy. I have all my Craig's list searches on email alert. I check every hour on the hour for updates and try and proceed with daily chores, because really, what else can one do?!

The process is always the same it seems. Since we have always been renters, I can't remember a time when it wasn't any different.  We have lived through many renting scenarios. College renting, sub-leasing, and living abroad to name a few. All of these scenarios were stressful and tearful at times. Why does it have to be this way I wonder? Why can't it be easy, or why can't the first property you look at be "the one?" I think I'm going to keep up with the process on here, so that later I will have a reference as to what we went through.  So here is update number one.    We found out on a Tuesday April 28th that the landlady would not renew the lease. I was half shocked and upset. Half shocked because like I said in my last post, I had a feeling this was coming since the landlady hadn't sent us an updated lease to sign, and things with her daughter out back have not really gotten any better. She has chosen to make this property a revolving door instead of reigning in her daughter's shenanigans out back. After we find a place and secure everything, stay tuned for the whole story because I really want to tell it. More as a cautionary tale, and nothing more.
Wednesday, I hit Craig's list and lined up a couple of places to look at. The first one was a new build from 2003, so I thought hey this might be nice. When I got inside I was instantly disappointed and it smelled like pets. The carpet was buckling and there was just far too much of it, plus the agent did not list the property with the correct rent. It was 100 dollars more than it said, which was already pushing our budget. The agent was very friendly and as we told him a bit about us. He felt badly for our situation and said we would be at the top of his list if something comes up, because we were the type of tenant that the company loves. Tell that to my landlady! Oh yeah, she was already told this by the property management that was managing this property to begin with, but she chose not care.( She took control of the property  management in December)
Next property I didn't really want to go and see since I google mapped it and it looked a bit sketchy from the picture, but I thought what the heck, we will go check it out.   As we wound our way through a neighborhood, that I didn't even know existed, I was doubtful that this could be good. The person on the phone was pleasant and funny so I was curious. They were asking a pretty penny with a 4,000 dollar deposit for what looked like a house that a serial killer would live in. When she let us in, form the garage, and into the kitchen, I immediately got an overwhelming feeling that something bad happened in this house! We looked at each other and were ready to bolt, but decided to be kind just in case this was some kind of joke and we would be murdered  and never to be heard from again hahaha! On the phone the lady said she runs criminal checks, and asked if that was going to be ok. I should have bowed out at that point, but like I said, I was intrigued and wanted no stone unturned. Anyway, we said thanks we will keep it in mind (NOT!!!!) We peeled out of there fast!!!  Back home I kept checking the CL and hoping another property came up. Two did, so I made appointments for Saturday morning to see them.  First one was a two story newer house that looked cute in the photo. The guy who owned it was super nice but the house wasn't for us. The layout was too cramped and again way too much carpet and not enough room for our key pieces of furniture.  The second property was a two bedroom condo in a nice peaceful neighborhood, and had it been a tiny bit bigger, we would have possibly considered it. All the people we met, except the killer house, we really liked and would have been great landlords. All of them could not believe our story and then wished the best of luck for us.
Today is Monday, and a few have come up, but all far out in our very last on the list areas that we would consider living in. I'm trying this time to not panic and take something that won't work for us, kind of like this house that we are in now. This house had so much potential, and had she possibly had a real tenant out in the cottage, it could have worked. Looking back on this situation with this house I saw the red flag the day I finally got to meet the kid out back, but it was the day we had already signed the lease and committed ourselves to move here. BIG mistake!!!! I'm still dumbfounded that a parent would let their kid dictate something this major in not just our lives but her own ! Oh well, I'm choosing to push this all out of my head and carry on forward to greener pastures, where ever they may be. Stay tuned. I'll do another update on Friday or, if something great comes along!

P.S. The picture I chose above was to convey that I'm hoping for blue skies and good days ahead!

How Things Change in an Instant

Well, just when you think you are sailing along just fine you get blind sided by not so great news. My husband went on a business trip yesterday and as he was leaving I had this feeling that I was going to get some bad news in the mail, I couldn't shake the feeling for some reason. Then in the afternoon I hear the door bell. It's the postman with a registered letter, and I'm thinking that this can't be good. It wasn't. Our landlord does not want to continue renting to us. She has given us until July 1st.
I'm making a few assumptions on her part, but most likely her decision was spurred by her daughter who lives in the cottage out back.
I have many adjectives for this person, but kind, respectful and grateful are not among them. I'm sitting here this morning still in shock that we now have to look for another place to live in an already tight market. When this happens of course, you go on the dreaded Craig's list and there is nothing or garbage for too much money. I keep trying to tell myself that something will turn up eventually, but I have a feeling that our next move will have to have some compromises and possibly not really where we would want to be. Things always happen for a reason, and I'm sure this is a blessing in disguise. Right now though, it just feels awful. On the up side, I will not have to deal with the human out back anymore, which is a good incentive to not feel so bad.  I'm not going to lie though, I'm terrified, sad and angry all balled into one. Of course poor David is not in town and had to hear the news from me over the phone.  
So, things are about to get crazy yet again and please send positive thoughts and prayers that we find a nice place to live.

This and That and a Graduation

Things are slowly coming together, and I'm getting use to this part of town and this house. Still working out a few kinks, but this is what makes life so exciting right? Hahah.  Last weekend David put up the curtains in the family room, which made a huge difference in the room and nice to not be in a fish bowl! The picture is not so great, but you can get the idea. I was all set to get these other curtains at Cost Plus with birds, but they won't be in stock until mid June, and I could not wait that long! Off to Ikea we went to see if there was something that would work for now. I ended up finding these. I put up a double rod and some really cute sheers with a flower pattern. I actually like them better than the ones at Cost Plus. I like that I can keep them drawn, and still have lovely filtered light shining through.  We got the guest room bed put back together, and hope to get some pictures up on the wall soon, as well as a side table in there. I had to put little Quincy bird on the white table that use to be the guest room side table.  The studio is pretty much unpacked and I'm ready to start cutting out and sewing up some new items starting next week. I already have two special orders that I hopefully will be starting soon as well.

Wednesday evening we traveled north to see my darling niece graduate with honors, from high school. Graduations are always so bittersweet aren't they?!  This little lady is a smart cookie and has a very bright future!!!  Seems like just yesterday that I was in the delivery room with my sister ushering this beauty into the world!  Can't wait to see how she paves her way into the next chapter of her life.
Saturday we are heading back to my sisters to have her party.  It has also been nice to visit with my dad and step mom, who came for the graduation.  Not doing much else for this holiday, but most likely hanging pictures in the living room and unpacking the rest of the book boxes! We just have to reorganize the garage/storage room and then we are done!
Hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend filled with fun and lots of relaxing!

Work in Progress

 Living room is almost finished. Pictures need to be hung, and we are buying a new rug that I picked out at Pottery Barn. I think the color of this rug will really lighten up all the wood in here. Paris etching will go on that blank wall.

 Our tapestry will be hanging over the side board, with the candle sconces.

 This is looking down one direction of the kitchen from the dinning room.

 The size and layout of this living room was a head scratcher at first when the movers started to bring in all the furniture! I usually know exactly where everything should go once I see it empty, but this space was giving me some problems!

 This is the family room, with messed up blinds that the owner didn't replace, but after I complained, you can see the three little boxes of new blinds ready to go up.

 I will be getting some more selves for above the TV and I'll be putting the round clock that is next to Quincy up there as well. It will look very much like the old place. The other side of the fireplace is left natural, as you can see and since there was a nail in it, I put up a picture right away to make it feel less empty.

Other side of the kitchen. I still need to put up all the art work and shelves on those walls.

 These windows will be getting some curtains very soon! While I love them, I feel like I'm in a fish bowl!

 Still needing to play with the pantry situation in this house, because there really isn't any. Over in the corner where the oven is, there is some room, but it is deep and I'll need a stool to get everything.

Entryway, with one of the two rugs we own. The flooring is the original 1962  linoleum. They didn't clean it properly, so now I have to figure out how to make it a bit more sparkly.

 We bought this little table in France from a shop that I loved in our town. It is a great entryway table and at the other house, it wasn't used that way. I'm happy to be able to have a better spot for it this time. Above this will go our black framed mirror that use to be above our buffet in the other house.

 The main bathroom, is actually quite pleasant in how bright it is in there. I laugh now, because this was the one I thought was not bright and had pink tile, but neither are true! I think it will be nice when guests come over because it is quite spacious and has a lot of cabinets and storage facing the mirror.

 Guest room, that needs the bed put back together again.

 My workspace, still not unloaded but next on the list! I like how nice and cool it seems to be. We are having a heat wave right now, and when I go back there, it is nice and shady and not a hot box like the last room I had.

 Scary room with all our book boxes!!! This will be David's room for his music things and office stuff.

Last but not least our room. This is a really big room with two large closets and a pretty decent bathroom, especially after they repainted and put in a new toilet. It was the worst of the two, but now I prefer it to get ready in.  The last eyesore is that super ugly AC unit on the wall. It is non functioning, because the place has central air, but now I have to figure out a way to disguise it. In my work room, I put up the tall glass fronted cabinet in front of it, and you can barely see it, so that is an option eventually, or some linen over it? I don't know.....if you have any fun ideas please feel free to comment!

Last week was really tough adjusting to being here I must say! There were a few issues with the owner, and the cottage dweller, that happens to be the daughter of the owner. She is not bad, but she has two dogs, which I knew of and I was ok with. Then she tells me she got two rescue cats so they can roam and keep the rodent population down. I thought that was a good idea, as the yard is enormous and has many fruit trees that can attract them. She also has two chickens. OK, cool with that and I won't really see them because, like I said, the yard is huge and they will be tucked back there. Where I almost lost my cool was when she said she was going to get a pig!!!!! I said to myself, Oh hell no!!! I nodded and smiled, then called the property management, and I also looked up city ordinances. You can't have them in the city limits because they are livestock, and if you follow the code, she has exceeded how many animals you can have already. I don't want to start any wars with this animal lover, but seriously!!!! Oh, and btw, we can't have pets! They are also suppose to put up a fence dividing the property, which I sure hope is sooner than later, because as much as I really like her dogs, they have been leaving little presents on my side, and she hasn't bothered to clean up after them, even though I commented to her that they had done it!
I'm really trying to keep my cool and I sure hope things settle down with a bit more rules in place!

Mother's day was low key this year, and the day was pretty much spent at home relaxing. Caitlin came over later in the afternoon and we had a lovely dinner together in a new restaurant in Oakland called Camino  If you follow me on Instagram, there are some photos of the food. I really enjoyed it and plan to go again!
Well, I'm off to unpack some more boxes.