Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I will get pictures soon.

My computer is not wanting to pull data from my camera.  JR suggested that I might need a new laptop.  Woo Hoo!  I might get to go to Fry's!  I've never been to Fry's.  I'm totally stoked.  Yes, I used the word stoked.  I will be sure to throw in gnarly for good measure and I will make sure I don't say y'all to complete my California transition.

I have told my kids to stop Valley Girl talking since we don't live in "the Valley", plus I want to gouge my eyeballs out.

I'm moving on...

...I'm going home...(Smash Mouth-Moving On)

Okay, so CA may not be home yet, but it's been pretty good.  I will not complain about 65 degrees in January.

Our story continues...

We planned to leave on Monday the 17th.  We were struggling to get everything done to the house, the truck packed and the house cleaned.  Honestly it didn't all get done by us and we left the 18th.

On Sunday our neighbor Allen (one of Jonathan's best friends) said, "You aren't leaving tomorrow."  I had been saying it, but Jonathan wasn't really hearing me.  I was thankful that Allen gave him perspective.

We worked like dogs all Monday.  I ran and picked up the car carrier to move Jonathan's 1954 Pontiac Chieftan, and we got it loaded on the trailer and hooked to his truck.  The final plan was to park the Pontiac at the Blackberry Farm and park the truck there and call a transport company to bring the truck to Cali, so we could drive as a family.  We ran full bore and we got to bed at 2 am Tuesday.  We all slept on the living room floor.

Things honestly looked bleak for our Tuesday departure until I had an epiphany at 12:30 while I took a final shower before we left.  I solved the problem of more trash that we had no place to put.

We rolled away from the house at about 10 and made a quick return to Lowe's, grabbed breakfast at McD's and drove to the farm.

After unloading the car we ran for a final meal at Panda in Stillwater and off we went.

We were far enough behind that we didn't get to the pikepass office before it closed (it closes at 4:30 and we were there at 4:40).  We ran by my sister Michelle's and dropped the passes in her mailbox and in our fog didn't see my b-i-l Steve as we pulled away.

Oddly enough we did see Michelle driving the opposite direction on the Kilpatrick Turnpike.

We did make Amarillo, by 10:30 and we rolled into a KOA near Folsom Rd.  We actually noticed that the next morning and JR started busting out in some Johnny Cash, even though Folsom Prison is in CA.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Our story begins...

...this past August.  I had hit burn out point and opted to put the kids in school, where we experienced the good, the bad and the ugly.  Okay maybe just the good and the bad.  I was torn, but I did it anyway.

The second day of school a water line busted under the living room.  The trunk line for the a/c blocked the access, so the renovation we knew needed done began and we tore the room up and cut a hole in the sub floor to fix the line bust.

So began a renovation adventure that included removing flooring, paneling, trim, a non load bearing wall, and a doorway.  The renovation involved leveling our sub floor, wiring, hanging a projector, a power projector screen, surround sound boxes, new trim and carpet.  We did all the work except for the carpet.

During this time, Jonathan's boss left NORDAM and got a job with TSC.  Things at NORDAM changed and though Jonathan enjoyed working there he didn't feel like there was a great possibility for advancement soon.  He thought he needed to look for the next step in his career and he sent his resume to TSC.

The final job on the living room was the carpet and the day it was installed (Wednesday, November 17th) he was told TSC would be bringing him to CA for an interview soon.  I told him that this happened, b/c I no longer hated our fixer upper house.  HA!

December came and JR, CAR and I went to CA for his interview.  I kept this quiet, b/c we had thought that we were headed to Singapore and Shanghai at different points with NORDAM and it never happened.  I just didn't want to talk about something that might not happen (again).

JR got his job offer on Dec 23rd, countered the 26th and they finalized his agreement on the 28th.  Can you see my head spinning.

On January 12th JR mentioned buying his friend Thom's RV and living in it instead of renting a house.  I thought he was nuts for about 30 minutes and then I changed my mind (see previous blog post).

We ran full bore until Tuesday, January 17th when we drove away from Oklahoma.

God's timing is amazing.  I put my kids in school, in time for my living room to be renovated, in time to put it on the market to sell, so we could move half way across the country.

I now have internet at the ghetto (literally) RV park in Mojave, CA.  We will be changing parks at the end of the week to one that is nice (seriously there are some very nice ones).  I'll dump my camera and blackberry soon so you can take a look at our travels and our crazy life.

Much more to follow...

Monday, January 17, 2011

The Grapes of Wrath Redux part 1

It was a valiant effort, but we didn't leave today. We will have success tomorrow. We will drop off the 1954 Pontiac Cheiftan and the F-150 and we will leave with our new "house". Can I paint the trailer yellow, and add a periscope, just so I can say, "We all live in a yellow submarine"?

Saturday, January 15, 2011

A change of scenery and a crazy idea.

Yes, this move has come on quickly especially for 2 people who've never lived anywhere but Oklahoma.

Jonathan threw out a suggestion Wednesday of last week and I thought he was nuts...then I changed my mind.

We are not renting a house when we move to California.

When you rent a house you move in and get settled a dry rot seems to set in.

We are moving into the state of California...in a 26ft travel trailer.  For perspective our living room is 15 X 35 and the trailer is 26 X 8.  We will live and homeschool, with Californai K12, the first few months we are there and live (yes all 7 of us in this trailer).  We plan to park it in Mojave and we will be in walking distance of JR's office, and it's supposed to be 60-65 degrees most days.  We will be forced to get out of the trailer and go to Yosemite, Big Sur, L.A. and tons of other places.  We will embrace our adventure and get to know our new home, before finding a home.

When we moved to Bartlesville 5 years ago there was a lot we wanted to explore...and didn't.  Yes we had lots of renovation projects and we had 3 more children, but we didn't take advantage of what there was to experience here.

Are we mad or genius...only time and dead bodies will tell.  HA!

Monday, January 03, 2011

And so the story goes...

We are moving from Bartlesville.  I will no longer be able to see a Frank Llyod Wright skyscraper from my front yard.



The truck arrives Friday, January 14th for us to load.

Yes, I am packing.

Yes, we are loading the truck.

No, we aren't driving it.  ABF is.

It will drive to Tehachapi, CA.





No, we have no place to live yet.

Yes, we will probably live in a hotel with 5 kids and a chocolate lab until we rent some place.

Jonathan starts his new job on January 24th in Mojave, CA.

He put his notice in at Nordam on the 3rd.

He will be the program manger for the interior of the spaceship for TSC (the Spaceship Company, owned by Virgin Galactic and Sir Richard Branson).

No, we are not prepared.

Yes, we will be crazy before it's all over.

Yes, we like it that way.

No, we will not buy a fixer upper in California.  Two has been enough (one in OKC and one in Bartlesville).

I'm not sure what else to say, but if you know someone who wants a really cool 110 year old house that has had a lot of restoration done, let me know.  It will be for sale or lease and we will be listing it soon.

Details:
I LOVE AND WILL MISS MY NEIGHBORS!
2700 sq ft.
4 with and office/den or 5 br
2 ba
2 car detached garage
900 sq ft attic with a full set of stairs
New 5 ton central heat and a/c unit with new (added) duct work to the attic (May 2010).
Vinyl double hung windows with full screens installed in 1995 (no draft)
Renovated living room/theater with powered project screen (will leave current projector for a price otherwise you bring your own), current projector 3500 lumen, Eiki XC-L3, hard wired surround sound and cables to projector
Gas and Electric averaged ($100-$150 a piece a month, not bad for a HUGE house)
Attic Fan
Fenced yard
Corner lot
Great porches with porch swing and columns
Single layer newer roof in fantastic shape
Mature Trees
Fenced yard
Richard Kane Elementary
Central Middle School
5-8 blocks from downtown, the library, the Bartlesville Community Center, COP offices, Post Office, YMCA, numerous banks and churches (great walking distance).  Outside of Wal-Mart, Lowe's and our church I could hang out in walking distance.  The best restaurant in town is downtown (Frank and Lola's).
40 minutes to downtown Tulsa with little traffic, Jonathan was working 35 minutes away in north Tulsa and the commute wasn't bad.