new home

Preparing For A New Adventure.

PaulasPonderings1 Comment

next-step-journey

A week from Monday my life changes – I officially start my new job!  It is a big deal because a) I am temporarily relocating to the Bay Area, and b) I am transitioning into a new role.  I am not looking forward to being back in the Bay Area BUT I am excited about:

  • My manager…  She has many years of experience as a manager and running a global organization.  She knows her shit AND she is cool beans.  I am looking forward to working with someone I can learn from (finally).
  • The industry…. the industry is changing and I will be a part of of the transformation.  My company is kick-ass and I am thrilled to be working with them to change the face of the industry, and becoming an industry expert in the process.
  • the role… I love putting things together.  My new role is all about putting pieces of the puzzle together, for prospects and customers, and seeing a solution come to fruition.  This makes my heart sing.  🙂

Even with all of this positive energy, I am also experiencing melancholy and loss.

I am melancholy about leaving (temporarily) my life here in Utah.  I love it here.  I love being close to AbFab and her family and the Utah community has been kind to me.  Even though I do not know many of my neighbors, I feel looked after and cared for.  People are watching and I like that.  Here are a few examples:

  1. When I am away, people take my trash and recycling out to the curb.
  2. When there is a heavy snowfall, someone snowplows my driveway.  I don’t ask for it, people don’t ask for recognition, they just do it.  I’d love to thank them, but I don’t know who they are.

I know these are small things, but I did not experience this in CA in the last 10 years I was there. Even when I lived in my house..  and when I was a renter… forget about it.  This small acts of kindness make me feel better, and have had a positive influence on me – I feel they make me a more aware, kinder person.  I remember these acts of kindness and it makes me smile and pass it onto others.  All around, moving to Utah has been a very positive experience for me.

The loss is Baby Boy.  Baby Boy is the cat I rescued from AbFab’s family after their tragedy.  I loooooovvvee him so much.  He is my favorite cat – so easy to love, such a sweet, caring, lovebug…  BUT I am overwhelmed with the chaos that will become my regular life… Sophie and Zoey (babies I adopted in 2005/2006) are used to the travel and chaos, Baby Boy is not. Because of this, I made the decision to find Baby Boy the forever home he deserves.   I found a home for him with a wonderful woman and her sidekick, an adorable cat-loving dachshund named Tucker.  Based on the pictures I have received, he loves his new mom…. but he isn’t so fond of Tucker.  Tucker attempts to play with him but Baby Boy will have nothing to do with him.  So sad.  😦   I am in constant communication with his new mom – we will monitor his progress. If he does not acclimate by mid-February, I will take him back.  For now we are crossing our fingers that Baby Boy will learn to love Tucker and all will be good.  Here is a picture of my little angel. He is the best cat in the world.

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I am heartbroken about my loss.. He is so lively, so personable, so loving.  I am devastated.  I’ve been crying for 5 days straight now.  I’m crying right now as I write this post.   It feels awful, not natural to not have Baby Boy near me.  A piece of me is missing, my heart is truly broken.  But a new, loving, stable home is what is best for Baby Boy so I have to move on.

So through my tears, I am packing up, organizing my stuff, covering as much of my furniture as possible (remodels are messy), and prepping the cats for the drive/change.  I will be driving to CA with the cats early this week.  Yes there is a lot of weather – wind and snow – I am keeping an eye on the weather and will make the journey when it is the most safe.

I will speak more to the job and the Utah house remodel in the upcoming months.

I’m always looking for feedback – Please share what you have done to better enable yourself for a new life.. or how you have dealt with the loss of a loved one…   I would greatly appreciate any/all feedback, guidance, and words of wisdom.

 

 

 

Decorators Envy.

PaulasPonderings1 Comment

mcmansionI’m in Utah.  I had a few customers to visit late this week, and decided to stay the weekend and stay with family.  I’m now staying with AbFab and her two awesome kids Mayonnaise and Shahnaynay.  4 and 6 now, 5 and 7 in very short order. My twin also came up for the evening, and she looks awesome.  I got a few pictures of us together, which is a rarity for us.

Since I’ve last talked about AbFab, she has gotten divorced from the kids’ father and has since remarried to a great guy. I’ll call him RoadRage for now… he is a very nice calm person, RoadRage is a great name for him as its opposite of the personality I’ve seen of him.

Anyway, they now live in a 5800 square foot home.  Its GORGEOUS. I love it.  It’s not the size that I love, it’s the dream of decorating and making a home.  It’s turning each room into a masterpiece, with color, with furniture, with flare. I can see why rich people keep buying new homes even though the ones they already have are Martha Stewart perfect.

On a personal front, I’ve been sick lately – a combo of allergies and a head cold.  I took a long nap today, it was good for me. I feel much better. Tomorrow, Sunday, I’m cooking dinner for the kids and my family…. Its going to be gluten-free (my new diet) but delicious.  I love to cook, it’s nice to cook for others.

O.k. so that’s it.  Not much tonight, but a little bit of something.  Which is what I’d love to see/read from Grey Goose…  hint hint GG, give me something!

Housing Update – Purchase In My Future?

PaulasPonderings1 Comment

So upon very sound advice from CLicious, I went to see the lawyer.

He reminded me over and over again what an idiot I am for investing in a property without a written agreement.  Once we got beyond that, he helped me figure out what my options are.

He said that I should NOT move forward with the open house/sale of the property until the owner and I have a written agreement in place – he saw 2 reasonable options – a Purchase or a Settlement Agreement.  Whichever I chose, it needs to happen before anything else happens.

So I called the owner, said I wanted to talk, and I met with him last night.  We spoke openly and honestly about what we both need/want from this…  we agreed on a sale/purchase price.  if I can qualify for a loan, I could be the new owner of a very nice home on a large lot in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Since it’s the weekend I’ll need to get in touch with the lawyer, draw up a purchase agreement, and find a broker first thing on Tuesday.

On the work front, I have a huge demo to deliver on Monday so I’m working this weekend.  I cannot wait for this project to be done.  I’ve spent most evenings and weekends working since January of this year. I’m tired and completely burned out … I need to take some time away to adjust my perspective… or find a new job.

I’ll update you later this week on my progress on the home and work front.

New Home is Coming Along.

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Home Sweet Home

I stopped by the new house today. Check out the progress.  The electrical work was signed off by the city, the insulation and wallboard goes in. By Friday, the house will seem like a house (instead of a disaster area).   I’ve been taking pictures along the way, so I’ll post some of the good before and after’s on the site.

I am 8 weeks into construction, and I have another 4 weeks to go.  I will be moving in early November.  Its crazy to think how this stroke of good luck came to me….

Anyway, I’ve attached a picture of the front of the house as it looks today.   The reason I decided to post the picture is because much wont change from what you see except the color.  To stay on budget, there are a few things that I just cant afford to do right now: 

  • fixing the delapidated/leaning front porch
  • add the new back deck
  • replace the yard/lawn area in the front as well as on the sides

All in all, these are items that are very nice to haves, but not must-haves.  Must haves are a kitchen, laundry room, bathrooms, etc..   As long as I can live in it comfortably, the rest will just have to wait.