Sep 25 2015

Things Fall Apart

Posted by Moving 2 Comments
Things Fall Apart

Literally. Things are LITERALLY falling apart in our rental house. It is raining things to fix.

By now, you might be wondering if there’s a chance I’m making all this up — because, really? If I didn’t have photo evidence of what follows, maybe some of this stuff might be hard to believe.

A couple weekends ago, there was a thunderous crash from upstairs while we were all in the living room. When Al and I looked at each other, there was actual fear on his face (something I’m not sure I’ve ever seen). Is someone in the house? we asked with our eyebrows, and he started up the stairs. V went charging after him despite my protests, and a moment later she came running back out of our bedroom. Continue reading →

Jul 27 2015

California Drivin’

Posted by Musings & Misc. 5 Comments
California Drivin’

If you’re traveling to Ireland from America, you probably expect to alter your driving strategy to match the whole left-side-of-the-road thing. But I kind of figured that if you stayed within the U.S., driving would more or less stay the same.

Not so, as it turns out. At least not for me. Driving in California has been more of an adjustment than I anticipated. I’ve mentioned the U-turns and the cyclists — which were obvious from minute one — but there have been a whole host of new surprises now that we’ve been out here for a few weeks. Here are eight things this Michigander is still getting used to: Continue reading →

Jun 24 2015

(Rental) House of Horrors

Posted by Travels & Experiences 3 Comments
(Rental) House of Horrors

For better or worse, I’m a child of the nineties, and sometimes a really good Clueless reference is all you need.

THIS HOUSE IS A MONET.

It looks good from afar, but up close, it’s an absolute disaster. The disastrous-ness has essentially reached comedic proportions, so I guess I could just try to laugh. Maniacally. As I run screaming from the driveway in my bare feet and fling a filthy white flag into the night.

I almost don’t even know where to start. Or where to continue, I guess, since I’ve already touched on a few issues. Maybe something chronological?

The kitchen.
Okay, so we haven’t had a microwave since we’ve been here. Like, ever, not even for one second. I didn’t bring this up at first because having a microwave is definitely not crucial to survival, and plus I never imagined it would become such a longstanding situation. But we’ve been in the house for three weeks now, and there is still no microwave. Or oven, as it happens, since they go together in this particular unit. Which maybe wouldn’t be such a huge deal, but we STILL can’t keep bread or grains in the house right now because of the moths (more on that later). So here’s where this has become a problem worth mentioning: Continue reading →

Jun 10 2015

Rodents and Spiders and Pests, Oh My!

Posted by Moving 1 Comment
Rodents and Spiders and Pests, Oh My!

It’s taken half a month, but most of the boxes are unpacked. Most of the rooms are set up. The floors and cabinets and bathrooms are clean (for now).

When I first envisioned my We-Finally-Officially-Moved-In! post, I totally imagined that it would be this glittery, sparkly thing brimming with well-won optimism and hope. Fast-forward past two-and-a-half weeks of hands-and-knees floor scrubbing, steam-mopping, and breathing in bleach fumes at seven months pregnant, and it turns out I’m not QUITE in sparkle-mode yet. Sorry if you were expecting that. Like I said, I sort of was, too.

toddler dipping feet in hot tub

Testing the hot tub waters on our last day of temp housing.

We’ve been in the rental home for a few days now, which means we’re done with the whole temporary housing situation; for a while, we were driving back and forth between two “homes,” unpacking one, then going back to sleep at the other. So the good news is, eliminating one of those living spaces was a key first step to feeling settled. Check.

The rodent.
Then, early last week, I was in the garage unpacking some shoes. I was humming to myself — yep, literally HUMMING…for a minute there, I was determined to make the best of it — when I heard some rustling. Continue reading →

May 24 2015

An Indefinite Vacation

Posted by Moving 4 Comments
An Indefinite Vacation

We officially, as a family, moved to California on Saturday, May 16. Al flew home to help with the movers and to assist with the whole flying-with-a-two-year-old thing.

When the plane touched down, I felt the same rush of relief I always do. We grabbed our luggage — one suitcase each, plus a car seat — from the carousel. Standard issue. In fact, everything felt just like every other trip I’ve ever taken (except now we had a child with us). Sitting with Baby V, waiting for Al to pick us up in the rental car, I looked around at all the travelers and thought, We are just on vacation. We were going to take V to the ocean, show her some sights, and then we were going to board a plane again and head home. Right?

The flight.
I was semi-dreading a four-and-a-half hour flight with a toddler. V has flown once, for forty-five minutes — she was ten months old and slept in my lap the whole trip.

This time, there was no sleeping. Continue reading →