Sarah’s Neighborhood

These posts are copied and pasted from another blog I started, then lost track of. Another example of when life was good and I had no idea of the catastrophe about to befall us.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Friday, February 03, 2006

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

It's been almost two years since I blogged last. That gives you an idea of what life has been like these last two years. There have been so many changes in my life, and I am not big on change. You can ask anyone in my family and they will tell you, I do not like change! In fact, I don't even move the furniture around. When something finds a home, it stays there! So, this move from the Pacific Northwest to the southwestern desert has been almost more than I can bear, for a lot of reasons. Primarily, it has been stressful because we lost the house to foreclosure after being unable to sell it. Part of me died when that happened; we lived there for 25 years. That time could have been titled "It's a Wonderful Life!" because it was. Not anymore. Instead of my beautiful flowers, water fountain, bird feeder, and swing, I look outside and see dirt and rock. Most of our belongings are in storage in WA, several states away from where I am now. Also, I've worked here 1.5 years now and Gaylen has yet to find a job. The economy is in the toilet, but I still thought he would have found something by now. I am paying all our living expenses (rent, utilities, groceries & gas) as well as expenses for the girls and emergencies--like when the Maxima needed $800 worth of repairs so Andrea could get to work. I had to fork over the money I had been saving for their Christmas airline tickets, so then I didn't get to see them until 2 weeks AFTER Christmas. There always seems to be more money going out than coming in. I am also stressed out because the girls are so far away. I only get to see them once a year, and that is just not enough. And I HATE the heat here in the summer. (Today it was 114. Can you say MISERABLE?) Coming home from work (a summer job to keep us afloat) in a hot van means that I am soaking wet by the time I get home. I drive with my fingers crossed that the old van (176,000 miles on it) doesn't overheat, because when the temperature gauge needle goes up, I have to turn the A/C off. Yuck. To cool off, I run about a gallon of water into the bathtub. However, the water is about 140 degrees, and that's on the coldest setting, so then I have to take the gallon water jug out of the refrigerator and add that to the bathtub so I can cool off a little. It feels like steam is coming off my skin at that point! I am ready for this "tide of bad news" to turn. I want life to be good again! I want to find a reason to get up in the morning! And, I want a reason to hope. Hope that next month will be better...I don't know how much longer I can take life like this. School starts in 3 weeks, and that will be another emotional roller coaster/merry go round. For me, it means putting in 10 hour days 5 days a week, and a few more on the weekend, trying to keep up. Maybe, since this is my third year, it will be easier this time around. But my class is much bigger, so maybe not. We shall see.

Gaylen has been working non-stop for the past several weeks getting the house ready to put on the market. It's amazing how much "little stuff" there was to do!

• Bathrooms - new light fixtures and lightbulbs, repair a crack in the tub, re-grout, oil wooden cupboards, paint
  
• Kitchen - clean out ALL the clutter so countertops/microwave/fridge are bare, oil cupboards, new light fixtures, paint
  
• Bedrooms - clean out everything except bed and dresser, clean out closets (donate extra stuff or put in garage), paint
  
• Family room - repair skylights, repair walls, paint
• There was also new weatherstripping for the doors (the cats had shredded it), new paint for the front porch, flowers for the front walk, washing windows and kitty prints off walls and doors, sanding and varnishing the wood floors, and shampooing the carpets

The plan right now is that Gaylen will drive down early with a loaded trailer, and find us a place to live. Apartment or rental house, we're not sure which. He's seen several houses for rent that are fairly reasonable. I would fly down about Dec. 25 and meet up with him, then we will unload all my boxes of school stuff into my new classroom by the end of that week. I need to get the room set up a bit. Being a brand new classroom, it may be kind of stark for a while until the kids have a chance to make some artwork for the walls.

Sarah will be home for Christmas break, working, and will be our kitty-sitter while we are gone. She has to be back at school Jan 2, so Gaylen will need to come home soon after that. He will leave the van in Phx for me to use, and fly home. Not sure what vehicle he will drive, as we sold my Escape.

Everything is kind of in limbo right now, waiting for the house to sell. If it sells soon, he will come down and stay with me. If it doesn't, he will stay here until it does, keeping an eye on things.

I still can't believe it. I got the job in Phoenix! It doesn't seem real to me yet. I keep thinking it's a dream. Pretty soon I need to start thinking about my new class, and what am I actually going to do with a class of 2nd graders? The principal is mailing me some curriculum in a couple weeks to look through. I'll have a better idea then how to plan. This new school will not have PE, Music, or Art specialists that first semester, so it will be up to me to make sure my kiddos have a good balance of that in their schedule. PE and Art I can manage; not so sure what to do about music. I guess we'll be singing songs. I know lots of children's songs. And I have lots of song books. Should be fun!

We had a garage sale this weekend and got rid of lots of stuff. Towards the end, we were moving more and more things into the FREE pile. One woman came out who scrounges for homeless people, and she took the free sleeping bags and backpacks. I had a load of old pajamas and t-shirts in the wash for Goodwill, and she was willing to take those too, even though she'll have to throw them in the dryer. I'm glad she knows people who can use all that stuff.

When Gaylen and I start this new phase of our life in a new city, we are not going to accumulate so much stuff. It is too hard to store, clean around, and get rid of. I just want the things around me that are beautiful that I enjoy or use every day. Everything else just takes up valuable space and emotional energy.

How does a person begin to organize and clear away clutter for moving, when that person has lived in the same house for 24 years??? My DH and I are doing the pre-move clear-out, and there is just stuff everywhere I turn. I can't figure out how to get started. We will have 2 piles--the pile to keep and move into storage, and the pile to sell or give away. Out of the keep pile, some essentials need to be left accessible, and others hauled away, to wherever we end up moving. We're not sure we're moving yet; we just figure we will get the house cleaned up so were are READY to move. The hardest part is parting with some "treasures," old momentos/furniture that belonged to my parents. I'm still haggling over keeping their huge sectional sofa. It will be too large for an apartment, probably, but wouldn't do well in storage either. I can't bear to part with it. Or the record albums. Or the bedroom set. Most of our other furniture will be sold, and replaced when necessary. It will be interesting to see what we end up with. We are going to Phx in a couple weeks for a wedding. I am going down a couple days early, and have a job interview about a teaching position there. If by some miracle I get the job, we would trek down and move into an apartment, though hopefully not long-term. I don't know if I could handle living in a 1-bdrm apartment again, like we did in 1980. 400 sq. ft. just isn't much to move around in.

I've found a new series I enjoy; however, I am enjoying it on dvd. The series was cancelled a few years ago. Isn't that always the case? By the time you find something you love, it's already gone. Oh well. I watched a marathon this week. There are 4-5 episodes on each dvd, and I've watched three of the dvds already. I have 3 more disks scheduled to arrive in the next day or two. The series is called "Once and Again." Lovely. Sela Ward is in it. I was not familiar with her work, but am loving the character she plays. Actually, I love ALL the characters. They seem like they could be the family next door, or your best friend. Very down-to-earth, realistic characters.

Spring is finally here, thank goodness. After all the wind, rain, snow and ice we've had this past winter, I know everyone is ready for warmer temperatures as well as a little color in the form of flowers, shrubs, and blooming trees. Our wisteria has buds all ready to go. I can't wait! I love the smell of wisteria! The daffodils are done, and tulips are in full swing. Our heavy rain yesterday trampled some of them, but not all. The rhododendron blossoms are beautiful. Last weekend, we pulled out all the overgrown shrubs in the front of the house, in preparation for finding other, more suitable plantings to install. I'd like to put a lilac in somewhere, but I've heard those things grow into monsters, just like the butterfly bushes that are now trees. Mother's Day will be here in a few more days. Traditionally, that is the day when the family helps me plant pansies and petunias in the garden beds and hanging baskets. It's a big job, but goes faster with 4 people. This year, neither girl will be home for Mother's Day. :( I guess we will have to plant by ourselves.

Wow, it's been over a month since I posted! I didn't realize it had been that long. Life has been busy, mostly with work. I'm getting called to sub more frequently, so I can't plan on having the day off unless I say "no subbing today." The day's pay is always nice, even though the way we get paid is a pain. We have to wait until the end of the next month for the paycheck. I had 14 days in January, so my paycheck at the end of this month will be a good one.

This past week was mid-winter break, a break from school which I thoroughly enjoyed. Gaylen and I got the house and yard cleaned up last Saturday when the sun came out. For the rest of the week, I did some sewing, some reading, and watched old movies from the library. I found a really good one from Masterpiece Theater today called "Islands at War." Takes place during WWII when the Germans invaded the Channel Islands. Britain pulled all their soldiers out and left the islands defenseless, so of course, the Germans stepped in. Interesting movie. The guy who plays the photographer in "Calender Girls" plays the main Nazi bad guy. What a character switch!

I've been working on making a special quilt for Andrea's 21st birthday, coming up in 2 weeks. I'm putting it together like a Round Robin, starting with a large block in the center (a Mariner's Compass), then adding different borders around the sides. My goal is for it to be at least 70" wide by the end. The second border, which will put me at 40", is giving me fits. I'm trying to paper piece 24 blocks for the border, using 2 different designs. Hopefully it will all figure itself out soon, as I have limited time to get this done.

I had a nice lunchtime visit with my friend, Lynn, yesterday. It's been such a long time since we were able to get together. She's only available on Fridays, and I've worked the past 5 or 6 Fridays, and it was Christmas chaos before that. It felt really good to sit and talk and laugh with her. I miss my girls. It is too quiet around here when they are gone.

An arctic blast came through the Seattle area a few days ago. Not only did we get 6" of snow (our third or fourth snowstorm in the past 4 weeks), the temperature has dropped so much that we don't even get up to freezing during the day. The snow on the ground is going to be with us for a while! When I left for work Friday morning, it was 20 degrees! I think we might have reached 28 for the high that day. The crisp, freezing air reminds me of our winter trip to Montana when it was -10. It is so COLD! But I will acknowledge that all the bright, glittering whiteness is beautiful to look at. I prefer to be on the inside looking out, however, not trying to drive around on the icy roads. It snowed a little bit again yesterday, and more is predicted for tomorrow. What is it with this white stuff? Seattle is not known for its snow. Our moisture usually comes in the wet variety...People around here will not forget this year for quite a while.

As for Christmas, we were kind of on a time delay because of the week-long power outage. We didn't get our tree until December 20. Needless to say, I was not anxious to turn around and take it down on Jan. 1, so we kept it around a bit longer. It came down this weekend. The vacuum got a good workout sucking up all the pine needles. Now the living room is back to normal. Time to get ready for Valentines Day! *sigh* One year, when the girls were in Brownies, I left the tree up until Valentines Day, and decorated it with hearts. It was a Valentine tree, and very pretty too! That must have been the year we tried to have a fake tree. Not my cup of tea. I prefer the aromatic variety.

We had a really lovely Christmas with the girls home from school. I finished Sarah's quilt, and she loves it, which always feels good. Andrea's main gift was a television to take to school. Sarah knitted a pair of lime green mittens for Andrea and a stocking hat for me, and she's working on a fair aisle stocking for her dad. All are greatly appreciated! The girls went shopping together and bought me a Jim Shore Christmas angel to add to my unofficial collection (there are new angel and snowmen additions every year), and this one plays music! How cool is that?! Each girl also added a new snowman to my collection--Andrea made a cross stitch one, and Sarah found one made out of glass to hang on the tree. They are both beautiful, and setting out all of these special gifts each year is a lot of the joy of the holiday for me. I get to revisit all the memories from the ornaments and decorations of previous years, then add a couple new ones before tucking it all away for another year.

Over the holiday break, I was a lazy bum and did not get much of anything done. I read tons of books, checked out 30 episodes of the "Inspector Morse" series from the library, did sudoku puzzles, and played on the computer. I was not at all productive! But I greatly enjoyed the holiday and was very relaxed and ready to go back to the classroom.

I'm going to try and post some pictures of Sarah's new quilt and our latest snow. Sarah and Andrea took lots of great shots last week.

Our weather this fall has been nothing short of amazing. After rain, floods, and snow, we had a 70+ mph windstorm blow through here on Thursday, December 14, knocking down everything in its path. We live in a heavily forested, rural area. It was astounding to see all the large trees that came down, mostly on top of power lines. In fact, there were so many trees down after the storm that the next day we couldn't go anywhere. All three roads leading out were blocked by fallen trees--SEVERAL fallen trees, as well as multiple power lines all over the roads. On Friday, after waiting in a long line, we managed to get out on Ames Lake Road by driving UNDER a tree that was leaning across the road. There weren't any power lines on that road, so it was definitely the best bet.

Our neighbor had a tree fall on their house; Gaylen went over Friday morning with his chainsaw and cut it up for them. The tree poked a couple little holes through the shingles and wood of the roof, as well as crinkled the rain gutter, but it shouldn't be too major to fix. There are hundreds of other homes up here with trees hanging down into their house, and all the insulation that comes with it. It's a royal mess. I know, because it happened to us in November '98. We had the trees in the front taken out after that. It's the only way we can sleep during those big windstorms. And moving out of your house for months on end during repair work is not fun either. You have to board your pets in a kennel and live out of a suitcase. Anyone that has to go through that has my sympathy.

After the windstorm, we knew power would be out for a while. All you had to do was drive a little ways and see all the shattered transformers, telephone poles snapped in half, and trees on lines everywhere. The length of the outage surprised us, however. The longest power has been out in the past was two days. This time, power was out (for us) seven days. Other families, in nearby towns, had their power out 8, 9 or 10 days. Even with Puget Sound Power (PSE) bringing in power crews from all over the west coast, and working long shifts, it still took seven days. It probably would not have been quite the stress it was if it hadn't come the week before Christmas. Everyone had plans, things they wanted or needed to get done. I had my Christmas baking frenzy to take care of, as well as cooking and cleaning. When you have a golden retriever and 2 cats, a vacuum in a necessity! And, surprisingly, it doesn't work well without power! Hmmm....Laundry piled up very quickly because of the refrigerator, which was defrosting all over my kitchen floor, and the skylight in the hallway which blew out and sent rain pouring down. Both times, it was bath towels to the rescue. Then I was left with sopping wet towels and no way to clean them. On the fifth day of the outage, I piled five loads of laundry into the car and headed for a laundromat in town. (They had power!) Unfortunately, there were 50 other people with the same idea. Most were people my age, who had not set foot in a laundromat since college. It was definitely a step back in time!

Fortunately, we have a wood stove for heat and emergency cooking, and we kept that thing going 24 hours a day. Gaylen got up several times during the night to feed it, and I kept it stoked during the day. It was like having a new baby! We also have a 1,000 watt generator to run lights, tv, and computer. (No internet until the phone lines were fixed. We were without phone service a couple days as well.) The refrigerator and big freezer defrosted. We lost everything in the fridge, but on the 5th day I managed to find bags of ice to throw in the freezer and keep some of the larger things frozen. All smaller packages had to be thrown out. Reading about all the families trying to get by without heat or light made us appreciate that generator and wood stove all the more! Temperatures were in the 30s, and that is mighty cold when you have no way of getting warm.

When the power came back on December 21, the first thing I did was vacuum! Sarah did her laundry, then the two of us started in on cookie baking. Now it's Christmas Eve. The house is not as clean as I would like, but I'm not going to stress about it. The presents are wrapped, cookies are made, and dinner is in the refrigerator ready to cook. If power goes out tomorrow, we're having leftover ham!