Day 111 - 57 days to L.A.

According a calendar I hadn't been looking at, I had gotten off on our days.  Apparently today is day 111.  Countdown is correct.

5. Ben went swimming

Thursday afternoon we finally made it to the pool.  It was just down the hall from our room but we'd never made it.  I knew we needed to get out of the hotel room (well, some of us. Rachel was happy to hide between the bed and the wall playing on her phone for as long as we'd let her).

The pool at the Embassy Suites is only 3'9" and that is awesome.

Ben and I went in the pool and he had a blast walking around and climbing on me. He was so happy he was giving me kisses because he was just so happy to be in the water.

We were in there for a long time.

It's on the second floor of the hotel above the lobby and is open to the outside.  It was still a rainy day, so it was nice to be able to be in the water but protected from the elements, and yet still feel connected to them.

The pool was not heated, but I got acclimated quicker than I thought I would.  Partway through someone from the hotel came in and asked how the water was.  I mentioned the temperature and they said they'd look into it.  I think it got a little warmer after that.

Lori was on the phone with real estate stuff (possibly with the contractor here) for much of it, so came in to see us from time to time but kept having to wander off and make calls. I also had gotten quarters from the front desk so I could do laundry (it's always nice returning home from vacation with most of the laundry clean) but somehow Lori ended up doing most of the laundry.

Day 109 - 58 days to L.A.

4. We put an offer in on another house.

The next day (Thursday), we spent the morning collecting paperwork for their financial guy. When we had finally finished that, we needed to get out of the hotel. So piled into the Durango and started driving around the neighborhood we had wanted to buy in (but didn't find any suitable houses) and were happy to realize it wasn't as great in person as it was in Google Maps and the listings. It may be a hot neighborhood, but it didn't have the right charm or appeal. Just lots of really tiny Hollywood-hills style roads that were crazy.  It was like we were back in Seattle with a lot of rain.  That didn't help our mood (still on the plane as I type this, still hating the aisle seat) any, so we finally decided to head back into the center of town and hit up a restaurant we liked, one of the last places we ate at before we moved out of L.A. (Islands).

My favorite burger is no longer on the menu, but they made it for me anyhow. #offmenu #woot But on the way to the restaurant, our broker's automated system found a new match and sent it to us.

But - it wasn't just a match where the city and price matched, it was a house with a guest house. And it was well-appointed, having been refreshed by the owners who had already moved out. 

WHAT!?!?!?! We emailed our broker, he wrote back right away to say he'd contact the seller's agent. The seller said he was under instructions not to show the house before Sunday but our broker talked about how we'd be gone by then and the seller's agent said he'd make an exception. Our broker was tied up in meetings, so we met with the seller's agent to tour the house. Other than size (of course), it was perfect. Nice neighborhood full of nicely kept homes and this house looked really good inside.

Much of the mother-in-law apartment was clearly unpermitted, but still looked good. The price was also suspiciously low, so we point-blank called that out. He agreed that the sellers expected it to sell for more, but they also wanted a quick sale as they have already moved and were renting somewhere else (Burbank turned out to be too far for them to commute) and didn't want to keep paying for two places. So we said we were incredibly motivated to get it and he admitted that he hadn't told the sellers he was showing it to us.

We left, asked our broker what we'd need to pay to get it. He and the agent talked, got the price the sellers were hoping to get for it and we said "Ok, that's what we'll pay." It was far less than the other house and we wouldn't need to do a lot of work. (Soon we'd want to expand the master and add an en suite, but we'd make to in the short-term.)

The sun-dappled back yard.
It was raining the day we saw it,
can't wait to spend time in it
when it looks like this!

Since we'd been though the ringer with the first house on the financials, our broker was able to answer all the questions about our financials and satisfy everything.

They countered with with a few non-financial points - the length of the escrow, specifying the escrow and title companies, stuff like that. We accepted their counter, sent the wire instructions and 26 hours after the house was listed, we were escrow.

If that house had come up a few days earlier (usually homes list on Tuesday to show throughout the week before the Sunday open house) or a few days later, we would have missed it. But if that timing was a coincidence, a phrase one of my co-workers used to say often comes to mind: "Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous."

The other house had countered with stuff and we still had until Monday to respond and they made it clear we weren't the only offers they were countering. We let them know on Friday that we wouldn't be responding to their counter.

Tomorrow: Ben goes swimming.

Day 108 - 59 days to L.A.

3. We put an offer in on a house

for illustrative purposes only
(house shown here has more rooms and more land)

The next morning, we toured the two houses. One wasn't anything special and they wouldn't even let us see the guest house.  The other had some neat character, but it was going to need some serious work as much of it hadn't been touched in probably 30 or 40 years.  And it was expensive.  

But, we put an offer on it.  The seller made us jump through a million hoops - including proving to their financial guy that we would be able to buy the house, providing more documents than we had to provide to our lender.  

Between that process, the work that would need to be done and the price, we weren't quite feeling so confident about the process and wondered if we'd made a mistake.

So we put an offer in on another house.  But more on that tomorrow.

Day 107 - 60 Days to L.A.

2. Ben flew on a plane.

We hadn't taken Ben on a plane since he was 3-months old.  We weren't sure how it was going to go and we were a little scared.  We talked with him a lot about it before hand.  He mostly did OK, though there was a few points on the trip down where he screamed out in pain or frustration.  They were short-lived, but I still worried about what the other passengers would think.  He also would throw his head back into his seat a lot and I worried about the passenger behind me spilling his drink or just getting mad.

Flight attendants said things like "Inside voice!" and "Would it help if we got him some crayons?" but all they were doing was making it worse.  

I found that some good strong squeezing helped him calm down quickly.  There was a point where I was able to close my eyes and might have fallen asleep because I opened my eyes and he was laying over with his head on my lap. He wasn't sleeping, but it was at least a period where he was calm.

But, my worst fears weren't realized - we weren't escorted off the plane by U.S. Marshals in Portland.

After landing in L.A., we got in our rental - a Dodge Durango - really nice.  Actually, let me stop for a moment to declare Enterprise Car Rentals in Los Angeles a secret that everyone should know about.  First off, they have kiosks where you can handle most of the rental or confirmation process, including renting car seats if you forgot to bring one (yeah).  And then when you go out get your car, it's waiting under a shady cover and there's someone to help you get all checked out (I think they just keep a few of each class under the cover and then when you take one, they bring another one.)  It's awesome - the best experience by far. Followed by Thifty, Payless and Fox (and then everyone else probably) and then Hertz in Los Angeles as the woorst.  My two experiences with Hertz in 2000 and 2015 were identical - long, long, long lines. Hertz bad, Enterprise good.  So... yeah.... we put an offer on a house.

After we got our rental car, we drove by the four houses and immediately eliminated two of them.  The remaining two weren't super-great, but they were the only choices we believed we had out of all the properties for sale in Los Angeles.  One was at the end of a sketchy drive next to commuter rail lines (and in a number of years will also have a high-speed train as well - if they don't tear down the house to put it in), the other was in a neighborhood we also didn't like.  For the two that were left, one was in an OK neighborhood and one was in a neighborhood we really liked.  

The next morning, we put an offer in on a house.  (Watch for the next post.) 

Day 106 - 61 days to L.A.

(yesterday...) So much for capturing the transition in real-time - it's been a long time since my last post. As I write this, I'm sitting on a plane heading back to Seattle from my latest trip to L.A.  That means I can't check to see what I had actually talked about in the last blog post, but here's a bunch of stuff that's happened recently.  So, I'm just going to write a series of posts and schedule them for the next few weeks.  But first off, let me say that I absolutely hate sitting on the aisle. I also don't like the very back row on the right side of the plane - you're across from one of the bathrooms and you get to see the worst of humanity - all the people who do not close the lavatory door when they're done. You probably didn't notice, but the numbering doesn't line up.  We have a departure date now, sooner than the end of June date we had used previously as our countdown.

1. We sold a house.

It's done. We're half a month away from being renters again. That's weird.  The house is sold as-of the end of April and we're renting it back until mid-June.  Our buyer is a friend and a teacher at the local elementary school. Her boys have been over here for birthday parties before and we hope that they enjoy the house for many, many, many years to come.  I'm leaving them plans for a shed and for additional cabinetry and changes in the kitchen we never had a chance to make.  We had the yard cleaned-up, we installed granite in the kitchen and all three bathrooms, along with new sinks.  Stainless appliances in the kitchen.  We were getting all kinds of work done in order to list it and then our friend said she'd found a new lender and was again interested in our house.  An earlier attempt to see if we could sell to her didn't work out.  We've had a number of things to correct from the inspection, but most of those are done.  The only remaining items are pretty much mine to do and hopefully will be done this week.  Had hoped to work on a major one today but couldn't find a tool I needed.  I bought a replacement but now Lori's not feeling well so I need to wait to work on it.

Next: Ben flew on a plane. 

Day 58: 124 days to L.A.

We are in the home stretch as far as the home renovations go.  The granite and new sinks were installed today in the kitchen and bathrooms. Last night in anticipation of today's granite installation Lori painted the rest (save behind the refrigerator) of the kitchen.

Tomorrow the plumbing is supposed to be all reconnected. After that, smaller stuff like installing the microwave and dishwasher and a few other odds and ends.  Then, it's down to:

(a) yardwork (I did some this afternoon)

(b) staging (this will be a continuous process)

(c) paring, sorting, trashing, donating, packing - figuring out what we really want to take with us and what it's time to say farewell to.

I'm happy that we're almost to this stage.  Being without sinks the past few days has been a bit frustrating and living in a constant state of clutter has been a nightmare.  When I say clutter I mean boxes, mail, stuff from cabinets stacked on tables, my bags packed (or now unpacked) from the trip, delivered stuff still in boxes waiting to be put away (when there's a place to put them away), low priority mail, and on and on.

We've done our budget and can confirm that we actually can afford to live in California.  We need to do our pre-approval paperwork and our disclosure paperwork for this house,

But yeah, looking forward to being able to get things put back into cupboards and off of tables.

Day 53: 129 Days to L.A.

...which is a funny thing to write from Santa Monica, which is where I am at the moment.

Let's get the part where I repeat myself out of the way. Busy. Crazy. Blink. Breathe.

Ok... so... where were we?  Last update, Sunday the 14th.  Since then, the painters came in and primed and painted the walls in the dining room, living room, foyer, upper and lower halls and all three bathrooms... I finished both hutches and moved them into position... Lori started re-arranging things in the kitchen and loading that hutch. More stuff thrown out in the garage, more stuff packed, more stuff readied for Goodwill.  On Friday, the new refrigerator and stove were installed and the new dishwasher and microwave stashed in the dining room. The ice maker was the wrong one but the delivery guy refused our refusal - he was supposed to take it back but wouldn't. So now we have to go through Home Depot to get it replaced and hopefully someone out to install the new one so I don't have to do it.

On Saturday morning I re-hung the curtains in the living room and installed a new curtain rod in the living room minutes before my parents and brother's family arrived for a Jeff/Jim/James birthday party.  (On Saturday I got all the laundry caught up and on Sunday I filled the other hutch with clean laundry... only temporarily, mind you.)

On Sunday afternoon, I headed to SeaTac and flew down to L.A. and this week, I'm in Santa Monica for three days while Lori holds down the fort. I'm riding about 3 miles each way to work today and tomorrow (on Wednesday I'll make the hotel drive me the 2 miles to work and catch Lyft from there to the airport at the end of the day).  On Thursday morning the contractor and his crew will drop by and remove all the counters in the kitchen and all three bathrooms and install the microwave and dishwasher.  He says he'll try to make sure we have a working sink in the kitchen. Lori says we'll be eating a lot of Subway those few days - anything where there's no cleanup or even paper plates to toss.  On Saturday they'll return with some slabs of granite for the kitchen and bathroom and by Sunday, all that will be left in the house are (a) touch-ups; (b) uncluttering/packing; (c) more curtains to hang; (d) the yard.  I'm sure I'm oversimplifying.  Oh, and then selling the house, buying a new house, negotiating rent back, planning, packing, moving, and starting the new chapter.

But for now, I'm tired.

Day 45: 137 days to L.A.

It's been a busy couple of days (what's new?) but glad to actually have made some progress.

On Friday, I moved some of the new furniture closer to where it needs to ultimately end up.
I completed the paperwork that the Relocation Consultant needed from me and introduced her to our two (three?) realtors. That also starts the process that gets us an extra chunk of cash.

On Saturday I did some more priming of the giant wall in the living room and then Lori and I had a talk about where we were with the finances. We realized that with one of the two big medical things resolved and with the extra money that comes as part of the relocation package, we could get the painting done afterall. We contacted the painter and described our adjusted needs and he wrote back and told us when he could be here.

Today I took a bunch of boxes to Goodwill, and filled another box with coats for the next run.  I also strengthened the front-steps by adding an extra 2x4 the length of each step underneath the step. If there's time I'll do a little bit more on the edges of the step, but already they feel sturdier.  I also did some cleaning in the garage and added some more to the trash can for this week.

I'm about ready to sit down in our room and take a hard look at the stuff in the drawers.  Do I want this in California? Does this mean something? Does it have value? Or is it clutter? How long has it sat in this drawer? If someone else threw it away, would I even notice? Is there a way to honor it without keeping the physical item? Does it need to get moved to the garage to join others like it? (like all the nails and screws that have, over time, ended up in a bin in my dresser)  I really want to live leaner.

Tossed out a couple of license plates tonight, too.  Two from Califorina, two from Washington.  (Don't worry, I cut them all in half and threw half of each one in the trash and the other half in recycling.)   I hope next time around we get better plates - no more donkeys or grumbling.

Day 41: 141 Days to L.A.

Hope to be brief tonight - really seriously intend to be in bed by midnight tonight. Was up way too long last night writing that really long post.

Nothing much move-related happened today.  At least that I'm aware of. Lori and I didn't have good sleep last night, so she spent some of the day catching up on that. I worked all day, with only a brief stop for lunch and then worked some more this evening.  I made sure to get everything I wanted to get done, save this blog post (now) and reading (not happening) much earlier in the evening so I didn't end up at 10:30 with a long list of things.  Did get a few more things for staging, some new cabinet knobs and valances.

Rachel's sick and will be staying home tomorrow, looks like.  Still trying to get my new work computer set-up.  I got better access today, but still can't access the corporate network.  I find it hard to believe it's nearly Thursday already. This week is just flying by.  I guess that's good...?

I need to find the motivation to get more done, but I think that starts with feeling more rested. And doing a better job of consulting my to do list and then actually using it and checking stuff off and postponing stuff that I shouldn't be worrying about.  Ok, six minutes to midnight.  Time to sign off.

Day 40ish: 142 Days to L.A.

So I'm feeling a little anxious tonight about the move.  Specifically, finding a house, the right a house, a house we can afford, a house that will work for a us, a house that won't be a really awful commute. Instead of focusing on that, I'm going to talk about three other things.

First, Lori continues to recover. Most of her incisions are looking pretty good (as much as incisions can) and she's been feeling better, but still lacking in energy. She's, as she put it, champing at the bit to get back to work, but is being wise and not trying to tackle much right now. The house is looking better now that I'm not trying to keep the dishes caught up but she wants to get back to painting and decluttering.

Second, I had a chance to get some stuff done today.  I broke down some boxes and reorganized some stuff in the garage and crawl space.  I feel like it made a dent in those two areas. Donation boxes are better packed and ready to go and if the weather takes a turn for the better I'll be able to start leaving items out on the curb again. I've already been able to find new homes for a few items.

Third, let's talk August 2014 to present because if you really look at it, it's a little insane. Impossible. Humbling. Astonishing. Supernatural? Divine?

• July - I realize I miss doing email marketing. I post in a group on LinkedIn wondering if anyone needs any help. Someone responds right away and I find some extra work getting to do email again.
• August - got the outside of the house painted because the HOA said we needed to do it (or they'd hire someone to do it and send us the bill).  
• September - Job got eliminated. It was no secret that my new boss and I weren't getting along, it was no secret that there was no longer a good fit for me within the organization, nowhere else to move within the organization and things were pretty miserable. I had been looking for work unsuccessfully.  They probably could have just laid me off, it was an at-will employer. But they give me two weeks' severance for every year of service, plus an extra month, plus there was a vested retirement account.  Day after job got eliminated, went to my grandmother's for her 95th birthday. My parents, my brother and his family and my whole family in town celebrating her birthday, including a party for her at her church. Wonderful weekend, took my mind off of everything.
• October - looking for work without a lot of success. Change all my online resumes to indicate that I'm looking for work.  Some guy calls me, says I've actually been on his radar for some time, could he send me a few job listings because he thinks he has several that will be a good match.  A few phone calls, a trip to Seattle, a 30 minute phone call and a quick conversation with a few people and I'm here by a consulting form and immediately subcontracted to another company, ExactTarget.  I had experience with them previous, having had a large participatory role in the RFP that selected them as a vendor to replace our old email vendor... but by then I was leading the team, so I didn't have very much hands-on production experience. They give me keys to their office and I participate in long-distance training, some from home and some from an office at the consulting firm in Seattle.  (I get to work in Seattle!!!!!! In an office!!!! With the Space Needle behind me and reflected off my computer monitor as I work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
• November - I show up at the ExactTarget in Bellevue. ExactTarget has just been purchased by Salesforce, and things have been shaken up.  Between the time ExactTarget charged Teleion with finding a contractor and the time I arrive, Salesforce has installed a new leader in the office who hired a full-time employee for the same role I was to fill. He honors the contract and says he'll do what he can to find work for me for the next six months.  I'm being paid by my former employer, the consulting firm and the side gig, so we replace the 26 year old heater and have a heat pump installed, and a gas line and replace the ancient hot water heater with a new one. I begin shadowing a team on a few clients, including Activision. The engagement is a struggle, everyone will admit that.  I drive 60-90 minutes each way every single day in the what was probably the tamest fall and winter in all the years we've lived here. I realize that I don't want to drive that long-term and that if I want another high paying job in this or a related field, that commute is a requirement, or we need to try to find a new place to live in the crazy Seattle real estate market.
• December - I begin to have a minor but visible role with Activision, helping to pick up the slack with Campaign Management because in January the Campaign Manager is going on a three-week trip that had been planned months earlier.  I ask a lot of questions because I'm curious and context is important to me. I learn a lot from the current team.
• January - They pull me aside and tell me that they're going to temporarily have me continue to be the Campaign Manager even after the real CM returns. I have a crazy week where I'm doing the CM work for her three clients and also helping to onboard a new client, working with their agency and doing hands on production work in the system.  That was 10-11 hour days with a 90 minute drive on each end. They shift all the other positions to San Francisco but don't have any extra CMs. With so many new people on the team (at Salesforce, Activision and the creative agency), it's decided that a face-to-face is a good idea and I'm invited to come along. As soon as I land in L.A., I have a voicemail from Lori. I call her back and learn my grandmother has passed away. It's somewhat expected and now means I think of grandma every time I'm there.  I meet the rest of the team at a Salesforce office in Santa Monica (on Third Street!) for an afternoon planning session. The next day we go to the Activision offices for a day of planning, discussion and learning more about the plans and objectives for the next year.  A few days later we have an absolutely wonderful memorial service for my grandmother. I knew she was awesome, but I did not know the depth of care she had for others.  She worked until she was 94 at an insurance agency (a day or two a week) because she had fun hanging out with the people there and she volunteered in her church answering phones and greeting people in the office (a day or two a week) and I got to hear some neat stories from people who came up to just tell me personally how Marjorie had been there for them at a time when they reached out to the church in a moment of darkness. And you should have seen all the photos over the decades that she had. Mom and dad made this amazing display covering multiple tables. I heard one person gasp in astonishment, a picture of them and family members from many years earlier, a photo they hadn't realized had even been taken.  Grandma rocked. 
• March, April - they extend my contract a week or two at a time, never really telling me when it's going to end and not telling Activision either. I begin to work on documenting everything and training a replacement CM. She's a no-nonsense by the book type of person and I know she's going to be a bad fit. Fortunately, she also has moral objections to the violence of the Call of Duty video game and gets herself partially transferred off.  So I begin the training a second time with another CM.  I break the news to Activision (that my time is limited) because no one else is and I don't think that's fair to them considering the relationship we've established.
• May - Activision calls and says they don't want to lose me. To be more specific about what they said would make me sound like I'm full of myself and full of something else. But they were very encouraging. I begin interviewing with Expedia for a possible role with Teleion at Salesforce at Expedia to help them with their ExactTarget implementation. I meet with a number of Expedia individuals. I'm back in the Seattle office at that point, so I'm ducking into the cell phone room for calls with Activision, calls with Salesforce continuing to train my replacements, and running back to Bellevue for interviews with Expedia.  One time I found myself crossing I90 while carefully eating a Mod Pizza because I literally had no time between meetings. Finally Salesforce says they want me for the Expedia role and that Expedia likes me and then springs it on me that it's still not permanent - they still want me to be a contractor, they're still not willing to make the investment. I announce that I'm taking the role with Activision. They call back and try to get me to take the Expedia role, try offering me a full-time role, etc., but at this point, Activision's done nothing but make me feel valued and wanted while Salesforce has gone out of their way to try to avoid any sort of ownership.  So Teleion says that they have no more work for me so would I please turn in the laptop and key to their office?   Two weeks of unpaid vacation end out May.
• June-November - hit the ground running with Activision, from a plastic chair under a canopy in our backyard for a summer that was absolutely gorgeous on a new MacBook Pro (the laptop I had purchased in September wasn't powerful enough for Photoshop).  Also take ownership of an Xbox One because, well, working for a video game company, I ought to own a modern console, right?  I'm still not directly working for Activision, it's a six-month gig where I'm hired by a company in Arizona, but I'm having a blast, the work is fun, we're working through some of the previous issues and we're seeing a lot of success, unraveling a lot of mysteries, fixing issues and getting things into a really great shape.  Some great new additions at the creative agency get me some terrific new partners who don't have any memory of the former world. A trip or two to L.A. in there.
• October - the BETA for the new game goes well, including the stuff we did for email
• November - negotiations, job offer, realization of relocation, negotiations, waiting, counters, acceptance, signing, down to L.A. for orientation.  And the new game launched.
• December - a much smoother December 2015 compared to December 2014.  I recommend Alicia Lawver for a job with the firm whose newsletter I started working on back at the start of this odyssey.  I haven't seen Alicia in many years (despite her living just a few miles away) but now working with her over email each month. That's fun.
• January - a busier January 2016 compared to January 2015.  Lori's surgery.
• February - here we are.  What a blast!  If you've been reading my blog at all, you know what's next - Lori continues to recover, we operate in this weird energy-saving space, people bring us meals, not a lot happens outside of the basics... House lists in April, house-hunting trip in April, hopefully an offer here, an offer there. Packing, decluttering, purging, waiting. And then, it's back to the golden state.  And Expedia announces they're replacing ExactTarget.

What a truly amazing nineteen months. I could not have pulled this off myself.  Without even realizing it, I found myself time and time again in opportunities where I could work hard and where I knew enough to be useful, helpful and in demand.  I had a chance to shine, but I wasn't the one controlling the spotlight.  I'm kind of awed and humbled by that.  Truly feel like it's one of those things where I can say "I was really lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and fortunately, I knew (or learned really quickly) what to do to be successful."

It was weird to work on my taxes this past weekend, W2s from the employer who laid me off (because the severance took me into 2015), the consulting firm in Seattle, the firm in Arizona, Activision and the 1099 from the company whose email I've been working on.  Packed a lot in to the year. Maybe once we get to California I'll have a chance to put my feet up and relax. Sure, I have my feet up right now, but I also have less than 5 hours until it's time to get up.

Day 39: 143 Days to L.A.

Another late night for me.  Besides this blog post, I still need to prepare the children's medicine for the next two days -- (Four cups, four lids, two straws... measured pre-mixed medicine+water with scale, make more of the pre-mix, two powders with two measuring cups, three liquids - dropper and two syringes, juice, mix well, clean up all the measuring cups, syringes, table) -- and clean catboxes (no, Apple, not hatboxes), and then set schedule my coffee for the morning.

Lori's making great progress - she's really reduced her pain medication and she's finding that she can do about 90 minutes of activity at a time before needing a rest or a nap.  She got up this morning and did a lot of getting the kids out of the door and ready for school.  It was kinda cool, all of us being up together at the same time, first Lori, Rachel and I, and then after she left, Lori, Ben and I.

Today was a good step forward - I had my first phone call with the Relocation Specialist who's helping with the move.  She said the call typically takes up to an hour, but we pounded it out in half an hour. I think that we didn't need her help in finding a realtor here or in L.A. saved a bunch of time. We talked about the house-hunting trip, the move, the pack & load, shipping the car, flights, hotels, rental cars, temporary housing, any costs we might be on the hook for, all the things we can expense, the timing of things, the impacts to the children, requirements (like max 500 miles a day for any driving we want to be reimbursed for during the move - which turns Lori's two-day trip into a three-day trip) and how they can help us ship Lori's mom car at the same low rates they get and on and on. I think during the negotiation phase, they undersold (or I underappreciated) just what an amazing relocation package this is. I know it was a long-shot, but I had wondered if they could just park my car at LAX in long-term. Sadly, that's a no-go - an adult has to sign for it.  (Any friends out there want to sign for it and drive it to LAX and leave it in long-term?)

The biggest takeaway is that it costs about $1/pound to ship things from Seattle to L.A.  The company pays for a set amount, but anything over that is on us and she said from her experience a house our size (she had already looked up sq footage and # of rooms before the call..weird.) was almost twice what they pay for.   Our move up here was almost 1/3 of what she thinks we'll take back down.

Threw away the rug that used to be in the dining room.  I'm a little sad to see it go, but I think it was time.  It's gotten old, faded, worn and it was just rolled up in the garage.  So now all that stuff just looks like dollar signs and it becomes much easier to part with it.  That will be the test now... "How must does it weigh?"  Is it worth that many dollars to ship?  Do we use it?  Would it be better to replace with a new one later? Would we miss it? (Can it fit in the trunk of my car and get a free ride down?) Considering our new house will undoubtedly be several hundred square feet smaller, will there be room for it?  (Not counting the several hundred square feet of storage that's not counted in this house's official square footage.)

Time to get ruthless.

Day 38: 144 Days to L.A.

It feels like we're getting closer to "normal" around here.  Not like yesterday, but like normal for us. We all went to church together this morning. In Ben's classroom, they have these large (2.5'x4'?) metal trays bolted to the wall and then lots of flat magnets that can go on them.  (The really weak kind that are less likely to be swallowed and not be injurious if they are.)  Anyhow, I've never know Ben to really play with them in class.  There was a similar setup in the waiting area of a place he went to years ago for therapy and I do remember him messing with them a little bit there.  Apparently, though, while playing today, he announced "This is fun."  Ben doesn't talk much, but sometimes a full sentence pops out and it's mind-blowing.  I wish I had been there for that.  Two weeks go he apparently gave another caregiver a spontaneous hug.

We had left-over pork and veggies for lunch from the wonderful meal Lori's mom brought over last night.  In the afternoon Gilda brought over pizza which we enjoyed at dinner time and Lori and Gilda got to spend some nice time chatting (I was hanging with Ben).  Rachel got all her responsibilities done, we watched an episode of Dr. Who, and then Ben and I went for a walk.  We worked on walking without holding hands (and not running off) and stopping and looking and holding hands when crossing the street.  It went really well.

I also got some contracting work done and I picked the top 7 mugs I want to keep in the kitchen. The herd was thinned out not too long ago, so we'll keep most of the ones I didn't put back in the cabinet but maybe 1 or 2 will get donated.  There, that was my contribution to the impending move.

Oh, also did my taxes. It was super-easy and super-quick with H&R Block.  There's still a few things to go back and double-check, but even with 4 W2s and a 1099, still took nearly no time at all. A few surprises, but at least one of them was pleasant.

Did not get into bed by 11 like I'd wanted to, but as soon as I'm done here, will do a little reading before turning the light off.  Also tried to count my calories but there were too many of them and I lost track.  I'm over tonight but not by nearly as much.  Starting to slowly get back to normalcy.  I'm 25-30 pounds less than when we move here, but over 20 pounds above my lowest, which was within 3 pounds of my goal.  Weight loss is hard.

Day 37: 145 Days to L.A.

I'm not sure I did much to get us closer to L.A., but today was a good day.  So I've been sleeping on the couch in the living room.  I wanted to make things as easy and quiet for Lori as possible during her recovery - none of my tossing and turning or anything to disrupt her when she does sleep, since she's been having troubles sleeping.  I've recently discovered that the coffee maker is the best way to wake up, better than an alarm, so I've gone to the trouble the past few days of setting it up the night before so that there's fresh coffee each morning when I wake up.  Morning me thinks night-before-me is really awesome like that.

So I got up at 8, had my oatmeal and coffee, and then went downstairs and fired up the Xbox.  I was expecting Rachel at 9 to play Skylanders, but thought I'd get some Black Ops III in while I waited. She never showed. Turns out that she got distracted, never got her shower done and lost track of time. Eventually I went upstairs, got almost all of the finances caught up and paid off another credit card.

Lori came down and put on Bolt. It was nice to have her back, she's mostly just stayed on the bed in our room, coloring and binging The West Wing.  But today she felt like she had some strength back and less pain.  (Yay!)

Then Ben wanted to go outside. I really didn't want to go, but he can't go outside by himself and when he doesn't go outside on the weekends, he gets really stir-crazy and can become quite the handful. So, outside we went. I raked up a lot of stuff, including a big pile of dead ferns I had cut down before our realtor visited.  I also made a pile of junk from the backyard that needs to go in the trash.

Then I sat in a chair and played with my phone for a long time. It was quite peaceful and quiet and I actually appreciated it. He mostly just sat quietly in the treehouse. But then eventually he slid down the slide and was ready to go inside.

Toy Story and part of The Incredibles was also screened today.

So we came in. Before too long Lori's mom stopped by with dinner - pork and cooked potatoes and asparagus. Yum. Then we got the children ready for bed, I cleaned the kitchen, Lori and I did a little research on appliances for the kitchen, talked about some recent listings that had come up, talked about our finances and then I went down and did some clean-up in the garage. Threw away some more stuff that won't be making the move, broke down some cardboard and stacked all the boxes of giveaway in preparation of another trip.

I also got a bit of work done for my contracting gig.

It was a full day, but not a stressful day.  It felt like "normal" day, but unlike any day we've really had before.  So maybe an idealized normal that I hope we have more of.

So, I guess I got some L.A.-related stuff done after all. Just no priming or painting. Soon, I'm sure.

Day 36: 146 days to L.A.

Wow.. if you name it, I'm behind in it.  Lori's surgery has really slowed all of us down. I'm trying to pick up the slack and let her have time to rest, but there's just some stuff I'm not as good at, as fast at or as patient at, plus none of my stuff has gone away.  Fortunately, we've had a host of awesome people providing meals.  And not just "here's a burger" but like "Here's a massive a third-of-a-refrigerator-shelf tin of homemade lasagna" - or a (literally) "three trips from my car to bring in all the food" meals. We've had chicken, pork, lasagna, pizza, not to mention birthday cake.  Our friends have really taken good care of us. We're blessed to have to work hard to fit all the leftovers in our fridge.  (Meaning plenty of lunches have been taken care of as well.)

Lori is on the mend.  She's not to lift anything over 5 pounds or drive. So she can't lift Ben or the cats (who weigh as much as Ben) and her mom had to take her grocery shopping today.  She's had trouble sleeping, ending up staying awake really late at night and then trying to sleep in despite all the noise we've made starting the day.

My work has been busy, busier than I expected.  I've been focusing on the stuff with deadlines, but then other stuff pops back up and demands my attention and I have to admit that I haven't been able to push it forward.  Different priorities are important to different people, but it's a bit of a challenge. But I love it - working with some really awesome people and trusted with some big things. Being in the office is going to be amazing. FedEx showed up today and handed me a new laptop. It's fast and big and light and I'm going to have to see if it fits in the duffel bag I use for travel, though I ultimately want a different bag that's better for cycling.

All of the surgery and household stuff has slowed progress on the house.  The four large pieces of furniture are assembled (though the two hutches are not yet attached to the two buffets and the glass doors are set aside for now) - those final touches won't be done until the painting is all done.  After we decided that we didn't have it in our budget to have painting done I did a lot of priming (single coat) on the big walls in the living room and dining room.  But that's been over a week.  I need to get back to it.  Ben and the cats are stealing all the tape that was holding the plastic in place at the foot of the walls to catch paint drips.

Our contractor's been selected, the contract signed and the initial payment made to cover all the materials.

We've been sorting through the houses that have come up so far - our realtor has a portal for us where we can put houses into save or reject piles and add notes why.  We're asking for a lot at a price point just below what most are listing for.  We're seeing houses go right away and we're seeing others stay on the market for a long time.  It's hard to know what to expect.

Crazy times.  (and I guess 8 minutes ago we switched over into day 37. Perhaps I should get some sleep... Rachel will be up by 8 and want to be playing Skylanders by 9.  No Black Ops III for me tonight, but there's still catboxes to be cleaned and the coffee maker to be scheduled. And then, hopefully some sleep. And probably some contracting work for my side business will come in and need to get done tomorrow.

I have been nowhere near my diet with all this great food and desserts.

I've been trying to read from the bible with Ben each night, but sometimes he's not in the mood, or he's been mean or I wait too long and he's too sleepy. Sometimes he's grumpy with me so I just play a chapter from the app instead of reading it myself. Today I opened up the app to re-read what I had let play last night (I may not have paid as close attention when the app reads it) but this was probably something I needed to read:

In view of all this (God's gift of redemption), make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting they have been cleansed from their sins. (Peter's Second Letter to Christians in Northern Galatia, ~68 A.D.)

Day 25: 157 Days to L.A.

Half of the kitchen is a different color. Lori and her mom painted multiple coats of a new color on the wall. I really liked our bright yellow color before, but I really like this modern (grown up? sophisticated?) new color Lori's chosen for the kitchen and the hall bath. The color originally slated for the bathroom was discarded as soon as the edge was painted.

We also met with our painter today to get an estimate on some of the bigger interior painting jobs. He said we shouldn't bother with the ceilings and I'm always a fan of someone who talks you out of something they can get paid for. The contractor was like that, too, identifying a few things he could fix cheaper than our original plan to replace. We're waiting for his estimate that we thought we'd receive today.  The painter could be back as early as next week to get those massive walls taken care of.

Joining the first buffet in the middle of the living room is the second hutch. I carried up all the pieces from the wrong one, apparently. Ah, well, I'll finish assembling it and then we'll set it aside.  It's a lot of work and I think I'm getting some carpal tunnel from all the work with the screwdriver.  If I can do more when the children are awake or at school, I can use a drill and give my wrist a break.  Once the kitchen is painted, we can put the first buffet and hutch in there.  Once the dining room is painted, we'll put the second one in the alcove.

I also did a little cleaning in the garage, but it would be difficult to actually even tell - it's a giant mess right now, though I'm working to get things into distinct groups: trash, recycling, donation, give away/yard sale, packed and still-to-be-sorted.  I can't wait for the weather to turn nice - I plan to put a bunch of stuff out in the driveway for a free/pay-what-you-want garage sale.  And there's lots of weeding that needs to be done.  Also need to climb up on the roof and lay down moss killer.  Need the rain to activate it, but need a dry day if I'm going to be climbing up there.  Also need to fix the chimney cap while I'm up there.

Tomorrow Lori will turn her attention away from renovations to pre-surgery nesting type activites - tidying, making sure she's got everything she needs for long periods of resting, things like that.

Still not seeing much on the housing front.

Day 24: 158 days to L.A.

Finally, a productive day for me.  I chopped up an old dresser into pieces that fit into the trash can, put the new car seats in my car, and with Rachel's help, assembled a buffet. I also removed some stuff from walls that were nailed or screwed into place. And re-arranged Rachel's room. We should have done it long ago, it feels so much more open now.  And moved some stuff around in our very packed garage.

One more buffet and two hutches to go.

Tomorrow we should get the estimate from the contractor and the painter is coming by to give us an estimate. A few days remain before Lori's surgery.  She wants to get some patching and painting done before then and also get the refrigerator and freezer cleaned out.  (People have signed up to bring us meals while she's recovering - that's pretty cool.)

We're seeing new houses come up in the listings but most really don't work for us. We're seeing houses sell at or below asking though our realtor in L.A. says the market will heat up as the we move into the year.  (The same news our realtor here is telling us - he's predicting multiple offers in the first week of listing.)

Today in church they were announcing events in church that are taking place in July and it was a little sad to think we'll be gone by then. Life here will move on without us.

We've begun to think about what we'll do once we get there, like get a membership for the L.A. Zoo and some of the restaurants we're looking forward to, both old and new.  Hello, Islands. Hello, Chick-Fil-A.  (My co-workers want to start a chain of chicken restaurants that are only open on Sundays called Chick-Fil-B.)

L.A. Metro has pledged to announce the opening date for the Expo Phase 2 within 30 days of the handover of the maintenance facilities in Santa Monica.  The line itself has already been turned over to them and they're testing trains on the line.  Right now they're projecting a May 2016 start, but nothing's official yet.  They have noted that they will launch without all the trains they need.  They're also just about to open the Foothill Extension of the Gold Line and between those two openings this year and the Blue Line renovations, they don't have all the trains they need.  We just got a hotspot so that I could work on the train, but I wonder if it will be standing room only when it first launches.

Day 23: 159 Days to L.A.

Time is moving way too quickly. I don't think I did anything today that worked towards our move. We celebrated a family birthday party. It was a nice time and our son did really well for most of the car trips.

Last week, the contractor came to walk through the house and talk about what we wanted done and to give us some of his recommendations. We're expecting his estimate on Monday. The carpet cleaners also came last week, so we moved a lot of stuff to the garage and haven't moved much back since then. It's so open and clean in here, it's nice. The guy who painted the outside of our house in 2014 is dropping by on Monday to talk to us about painting some of the high walls inside our house. That means I need to patch the corners of the walls that have been dinged up, or, um, chewed on.

We've got a really big Google Doc of all the stuff we need to get done and we've got the plans for house hunting and for listing our house. Now I just really need start actually crossing things off the list.

Day 19: 163 Days to L.A.

19? 19??? Nineteen?!?! Already? Dang.

It's been over a week since I last wrote. It's been busy. I was down in L.A. for a few days. Without a car. That was a pretty big accomplishment, I think.

Things are underway. We've met with the realtor, got our comps. The contractor is coming tomorrow to talk about the work we need done. We've put together the shopping list for Home Depot. We've already gotten a bunch of stuff delivered waiting in the garage. Lori's cleaned all the tile. Professional carpet cleaning is coming on Thursday. Our realtor in California is passing along matches and we're planning our trip down to house hunt.

You'd think with that much time elapsed, I'd have a longer post, but no, haven't really had time.

Day 10: 172 days to L.A.

Today was another day of massive decluttering and cleaning. The realtor comes on Tuesday to lay things out for us and we were going to have the carpets cleaned on Wednesday, but we're going to need to delay that. We've got a plan in place for what renovations we need done and Lori's identified a contractor to call for a quote.

One of the things that's bugged me is the length of the commute I'm facing in L.A. But I realized that most of the jobs in this area would also mean a commute of probably almost as much, the jobs wouldn't pay as well, and the only option here for the commute would be by car. In the rain and snow and dark. I did that for six months and it was pretty brutal. And that was a really mild Oct.-April where there wasn't any snow. However, in L.A., the potential will soon exist to have almost the entire commute by rail. We're getting a mobile hotspot soon and I could definitely use that to do some of my work while in transit. That would be a much better use of my time. I hate to leave Seattle, as near as we can tell, this is the best option. Well, that and I love working with these guys. They're smart, they're driven and there's a lot of potential for me. It's not Kingdom-work, but I can still pray that somehow it means something beyond just supporting my family and having fun doing it.

Speaking of cars, this is a weird one, but one thing I've noticed about California versus Washington - people are a lot more respectful of others' cars in California. You're a lot less likely to come out of a store and find a fresh new ding in your car door down there than you are up here. This is from a sample size of 3 or 4 cars, but especially Lori's, people up here have just not been kind. It's really quite disappointing.

And speaking of cars, I'm looking forward to the Peterson Automotive Museum. It's fresh off a major renovation and I don't know why I never made it down there before. Of course, if you like cars, you also need to see the two LeMay Galleries up here in Pierce County - they are really amazing. One of them we didn't even get to see all of because it was just so big and we knew our son wouldn't be able to make it all the way through.

Day 8: 174 days to L.A.

Lots happened today. Not my doing, I was at work. But Lori scheduled carpet cleaners, tried to engage a tile guy, found a great tile project when the tile guy declined, priced more stuff, ordered a few things, and did a lot of cleaning and decluttering. I did a little bit of decluttering, but not much. I need to do some patching of corners - our son has literally chewed on the wall. We think it's in anger. We haven't seen it in awhile. Not since the last time patched the walls. Life with autism, yup. We had a long talk with our daughter tonight, too. She's starting to get anxious about missing friends and things she knows here.

I'm really tired. The phone call with KMart this evening just cast a pall over the whole evening and I'm really bummed by it. I exercised a lot today while working so that's also made me tired. But I'm way under my calories. I've started watching The 4400 (no one told me it takes place in Seattle, British Columbia. I like Seattle, B.C. almost as much as Seattle, Washington). I would have watched it much sooner had I known about the Seattle connection. We're also watching another Seattle, B.C. show - iZombie which I'm also enjoying. Also fun - I recently saw "RoboShark" which took place in Seattle, Bulgaria. I liked how the first half the movie they had signs with the City of Seattle's logo and the cars had Washington State license plates on them but by the second half they were mispronouncing Bill Gates (Glates) and you could easily see those round European-style speed limit signs and all the names of the shops in the mall were stores you'd never heard of.  (To save you the trouble - a UFO crashes in the Pacific, a shark bites it, becomes a robo-shark, snatches a Kenmore Plane out of Lake Union, then is back in Elliot Bay (geography was all wrong) and works his way inland through the sewers, eating people.  The Navy sets up tents in a field and catches the attention of a reporter (apparently the Bulgarians and Canadians who made the film didn't realize Seattle is full of real permanent Naval bases) until finally Roboshark ends up in a swimming pool (the kids are all saved because they send a Tweet to the High School's Twitter account and all the students follow the HS Twitter account) where Roboshark starts Tweeting and they start Tweeting back and his eyes change from red to blue (he's no longer a murderous Roboshark) but then the government blows up the pool and I can't remember what happens next but his eyes turn back to red and then  the Space Needle gets damaged and they try to aim the top part at Roboshark who's in a grassy field next to the Space Needle and I think they miss but something else kills Roboshark but then someone's Chihuahua now has the red eyes as the credits close or something like that.  (And yes, the Roboshark ate Bill Glates.)

Our daughter's been leaving for school in the mornings in the dark. Seattle's weather changes so much that some parts of the year it's still dark at 8 am and dark again by 4:30 pm and other parts it starts to get light in 5 o'clock hour and says light until  10 pm. It's disorienting and confusing. I am looking forward to the move back to where sunrise and sunset are more consistent. I have fond memories of going out at 7:20 and turning the water on to water the roses and then popping back in to help make sure our daughter was ready. Then we'd all come out, I turned the water off, we'd get in the car and get on the road, dropping her off at daycare, then me at my job and my wife would head on to hers. It's better now to be in a position where she doesn't need to earn a paycheck and can stay home and run the house and be available for doctor's appointments and therapy and all the other stuff we need, but I really did enjoy those mornings. But, like Don Henley says, "Everything is different now." He was talking about a change I had already made, I know. But, it is. So I don't know what I think I'll reclaim by moving back, but I'm definitely looking forward to the weather.