Don’t worry, there are pictures. However, read the narrative first as it will make the pictures come to life…

So, last Friday the truck was packed, the house was clean and the door was locked. We left town around 12 noon and went about driving the two hours to our new home, full of anticipation. We joked about how hot it was in the Valley that day and how we couldn’t wait for the foggy Carmel we know so well. The joke was on us.

Usually, as you travel west on the 156 and hit the 101 you can feel the temp drop about 10-15 degrees almost immediately when the ocean is in view. Curiously, the temperature stayed in the 90′s. Then something unbelievable happened, as we rounded the hill past Monterey into Carmel, the temp began to CLIMB to 97 degrees.

Anyone who lives in the Valley would scoff at the fact that we thought this was a bad thing. Surely you’ve heard of air conditioning, right Jenn? Well guess what my adoring fans, this new little abode I like to call the Easy Swede? Yeah she has NO CENTRAL AIR. So, as we pull up with two restless children, sore backs and a full truck, we all begin to realize what this heat means.

It meant that the house was a balmy 102 degrees and we had a crapload of work ahead of us that would leave us all in a puddle of sweat and frustration. As I walked into the house for the first time, the heat hit me in the face like a prize fighter. Then as I looked around I saw a whole lot of stuff that should have gone to storage the week before. So much stuff that we couldn’t unload the new truck full of our crap because, well, THERE WAS NO PLACE TO PUT IT.

As if all of this wasn’t enough, I had been warned before arrival of a little house guest.  This house guest was of the fur and tail nature and it had been “cornered” in the boys room. So, before moving in, I had to “de-rodent” my children’s room. Lovely.

The mouse had been described as a “rat” that was big and black and “stared down” my husband in the hallway prior to my arrival. Folks, you look at the picture of this creature and tell me if it doesn’t look like it just walked off the set of a Cinderella movie, sore from all of the dress sewing she had to do.

Anyway, so first order of business, get rid of the mouse. It only took a minute after we opened the door before the mouse was on the move. My dad and my husband captured this ferocious creature in a box. Then everyone pet it and gave it a name. Mousy.

After a tearful goodbye to the mouse in the neighbor’s ivy plant, everyone was back to work. I can’t begin to explain the mood that settled in the house due to the heat and the exhaustion. Everyone was literally dripping sweat as they carried in boxes. We were all silently cursing my pack rat nature as well… I can’t throw things away, it’s a problem and I’m seeking help.

That night, when the kids finally went to bed my mom and I proceeded to christen the house with a bottle of nice chardonnay. Yes, I do prefer red wine but it was too FREAKING HOT. What my mother and I failed to take  into account as we sipped this adult beverage is our complete dehydration and lack of food intake for the day.

The next thing you know it’s midnight and we decide to go for a walk. In our pajamas. The local high school down the street was our destination and we weren’t at all loud or lacking in judgement as we headed out on this journey. Please see the pictures for proof of our intoxication.

The next day was almost as hot and after a night spent sweating, everyone agreed it was time to go to Costco and purchase some fans. And we did, $125 worth of fans. Three hours later, it was raining. Awesome.

All in all, move in weekend was swell. I am forever indebted to my family for their help, as the conditions weren’t exactly perfect for moving large and heavy objects for hours at a time.

Also included below are a few pictures of the house. Please note the famed dolphin doorknocker. It’s fierce. Everyone has one. And because I know you were dying to see, I took a picture of the easy bake oven. Yes, that is a plate in the oven. A regular size plate – just in case you thought I was exaggerating when I said the oven was small. It’s like Barbie thanksgiving size small. So whatever.

Also, as an added bonus to the no air conditions, small oven, dolphin door knocker attributes of this lovely house, I discovered that it also has electrical wiring from the 1950′s. What does this mean you say? Well it means that when I run my tiny oven, I can not also run my microwave or the dishwasher or the dryer because if I do…the whole house shorts out. AWESOME. Good news is that I never need to run the dishwasher because it too is from the 1950′s and it has wheels. So you can wheel it to the sink and plug it in. SO CONVENIENT!

Stay tuned folks for more stories from the house that keeps on giving…

Pictures and good stories about the move coming tomorrow…

Until then, let’s just say the Easy Swede has not disappointed.

Well clearly I haven’t written anything for a week. I have been busy sipping margarita’s on a lovely mexican beach while someone (Fredrico) rubs my toes and feeds me grapes.

HA HA HA HA

Or, I am surrounded by boxes, lists of things to do and emotional outbursts the size of my hair in high school.

We move tomorrow and I don’t know if it is possible but I feel as though my life is both ending and just begining all at the same time. I lie in bed awake at night trying to picture what our new life will be like, unable to visualize one whole picture…just snapshots of change. I officially feel now like I am a visitor in my current home and town. One foot in each world.

I left a perfectly good job and a perfectly beautiful house in a lovely neighborhood, two miles from my parents for an adventure with my husband and children. I am both terrified and thrilled all at the same time.

I have to pick up a moving truck today and tomorrow morning we will fill it with the small remainder of our stuff left at this house. Sometime around 12 noon tomorrow we will pull out of town and head to our new life in Carmel.

I am so thankful for the opportunity and I am dying to see what the grass looks like on the other side of the fence.

P.S. this is the first time since I was 16 that I have been unemployed. More people should try this…

Well, the move is officially under way. My house is an accumulation of boxes and things and dust bunnies. Yesterday we embarked on a real effort to do some major packing and the end result, other than Kevin’s concussion, was pretty meritorious.

However, it wasn’t without drama, i.e. concussion and the mishap in which I broke an entire bottle of red nail polish all over the bathroom floor. Both incidents involved a partial blackout and cuss words. Why did the shelf all of the sudden come loose and land on Kevin’s head? Why did I ever purchase that crazy shade of prostitute red? Either way, a lot got done and we both finally feel like this move is happening.

Maybe, per chance, it is just me but moving seems to bring about a myriad of emotions. Every box that is packed and every cabinet cleaned out is a chance to take stock of what you have and what you’ve accumulated. So far, I’ve learned the following about myself:

1. You want pictures? I got pictures.
2. Shoes? Um, they might need their own U-haul.
3. Measuring cups? Yup, FOUR sets. FOR ALL THE COOKING I DO.
4. I love boxes of half eaten kid’s cereal.
5. I have partially used bottles of lotions, in every scent known to man. Looking for a little (and by little I mean 1/3 of a bottle) Exotic Coconut or Pure Seduction?
6. Books. Boxes upon boxes of books. Then more boxes and more books.
7. Apparently I am an avid collector of mismatched sheets and towels. Bully me.
8. For all of the cleaning I do, I prefer 3 half empty bottles of Windex to one full one.
9. I believe everything I read about anti-aging creams, or at least I must because I have an entire box of them.
10. I think a backyard really isn’t complete unless it is littered with dead plants in pots and weather worn children’s toys.

I am honestly hoping that the move to the Easy Swede will force me to downsize a few of my terrible pack rat habits. I really need to simplify. Some part of me knows however, that no matter how much I throw away, upon our next move I will find the same mix of stuff filling my cabinets and shelves. Some girls never change.

Only two weeks left at my job before the big Move. I am shocked by the speed at which this has gone, yet amazed at how some moments feel like years as they pass. I have been with this employer for 7 long years. To say that I’ve grown up here, professionally speaking, is an understatement.

This move is stretching me in ways I didn’t want to be stretched but it is also giving me a grand sense of freedom. I read once that you should chose where you want to live and then find a job there, instead of finding a job first. I always made the job choice first, until now.

We’ll see if those words I read long ago are words to live by…

Side note: the Easy Swede has a pretty cool door knocker. I forgot about it until the trip last week when I had a chance to take a better look around.

The door has a brass knocker on it in the shape of a dolphin. There  is no doorbell, just the dolphin. You actually have to pick the body of the dolphin up and bang his poor little bottle-nose on the door in order to knock. This house is shaping up to be full of blog topics.

So, next time you’re in town come on over to the Easy Swede, grab the dolphin and bring cookies.

Yikes, that sounds kinda bad………….