Welcome, Israel!

I don't know how you found me, but I appreciate your visit.  I hope you enjoyed whatever you read, enough to want to return (and bring friends).  Thanks!

EIGHT weeks from today, we'll be HOME.

Stephen had the day off.  I've been listing our "Drop-In NON-Yard Sale" on various Facebook Yard Sale pages.  We had a few bites on our couches today, throughout the day.  Stephen rearranged the van for our next Flea Market day (Saturday), and we loaded more furniture and bins and boxes into it, and the dang thing's almost completely FULL again!  We rearranged the living room somewhat and did some spot-cleaning to the carpet, so that if we had any REAL bites on the "D-I N-Y S" then at least it wouldn't look like we're the complete slobs we can sometimes be.

Had a few errands to run, and felt good about what we'd already accomplished.  While we were out, we added to the "moving errands" list, and almost rewarded ourselves with ice cream.  Would have rewarded ourselves with ice cream, but the specific parlor in mind no longer exists.  Store-bought wasn't going to scratch that particular itch, though, so we came home.

More questions about the "D-I N-Y S" and a final "not going to make it tonight" message.  No worries.  Got five items with closing auctions in the next little stretch of time, two of which have bids.  So my evening's still occupied with shipping.

Everything's good here.  I'm grateful for the sunshine.  I'm grateful for the physical strength and the mental prowess to get the things done what need doin'.  Wish that ice cream parlor was still around, though, 'cuz now I have a hankerin'!  Dang!

Where we used to live is safer than where we currently live

I'm not saying this is the "wrong" coast anymore, but we just learned today of a weird thing that happened last week in OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.  Okay, not really OUR neighborhood, but within a mile-and-a-half from it.

Stephen's stepmom manages rental properties.  Her office is located DIRECTLY across the street from our local City Hall/Police Department.  The bank she uses is located DIRECTLY behind (and across the street) from her office.  That puts the bank ONE BLOCK away from the Police.

Last week, that bank was robbed.  And even though the teller put one of those explodey things in with the cash, and the doofus put the bag into his PANTS, and he hadn't bothered to cover his face, but he was brandishing a gun and wearing a hoodie, the Police from ONE BLOCK AWAY still haven't found him.

Stephen reads a local-news blog written by a friend of his, that VERY FREQUENTLY reports on crimes occurring in this region of the state.  I've even posted on police activity directly downstairs of our apartment.  And one of my former co-workers made it into the police blotter when she was accosted in the parking lot at work.

I shared some photos on Facebook when the big drug bust happened across the street from our place in California.  That was the ONE crime incident I was witness to in TEN YEARS of living there.  SO MANY incidents happen here!

Not that I'm a worrier, or even EVER fear for my own safety, but I am SO looking forward to getting home!

311 Flea Market, Baby?

We had a decent day yesterday, but we don't really believe in sunscreen, and we had set up our tables (inadvertently) facing the sunrise.  Lots of "Looky-Lous" and quite a bit of "wheelin' and dealin'" (to the extent that we needed to have a short refresher on "how to negotiate as a seller" -

we were both giving off a teensy air of desperation when we'd say, "we're asking x but we'll take y" so we had to keep each other in check there).  Ended up selling the heaviest pieces of furniture long before we were ready to call it "A Day," so that was good.  No lugging the heavy stuff back.  YAY!

Once we got home, we discussed options for today: find temporary homes for all the clothes that were in our dressers, get the dressers in place to load in the van at Dawn's Tramp-Stamp this morning, reorganize all the boxes and bins of little stuff, and possibly reload all of that into just the van, as well.  Or do a little reorganization and take both vehicles again.  Or say "fuggit" and sleep in and return next Saturday.  We could both see the pros and cons of any decision we made.  We decided to take the wait-and-see approach, allowing Stephen to go to his job and me to work on the organizational tasks last night, and make a more informed decision in the morning, based on my level of accomplishment and our level of inspiration.

Let me tell you about my level of accomplishment: I. Kicked. Ass.  I re-boxed all of the books back into liquor boxes (for easier carrying); I resorted a bin and a box with dolls and tchotchkes; I found a new home for the clothes in Stephen's dresser; I rearranged the living room so that the dresser and its mirror were easily accessible for loading in the morning; I SOLD my own dresser to my neighbor but she doesn't have space for it yet, so I get to continue living out of it.  The living room actually looks like we're moving out!  Woo Hoo!

Then all of my body aches kicked in, so I soaked in the tub.  Actually NAPPED in the tub, until my phone alerted me that Stephen was on his way home from work.  Got out, dry, dressed, and went to bed.  Stephen got home, saw all of my Kick-Assery and was duly impressed, and we discussed our options for today One. Last. Time. as he came to bed.

His 5:00 a.m. alarm received a response from me: "I'd like to request a five-minute snooze" (and I NEVER snooze).  In that five minutes, I was acutely aware of my sun-induced headache (and I never get headaches).  The alarm went off again, and I didn't move.  Possibly another five minutes passed, and I asked "was that a snooze or dismiss?" to which he replied "I think I dismissed it."  At which point, we discussed our options again, both recognizing the pros and cons of both real options.  I said, "I'm going to the bathroom, and when I get back, we'll make a decision."  We both had headaches; he had body aches, and his dresser is just heavy enough that lugging it downstairs in the dark was just too daunting of a task.

So.  Now that we're up and alive and aware and have treated our headaches with caffeine and our body aches with whatever, we're going to spend THIS WEEK - at our LEISURE - getting the dresser and mirror into the van; sorting and organizing and getting bins and boxes into the van; planning for next Saturday with fresh eyes and bodies.  We WON'T face the sun next weekend, that's for sure!  One point for learnin' sumthin'!

311 Flea Market, BABY!

The past week has been spent gathering, sorting, pricing, stickering, and loading into vehicles all the little stuff we hope to sell this weekend.  A lot of the items that were/are listed in the stores are stickered for "just in case" it's easier to move them in person.  We've got some furniture packed into the van for Day One in the hopes that the van will return home empty and can get loaded with MORE furniture for Day Two.  We've got power tools in a bin.  We've got books, and dolls, and comics, and odds-n-ends types of household goods.  We could make a LOT of moola this weekend, if what we have is what the shoppers want, and folks are willing to try to make deals with us.  We'll make a deal.  We'd rather not tote it all back home!

It's gonna be interesting.  I'm hoping that we're alert enough to get there (just past Butt-Crack of Dawn EARLY); I'm hoping there's a wifi signal, so I can sell current ebay items (and "end" them right away on ebay); I'm hoping it's warm enough and also cool enough and it doesn't rain.  Flea Marketers are a wild bunch.  Wish us luck!

Wassup with the waterfowl?

Back in the day, when I was living and working and loving life in California, I was in a Theatre West Storybook Production of "The Ugly Duckling" (2006).  We opened the show, ran a couple of Saturdays, and then Mommy died, and I had to go to Florida for all of the hullabaloo that is associated with the death of a loved one.  I helped my understudy nail the part, and when I returned, I got to see her perform it.  ENNYHOO, one of the cast members had given us each these little "Breast Cancer Awareness" ducks as Opening Night gifts.  There are two little metal sensors on the underside, that when you touch them with your fingertip, the little duck lights up in a variety of fun colors, for about a minute.

Yesterday, we were moving lots of stuff around, getting organized for the flea market weekend extravaganza, and we discovered this duck.

Doing THIS, for no reason.  (This video was actually shot moments ago, and the duck's been doing this all night.)

This morning, Stephen watched and listened as two GI-NOR-MOUS geese were honking at each other in our back "yard."  Wassup with the waterfowl?

Cocoa's a Melodramatic Cat

When we traveled across the country LAST TIME, I spent some time "leash-training" or "travel-training" the cats, because we'd be in the car with them for a week, and wanted to give them some potty freedom outside of the car on our rest stops (and also be able to get them back into the car from hotel rooms in the mornings).  So I went to Petco and bought a kitty harness and leash, and tried it on Cocoa first.  There was something about it that she really hated so I took her IN to Petco to find one she'd tolerate.  Smokey acquired the first one at that point, because, even though he's much more of a "fraidy cat" when it comes to strange people in his environment, he's pretty much a laid-back cool cat about everything else.

After the first few days of living in the harnesses, both cats chilled out, and the trip was quite excellent.  They were barely on the leashes at all, which were seatbelted in so we, the humans, could exit and re-enter the vehicle without having to track down the felines every time.  They had the "run" of the car, for the most part, but because of the harnesses, there was never a chance of creeping under the driver's feet.  So it was good.

*****

Fast-forward to our upcoming trip.  We've been selling small stuff like crazy, and this weekend, we're hauling big stuff to the local flea market, and we've had occasional "strangers" at the door to take a peek at some of the stuff to buy pre-flea market.  All of this hubbub has made both cats a little anxious - they know that something's afoot.  So tonight, we brought the harnesses back out.

Smokey came up to relax between us on the couch, like normal, while we were watching a movie.  Stephen casually handed me the harness I asked for (which was the wrong one), and I put it on him.  I had to enlarge it a bit to get around his belly, and Stephen realized that it was the wrong one.  So Smokey let me remove it and put the other one on him, as long as he got a treat for his treatment.  No big deal, altho he did decide to slink away afterwards.  Cocoa heard the treat bag, but when she saw the state her bro was in, she ran off... until she just had to have that treat.

She came up to the couch.  Stephen put her harness on her; she fussed at him, vocally, but she stayed put.  He gave her the treat, and she still stayed put, but she stared both of us down for at least ten minutes, and twitched her tail the entire time.  When she finally decided she'd had enough, she SKULKED off to another room.  She doesn't SLINK.  She SKULKS.  There is NO air between her body and the floor, and she often travels in a sort of "rolling" fashion.  Where she knows we'll watch her, to see how unhappy she is.

When I fed them, I checked both harnesses - they both FIT properly.  She'll end up skulking for about three days, and then she'll be like, "what?" if we happen to notice that she's walking normally again.  It remains to be seen how soon she'll return to our bed for her nightly belly rubs. ;)