Packrat Advantage!

I've come to a kind of odd conclusion. It's better to be a packrat. I am going to stop agonizing over my obsessive compulsive inability to throw anything away and embrace it. I have started a list of some pretty good reasons too.

1. I almost always have what I need for a project, even if it takes a while to find it all.


2. I don't have to hurt anyones feelings by not keeping a gift that they gave me.


3. If it's something that I'm not going to use very often, I can put it in a storage space and then get it when I want it.


4. I get to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself (i.e. a kiln at a garage sale for under a $100!!!) When I want to learn to throw pots, I'll be all set but for the clay (yes, the wheel has been in the back of the garage for years now)


5. I can live totally by my whims.


6. I don't have to make agonizing "decisions" about what I want to keep and what I don't want to keep. I get to keep it all!!!

Shame On Me!

I've had so much change the last few months, I just realized that I hadn't posted anything to my blog since January! Shame on me!

Most of you are aware that E.J. and I are in the middle of a lifestyle change. But, to sum it up, when construction came to an abrupt dead stop here in Kingman, AZ, so did his landscape job. His boss, bless her heart, really worked hard to expand the landscape business into more private homes as opposed to new construction, but with the recession starting into full swing, he was laid off last May (or was it early June?). He began the excruciatingly difficult job search process and drawing unemployment ( a real joke here in Arizona, I couldn't believe how little the employee earned insurance payments are here compared to California).

Anyway, his father suffered a complication from his cancer surgery and on a Thursday in August 2008, E.J. took an emergency flight to San Francisco (maybe it was the Oakland airport, can't remember now) and hopped on BART to Concord, expecting to stay about a week or so, but after he saw his dad in the hospital, he just knew what he had to do. He picked up a newspaper to see what kind of work was around, faxed his resume to a company on Friday, had an interview on Tuesday and he started work the following Monday. Wow!! Was that fast or what! Mr. "I Hate California!" Mr. "Curse The Day My Family Forced Me To Leave Michigan", calls me up and says to me "I hate to admit it, but I am home." Turns out that he really does love California after all, it's the mountains and the snow he hates, not the San Francisco East Bay Area. Concord/Pittsburg to be more precise which is actually more at the mouth of the delta into the San Francisco Bay, the Carquinez Strait etc. as it is on the east bay, but mappers consider Contra Costa County as East Bay Area, so who am I to argue LOL!!!

So the new "Do Over" began. We've been living apart since then for a few reasons.

1. I'm too fat to heave myself up and down the stairs of the 2 bedroom townhouse they are living in.
2. The only bathroom is up those stairs.
3. We have 4 dogs and 2 cats that are not allowed to be in the complex.

Number 3 is the biggie. We could turn the two bedrooms upstairs into a little dorm room type kitchen and I would only have to go up and down the stairs when I needed to go out someplace, so there is a work around for that one, but our "children" Augie, Scooby, Nellie, Ren, Stimpy and Xena need a place to live too. Rent is over 1500 dollars a month in that area and that's just not acceptable. The upside to this recession and property crisis is the number of foreclosed homes for sale on the market. We've looked at about 15 homes in our price range, have currently made 5 offers, 2 were outbid on, 3 are "waiting to see if they get something better" and we are still looking. We just need to be patient.

I was driving back and forth to visit my beloved hubby, but another little kink in the rope. My son and his lady friend had been living here with me which made it possible to take off for a few weeks at a time. They took care of the "kids" for me. Well, Stephanie's father is in his mid 70's too and he took a sudden turn for the worse and begged them to come back to Florida. They packed up the Jeep and off they went. I'm very proud of them for loving their families enough to take care of them when needed. Chris sure helped us out while he was here and Stephanie washed dishes! Anyone that knows me, knows how valuable that made her to me LOL!! She's a lovely woman too, I really enjoyed getting to know her and reuniting with my son. He had been in Florida for about 4 years. Now he's helping another family that needs him. I'm so happy he has those kind of values. Both my children grew up with some extreme emotional disadvantages but have overcome them (or are continuously working with them) to become wonderful people in their own rights. I'm very proud of both :)

So, just in case you were wondering. There it is LOL!! More information than you ever wanted to waste your time on. In the meantime, I have reclaimed my home, I have knitting machines in every room but the bathroom and kitchen. Hmmm.... I do have a mini Bond machine I could hang on the wall next to the toilet LOL!! Nah, I'll stick to the dpn's and sock knitting for that space. Hows that for an addict!!