Life's a Beach

So, last night Michael posted some pictures of his walk on the beach.  As you might have read his blog post, you then know that he made it to California earlier this week.  He is now living in an empty five bedroom-3 bath house on base in Monterey.  I am sure it is not comfortable for him but he is making it work and getting set up for classes to really get started next week after last week's introduction.

All the while, I am back here in Texas with the children and dog wondering how I am going to get it all done in the next couple of weeks.  This is not a complaint...but I thought I would blog about the other side of this coin...to have the full picture of our lives.

While Michael was crossing the country on his solo trip, we received the inspection report and the requests from the buyers.  The list was short but the items still needed to be completed.  Here are the requests:

• Fireplace and chimney cleaned and fix a vent cap.
• Gutters and downspouts cleaned.
• Change batteries on smoke detectors and install carbon monoxide detectors.
• A/C units cleaned and serviced.
• Unclog bathtub as it is draining slow.
• Dryer vent professionally cleaned.
• Sprinkler system serviced.

See...a short list...and a lot of phone calls to professionals and arranging appointments...and of course...money spent!  Thankfully, I was able to get everything arranged after one morning of calls.  I bribed the children and threatened their lives so I could have quiet to get this done!

Good news for me...the chimney sweep also cleaned dryer vents, so I only had to make one call for two items on the list.  When he arrived at the end of the week, he took one look at the chimney and said it did not need to be cleaned.  No surprise to me, as we had only used the fireplace one time since we moved in.  He said the vent cap was off the deck and had been chewed by our sweet dog...the dang dog chews on rocks in the backyard so that was no surprise either.  I needed to get this fixed but did not want Hank to chew it again before we moved, so I had the man write out an estimate on the invoice so I could leave money for this to be done after we moved.  The dryer vent was another story...it was very dirty!  I am glad they were able to get that cleaned...I might even get my clothes dried faster for the next few days!

The best part of this visit?  I was able to talk to the man's partner (wife?) while he cleaned.  We talk about the immigration concerns for our country...the need to help people even when it does not seem fair...about our faith in God to make all things right...and being a mom of a big family.  I also shared a jar of my pear butter with them at the end of their time.  It was a nice experience and the clean chimney is now cleaner and the dryer vent has never looked better!  AND...the boys and I all got to shake the hand of a chimney sweep...good luck all around!

Clean gutters!

Now...the gutters were a job!  I had actually told Michael that this needed to be done before he left...long before and inspector came!  Such is life!  Henry came to my rescue and helped me climb ladders and dig out all the leaves.  It was so bad that we had thistles growing in the gutters!  NOT fun!  But we got it done in one morning and Henry earned his chance to take a driver's course.  I did not tell him he would get this...he was just so willing to help that I decided this while we were working and surprised him with this reward after we were done.  I can hardly believe he is old enough to take this course but I also know...of all my boys, he can handle the responsibility of driving.  A new adventure that we will start this summer!  I guess he will be learning to drive in California.

Henry placing the CO detector

When we bought the house less than two years ago, I know we requested a carbon monoxide detector to be installed...but here I was with the same request.  I checked all the detectors in the house and only had to "change" one battery...actually there was no battery in this unit...how odd!  No big deal there.  And then I ordered a CO detector that could be plugged into a wall.  Easy fix that took less than 5 minutes, including climbing up and down ladders.  Yay!

Thankfully, we have a home warranty so the A/C should have been an easy fix.  Michael told me that we are offered an annual tune-up but when I called I found that the window of opportunity ended two weeks before I called!  Bummer!  However, we were having a small issue with a flipped breaker that I had already planned to call about so I requested a service call.  I am glad I had this done because it turned out to be quite the fix!  AND...I explained the situation to the repair man and he helped me get the coils cleaned and checked the levels while he worked on the unit.

The best part of this repair?  I was able to talk to him about growing up in the military and traveling with his parents around the world...from Korea to Panama to Italy and several other places in between.  I thought it was interesting to hear his stories and I hope my children enjoy telling their military adventures with others as well.  The experiences they will have make them who they are...we have to make the most of the life we are given even it seems like a roller coaster ride at times!

The most annoying of the requested items on the report was the bathtub.  We had just had our entire house line snaked two weeks before the inspection.  There should not be any clogs in our system!  SO...I called my brother who is a plumber and asked him how to check a line.  My realtor had said to just poor some Drano down the drain but I hate doing this...it is not good for the pipes.  I was told to put 30 gallons of water in the tub and time how fast it drained.  The rule of thumb is a tub is slow if it takes longer than 5 minutes to drain...ours drained in less than 3 minutes.  I wrote up a statement and sent in an invoice from the plumbers that came earlier in the month.

The last item on the list was the sprinklers.  Again, we had a man come to look at our sprinklers earlier in the month.  We knew there was an issue with the sprinklers and we had it fixed.  However, we had a good man come out who did not charge a lot to fix the problem.  Come to find out...we had several sprinkler heads covered...one was completely underground!  Other heads were covered up with some landscaping stones we placed last year.  Since we have had such a nice wet spring, we never used the system and not realize this was an issue.  I am glad we had him come out to fix.  And...I shared some of our honey with him because he is such a nice guy!

I also had to contact the company that put in our water softener system.  We had spent a lot of money to have this installed so we wanted to take the system with us...only a small service fee to do this and well worth the money spent.  I hoped they would be able to come before the movers...all set to come next week.  AND...such a great company...they are not only going to come disconnect the system but box it up in original packaging to have an easy move...for a small fee.  Yay!

Speaking of movers...what happened to them?  I began to question Michael because we had not had any word about our movers.  When he finally got in touch with a live person (The military has an automated service for moves.), he found out that the forms had not been turned in properly and we needed to allow three weeks to process.  After Michael explained the situation they agreed to speed up the process.Hopefully,  I will hear back at the beginning of the week.

We also found out that I am NOT married to Michael...well...at least according to the military records.  Funny...ever since I have been "married" to Michael he has been in the military and there has not been any problem.  All of our children are considered his...thank goodness...but in order for us to get housing allowance, Michael needs to prove he is married to me.  LOL!  We keep all of these records ready as we know how the military can be some times...all paperwork has been turned in and hopefully we will be official again soon!

The children are all looking forward to our adventure but it is a little confusing for the younger ones.  They are hyped up...I am sure they are feeling the tension of this change.  There have been outbursts and wet accidents...regression is a sure sign of stress...hoping we can all calm down and get back on track for this next week.  Zaira asks where Daddy is several times a day.  Brendan...so sweet...comes to me and asks..."What are orders?"  We just throw words out there and expect the children to know what it all means.

Through it all...we continue to do school work...hoping to finish almost all subjects before we leave.  AND Henry was offered a chance to go on a photography camp for the weekend (I hope he will share some of his camp adventures soon.).

SO...time to buckle down and be calm as we work through the remainder of this move.  It IS exciting...It IS scary...It IS reality....but how I handle it will affect the rest of the crew...so no more complaints...I am going to keep "Peace and Calm"  oils in the diffuser this week to help us as we work through the details.

Please say a prayer for us...we are off and running soon!