Unhappy babies....

Quincy and Charlie are kind of freaking out about the move. All of this morning from like 4am on Charlie was wondering around the house crying. I'm not sure if he was trying to voice his displeasure and confusion or what. It made me wish that I spoke fluent cat. He was extremely lovey to me and even Quincy. He rubbed up against Quincy like almost to say don't let them leave me or I love you or your mine I won't let them forget you. Quincy is just as confused, just not as vocal about it. He just seems kind of on edge. I think they are really confused about the lack of stuff. Charlie doesn't have any good places to hide and Quincy can't lay on his couch.

I have to say that is it kinda of weirding me out as well. When I got home last night I want to set my stuff down somewhere and my choices were the floor or the kitchen counter. I'm really looking forward to leaving this empty house and arriving at my new empty house. The good news is though that the truck with all of our stuff in in will arrive on Saturday as well so we won't really have to be stuff less for very long. I'm really looking forward to sitting in my new recliner. Oh and sleeping in my bed again. The air mattress wasn't too bad last night but whenever one of us moves the whole bed moves because the air shifts. I think it was weirding the dog out since he didn't sleep with us very long last night.

boxes here, boxes there, boxes everywhere!

I came home last night from work to a house full of boxes. The packer came yesterday morning and made quick work of all of our stuff. It is a little strange to have a house full of boxes. The animals are seriously confused. The cat hid the whole time they were packing. Quincy has been very clinging and mopey. Any guesses on how many boxes it took to pack all or our stuff?

Today the movers are loading up the truck. I just talked with Sean and they are apparently making pretty quick work of everything. Charlie is locked in my bathroom so hopefully that will help his nerves. So today I will come home to an empty house. It is going to be pretty weird. Although it looks like our stuff will get delivered Sunday Aug 19th. So we should only beat it there by a day. So I guess that means I'll only be stuff less for 5 days. Which isn't too bad.

Now I just need to figure out how to fit the large pile of stuff that we are moving ourselves into the Beetle and Passat. Luckily I have my secret weapon (aka, my Mom) arriving Thursday morning. She is amazing at packing cars so I have confidence that we'll be able to fit all of it.

Its been a while.....

I know it has been a while since my last post. Things have been a little crazy. The move is less than 2 weeks away and we have tons and tons of stuff left to do before hand. Also we have social engagements almost every single day until we leave. In fact if anyone else wants to see me before I head out that doesn't already have an arranged time speak now or forever hold you peace! J/K you may just have to come and visit us in Ohio. Just to give everyone a better picture let me break it down for you:

Days left of work: 8
Days left in Mass: 11
Packers come: Aug 13
Movers come: Aug 14
Mom comes: Aug 16 (early)
We leave at lunch on Aug 17.
Arrive in Ohio: Aug 18

I just can't believe how quickly this came up on me. I have lists and lists of things to do. I have had great intentions of being more prepared, yet I can't seem to make myself do many of the things on the list. I have a scary feeling that I may be up all night before the packers come....so keep your fingers crossed that is not the case.

Also it seems like the list of things we are moving our selves keeps getting bigger instead of smaller! I just don't want things I can't replace to get lost or broken. It is good thing we have a wagon!

Officially home owners

We closed on our house today!!! I just received a call from my buyer's agent that he has the keys. So we are officially home owners. Sean and I are quite excited about the house. On one hand we can't wait to move, on the other we will dearly miss all of our friends and the area. I never imagined that I would come to like this area as much as I do. Or that I would make the close friends I have!!! I'm completely torn and not quite really to say goodbye.

On another note stay tuned for future house updates including wall color choices, floor options, bathroom tile colors, etc.

Possible projects:
1. Paint walls
2. New flooring in kitchen, living room, and entry way.
3. New linoleum tiles in storage room.
4. New vanity in guest bath
5. Re-glaze tiles in both baths (hopefully so we won't have to re-tile)
6. Put in a bigger patio in the backyard
7. Raised beds for my garden next year.
8. New light fixtures
- Entry
- Dining
- Hallway
- bedrooms?
9. Window treatments. (currently super ugly drapes)
- shades
- curtains - maybe
10. Replace back door with french doors or sliding glass door

I'm sure I will come up with more later! So exciting!

a few more house updates

I heard from my buyer's agent Bob today and things are still going smoothly. They are treating and retesting the well to clear up the bacteria problem. The air conditioner will be serviced this week. The only other thing we asked them to fix was the radon issue. The level was 4.3 which is only .3 above the tolerance. We asked the seller to install a system to reduce the level. They had a previous test which was below the tolerance. They got another quote for the system installation. So we'll see what happens with that. Sean and I weren't that concerned about that so if won't install it, it won't be a deal breaker. So all it all things are looking good to close at the end of July.

One other interesting note.....The large 6.6 acre property behind us is owned by the chief of police! I guess we won't be having any wild and crazy parties! We can't actually see his house from our yard......so maybe only quiet wild parties.

Things are coming together

I just wanted to give everyone an update on how things are going for the move. I heard from the guy in Ohio and they are going to offer me a job. So I'll get to stay with my current company and just transfer. This is excellent news and exactly what I was hoping for!!!

On the house front, things are still going as planned. There were only a few minor issues that we are asking to be fixed before we close. I haven't heard the sellers response yet but I'm figuring no new is probably good news. I'm going to call my buyer's agent today and get an update.

We discovered that we already paid our last month's rent so we are pretty much all set with our current house. We are solving the fence issue by throwing a fence removal bbq in a couple of weeks. Thank goodness for good friends who are willing to help in exchange for beer and food.

We still have a lot of stuff to accomplish before the movers come and a lot of people to spend some time with some I imagine this time will fly by way to quickly!

Fun with Bleach!

So we hit a small snag with the well for the house. The water sample tested positive for Coliform (Various types of bacteria). So to disinfect the well it has to be bleached. The procedure itself is fairly simple but sort of a pain. We are going to ask the current home owners to do this and then we will have the water retested. Honestly I would think they would want to do this because currently they are drinking and using infected water. Chances are that the bacteria isn't enough to make them or anyone sick but if it increased it would. Hopefully this treatment will fix the problem and we won't have to do anything else. Otherwise all the other inspections so far have shown no major problems just some minor stuff. I'll keep everyone posted but so far it looks like we are still a go for closing on July 31st!

Soon to be home owners!

We have the house under contract! We were able to workout a deal with the sellers after several back and fourths. So baring any problems with the inspections and appraisal....We are HOME OWNERS!

Sean and I are super excited! I'll keep you all post about that and my job. I should find out whether they are going to give me an offer next week. It seemed very promising after my interview yesterday so keep your fingers crossed (mentally of course....cause that could get painful otherwise)

Big developments in Kateland

Sean and I put an offer on a house today! We have already received a counter offer which we are mauling over tonight. We are super exicited about the house! It is a brick ranch with 2000 sq ft. So plenty big for our little family of 4. Above are a few pictures of the house. First is the front of the house, second part of the kitchen plus Bob our buyer's agent, and third the family room. I'll keep everyone posted on what happens.

Also tomorrow is my interview with the Dayton office of my current company. So wish me luck! I really want this to workout because job hunting sucks and I'm really exicited about the position.

Whirlwind of activity

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. June has been a whirlwind of activity. I was home in Colorado for 10 days for a wedding and to visit family. I had a great visit minus some yucky stomach bug! The wedding was absolutely wonderful, the best I've been to in a long time! I'll try and post some pictures later.

I saw Max, Jenn, and Tim. All are doing well. Max is talking up a storm of mostly understandable english. Tim became his favorite uncle however "Uncle Tim" sounds a lot like "all done" so it was a bit confusing! I really wished they lived closer so I could see him more often.

Once I returned home I launched head long into preparing for our house hunting trip this weekend. I've spent hours and hours this week going through listing and prioritizing them. I gave the Realtor a list of our top 25 house yesterday morning. Lucky he deals with this sort of thing all the time due to the base. Last night I was up past 1am getting all of our stuff ready to go and printing stuff for the mortgage lady. This was really a bad time for Sean to have a business trip. He flies back in at 2pm today and we leave again for Ohio at 9:30pm. Lucky him! I've have my laptop while in OH so I'll try and post how things are going.

Keeping Tally

I feel like I should be keeping a daily tally of how many head hunters call me a day. I get 1 - 5 calls a day for jobs in MA. I have to keep telling people that I'm relocating or I just don't bother to call or e-mail back. However they can be quite persistent. Some will just keep calling or e-mailing until you give them a response. Last week I put in Bold letters at the top of resume that I was relocating to Dayton, but it is like they can't read or don't read it. Quite annoying! So I guess if you any of you out there is looking for a job in the Boston area there appear to be plenty!

The Big 25!

Today is my 25th birthday! It is a little strange to think about being 25. On one hand it is just another day but then on the other I'm half way to 30. So far my birthday is turning out to be excellent! I may have a lead on a job possibility with my current company in Dayton Oh. I talk with the manager out there today and I'm going to meet up and talk with him when we are out there for our house hunting trip. My co-workers took me out for Indian! I love Indian and the food was excellent today. We even got my boss to come and try Indian. I think he liked it alright.

Tonight Shari and Sean are throwing me a surprise-ish birthday party with help from Natalie and Robyn. I know it is happening and I know who is coming but that is about all I know. I'm sure it will be fantastic! I'll post some pictures later. I even bought a new top to wear to the party!

One other highlight was my brother calling and singing me happy birthday! It was too cute!

Thanks

I just wanted to thank everyone for being so encouraging yesterday! I will keep you'll posted about the job progress.

Now back to the goats. I have strange fascination with farm animals, always have I guess. So while I think most of you thought I was kidding about the goats...I wasn't entirely. I did some research and here and the highlights:

1. To get the cashmere you can just comb your goats not shear.
2. The goats are profitable in 3 ways: cashmere, meat, and weed control
People actually rent their goats out to eat down fields of weeds. Can you imagine having your lawn maintained by a bunch of goats!
3. There are consultants that you can pay to help you set up a cashmere goat business.
4. An extremely sturdy fence is required to keep the goats contained.

While I'm still for the goat plan, I had no luck convincing Sean. He told me that only if I made 30,000 more a year than I do now. Because he thinks it would cost that much to get it up and running. I told him that the idea was to not work anymore, just raise goats. He also pointed out that we wouldn't be living there long enough to make the business viable and how would be move the goats....while I'm not giving up, I think the goats will have to wait!

Job search

I'm feeling a little discouraged by my job search. I imagine my expectation are too high. I've sent out at least 5 resumes over the last couple of weeks and haven't heard anything back. Waiting is the tough part. I guess I thought it would quicker or easier or something. If I was staying around here or willing to move somewhere else I think things would be looking at lot better. I get at 2-3 phone calls from head hunters everyday for jobs in the Boston area. Yesterday I got a call from a Woman at Amazon in Seattle wanting to talk to me.

I'm beginning to think now might be a good time for me to start my own business....or something. I wonder if I would be any good at retail! Or perhaps, it a good time to start raising cashmere goats. I wonder how much land you would need to raise goats....

losing my mind lately

I think I may be losing my mind lately. I keep having this problem where I type an e-mail or blog post or something of that nature and I substitute different words in. I have to go back and read all things very carefully because the word I typed is usually not even close to what I meant. Like I mean to type have and type not. Those words are not even close. They don't start with the same letter! and don't mean any where close to the same thing. Do you think my body is trying to tell me something...like get more sleep, or stop taking tons of allergy medicine, or take more allergy medicine, or something else that is unknown to me.

I have a hug pile of Kleenex on my desk and I'm waiting for a call back from my doctor about getting a stronger Rx for my allergies. I can't seem to focus on anything. I'm being waiting to hear back all week about the resumes I submitted last week to Raytheon and Ball. But nothing! I mean I don't think I should worry too much since this week was a holiday week but I was really hoping to hear something. I guess I will submit some more resumes this weekend. Job searching totally sucks and is probably contributing to my total basket case behavior!

Where am I going to buy my produce?

One of my biggest concerns about moving to Ohio is the lack of a whole foods or other natural grocery store in Dayton. I'm extremely picky about my meat and produce items. I also buy a number of natural or organic items on a regular basis.

Today I did some research and discovered that Krogers has stores in Ohio. Better know to most Colorado folks as King Soopers. That is a definite plus since they tend to have a large section and good stores. I also discovered today "Dorothy Lane Markets." They appear to be a more natural type grocery store. They sell natural meat and organic produce. They only have three locations but depending on where we end up living it shouldn't be more than a 20 minutes drive. I also discovered a Trader Joe's. So things are definitely looking up.

My sister also introduced me to CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture). Using Local Harvest, I did some research and discovered that there are several close by (Dayton that is). Their prices seem fairly reasonable. Some were around 350$ for the year (June - October, once a week, 19 total). That is around 18.50 a week. I definitely spend at least that much on produce every week. Probably more. We won't be able to start in August, but we could do it the following year. The website also lets you search for farmers markets and other natural type stuff.

I also currently have a bunch of books from the library on organic gardening, compost, vegetable gardens, worm buckets, etc. I think one of my projects for the new house will be a garden. My herbs that I planted in a regular pot are going gung-ho, so perhaps my thumb is more of a brown color instead of black! I'll try to post a picture later of my herbs. (Should finally have some time tonight!)

I'm continually adding to and updating my pro list in an effort to be more okay with the move.

Job Hunt!

I have officially started my job hunt for our move. It is a very daunting task filled with schmoozing and nightmares. I'm having to come up with all my possible contacts to see if they know anyone who knows anyone who could help me get a job in Dayton. So if any of you have an contacts with employees who work defense stuff like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, ITT,.... please let me know. A referal often goes better than just submitting a resume on their website. Also if any of you want to review my resume (tons of fun I know) let me know.

As for the nightmares...they started our last night in Puerto Rico. Sean woke me up because I was wimpering in terror....hopefully that isn't a bad omen.

Keep your fingers crossed for a quick job offer!

Lists, lists, and more lists

Here is an update on my progress so far on all the things I need to accomplish before leaving Friday! The completed tasks are in gray. Below are partial lists for our wants and would like for our house. The house hunt is on! (think the song "The heat is on")

To do before Friday:
1. Call House of Brides
2. Find an alterist for Megs wedding
3. Pack
4. Clean the house
5. Find someone to baby sit my herbs.....(maybe Heather can do that and Charlie)
6. Organize trip to maine this weekend
7. Pack for trip to maine
8. Work 9 hours each day (mon - thurs)
9. Exercise at least 3 times per week
10. Mail cell phone rebates and saftey form
11. Call cell phone company to get phone adjusted for Puerto Rico
12. Guest list for Shari
13. Buy black swim suit bottom from tankini top
14. Buy more memory for my camera at Costco

What we are looking for in a house the must haves:
1. Large kitchen
2. Open layout
3. At least 1 3/4 baths
4. At least 3 bedrooms
5. A basement (finished would be nice but not necessary)
6. At least 1400 sqft in top portion of house
7. Good sized yard. (fenced would be prefered)
8. Good, safe neighborhood (a family neighborhood, don't get any idea about kids yet though!)

The would likes:
1. Walk in closet in master
2. Big master bath
3. Separate family and living rooms
4. Eat in kitchen and dining room
5. An extra room or study or loft area for my craft room
6. Laundry Room not in basement
7. Two car garage
8. Patio or porch in back yard
9. Fire place
10. Double sinks in master

I think that may be enough lists for one day. Enjoy....And of course feel free to comment!