Closing of Escrow Is coming----

My move will be complete (knock on wood) on Feb. 13th, when I sign off on the escrow completion and am handed a check. (be still my heart!(LOL). Between now and THEN, there are still a few things to be taken care of, finish packing up boxes , clothes, tools, medications, office, (including computer, monitor, Printer and all the peripheral crap such as cables, instruction booklets, and ones assembled array of assorted program discs, and how to books. I need also to arrange for a moving company to move the furniture, including a 400 pound statue of a seated Hindu Goddess, well maybe not a goddess, but a native women all dressed to the nines.----arrange for a large rubbish bin, to clean out the garage, clean the kitchen oven and refrigerator, oversee the installation of city required low flush plumbing and shower heads, smoke detectors, and shut off valve on the gas meter. (least on the last I can throw away the dumb wrench I kept for emergencies to shut the meter off)

I also need to call and schedule the turn on of utilities (gas, water, and power) to the new place, sit down and alert all the necessary people of my address change, fill out the change of address and forwarding instructions to the postal people, stop the gardening service, and the pool service---oooh and I need to get rid of all my food, as they are gonna tent the house for termiting and will not be able to be in the house for two and a half days----have scheduled a pickup by salvation army of the excess furniture I am NOT taking (that's to happen next Thursday), my nephew is sending up his company truck to move my patio furniture, along with a goodly number of boxes already packed and sitting in the garage-----(sigh) I realize I am probably boring the hell out of you all dear readers, but just wanted to let you know I am alive, or at least pretty sure I am, my back hurts, which is kinda a sign I must be alive right?

Yesterday I committed to a lease on my new apartment, and am excited about getting my stuff moved in, and it will take me a number of weeks to get truly organized---which reminds me I need to buy and have a new bed delivered at the apartment, otherwise will be sleeping on the floor. In any case between now and say next Thursday, the old dude will be bouncing around like spit on the griddle (Dana ain't got no lock on earthy expressions)---so maybe then will be able to put in one last post before unplugging the machine and moving it----Solana Ridge here we come!!----99.8 miles down the big concrete road. My new place faces west-southwest, so I should be able to get some fine sunset pics once established, and I find which box my camera and charger are in.-------okay, back to packing boxes now---

Blue Monday, a case of nervousness

In the ongoing saga of my move, today the workers arrived to do the necessary termite repairs, also the couple spots of dry rot, install the city mandated low-flush equipments, and as I write this, I have four workers crawling all over and under my domocile, hammering, sawing and so its hard to think, what with blinking the tears out of my eyes at the mess-----I am of the understanding when its all said and done I won't even know they have been here--except for the low flush crapper installation.  (did I spell crapper right Dana?)------later this week they will tent my house to complete the termite proofing. 
     One bright happy spot today however, is the situation regarding what was I to do with all my patio furniture------well family to the rescue---my nephews are taking my patio furniture off my hands, (thanks guys).  so bit by bit, the move is coming together, and hopefuly around the weekend of 2/6/09, I will move into my new place------(sigh)

Adapting to cold coffee----

Packing up ones years of living, is not all that much different than opening a time capsule----boxes from the garage, whats in em, opening them and finding stuff from back in one's childhood, or early college days etc, etc, and of course opening up another flood of agonizing decisioning,--- keep, sell, throw away, donate to charity etc, etc??----its amazing how much time it takes to make these kind of decisions. I try to stay diligent---keeping my focus on lets get this packed, or thrown away and pour myself a cup of coffee, open another closet, or box, and some time later, recall I have a cup of coffee going, and of course now its cold----and I am getting to like it cold----that's scary, and I wonder how many other of my old patterns are fading away and being replaced with new ones?----afraid one of these mornings will wake up in the twilight zone.
At last count I now have 18 boxes packed up and I do believe I am beginning to see the light and the end of the tunnel as far as boxing up stuff----me thinks maybe another six boxes should do it-----then it is a matter of disposing of all the trash throwaway pile, (will have to call a junk hauler for that). I then can begin to give the house a vacuuming and dusting so the new people when they come in won't think I am a total slob. (oops almost forgot, need to clean the stove ovens as well as the refrigerator----and I will need a big box to pack up all the can goods from the pantry-----well enough procrastination, I got to get back to work----(sigh)

Temecula Bound

Just a quick update on how things progress here. Escrow is scheduled to close on Feb 13th, and so I will have to have all my stuff out of the house here prior to that. My three nieces are descending on me this coming Friday (1/23) with the intent of packing up my kitchen, and misc stuff, books etc. Sometime next week, probabely wednesday and thursday, will once again drive down to Temecula and commit to an apartment lease. and sometime between now and then will make an appointment to have the movers come in and give me an estimate on what it will cost me to move my stuff----and I have to make a list of all the people I need to alert to my address change, need to change my area code on my cell phone, need to eat up all the food in the pantry , and get some paper plates and plastic knives and forks, to use til such time as I can get unpacked at the other end----schedule the turnoff of my utilites and get utilities turned on at the new place, vacuum the house after I get all my stuff out of it, clean the stove and refrigerator, and I am sure there are about a dozen other things I must do-----so If you don't see any signs of life in my blog between now and the 13th of Febuary, don't panic---I will be in transition.

GOOD NEWS, and bad news!!

In the on-going play out of closing escrow on my house sale, am now in the throws of implementing the legally required (by the city and state) repairs and modifications of my house.  That is to say putting in low flush toilets, smoke detectors, and all the needed repairs dictated by the city inspectors and the termite people.  The good news is the cost of doing the above is within my previously estimated cost of selling, in fact its substantially lower than my budgeted estimate. (OH JOY!!)-----now for the bad news----Bonnie, was most kind as to give me a blogging award, which I duly want to proudly display on my blog.  I went to add it to my layout and----(sob), when I go to my layout page, all I get is a view of my current layout, but no add page element button appears?? I am at a loss to figure out how to resolve this problem, anybody have any ideas??--------some hours later, the old dude did a complete defrag ---and the problem went away, see award on my left column (I got a friend----yahhhh!)

DANGER!! DANGER!! RUN WILL ROBINSON!!----

Having wasted all of yesterday, got a good nights sleep, and started my day by diligently doing my delayed fluff and fold today on sunday, arriving at the laundramat establishment at 6:45am, successfully completed the fluff and fold steps without misshap, and arriving back at "Motel six" (one can not apply the word "Home" with any degree of seriousness to this place anymore).  I put the laundry away and rewarded myself with a cup of coffee and sat down here at the old trusty puter to make a quick perusal of mail, perhaps a quick post here to the old blog----and WHAM!!  Even before I could take a sip of my coffee as the old machine signed on line,  up pops my anti-virus alert telling me I am under attack by worms and trojans--YIKES!!, quickly I shifted from joe nice guy into my "conan the barbarian" persona, and fired up they old anti-virus to do a full scan-----47 minutes later, when the dust settled, their were 10 dead massacred trojans, and 14 virus bodies on the battle field, and all my screens were now flashing GREEN---the world was once more safe for democracy and the American way!! Victory was ours!!  Just to be sure I changed all my passwords on my key accounts-----and now I am going to go have a fresh cup of coffee, and see if I can lower my pulse rate.

A Wasted day

Today, saturday Jan 17, 2009, I have totally wasted.  I have accomplished nothing, unless one counts working one's self into a mental contonic state has any significance.  I really believe I have managed to work myself into a double approach/avoidance trap.  The closer I get to making a firm decision regarding either renting an apartment, or buying a small home---the more I find reason not to, and so today I sit here at my desk quivering, unable to make a decision------another day off the escrow clock, and unable to make the necessary decision to line up a place to move to.  I've had people telling me to relax, it will all work out, and I suppose it will, although I can't see the solution.
     Thursday and Friday the mandatory house inpsections by the city , county and State were performed, and although I have not received the formal reports, from the termite inspector I have gleaned some information that will be in HIS report.-------all fixable at some unknown cost, and so I will proceed down that road, as it needs to be done regardless.------but mainly flashing in my head is the escrow deadline and picturing myself and my stuff out in the street, homeless, with a glazed look on my face------and aw hell, a good nights sleep and this catonic moment will pass. (least wise I sure hope so---the clock is ticking)

Escrow World

YES!! I accepted and offer on my house, and am now in hell  escrow world.  Yesterday it was the city inspector checking to make sure I am up to code on everything and does anything work right, window and doors open and close properly, appliances (stove, refrig etc) all work, no pennies in the fuse boxes ad nauseum.  I havn't seen his report yet.  Today it was the termite man----and (sob) we have a few spots of termite damage---I suspect the buyer will insist on having the house tented---or maybe he will settle for spot treatments done.  Wrote a check out to the Dept. of Building and Safety, for them to verify there are no outstanding liens and such.

At what point do I commit to a lease on a new place----are they still available??, the escrow clock is ticking, and moving day is approximately 2/14---but to where is still to be determined.  Then there is the chore of packing up all of the kitchenware, glassware, etc, etc, what to do with the funiture is still up in the air, depends on what place I end up choosing to move to, and availabilty of said premises----did somebody just giggle and mutter "storage costs"?

if the above wasn't enough I also am due for my car registration and smog check-----when do I turn off the utiliites-----and when do I sign up for the new utililites??  Is there life on Mars?----stay tuned for the answer to these and other exciting questions---meanwhile there is a cold beer in the fridge-----(lol)

TIME OUT TIME

Today I am kinda breaking out of my current routine, after all there must be more life than just packing boxes in preparation of moving right? So today I am taking a "time out" and going on a "ROAD TRIP"!!!
Its going to be a great weekend, lots of sunshine, warm temperatures (75-80F), and where am I going you ask? Going to that PHEEnomenal resort area known as "Shogo Mtn" (aka Pete N Judi's home). My nephew was kind enough to invite me down and while there to take me around and show me the area, knowing I have this growing need to find a new place to live.
Last weekend I went down to the Temecula area, this weekend going to check out the Oceanside area. I hope to remember to take my camera this time, and get some pics---with luck might catch one of those fabulous sunrises and sunsets from Shogo Mtn. Time will tell.

LATERS GATORS

ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR THE OLD DUDE

aS YOU may have noticed I havn't been posting regularly, what with dealing with trashing my house (stripping it of all the civilized stuff), and trying to find out just where I might move too. I just noticed today looking at my official blog page, something I do infrequently, and WOW seems I now have reached Page Level 4 rating----when? did THAT happen??----(who WAS that masked man maw?") Anyhow kinda made my day discovering that tidbit of factuality. Okay thats all for now, going to leap into the kitchen, and get creative---something with noodles, cheese, and well something exciting and good to eat.----hmm do I have tuna in the pantry?? (lol)

Plugged in----and it feels strange

OKIE-DOAKIE!!!  we done got us one of them cell phone thingies, and the first thing I have come to realize is I'm afraid to set the damn thing down----might miss a call .  CAN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT, ---Now when I leaved the house, I got all this list of things to take with me, keys, wallet, handkerchief, ---phone.------so this is the modern way huh?  hmph!!

Tuesday in Granola Land

Its Tuesday here in Granola land , (we call it granola land as it is made up of fruits, nuts, and a whole bunch of flakes) Today my house is scheduled for an open house for realtors, so I plan on taking off, and go out in the world and investigate the feasibility of acquiring one of them new portable phones, (believe they are called cell phones?). This idea was planted in my head while I was perusing the area of temecula last sunday, and was not reachable by phone, and then driving through the wide open spaces, without any signs of civilization wondering what would I do if the car broke down out there??-----so, today we will remedy that situation.------then hopefully when I return my realtor will tell me I got a zillion offers to buy my house at my asking price-----yeahhhh, dream on old dude.!!----anyway I think I hear people coming up the driveway so laters ya all!!

THE LITTLE CARD THAT COULD!!

I am waaay behind on posting , but I am not in total control of my life these days, what with realtors popping in and out with potential house buyers, and trips on my part checking out areas I want to considering moving to, and still bouncing between renting a nice apartment, or moving into a 55+ community, or purchasing a condo in some nice locale-----anyway figure first off I must show you the card Dana was so kind and considerate to create and send me. It arrived at a great time, I was feeling kinda put-a-pon, and somewhat depressed with the overall situation, and so the card arrived with its kind words and oozing with hopefulness, and brighten me right up real good.

-------again, my many thanks for the kind thoughts Dana, your--??---well heck your just swell!!