Well, sometimes I just feel like journaling is like having contractions (not that I know anything about that) and mine are just really, really far apart. However, I will say that this time, thanks to reading other journals, it’s not my fault as this site must have been down. I did try to get on several times to no avail and then wound up spending a week cruising ebay, which I haven’t done it at least 8 years.

I’m really not sure what eventually led me to start looking around on ebay, but I believe I was ‘window’ shopping the lots of clothes just to see what was around as I do look at those every few months–actually, more like years, and while doing that I discovered all of these great JJill items that were new with their tags and at such great deals, so I wound up shopping for clothes that I really didn’t need, but that were outstanding buys and that work with my existing clothes and that I will wear for years. One of my biggest scores was a long suede coat, brand new with the tags in a soft grey for $35 and some of my favorite items were beautiful, romantic sheer flowered and embroidered blouses. Anyhow, I wound up spending right at $300 and bought about 40 items? Not sure exactly since boxes are still coming in. Oh well, it was fun and one item that I really coveted, I wound up waiting until the last 10 seconds to put in my bid and I was shocked at how much my heart was racing, especially after I won!

Other news: I am finally just getting back to the shoe room. Haven’t hung the wallpaper yet, but am planning to do it on Wednesday. I wound up having to do some work related leg work for the few part-time jobs I am looking at and this morning I need to finish up a cover letter for a college course I’m looking to teach this coming spring. I also met with the carpenter and hired him to finish the work that needed to be finished when we bought the house. The people we bought from were going through a very acrimonious divorce and had built an addition that added a small tv room/den and bathroom, but it was on the second floor over the back patio and they didn’t finish the insulation or putting up the boards right over the patio, so the floor portion of the remodel. I’m surprised the pipes haven’t frozen, so glad to be getting that done. He is also going to build a wall of custom book shelves for the library and then finish off the molding on the basement stairs and hang three new beadboard cabinet doors in my pantry. While all of this was going on, I decided to revamp the entrance way, so I gave the front door a fresh coat of white paint, new address numbers, potted a camellia, some mums, some pansies, a few cyclamen and then added soil to the existing flower beds and am just now finishing up planting the rest of the pansies and then will put in some bulbs and a few assorted herbs and probably a lilac. I’m really excited to be able to plant things that I couldn’t plant when I lived farther south because it didn’t get cold enough, but I am also at a loss as to what I can plant now so I’ve been spending a lot of time reading my Sunset Western Garden Book for ideas. I’m really excited to plant roses, but will wait until spring and then order my beloved English roses as bareroot stock and plant those. I’m also not sure how the vegetable gardening is going to work out because of the exteme heat, water restrictions and the deer, but I have many months to think about that!

Exercise is going well. I’ve increased my runs to three days a week and I’m still at the 4 mile a run point. I took a week off from swimming, but will be back in the pool this week and decided to go ahead and add 2-3 days of weights. I have a love hate relationship with weight-lifting–I really enjoy it overall, but there are certain upper body things that I hate and that I feel bulk me up, but I just have to modify and lift smart.

Food has been faily good. We went out and grabbed a burger before an event on Saturday and I ate two onion rings and the burger and wound up getting sick a few hours later when I went to bed. That’s the second time that that has happened to me in the last month and both times it’s involved greasy food, which I don’t usually eat. It makes me wonder if it’s related to my gallbladder…anyhow, it’s no big deal to just not eat the greasy foods since I really don’t eat them anyways.

Okay. I’m off to tackle the cover letter and roll head on into my day!

Okay, so imagine the look on my face when DH informed me that each lap around the lake was 2.2 miles–so, I ran 4.4 miles on Friday, then volunteered for catering events all weekend and swam my regular bit on Saturday afternoon. Can we say lactic acid build up? Sore calves, super tight hamstrings and glutes and screaming at the top of their lungs quads–OUCHIE! Anyhow, not the best way to e-a-s-e back into running distance, but hey, at least my endurance is there the first time out. Went to the gym this morning for my free training session and she really did help me pick up 5 specific weight based exercises for my delts, shoulders, lats, and core that will help me with my endurance in the pool. Other than it being nice to chat with someone, I just don’t need a trainer, so no point in spending the money. They do have a few classes I might take–yoga, centergy, and a boot camp class, but the boot camp is pricey; maybe if I decide to do another triathlon next year it would be worth it to really push myself. Mostly, I just really like the pool, but I did run the lake today, but only the 2.2 mile stretch as I am still a bit sore. Slowly–I must remind myself of that.

Today is the day that I tackle my wallpaper project as in putting the stuff on the walls. How nice is that after prepping and talking about it for several weeks? Not much else going on today. Pay some bills; plan the Thanksgiving dinner I’m doing; write a few notes and cards and work on a cover letter. I always say that I am not doing much of anything and then my list is a long laundry list of chores and activities.

A very quick post for me before I kick off a very busy weekend. Just got back from the park and did a 2.5 mile run and am very proud of that since I have not been running at all in months and months–since probably April? Anyhow, it was great and once again, I swear that swimming is the ultra conditioner and best exercise of all because just from swimming, my hips were open and my legs fluid, calves, hamstrings and quads all nicely stretched and abs tight. The park is just blocks down the street from me and the path is actually around the lake, so what I ran was twice around the lake. I think that maybe two or three days a week,  I will run and then hit the pool. Seriously, I am looking for a bit of a break from the pool because I just went to the salon and spent moola for a hair dye–the box stuff just doesn’t work well–and even with super expensive and super good conditioner, a great cap, and wetting my hair first, the chlorine still does a hell of a job on hair. Anyhow, this girl only charges for the color and then the cut is free, so it really is super affordable to do every 5 to 6 weeks, although I think it will be closer to every 5 weeks.

DH and I went out for sushi last night to a place we hadn’t tried. I love sashimi (fish–no rice) and I love a good handroll, but all of the rolls that these sushi places do are so over the top, so caloric and really so tasteless. Anyhow, we usually order a cold tofu dish and then we each get a handroll and split some sashimi, and I usually always leave very happy, but last night was a disappointment all the way around. The sashimi was fresh, but the tofu was a huge bomb and the handrolls were over-sauced and just had no clear taste. Now I am craving really good sushi and tofu, so DH may be taking me out again this weekend!

I have a load of laundry in the wash and need to get myself in the shower and then out the door. No time to comment or write.

I seriously over swam the other day. Couldn’t help it. It was a beautiful day and the lane just beckoned to me. I had to make myself stop, but could have kept going. I knew I was going to be sore once I got out of the pool, but the swimming coupled with the wallpaper project just put me over the edge into soreness. Oh, well, better to be sore from that than from not doing anything at all.

So, the wallpapering project quickly became a pain in the butt and I am officially blaming it all on Rene. I started trying to remove the wallpaper and the first layer came off very easily. In fact, far too easily and it should have been my first clue that things were just going to get really hard from that point on. Anyhow, I started in on the second layer and it just became a huge mess. I used the old fabric softener and water trick, the steamer, but I could only get half the paper removed. It’s almost 100 year old house and there were secrets under that paper that I just didn’t want to know about, so in the end, I took a tub of joint compound, patched things up, smoothed the old paper lines and just decided that I will paper over the mess that’s there. If it were a room with real dry wall underneath, I would go to the expense and trouble of hiring a professional, but since it’s really just a closet under the eaves, I am just going to work with what I have to work with. I’ve read enough tips and tricks that I should be able to pull it off, but damn, what kind of glue did they use back in the day and why isn’t there any dry wall under that paper?? Ah, too much to think about at the moment.

Plans for today include a swim, of course, and some stretching and ab work. I also need to make a dentist appointment and a hair appointment, oh, and a gyno appointment (joy), go to the post office and pick up a package, swing by the grocery for milk and bread and cat food, write a few letters, work on finding something to do part-time, and get my sub application together. So, depending on how the day plays out, I will either start hanging the paper today or tomorrow.

I’m off. Dinner is chicken breasts and leftover pasta with veggies. I’m praying DH won’t make me watch the World Series tonight–too boring for my tastes.

Hmmm…I’m noticing a pattern here; I haven’t written in several days, maybe a week? Anyhow, it’s not because I’m slacking, just seem to be keeping fairly busy with everything and not spending much time on the computer. So, let’s see…I got my car last week–LOVE IT–so, I officially have wheels again and am enjoying the freedom of that; I’ve been back in the pool again for some serious workouts and while I didn’t like swimming the long course (50 meter laps) at first, I think I’m starting to like it a lot because I am building incredible endurance and after I hit my mile, my lats and abs are literally on fire, but I also feel ultra stretched and lean. Anyhow, on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the pool is only short course (25 meter laps) I think I will swim longer distances–build up to a mile and a half or even two miles down the road. This week, I’m swimming 5 days straight, next week I will add a few yoga/pilates classes to the mix; I’m not sure if I feel like getting back into lifting or cycling right now, but I am starting to feel like getting back into running a little bit more. Mostly, I just love swimming. It’s an incredible workout, easy on the joints, but does a killer job of sculpting the legs, arms and abs, plus, it’s so peaceful under the water with just your own breathing and the sounds of your body moving through the water; I also love the way the light refracts off the water and slants down to the bottom, and I secretly love my crazy tan on my back, no matter how much sunscreen I use!

We had a fun, fun weekend. Went to an Oktober Fest on Friday night which was wild–couldn’t even imagine drinking one of the massive mugs of beer they had there, but I enjoyed watching the crowd and the German potato salad was very good. Had that and half a piece of sausage and half a very good pretzel. Saturday night we had company over and I made my pork roast with mashed potatoes and an apple tart (finally) and all was very good. We had a few trick or treaters and gave out some candy and since I only bought three bags, not much leftover. I did eat five or six pieces over the weekend which is outrageous for me since I rarely eat anything like that anymore. Which got me thinking, that lately, I’ve been eating a lot of things that I don’t normally eat–sausage, red meat in larger quantities, sweets, alcohol in larger quantities and I’ve been out at several fancy restaurants for rich, albeit, small dinners. Very much not like my habits of the last 10 years, so I am making a huge effort to get back to my raw, green, clean way of eating with lots of seeds and nuts and veggies and lean protien, whole grains, etc. It will be interesting, but hopefully not in a bad way, to see how much my blood, cholesterol, etc., has changed as I am getting a life insurance policy and need to be screened. Hopefully a solid week of getting back on track and detoxing will help tremendously.

Okay–today it’s the shoe room! I’m off to paint the trim and start hanging the wallpaper. Wish me luck as I have never wallpapered before and am a bit nervous about it all.

Hmm…time flies. I’ve been busy. I almost have my office set up which is a glorious thing. I should also start wallpapering my ’shoe’ room this week, which means it’s almost time to start working on my closet. Big project there.

Went up the coast to Carmel and Big Sur last Thursday and then also passed through Monterey where I bought 20 artichokes for $2.00; baked 8 of them on Sunday with garlic, olive oil and lemon and will do the rest this weekend for a snack since we have company coming. Saturday was DH’s birthday so we enjoyed celebrating that and he enjoyed his cake, although I had a few pieces as well–who can resist homemade chocolate buttercream frosting? Not me! I also bought my car and will be picking it up from the dealership on Wednesday, so I am excited to finally have wheels again after 5 months of not having them.

We joined the gym here this weekend and took advantage of their special rate. Went for the first time this morning and I was back in the pool. Let’s just say that after 2 1/2 months of not swimming, doing laps in a 50 meter pool is tough, but I did a little over a mile and am going to feel it tomorrow so the only thing to do is get back in the pool. Right now, I am freezing cold from my swim; the water is 80 degrees, but the outside temp was only 48 and once you get out, I just find that I’m cold for most of the day. I am not one of those people who has an increased appetite after swimming, just the opposite, so will have to force myself to eat something soon, but right now, I am enjoying a hot cup of coffee.

Okay. I am off to work on things. The closer I get to finishing all of my projects, the more settled in I am feeling so I want to get things done.

I can’t remember exactly when I last posted…probably last Tuesday or Wednesday…so I will just catch up on things from there. Had to drive down to the old house on Friday and drop off papers for the closing of escrow. I don’t know how I managed to overlook that massive package and just focus on the other that I sent down with DH, so I put myself out and had to drive the 3 hours there and then ride home another 3 hours with DH, but it all worked out well since there were many little things to do as well, plus we stopped for lunch on the way back and then took the scenic route back to the new house–a beautiful drive! Friday night was Thai food that we had delivered. I LOVE a good spicy green curry with eggplant and shrimp and this really was good and probably, the best green papaya salad ever! Probably not entirely healthy, but very yummy none-the-less. Saturday was errands and a town fair–DH had a BBQ pork sandwich and I had a few bites; we registered to vote up here, walked around and looked at pictures from the town’s inception (1915) and all of the original houses. I looked for pictures of mine, but couldn’t find it. I will have to visit the historical center again someday since my house is on the historical register; it would be cool to know the history of the occupants! Sunday was a low-key day; I marinated a flank steak and grilled it and served it in lettuce leaves with a ginger salsa and rice. We also found the heat for the pool/spa, so sat in the spa and relaxed and looked at the stars. It’s really amazing at how clear the sky is up here and how many different constellations can be seen. At the old house, we were still too close to LA and all the lights from all of the homes and shops.

I finally received the sofa I ordered from JC Penney and I have to say that it is a really nice sofa and that I am very happy with it. I especially love the slipcover and how tailored it is and the color is perfect–hard to believe that it worked out so well and that I had only seen it online! Also, the delivery guys were awesome and unpacked it and set it up and then hauled off the boxes and packaging. And most importantly, the kitties think it’s the next best thing to cat treats!

Let’s see…my thoughts are all over the place trying to pick up the bits and pieces and activities of the last few days…Monday was a stay home and putter day; yesterday I went riding around with DH and enjoyed a drive along the coast and a delicious lunch out. I also looked at a car since I am in the market for something…used, but not much, Honda, V6…very nice car and a nice price, so will have to call the sales guy back later today. Today is a stay at home and putter day. I’m still trying to set up my office and hang curtains. I still need to tackle the wallpaper, but am waiting on another roll to arrive. I might do a bit of that today. I also have shirts to iron and starch (a job I love) and phone calls to make. Tomorrow is a drive up to Big Sur and maybe Carmel…

Thanks for the nomination, Tawnya; now I just have to figure it all out! I’m off…make it a wonderful day.

I think not! My nice, rainy dream of a day turned into a mini-hurricane with downed trees, power outages and more rain in one day than we’ve had in five years! I have a huge redwood tree in front of my house–maybe 60 years old–and about 15 fully mature eucalyptus trees along the back of the property, behind the fence (maybe 5 feet) and the pool backs up almost to the fence. I thought for sure that those eucalyptus trees were coming down into the pool because they were bent in half for most of the day, but nothing more than a lot of leaves and debris there. On the other hand, I had four 15-20 foot branches from the redwood come down. One of them is right across the driveway where the electrician had been parked the hour before it fell; two of the branches are across the fence and one of them, get this, fell right into the rope swing that hangs from the lowest of the branches! So intense weather here last night. Since I’m originally from New Orleans and have been through hurricanes before, I can attest that this was pretty darn close; the wind gusts were up to 60 miles an hour!

So, on the agenda for today…clean up what I can; cut my way past the tree in the driveway and head to the grocery, and finally, finally, for the first time in THREE WEEKS wash clothes! I also need to finish this chair I am antiquing and reupholstering the seat of–it came out gorgeous in a French Country way with distressed white and bronze paint and the fabric is an antique cream and brown toile–my favorite fabric. Oh and there are books to be unpacked and shelved, maps to frame, and still, that closet needs to be organized, but first, I really do need to wallpaper the ’shoe’ room so I can store some of the overflowing closet items in there. Oh, the things to do….

It’s raining! Gosh, how I love rain! There’s just something about rain that is comforting and cozy and refreshing. I could piddle away a rainy day organizing drawers, cooking, reading, napping, dreaming, writing; there’s nothing like a hot bubble bath on a rainy night, or a good conversation and a glass of wine. I’m also glad for the moisture as here, we’ve been in such an extreme drought for the last three years and at my new house, my new apple trees were neglected in between owners, so this rain will be good for them as well as all of the other living beings in the yard.

I woke up early this morning and made DH two egg sandwiches and a big cup of coffee for the three hour drive he has ahead of him. He is traveling on business, but will be staying at the ‘old’ house and bringing the last few things on his way back–alarm sensors, cleaning products, a few plants and my big horse trough that I painted copper and usually fill with lavender or herbs or flowers. That horse trough has been traveling with me for 10 years now; funny how we grow attached to the most unusual items and that those are the items that we feel comfort from.

We had a wonderful weekend. A friend of DH’s (from junior high) dad came through. He was in the area touring Hearst Castle, so we met him and his daughter and her partner for coffee on Saturday morning and then DH took them sight-seeing while I made the requisite returns to Home Depot and then we all met up at the house later. I had planned on them staying for dinner, but they decided to drive a bit further down the coast and see a few more sights before returning to Southern California. It was nice seeing him; I’ve known him since high school and he still remembers me as a high school girl which is funny since he’s 80 and I’m 44–gosh, that’s a long time! Anyhow, dinner was just DH and I, but what a feast we had and such a simple recipe. I took my pork cushion roast (pretty small at about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds) dusted it in flour and seared it off in my cast iron pot, then I took it out and set it aside. Took about six LARGE onions, sliced them and then carmelized them in the pan for a good hour; took them out, put the pork back in, piled on the onions, loads of fresh thyme, some apple juice and then slid it into the oven for several hours until it was just falling apart and the juices and the apple juice and onions had made this delicious gravy—yum! I served it with mashed potatoes and smothered cabbage. I did not, however, much to DH’s disappointment, make the apple tart. Sunday we hung up a ton of pictures, decorated, did some more unpacking and just pretty much worked all day long on moving into the house. For dinner, I made pasta carbonara with thick spaghetti and while I usually always make very healthy stuff even when it’s a decadent recipe (I substitute ingredients), this dish had none of that, nope, it was full on pasta carbonara with heavy cream, bacon, eggs, and tons of parmesan cheese. It was delicious and decadent and I was happy with a small serving. Last night’s dinner was leftover pork with polenta and mushrooms. I am very much into cooking right now; actually, I’ve always been very much into cooking (I was in culinary school for a good two semesters before I opted to go to college instead), but never had a tremendous amount of time to pick out recipes and just do all sorts of different things. In the past, I always stuck pretty much to about 30 different things and now, well, the possibilities are endless.

I need to start swimming again–or running….

Today’s agenda is to work with the electrician again this morning. I had in here yesterday in anticipation of the new washer and dryer and wanted him to redo some of the electrical in my laundry room area (it’s a mess of homemade wiring projects over the years) and I found out that my dryer didn’t work because the person who wired the dryer socket used one grade under the wire he was supposed to–big fire hazzard and it’s why it took two or three cycles for my clothes to dry. Anyhow, my dryer works, but the wiring needs to be redone, so as much of a heartbreaker as it is to not get that beautiful new washer and dryer, if mine are still working, I just can’t bring myself to toss them off for new ones. I cancelled my order; the appliance manager was very cool about the whole thing, too. I’d much rather spend money on getting my electrical wiring in tip top shape; to me, that’s the most important thing in a house. After I finish with the electrician, I need to go to the store for cat food and milk and then I will either start in on the closets or wallpaper my big walk in ’shoe’ room. I’ve never wallpapered before, so will need to research how to go about that.

As for now, more coffee and more of this rainy weather to enjoy.

Just heated up the last of the turkey enchiladas (healthy homemade ones) from dinner the other night and decided I needed to take a little break, write, and then jump back into the tasks at hand, which today revolve around cleaning. Up early this morning, and boy, was it ever cold; I’m not sure I even still live in California, but at least I will really be able to use all of the winter clothes I’ve been toting around for years. Anyhow, I made breakfast burritos with leftover cooked ground lean turkey (from the enchiladas), a handful of diced potatoes (leftover from Sunday’s roast chicken), the almost-the-last of the garden tomatoes, eggs, salsa, and fiber-rich tortillas. We ate, had a quick cup of coffee, a glance at the newspaper and then it was off to the storage facility to load and then unload TWO trucks of stuff. I’m not sure how I have so much stuff–lots of books, 15 years worth of work stuff, yard stuff, clothes, housewares, etc….but at least I find myself paring some of it down and leaving packed what I won’t need. While this house really isn’t smaller in square feet (maybe 100 at most) the old house style was to divide the place in rooms, so going from a fairly open floor plan to distinctive rooms just translates into me having too much stuff! Oh well, I will sort it all out as time moves along.

After storage, I dropped off a gazzillion pounds of laundry at the Wash ‘n Fold (something I’ve never done in my entire life, but DH did all through college), then headed out to buy a new washer and dryer (what law is it that says after you have an appliance for 10 years, decide to stay with it, then move it, it will all the sudden die on you??), which I found, at all places, KMart. It’s a pair of front loading machines, Kenmore and while they were already on sale, they are being marked down for a pre-Columbus day sale tomorrow, so I wound up saving an additional $200 dollars on them AND come to find out, the electric company and the water company are offering up very generous rebates for the new energy star stuff. Feeling lucky here; wonder if this is the equivalent of the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ but in the appliance sector?

After that, off to the grocery. I love my new grocery. They pretty much stock things that are local and every Thursday they have ‘One Day’ specials and today’s were onions at .20 cents a pound, apples at .39 cents a pound, squash at .50 cents a pound, strawberries for .99 cents a pound and cabbage for .29 cents a head. I bought all of those items, picked up some pork and chicken and the usual incidentals. This cold weather is making me feel like cooking some very autumnal feasts–roast pork, butternut squash soup, apple tart, smothered cabbage, pasta with mushrooms, onion marmalade, onion and squash tart…it just goes on. DH told me the other night that he didn’t want to insult me, but the fact that I’m home cooking all the time, that I make his breakfast, that he can come home for lunch, and that the house is always smelling of good cooking at night, that he couldn’t be happier. Men. I guess it’s probably every man’s dream to have a wife who stays at home and nests and cooks. Can’t say I’d blame them; I’d like that myself. Anyhow, it’s only a temporary thing until I figure out what to do with myself. There are no jobs in education which, after moving 15 boxes of curriculum that amounts to 15 years of my life, really ticks me off. Maybe I will write, volunteer, who knows?

Okay. Break is over. I know it’s a little whacko, but I just bought a new micro-fiber dust mop to clean the newly finished wood floors. Very excited about that…and my tea kettle is whistling and the hot water is ready to pour down the drains along with baking soda and vinegar.