On the Road Again

We left Arizona on Sunday, August 23 . . . yep . .. we spent our 18th wedding anniversary on the road . . . in separate cars. The plan was to drive straight through New Mexico to El Paso.

We stopped along the way to stretch our legs . . .

At this particular rest stop, there were little adobes with a table and benches inside.  It was really kinda cool.

This picture was taken from the inside looking out. . . 

Morgan would sometimes curl up on the front seat to be close to her Papa

Driving through New Mexico wasn't too bad . . . lots of flat land, but the skies were really pretty . . .we had some big thunderhead clouds behind us . . . all I kept thinking was we gotta stay ahead of those things!

Yes. I took a picture of the price of gas.  Hey . . .coming from California, these gas prices just made me giddy!

 BUT. . . as giddy as the gas prices made me, well, the phone call I received while we were at that gas station was not a good one.

It was the fraud department from our bank calling to confirm that we just spent a whole lot of money at Target in Vista, CA.  Um, no . . . not us. . . .definitely not us.  We are in New Mexico.

Lovely.  Someone got a hold of our debit card numbers and they were out on a shopping spree.  Needless to say, the bank had to cancel our debit cards  .  . . which was somewhat inconvenient . . . because it's not like we were carrying a whole lot of cash on us. . .

****sigh****

AND, it was a Sunday night so I had to wait till Monday morning to call the bank and get everything straightened out.

On a good note, we made it to El Paso and Morgan was quite happy with this nice, big, comfy bed. . . and so were we!

But we still had one leg left before we reached our final destination . . .

(to be continued)

First Stop: Arizona

Where was I?  Oh, yes. . . after staying with my in-laws for two weeks so my husband could finish up some work, it was time to pack up the cars and hit the road.

First stop: Arizona to visit our daughter, son-in-law and grand babies.

Now then. . . we were driving in separate cars. . . and Morgan got to ride with her Papa because his car had a lot more room for her to stretch out. . .

It took longer to get to Arizona because we made a lot of stops on the way . . .which was fine. . . we weren't in any hurry. . . Mike had some time before he needed to report to his new job.

We met the kids for dinner at The Olive Mill (pictured above) . . .it was such a cool place. . .they had a huge market that sold everything from homemade jams and desserts to olive oil in every flavor imaginable.  And the best part is we were able to bring Morgan along (who, by the way, was on her very best behavior and made me so proud!)

On Saturday, we went to De Soto Market . . . another really cool place (and really good food!)

Here's our daughter and granddaughter with my husband. . .it was impossible to get everyone in one picture . . .

We had a great time visiting with the kids (although it wasn't long enough . . . ) but on Sunday, it was time to hit the road again . . .

(to be continued . . .)

I Woke Up in Waco

Yes . . . Waco. . . as in Texas.

How did I get here??

I suppose I should start at the beginning.  I promise I'll try to make this post as short as possible, but it IS kind of a long story. . .

So. . . way back in March of this year, I told my dear husband that we should list our house to see what happens.

We had a lot of people looking, but no offers to speak of.  Days went by . . then weeks. . .then months.

During the three months our house was on the market, we had the exterior painted and cleaned up the yard and still nothing. . .

If you live in San Diego or Riverside County and need painting done, call Kenway Painting.  They did a GREAT job!

Anyway. . . we had been talking about where we were going to go and what we were going to do. We even looked at a few houses in zoned for light industrial so we could run our business out of the house.

We liked the area the houses were located, but they either needed way too much work, or couldn't be sold as "residential" because it didn't have a "proper" kitchen. . .

Love the house. . . but it needed way too much work. . .

No proper kitchen . . . lending would've been a pain . . .sigh

Then one night while watching Rehab Addict (love that show!), a little ad popped up in the corner for Fixer Upper.

I said, "Oh, that sounds like a fun show to watch."  So, we did, and we were immediately hooked.  Then we stopped paying attention to what Chip and Joanna were doing and started listening to what they were saying about the area.

Hmmmm . . . we have always said that we would eventually move out of California.  And both Texas and Arizona had been talked about . . . but was the timing right?  Were we really ready to make that big of a move?

So. . . dear husband started researching companies and found a few that sounded interesting. . .but one stood out the most.

On a Tuesday in early June, he sent an email.  They called him that night and did a phone interview.

The next day, he sent his references and photos of his work.  That same day, the company sent a list of dates from which to choose for a working interview.

Two days after that, we received an offer on our house.

Fast forward 35 days . . .

My husband was offered a position the same day escrow closed.

Our belongings were loaded into containers and shipped to Texas.

We stayed with my in-laws for two weeks and then we were on the road to Texas . . .


. . . to be continued.