My new ward

So, I finally went to my new ward yesterday. I say finally, but it's only been three Sundays since I could have gone as actually living in the ward. The first Sunday I went to my old ward because I wasn't able to go the week before that to say goodbye, and last week I went to my parents 40th anniversary party. So this was the first week I could really go.

My sister and her children came up this weekend to check out the new place and help me get my condo set up to rent (mostly done, but still have some stuff to do). It was a lot of fun to have the house full. I'm really getting used to this family visiting thing. My condo was too small for family to really come visit - so hopefully this will happen more frequently - although I know not as often as I've had family visit me recently - every weekend. They left about 11:30 Sunday, and then I quickly took a shower and got ready for church. I procrastinated a bit (when do I not), and got to church about 1:05, and they were already into the first song. So I sat in the back.

This building is kind of small. It's kind of a cross between the Vallejo building and Chapel on the Hill. Probably built around the same time. Anyway, the chapel organ reminded me of Vallejo's, but the seating was like Chapel on the Hill (two big rows instead of one really big middle and two small side rows). The chapel opens to the cultural hall, which is where I sat. The missionaries came and sat by me, but didn't talk to me. Someone else grabbed their attention at the end of Sacrament. And before I could leave, the Relief Society President came by and introduced herself. When I introduced myself, she said, "Oh, you're friends with Victor..." When I introduced myself to the counselor who conducted, he also said that - so obviously Victor talked some about me. Dang. I hope my calling is in Young Womens.

Victor's family wasn't there, which filled me with panic (I was set on sitting with them and at least knowing them), but soon found Sherrie B (for those that don't know, I try to withhold last names for privacy), who used to be in my old ward. So it was great to see a familiar face, along with Robert, who I know through Victor's family. Relief Society went well. They have an atrium in the back of the room, which used to be a window opening to a courtyard, before they had to fill in most of that for more space. It's nice and I think I will be looking out during not as exciting RS lessons (although I hope to be in YW). The lesson was great. A woman about my age gave it. I'll have to get to know her. There were quite a bit of kids there, which makes me think there are a lot of people about my age - didn't seem like an old ward. Which is good, as I miss all of my similar age friends from the old ward (Shawn - I include you, not that you should question that).

The counselors are great. I actually talked to one of them before due to work (the building official where I work is LDS, and the second counselor is the building official for one of the towns nearby).

All in all, it should be good. Of course you'll always miss your old ward, but so far I have good first impressions.

Sleeping on the train

I went to my parent's 40th Wedding Anniversary Party this weekend (post to come), and since my Dad was coming up this week to help me on the new house (and the condo), he said to just get a train ticket to come home. So I ran around taking my dogs to their sitters, and made the train (only because it ran about ten minutes late). Then after grabbing something to eat, I took a nice long nap. They're not the most comfortable chairs to sleep on, but when you're tired - they work. And it's so much nicer than driving while tired. I really wish they had a good train to get me from my area down to Disneyland - I'd do it so much more often. Let someone else drive, I'll just sit back and relax!

I love it when I get my way

So, I called Dish Network to see about moving my service to the new house. Now for those that don't know, Dish Network has been losing a lot of subscribers recently. Knowing that, I went into this conversation (approximate dialogue):

DN: "Hello Dish Network, how may I help you?"

Me: "I'm moving, and I'd like to know more about your DishMover program"

DN: "OK, you just leave your satellite dish at the old place and bring your receiver and remotes to the new one."

Me: "Do I have to sign up for a commitement again?"

DN:.... "It looks like they're going to have you commit for 24 months."

Me: "Then I think I'm switching providers [and I would have - either AT&T Uverse or DirectTV)"

DN: "Let me see if I can get around that. OK, I'll do a no commitment service. There's normally a charge for that [$99, I checked it out], but I'll waive that."

Me: "Thank you!"

I had a feeling they'd say that when I called. I didn't want to commit to them for two years because (1) with potential job loses where I work, I think it would be foolish to commit for something that long - you just never know, and I'd hate to be stuck paying an expensive satellite bill when I could just watch things on regular TV if worse came to worse, and (2) I might want to sign up for DirecTV before that - and get to see my Cougars on the mtn. For now, I'll just have to see if my favorite people in the world (I know you might be reading this, Shawn) will invite me over to watch Cougar football.

I got the house

The house is mine now! I'm responsible for two mortgages (gulp!). Hopefully the condo will rent out once I have the place cleaned up. It's really a nice condo - it should rent out quickly. I'll update with more photos when I get a chance

I hate packing

So I'm still in the middle of packing, as I'm getting ready to hopefully move into my new house (it's supposed to close on the 29th - my dad is coming up this weekend to do some repairs needed for the the FHA appraisal - and the bank is paying him!) My condo was so full of boxes that I couldn't move around much, especially when I need to finish painting my kitchen. So I went and rented a storage space. I just need to get these boxes out of my condo. Tonight I filled my my little Honda Civic with about 10 boxes. I still have about 10 boxes packed, and then another 10 probably to finish the job (hopefully only 10). I'm so sick of boxes!!! Packing sucks!

I miss my Momo

I was at the store tonight and remembering what my mom told me my grandmother used to say - don't get the first item on the shelf. As I was thinking of that, and getting the item behind the front item on the shelf, I started getting really sad. All I can think of is that I was thinking of my grandmother, whom we called 'Momo', about her perhaps doing the same thing. Life goes on, but I was sad to think she'll never do that again. Oh, I know she'll live again! But I just can't quite imagine we'll have grocery stores after we're resurrected. OK, maybe we will, but still... It reminds me of when my Grampa died, I knew he'd live again, but I realized how much I'm going to miss my old man Grampa. All of his stories, his white silvery hair. It made me just think of how much I miss all of my grandparents. I know I'll see them again, but I hate how long it takes sometimes.

I don't know how parents do it...

This weekend I went to visit my parents and set up their computer and watch some of my nephews baseball games. It made for a very busy Saturday, since of course we had to check out the Gottschalks liquidation :(

After all the games and shopping, my nephews came over (with my brother and sister-in-law). My two nephews were playing in the living room. My older nephew hit with his noggin into the mouth of the younger one. It knocked a tooth loose. There was blood coming from it and my brother took him to the kitchen sink to clean him up. Seeing him cry made me realize the contrast between that moment and when my nephew first got to my parents.

When my nephew arrived, he opened the door and yelled very loudly, "Auntie Kirsten!" in such a sweet voice. It made me cry thinking of how happy he was to see me versus crying for his pain.

I really can't imagine how parents do that, seeing the joy in their children and the pain when they're hurt. Luckily, he's all ok. I guess that's where it gets better, when you see them happy again it makes it all better.

That's my favorite ever 'Auntie Kirsten'!

Top 10 things about getting my own house/moving

OK, following up on yesterday's top 10, here's my favorite things about getting my own house. I can't do an adequate top 10 of my soon-to-be new town yet, but I can tell you the things I'm excited about getting a new house.

10. Yard work - I know this one won't last, but for now, I'm excited about doing my own yardwork. Luckily, the grassy part of my lawn is not that large, so it shouldn't take that long to mow my lawn. But I can also plant some roses (which I plan on in front of the living room window - nice to look at and for security)

9. I can wash my car in my driveway or on the grass instead of at a car wash. The auto washers scratch my car and I hate how Seven Flags arranges the controls for the do it yourself car wash. Now I can wash it by myself.

8. Washer and dryer - For the first time since I lived at Mom and Dads, I'll have my own washer and dryer and won't have to scrounge around for quarters to wash my clothes. Plus, I usually ended up doing my clothes at 10 PM, meaning I didn't get to go to bed until after midnight (since I didn't want to leave the clothes over night). Now, I can do it late and put the clothes in the dryer in the morning and have warm clothes in the winter. Believe me, I'm not excited about doing laundry, but since it's gotta be done, this will be so much better.

7. I'm not that far from my friends. When I moved to V-town, it took about 40 minutes to get there from where I used to live, and I didn't know anybody. So I drove over there all the time until I made friends here. Now, I'm only 20 minutes away, and still plan on hanging out with my friends from the area, as well as hopefully making new friends.

6. Having a yard. OK, to tell you the truth, when building this list, #6 is my last item I'm putting in. #10, #2, and #1 are similar, but I really like having actual land. When I look at my parcel on the county maps, I realize that my parcel is on top of another parcel. Now, this is mine! I love my redwood trees, and I love that I have a bit of other yard I can do other things with. Maybe I'll get my self a small garden, although I'll start with the roses and see if I can keep those alive.

5. Having family around more. Living in a one bedroom doesn't exactly encourage my family to come visit. Now when they come, I can set up both rooms for them. I plan on setting up one of them as my niece's room, and the other as the game room, with a futon in there, so it could be used as a room as well.

4. Nobody living right below me or right around. Now I can crank up my speakers a bit more when I want to watch a movie. Even when I finally get next door neighbors (the economic downturn wasn't very good to the former occupants of my house and the next door neighbors), they're not that close. Of course, that's always a worry - who will end up being my neighbors?

3. A garage. It's nice having my own dedicated spot with my carport, but it'll be even cooler with a garage, and my garage door opener. I like that I can do some things like vacuum out my car or other things in my garage. And it should be easier to organize my camping gear and be nice to just have my bicycle in there instead of locked up in my storage.

2. My dogs can run out and do their business without me having to be there. Now I have to get dressed in the morning and take my dogs out to do their business. Soon I'll be able to just let them out.

1. I'm getting a new doggie, a golden retriever. It's not a usual guard dog, but it'll be good to have a bigger dog to help protect the place, and for me to play with.

Top 10 things I'll miss about V-Town

To keep Internet predators from easily finding too much information about me, I'll not mention the actual town I currently live in nor the one I'm moving to - not that it would take much to find out, but stilll.

I'm going to miss V-town. Sure it has a reputation for not always having the best elements, but then again, neither does my new town. Here are the top 10 things I'm going to miss.

10. Papa Murphys - Over the years, I've bought a lot of pizza there, and I know the owner. I really like the people there. Luckily there's one on the drive home from work to my new home, but hopefully it'll be as good.

9. WalMart - It's a bit of a drive to get to WalMart now, but I like the new Supercenter. The one in my new town is old and it's also a long drive to get to. However, they are building a Supercenter that will end up being about a mile away, but that could still be a couple of years with all the legal entanglements these things go through.

8. 'V-town' - sorry, you can't call every town just by their first letter. I mean, 'F' town? P-town? Just not the same

7. A&W. We finally get one, and now I'm moving away. I love my A&W.

6. Costco. My new town has a Costco, but from where I live, it's closer to go to the next town up to go. I imagine I'll actually go to V-town's Costco as I go to visit friends, but it was very convenient from where I live.

5. Luckys - or any good grocery store close by. OK, Luckys is about a mile away from my home, but it feels close, and is on the way to or from the freeway. I kind of have to go out of my way to go to a Raleys, or drive even further to go to Safeway. No Lucky in the town I'm moving to.

4. The hills - they're not great for me for biking, but I like the hills around town and around the freeway. Very pretty green from January until June, and then a different beauty when the hills turn copper (OK, yellow, but that's not as poetic)

3. This is kind of a subset of #1, and maybe should be #2, but I'm going to miss Teresa and her family being so close. Of course, I'll live close to her brother, so I'm sure we'll see a ton of them with me visiting them or them coming up to her brother's house.

2. The marina - I love water, and although it's not like the water here is beautiful, I love taking my dogs down to the marina and going for the walk. Amy and I once even walked from one end all the way to under the bridge to MI,a nd then some. It was very fun and I love it. I'm seriously thinking of once in awhile driving down and going for a walk with my dogs once I move. No more night trips, I imagine, but a Saturday afternoon.

1. My ward! Hello, I love my fellow church members. I really wish I could still go to my ward, but at the same time, I'm single in the LDS church. I don't think the new town will have a lot more in terms of men, but the well was pretty dry in V-town. So I'm excited for the new people I'll get to meet. But I expect I'll make plenty of visits to my current ward. I think Megan would kill me if I didn't. It only takes 9 more minutes to get there from my new house as from my old one.

I'll do a top 10 of things I like about the new town when I move there. I will probably do a top 10 list of what I'm excited about with my new house soon.

Check out my house

So, the bank accepted my offer (well, I accepted their counteroffer), so it looks like I'm moving to a new town. That's both exciting for the new opportunities and new people I'll get to meet, and sad, as I'll really miss my ward and my stake. But it's not like it's that far away. I'll be visiting them all the time. And I'm going to be able to go FHA, so I can put less down and have more in reserve for any unforseen circumstances. That of course makes me happy.

Some people have really liked the garage door, but I'm replacing it with a modern rollup one and a garage door opener. It's safer and I think will be better for resale value.

This kitchen is a lot bigger than my little galley kitchen in my condo. It looks like the bank replaced the window with the duct tape covering a hole (as well as a boarded up bathroom window), although I'm going to replace it with a garden window. That'll be cool.

Here it is from the outside.

And here's a better view of the front of the house.

And another view from outside looking at the kitchen.

This is the living room. We're also going to replace this window, and we're going to take out the carpet and refinish the wood floors throughout the house. Two windows in the room will provide a lot of light. I might get some special curtains, though, to black out the light when I want to watch a movie during the day.

Here's the master bedroom. For some reason, they decided on green trim. I like green, so we'll see how it goes with everything else.

My parents are happy about the driveway for their RV to go. I want to replace that gate, although that might be awhile.

Now here's an exciting picture. This is the windows of the two bathrooms. The bank replaced the window on the left - it was boarded up when we viewed it.

You can't see it that well due to the reflection, but this is the little den and fireplace. I'll put my kitchen table here.

And now for the part that really made me fall in love with this property. It is one of the houses at the end of a cul-de-sac, and there is a lot of land. There are kind of two backyards, one that's foresty, and one that's more traditional.

Foresty:

Traditional:

That's the same tree there. There's some storage and what looks like a little welder's shop (spelling) around the fence. We're going to take that out and have more of a larger yard.