Those words are little pearls of wisdom that fell from Becca's lips while she & I were driving the moving truck from our 1920's craftsman's bungalow to the new place in
Natomas. How she manages to encapsulate an entire complex situation in one small phrase has always impressed me. We were talking about how owning a house that is almost 100 years old requires so much more work and attention then Oscar and I were willing to give it in this season of our lives and she made the statement above, it really does reflect where we are at in life.
And.... here we are in the new track home, planning a vacation (sort of... it's actually a conference that Oscar is speaking at in Oklahoma City and I'm tagging along for the free hotel) and loving the lack of water seepage, plugging in more then two items at a time and water pressure... lovely water pressure! Who knew we could be so happy about such simple things!
Because it's been a while I'm going to do another "sum it up" post for the month of March and try to be more current going forward.
The move is finished and there are no boxes in sight, as of yesterday at 4pm in the afternoon. This unpacking was longer than normal for us but I had so many options on where to store things, I guess I just wanted to savor the experience. I still need to hang some pictures but over all I'd say we are done. The best part is the garage... we can walk through it once again and park a car. Mostly due to the hard work Joe put in the last two days, he was my "heavy lifting guy" as I sorted through and put stuff away.
Oscar is really getting into his new GIS position in IT. One big downside to the move to Natomas was his easy commute and he was mourning the loss of the light rail at the end of our street on 48th. He found a bus route fairly close by but it's not very convenient and required rides and/or long walks to the bus stop. Then our new neighbor told him about a shuttle that picks up at the end of our street and drops him off about a block from work, it has 3 runs in the morning and 3 at the end of the day, not a great as the light rail with trains every 15 minutes but much better than the bus solution!
I'm still gainfully unemployed and starting to get bored with the novelty of having lots of time off. It's not that I'm "not busy", I have Winter on Tuesday & Thursday while Suzy goes to school and I've been able to spend time with friends during the day, especially time with the van Riessen's.... Amy still needs a bit of help with new twins and a very 2 year old Molly. I wouldn't be able to spend this time with people, if I was working full time so I fell that is a blessing. I easily fill my day with house chores, life errands, babies, family and friends but the need to do something professional is poking it's head to the surface of my thoughts. I have finally started my job search in earnest and the market is much less friendly then I've seen in years. In the past, I've sent out my resume been to one interview...two max... and been offered a job. Not so much this time, on the last call back the interviewer said they received 1000 applications.... crazy!
I did get away this past weekend for a Girls Weekend in Sonoma with 4 other lovely ladies, this is the first one I've ever been invited to and I had a great time. One was a very fun sweet person that I had never met before named Katy... She reminds me of well.... me. Usually I don't get along with people who compete with my talking time but she was just so funny that it was hard not to find her side splitting funny. We had some fantastic meals, went wine tasting and shopping... I definitely need to learn to drink slower and they went for nice walks while I sat and read books. I finished two of them in the 3 days and it was heaven! I'm especially grateful to our mutual friend that planned the weekend..... mucho mucho thanks Miss Kristen.
The neighbors here are very friendly, spend lots of time outside on the weekends and there seems to be many kids playing outside. A few have come over to introduce themselves, I've met more people here in our first 3 weeks, then I knew at the old place after 3 years.
Allergy season has hit Sacramento with a vengeance and while I normally do not suffer, I have been hitting the medication with the rest of the family. I think poor Oscar has it the worst!
Jonathan's journey continues and we have learned that he can only tell us "where he's been" not "where he's going", last stop was Qatar, which is located in the heart of Arabia. I looked it up on Google and there is some very beautiful places there. He did write home several weeks ago because his 50 cal team pulled a "dangerous" duty shift (read scary for the parental units) and he asked for prayer. I love that we can talk to him so often and get email updates on his status... I can only imagine how awful it must have been for mothers of those who served in the past when you had to wait weeks and sometimes months, for word on your child serving our country during war time.
Not much new in the world of Becca... she is working, going to school and working...... Justin & Suz are the doing the same. Joe had his truck stolen over the weekend from the parking lot while he was at work. The police found it yesterday which was kind of a bummer for Joe..... he had been hoping for new wheels.
Of course there's plenty of updates on Winter. Biggest news is she's walking! Started about two weeks ago, taking a few steps here and there but on Saturday she really took off. Now she can go from sitting to walking in the middle of the room. It's cute now but in another week we will be wondering if she will ever stay still again! She has also discovered that throwing food on the floor while eating lunch attracts the dogs and she loves the dogs! I thought she was just eating more until I figure out that half her snacks and meals were being tossed down to her adoring fans Frankie and Jack. It's kind of cute to watch her giggle when the dogs take food out of her hand and gross at the same time, I'm glad we are not germ squeamish in this house! It's been lovely that she has such a happy disposition, she also loves to look you straight in the eye smile and do exactly what you just said "no touch" too..... Chase is becoming a favorite past time. We are trying to teach her to go down the stairs safely.... she really likes the heads first way instead. She has started giving people stink eye and loves to scrunch up her nose, breath heavy and fast.... it's adorable to us of course. She plays Where's Winter when you hand her a towel by hiding her face and loves clapping her hands when we say YAY really loud.
Sad news in March..... Linda & Kevin, friends and pastors at our home church Sanctuary, have resigned for the financial health of the church. While I respect and support their decision, I'm sad they are stepping down. For now they continue on here in Sacramento but we are praying hard God directs them to a new position right here locally so we can continue to see them often!
All & All... it's been an excellent month in The Jarquin World
