The Catch-Up Post: the Big Move

I haven't written here in over a year and thought I should drop a line or two to catch people up.  I've been busy particularly busy working and coordinating the lives of two increasingly social children (and one husband and dog), which has gotten in the way of free moments to blog about it.  Facebook status updates seem to have filled that need to share my goings-on with friends and family .  But there is one big announcement I have not yet made on Facebook---we are MOVING out of Los Angeles.

Ryan got a new job in Sacramento, so we will be moving to Davis, CA.  I don't have a job there yet.  I'm still down here working at the current job through August while he has moved up there.  The kids are down here with me but they start school there in a few weeks.  We are selling our house.   I am moving up there in the near future.  There is a ton to write about.   There is a ton to pack.  Packing wins out for now.  But meanwhile a few thoughts:

I feel really nervous and upset all the time.  I can't fully relax because this move is not something I wanted to do, and I'm unsure about what I'm getting into.  I was quite happy, especially at work, and in where we live.  I love our neighborhood and it's gotten even better since the Expo construction is done and the stop opened up the block from us.  I feel the way I felt when we had to put our dog to sleep and had a few days with him before he died.  Knowledge that our time here is about to come to an end tinges the last good days with sadness.  I have been crying a lot.  I have been throwing out a lot of things that I wouldn't want to get rid of but I don't want to move either.

We have been fixing up lots of small things we should have done a long time ago but hadn't gotten to.  We've been spending a ton of money on things like new living room furniture so the place will look nice when we sell it.  Touch-up paint all around, new blinds, new carpets, new lights in the kitchen, new fixtures, etc.  There has been lots of drama with little projects and delays with tradespeople and orders coming in late. I have been at Lowe's so many times the past few weeks that they know me and ask where I've been.

Since the house is so "freshened, painted and cleaned, it looks great but it's hard to relax there because we can't, say, set down a coffee mug without worrying we might stain the grout or spill on the new carpet.  Being so "tidy" and anal about keeping it clean is so not me!  For the kids, most of their toys and books have been packed so they've been getting a lot of screen time and it's giving them that zombie-face and they give me attitude when it's time to unplug and go to bed.  They have been going to camp during the day, which keeps them busy while I'm at work.  But it's expensive, and so is eating out almost every meal because we aren't supposed to cook in the newly painted and cleaned kitchen.

I've been applying to a few jobs up there but only one phone interview so far, and they let me know up front that they took a look at my salary history and can't match it.    So I'm waiting to hear back from a job I maybe don't even want if it means doing harder work (difficult because I don't know much about the new organization) for less pay.

I know exactly one person in the whole 100 mile radius of Sacramento, so while I may have free time at first with no job, I won't know anyone to have adventures with.  We are renting a house for a year so at least I can give my Lowe's trips a rest for awhile.  (I'm sure there will be reasons to update things even as renters but not on the scale of our recent activity!)

The upside is that we needed a bigger place anyway as the kids get older and take up more space and want their own rooms.  So we're getting more room, and hopefully the real estate market will go down AFTER we sell, BEFORE we buy anything else.  I'm trying to look at it as a one-year sabbatical.  If we don't love it there this year, we'll move back to LA. Or try a new city.  But it's not a lifelong commitment if we don't want it to be.

So, follow along on my adventure in the next few weeks as we say farewell to beloved Los Angeles, my home for the past 17 years, and in the coming year as we say hello to a whole new world in Northern California.  After all of the unpacking, I'll finally have time to write about it!