Turkey week in Ukiah 11-26-07

Here almost a week already! I just can’t keep up right now! We got in at the Ukiah Fairgrounds last Tuesday. On Wednesday we did our Christmas shopping for Andrea’s family so we can get it all wrapped and leave it here and not have to ship anything. We also shopped for Ian’s birthday which is next month. Wednesday evening Andrea had us down to her place because she baked a cake for Larry’s 50th birthday.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Andrea’s. We were moving in slow motion and didn’t get to her place until after 10 a.m. and by then she had managed the turkey all by herself! Andrea cooked us a fabulous dinner, we spent the whole day grazing…first on snacks and then on the turkey. Will started carving the turkey, but then he had to run down to his mother’s place to pick up the deviled eggs she made just for him at his request.

Friday we spent doing more grazing down at Andrea’s, Saturday we visited friends (Ian was kicking back and watching cartoons at our friend’s gorgeous home) and spent the night with our brother-in-law and nephews in Martinez. We had fun catching up with them and went out to breakfast; I had the best Garden Omelet I have ever had.

Today we did a little more shopping and then spent the afternoon and evening with Ian.

Tomorrow we load our storage unit up into a U-haul, Wednesday we drive it the 340 miles and 8 hours up to Fallon (takes that long towing) and unload it, Thursday we have a delivery and appointment at the house and Friday we drive back to Ukiah. We’ll probably not have internet while we are in Fallon this trip because our “home” will be left behind in Ukiah.

Michelle’s been without a computer the last several weeks and she just got her new computer today and sent these pictures of Seth. What a handsome boy! He was Buzz Lightyear for Halloween and he came home as an Indian before Thanksgiving!

Fallon to Ukiah 11-20-07

We have been really busy since I last blogged. We left Quincy and went to Fallon for a week. We are done being landlords and the housing market is really down there so we are going to take some time over the next several months getting the house we own there ready for the market when things heat up again. There is quite a lot of landscaping to get done so a few times a year we’ll work on it in between traveling.

This past week we painted the kitchen and living room after patching the multitudinous holes all over the place. I picked a lovely “muted gold” color and after painting for two days the results were disappointing. The color was lovely but not what we wanted. It turned out to look more like pumpkin orange than gold and too dark and the light changes so much with the angles in the room…hideous. Two whole days of hard work…wasted. The color on the chip did not look the same at all on the walls! I had given 5 of the doors two coats of the lovely color…ahk! We tried to think of ways to make the color work because neither one of us wanted to repaint, but we decided we had to for resale. We went with a nice safe neutral, creamy tan with cottage white trim. We painted the teeny laundry room an eye popping fresh Citron Green.

The carpets had been cleaned and we had a no pet clause, but as often happens a contract doesn’t mean much to some people and the carpet reeks in several spots, so that will be next…getting the carpet replaced.

We are pooped after over 6 days of prepping and painting and cleaning and we still have 5 more rooms to do.

Today we drove the 340 miles from Fallon to Ukiah. It was a beautiful drive over the Sierras and we hadn’t been on that part of Highway 80 in 20 years or so. The slow lane had such deep ruts from the big rigs and was sooo bumpy we felt like the fillings in our teeth were going to rattle out. I was crocheting and kept dropping loops and then trying to pick them up was entertaining! It was very cold and foggy going over the top.

We are here for two weeks for Thanksgiving with Andrea’s family and for Ian’s early birthday party.

Pretty pictures 11-7-07

Not much going on with us. Larry is still working on stuff for the Fire Department here and I am crocheting a gift, reading and doing research on the internet. I just thought I would put these pictures up because they are pretty.

The first one is my stained glass hanging in the window with the fall leaves framing it so nicely. I was putting my shoes on when I noticed it and had to take a picture of it.

The last two were taken one morning last week when we were on our way to Fallon and is alongside the highway in Eastern Plumas County. The fog was finally lifting and made the last of the fall colors really stand out.

The leaves that framed my glass in the first picture from last week are almost off the oak tree. It has been getting down to 30, but at least the sun has been shining and it warms up some during the day! Currently all is well in "Moniz World", but then we never allow anything less...smile.

Happy Birthday Larry! 11-6-07

Happy BIG 50th Birthday to Larry!!!!!

We were having problems with our satellite modem today and I think Larry has hidden all our old pictures from me, I couldn't get it figured out where they were stored on the computer, so this is a really late in the day birthday wish!

I baked him a dark chocolate rum cake for his birthday and we had dinner with friends...a lovely evening. I'll find and post a couple of baby pictures (they will be awfully old and grainy probably...) soon.

Larry says he is 7 plus 1...he is counting his age in dog years.