Moving On …

Hello again! Well gosh, that year went by fast! What I intended to do last year:

  • Blog more
  • Start writing a new book or two
  • Continue feeling stronger and healthier

What I actually did last year:

  • Move

Yep, that’s right.

That was my whole year: Moving from our home of 22 years into a new home.

I really had no idea it would be so hard. Mostly because I don’t have a lot of experience with moving. My parents still live in the same house they’ve lived in for 47 years or so — the home I grew up in. And although I moved into a dorm room once, an apartment once, then (with my hubby) one condo and one small house, we were traveling super light in those days. We only had one small baby, a couch, a bed, and a crib. We didn’t even hire movers — we just paid our brothers in pizza and beer.

So this move — 22 years, three children, and a bajillion trophies/ stuffed animals/ video tapes/ books/ vases/ linens/ file cabinets/ dressers/ sweatshirts/ frames/ dining chairs/ office chairs/ accent chairs/ photo boxes/ desk supplies/ arts-and-crafts/ lamps/ end tables/ pots-and-pans/ glasses/ dishes/ mugs/ couches/ couch pillows/ pillow cases/ guitars/ wall hangings / yearbooks/ kids’ art/ baskets/ magazines/ gardening tools/ roller skates/ DVDs/ electronics/ computers/ bicycles/ baseball bats/ board games/ coffee tables/ coffee-table books/ beds/ mattresses/ bed pillows/ shelving units/ bathing suits/ winter hats/ hand towels/ beach towels/ baseball caps/ placemats/ table runners/ candlestick holders and casserole dishes later — took us some time.

Holy moly, we had a lot of stuff packed into that little house!

But with our children all adults now, it was time to go through all that stuff, right? I mean why were we keeping that box of broken trophies? That wire bench basket of size four roller skates and deflated basketballs? Baskets and baskets of old stickers and worn-down crayons? (And, oh my gosh, all those musty stuffed animals?)

(Not to mention our own strange stuff from the ’80s and ’90s, including an exercise “step” shoved into the back of a closet, some cassette tapes, and a bright yellow “Sport” Sony Walkman.)

Anyway, we started about a year before we planned to move — just very slowly, one big cabinet area at a time. I started with a “craft cabinet” that had become sort of like a junk drawer. (Only a junk cabinet instead — which held lots more junk!) That one cabinet took me about a week. (A lot of sweet kids’ art was in there, though, with lots of photos that belonged elsewhere, so I spent another two weeks building memory boxes of the items I wanted to keep.)

A few weeks later, I moved to the below-the-sink cabinet in the master bathroom — you know, the one where you keep all your old cleaning supplies, first aid stuff, grooming items, etc. (I had old blow-dryers, two sprain “boots,” hardened shoe polish, and a diffuser in there from 1997.)

That took me another three days.

Then I moved to the kids’ bathroom cabinets — same deal, only mostly dried-up containers of acne creams and old prescriptions for contacts.

Then the linen closet.

Slowly, I made my way all around the house, giving away, throwing away, packing, or leaving be (if the item was still useable, and we needed to use it within the next six months).

I “Marie Kondo-d” the heck out of my house, before I had ever even heard of Marie Kondo. (Then Rene bought me Kondo’s book for Christmas that same year, and I loved it!) Done slowly (whenever I had a free weekend), the whole thing took me about nine months.

But then … the worst part — the garage!!!

Oh my goodness, the garage alone took us nearly two months, when you factored in all the dump runs, charity runs, renting the trucks, getting rid of paint/ electronics/ medications all in special ways, etc. I still had six large boxes of desk items from three old corporate desk jobs — from when I had left each job. We had two large boxes of items Ricky brought home from college that he apparently never wanted, and that we had just shoved into the back. Plus five or six boxes of stuff we packed up from way back when we had a slab leak and never unpacked back into the house. Holy cow, that garage was a mess! Chris had an entire tiki lounge set up that needed to be dismantled, plus a drum set and a wall-full of pictures (stapled) and stickers (stuck) that took one whole day in and of itself. Plus a couple of bicycles, that wire bench filled with roller skates, a random chair that needed fixing, just SO. MUCH. STUFF.

SO … once the garage was finally sorted and organized, we started in on fixes to the house to sell it, which took another six months. We painted walls, fixed plaster, fixed pipes, replaced faucets, painted doors, swapped out door fixtures, fixed a fireplace, cleaned carpets, redid the back patio, painted the entire exterior, got all the windows washed, replaced screens, found a storage unit and started moving excess furniture and boxes there, etc., etc. WHEW! We were exhausted.

But it all paid off. We sold the house in only three days, with five competing bids that were all over the asking price. Happy dances ensued.

We found a new house, began paperwork on that, started packing up in a serious way, and then finally made the move in July 2018.

But then — no rest for the weary. We started the work on the new house! — Painting a couple of walls, installing ceiling fans, fixing up the yard, putting up shelves, hanging frames, decorating, organizing new cabinets and closets and drawers, setting up guest rooms, adding storage to the garage, etc, etc. And WHEW! We were exhausted again!

Between our move-in date of July 2018 and this past July 2019, we slowly brought boxes over from our storage unit as we made room for the contents (adding shelves, mostly.). And a couple of weeks ago, we officially closed our storage unit! YAY! Now we feel truly “done”!

I mean, I still have boxes in the garage, but they are not imperative — I can slowly empty them on free weekends. And I still have a lot of blank walls (plus boxes and boxes of frames and wall hangings from our old house that could go on them), but those are “projects” I can do slowly over this next year.

Overall, I feel officially “moved in”! And now I understand why moving from a house of 20 years or more is considered a “major life event”! Wow.

How about any of you? Are any of you downsizing, upsizing, empty-nesting, nesting, moving, and/or Marie Kondo-ing the heck out of your lives?

THE END!

Whoo-hoo! I just typed “The End” on yet another manuscript! This will be my third. I’m now stepping out from the writer’s cave, blinking against the bright March sun, and trying to find my place back in the world. Lots of laundry to do. Must restock the fridge. Must finish putting boxes away from the remodel a few weeks ago. …

And must drink this wine that hubby had waiting for me to celebrate:

IMG_0735[1]

But it sure feels good to finish a third book!

Love/Hate Romance Covers? Here’s Your Chance to Judge!

So we really do judge books by their covers, don’t we? And romance covers, in particular, have ridden waves over the years from “clutch covers” to “pastoral covers” to “hero only” covers to “cartoon covers” to “body part” covers (usually hands or feet), which we’re seeing a lot of now.

Well, now’s your chance to voice your opinion!

The Judge a Book by its Cover Contest is sponsored by the Houston Bay Area RWA group and is one of the most fun “readers choice” contests around, in my opinion.

You get to score the best covers in contemporary romance, single-title (mine’s in there!), paranormal, historical, and more! Have fun!

You can play here: Judge a Book by its Cover Contest.

A Video of “Sandy Cove”

Want to see video coverage of the place that inspired “Sandy Cove”?

Here’s a fun drone video of San Clemente, which provided all the inspiration! You can see the train here that Giselle hears, the pier that Giselle and Fin walk along, the apartments where Rabbit and Lia live, the palm trees, the sand, the surf, and more. …

San Clemente Sky from Eric Geiselman on Vimeo.



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