Pooks Canyon

Leah moved in to her college dorm last week. This weekend I clicked on the Leah link in this blog and reminisced about her wit, her chicken hat, and her willingness to choose her own path without bogging down on trifles like what other people think.  Go Leah!  We love you :) This weekend we also moved out of our rental in downtown Chico and into a fifth wheel trailer. It is really cool and weird at the same time. We are only partially "on the way" as we are just staying at the Almond Tree RV Park here in Chico.  We still need to clean out the rental. I get a shiver of joy every time I remember that we are now able to tow all our possessions around with a truck. This kind of lightness has been a dream of mine for almost two decades. Speaking of decades, I'll will complete my fourth one in a few weeks. In retrospect, this decision to hit the road seems too coincidentally timed with my big 4-0. Mid-life crisis? Is this the Cyndi equivalent of buying a Porsche? Everything...

Lately I am struck by the urge to write large lists in large letters atop large sheets of paper. We want to: Load an RV with everything one kid, two cats and two adults need to live/work/study. Store small things we either love or would have to re-buy someday when we pick a new permanent residence.  Think: baby books, my favorite wall hangings, Axel’s [American-kid-sized] stuffed animal collection. Sell/donate everything else (and try not to love large things). Today, out of curiosity, I read the ad for our current rental on Craigslist, which corrected my mistaken idea that our move-out date was October 15th.  It is not.  We have to be out by September 30th. urge to write large lists intensifies Some things got checked off the large lists last week, such as Buy Truck, and Bring Home Fifth Wheel. Other things still loom, such as Learn to Back-Up Fifth Wheel with Large Truck. While I excuse myself to go write some more lists, please enjoy a picture of our newl...

Original artwork by Jonathan Baker When we moved back to California in June 2011 the plan was always to stay until Leah finished high school.  Last year, as a first step toward leaving Chico, we sold our house and got rid of about 75% of our stuff.  Now that Leah has graduated we are ready to finish the purge of possessions and hit the road.  Where to?  Eventually we would like to land back in Europe. For now, vagabonding through North America is the plan. On October 15 we are giving up our lease and hitting the road.  We will have a travel trailer with enough room for sleeping, working, and schooling. We are even taking the cats.  When we get tired of trailer living we may sublet furnished places for short terms.  Portland, Boulder, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz come to mind. When I told my dad (a fan of the film The Graduate) he said, “Cyndi, this whole idea sounds pretty half-baked.”  Having heard him repeat this quote many tim...

We closed the deal on our house yesterday and are officially, once again, Boulder homeowners. Yay! The house needs a little work and we also opted to remove a wall between two bedrooms. So this week, before moving the stuff in, we're doing a major bedroom remodel, carpeting about 700 sqft of the basement, and painting 4 rooms. The remodel of the master bedroom: This house has 3 small (11x10) bedrooms upstairs and two larger, sunny, bedrooms in the basement. Since we obviously don't need FIVE bedrooms, we are taking out a wall to make a large 12X20 master. I hired a contractor named Michael Harrington (he was one of the 20 guys who answered my craigslist.org ad) for a ridiculously low rate because he is just getting started in the area. Turns out that when he was living in SoCal he participated in an HGTV episode of Designer's Challenge ! So far he is doing a great job. Laura said she has dibs on him next. The carpeting of the basement: While watching an episode of a...

With 4 days until closing I am going house crazy. HGTV is plays round the clock, I am surrounded by stacks of books on design, color, and window coverings, and I bore everyone to tears with talk of contractors and painting schemes. Enter Plan3D, the home design software! Now I am glued to the laptop, drawing rooms that will (I hope) eventually exist. Anyone who has ever actually moved furniture around the room in dozens of configurations, stopping only for a visit to the chiropractor, will appreciate the value of this easy to use software. The Master Bedroom

We are under contract on this house and close on 2/28. Yay!!! The house inspected well - solid structure, good drainage away from the basement (we're on a small hill), newer roof, newer heating unit that is 90% efficient, and energy efficient features such as double storm windows.

Pooks has left Boulder Canyon and has moved to Shanahan Ridge (aka Shananigan Ridge). On our first night here we wandered outside our condo and happened upon a neighbor's margarita get-together on their patio (thanks Matt and Lindsey). We stayed till midnight. A big switch from the canyon! If you wandered outside there at night you'd happen upon a raccoon's garbage get-together in the driveway and stay until midnight cleaning up garbage. Jon said it's like Melrose Place here.

Leah decided she would like to go to Mesa Elementary for her one and a half months of school before going to Belgium. She can walk there from our new sublet and will get a chance to find playmates in the 'hood. Mesa ranks 12th out of 900 elementary schools in Colorado (Flatirons ranked a respectable 142nd). She's very excited, especially for the Mesa summer reading program. Every month over the summer the student sets a reading goal for the month. Leah decided between now and 7/26 she'll read 400 pages (should be easy with the new Harry Potter coming out on the 21st). If she meets her goal she gets to attend an Ice Cream Social on the evening of the 26th. Then it starts again for August - very cool.

Dinner (taste factor 10 of 10): Herbed Flatbread with Mushroom Tapenade Breaded Orange Roughy with lemon wedges Sauteed Asparagus, Squash, and Red Bell Pepper Roasted Sweet Potato and Onion topped with toasted almonds Sounds good and it was. Behind the scenes info: The frozen orange roughy was from Costco (our membership expired over a year ago) the flatbread was made from pizza crust mix that I bought in Louisville, brushed with an herb egg wash made from egg replacer I bought in Chico. The egg replacer has actually proven to be quite a boon; Jon made a delicious banana-blueberry bread with it and you would never know it didn't actually contain eggs. We are considering a one-time deviation from the embargo to purchase powdered milk and dry yeast. Is it a slippery-slope?

Meals made from stuff around the house: Dinner last night (taste factor 9 of 10): Tuna and ButterBean Salad Canned Corn Almonds Apricots Salad with artichoke hearts and goat cheese Breakfast today(taste factor 6 of 10): Instant Oatmeal Lunch today (taste factor 8 of 10): Homemade Flour Tortillas (these are really good and are made of flour, oil, and water) Pinto Beans fried with spices 1/8 lb [slightly] freezer-burnt Ground Chuck with spices Sour Cream

Since our house is as good as sold and we have to be out in one month we have decided to stop grocery shopping and just live off the foods in our freezer, pantry, and fridge. We are only allowed to buy fresh fruits and vegetables (so this doesn't become an exercise in malnutrition). I have implemented a taste factor rating on a scale of 1 to 10. If we consistently fall into the

Luv Sac not included :) My favorite site for looking at houses now has ours listed! 531517

Our house has its MLS number and you can read all about it here Belgium, here we come!

House goes on the Market this week, MLS # and web info to follow. Realtor website here. Plane tickets have been purchased for Nevada City Classic/Father's Day Weekend We all come in Wednesday 6/13, arriving in NC around midnight Jon leaves 6:30 am Monday 6/18, Leah, baby and I may stay on and have not yet purchased return tickets (don't worry, Jon, we'll come back eventually)