7.8

I woke up around 8:15.  Then we got to doing some more stuff to set up the computers.  Each night it seems Poly takes her ponytail holder chain under the bed.  The one of it always sticks out so we are on to her.

I showered and am really glad the one room that is done is the bathroom. It is just so pleasant in there. 

Then I did some unpacking and putting stuff on my shelves. 

Dave got a phone call and Poly tried to get comfortable on him and finally did.

Before we knew it, it was lunch time.  We took some boxes to storage and took 5 boxes worth to Goodwill.  Then we headed to Ikea. We ate lunch at this Togo sandwich place. I didn't like it. Then we went to Ikea.  They didn't have the one size table in birch so we got one white and one black/brown instead.  If I would have known we'd get white, I could have used my old white desk table instead of Dave's birch one. Oh well. 

We were almost home when we remembered we had to go to Lowe's and Micro Center.  So we back tracked a bit but still Lowe's was maybe 4 minutes away and Micro Center was 8 minutes more.  Micro Center had what we needed but it was a lot more expensive than online so we decided to wait to get them in the mail.  The one monitor cord was $20 there and it was ~$4 online.

We got home and put together the tables. We then mounted Dave's 2 book shelves and added the shelf extenders.  We decided to head to dinner before mounting my shelves. We have to move everything off of mine first and knew it'd be too late for dinner by that point. 

We walked to Pizza My Heart.  Then we went to some ice cream place and after a few minutes in line decided to leave and walk (much further) to another one.  The other one was so good. I got strawberries in my frozen yogurt for the first time besides at an amusement park.  I only ever get 1 topping at a time. I never mix toppings I like.  Most often I get butterfinger but I have been known to get oreos or peanut butter and rarely sprinkles. Never anything else though.  Always vanilla yogurt too. 

I took all these pictures for my mom on our way to get ice cream

Then we walked to Target. It was just a few minutes further.  We really need to find all our canvas bags from the garage.  We have this one target bag that folds up. I want to keep that in my purse just in case. I just need to find it first.  We only bought enough just to carry.  Dave got licorice. I got lipstick. We both got trail mix. 

The walk home was fairly quick. We stopped at the ATM on the way back too. 

We got back too late to mount my shelves so we just played around on our computers and relaxed.

Dave and I both hit over 10,000 steps today.  That is rare. I usually only hit that much if I went for a longer run back in Pittsburgh.  It's so easy to walk a lot around here.

I put a few pictures on picasa.  You are probably thinking how I'm a month behind on posting and now I post about the day on the day. I know it is crazy.

6.15 - Goodbye House

Everything was "packed" according to the packers but so many things were just in boxes how we had them before for temporary storage. I did not like this. It stressed me out.

The movers showed up at 9am to start loading and we were told they'd be done early afternoon.

Poly wasn't a huge fan of them packing up our house. They kept taking away all her spots.

At one point I couldn't find Poly. I decided to look under the wrapped end table. Sure enough she was there.  Less than a minute later a mover came over with his dolly to pick up the table. I had to stop him and get Poly out. She would not have been happy to have her hiding place just picked up. Finally she discovered her last hiding place was remaining. It was on top of the cupboards above the fridge.

As the movers would finish a room, we'd vacuum it. They were really good at leaving 1 or 2 things in a room so rooms were never done. We also did some touch up paint jobs too.

The movers didn't leave until after 7:30 PM. Maybe that is early afternoon to them but certainly is not for us.  I felt like the 5 guys were quick the first 2 hours and then they worked in slow motion. I couldn't lug all that heavy stuff around all day so I understand slowing down but they got really slow.

We gave fridge and freezer food to our  neighbor so it all wouldn't go to waste. 

Shortly after 8pm we left our house. We closed the garage door and left. It was interesting that the garage door sensor didn't line up so Dave had to fix it for the door to close. It just felt odd leaving for good then still having to fix something to leave. 

After we left we headed toward the airport.  We stopped at Walmart to buy a duffle bag. Then we went to Pizza Hut and picked up food.  We didn't eat dinner until 10PM in the hotel.
The hotel was a big ordeal. The last time we flew, we stopped at the hotel to ask questions about cats and we were reassured they were a pet friendly hotel.  We tried to clarify about cats and were told yes but we weren't confident in that answer. Dave called and asked if they allowed cats and we were told yes.  Online the hotel says they are pet friendly.  Well we get there and we are told they do not allow cats. They would make an exception this one time. Apparently all the pet friendly notes are only referring to dogs and not cats.    After Dave dropped us off in the room, he went to go return the rental car.  That seemed to take a long time.  Poly explored a lot but found a good hiding spot and mainly stayed there. She was up against the window behind the curtain in the furthest corner from the opening.  


We didn't get to sleep until after midnight. 


It's amazing how that can just be the end of something. The end of our home. The end of living there. The end of being in the area.  It's just so weird.  It doesn't seem like it's your life that is changing but something temporary. Like you still think you will head back there after the vacation or something. 


It's the goodbye of an era. Time to see what the next one brings. 

6.27

I watched TV. Poly was on her suitcase and it felt off but then she just slept on it it's new way.

Dave sent me a picture of his fancy lunch at Google so I sent him a picture of my lunch. Cream cheese and crackers might not be a normal lunch but it was mine.

Dave showed me how fancy the Google shuttles are (via picture not in person).

We went to Tomatinas for dinner. The plate that looks kind of like soup is actually lasagna. It had way too much sauce around it for my liking.  The last time we went there we shared Pizza and Bolognese and both were better than the lasagna and the lasagna wasn't even bad.

Poly stole my spot in bed. I wondered where I was supposed to fit.

Progress - Master Bath

We are making some progress with unpacking. It seems to be slow. We also make progress in an area but then when we move onto the next area we move boxes into the area we first cleared out. Sigh.

The 2 pictures above can be considered the before pictures.  They are from the day we got the keys to the apartment and before we moved anything into the apartment at all.

The day after the movers loaded up our house but before we started actually unpacking anything was July 3 and as you can see, there are a lot of boxes.

On July 4, I started unpacking but I'd take stuff out of boxes and put it everywhere. Sometimes this made it worse than the boxes were.

July 6

Here's the bathroom in it's current state.  I'm still missing Dave's electric razor and our electric tooth brushes.  We need a towel rack behind the door so we have spots for our wet towels.  Too bad the only spot for the scale is so close tot he toilet. 

The yellow tablet behind the kleenex holder is where we document our weight until I get a new printout of the chart I used to use to document it. There are also 2 pens there just incase one decides not to work.   

There are 2 soaps that are partially used. One is almost out so we'll finish that one in the next week or so and then use the next one. 

None of the other rooms look as nice as this one.  The dining room has about 20 broken down boxes wedged between the row of chairs and other boxes right now.  The office is awful. The living room has some empty boxes and boxes full of packing paper and many boxes still to be unpacked.  The kitchen has a few boxes to be unpacked too.  The entryway has a box of junk for Goodwill and 2 partial boxes that have to be repacked to go to storage. 

6.13

Nothing that exciting. Just the nervousness that they would pack up our house the following day.

We did buy Poly a harness for the airport. She did not like it. She did give up from trying to get out of it after a little and just plopped over on the floor so we were glad to see that.

6.11

We woke up and went running at the track. My feet hurt and my calves hurt. It was hard work.

We did some stuff around the house.

We went to drop off stamps to Rachel and deposit cash in the bank. The bank took forever. I was trying to confirm that our one PNC account was closed and they had so much trouble with it, then we figured out they thought I was my mom. With my dad being on my one account that I made the deposit for, it just took forever for them to figure it all out.

Then we went to work and got furniture pads back from Dave.  We then went to Double wide for lunch with Paulo and Jen.  We had about an hour long lunch and still after we dropped off Jen, I realized there was so much I didn't tell her.

After we dropped them off, we went to Sincerely Yogurt to try to use the rest of our gift card. We still have $3 left on there. We told Jen we'd give it to her if we didn't use it before we left.

After that we cleaned up a little and then watched some TV.  We left for the vet at 3:10. Someone came to show the house and they were 15 minutes early so they were just leaving as they were arriving.

Poly DID NOT enjoy the vet.  After they took her temperature and before the doctor arrived, she hid behind the refrigerator in the room. She really hid.

At 4, Timmy said Jared was ready to come up to get the couches so I didn't really do anything. I just used my computer.  Then over an hour later he said they left.  Then 1.5 hours after that, they still weren't here.

It took them well over an hour to load the 2 couches in the truck and then to put some weights in the truck that I already carried upstairs.   They left near 8:30.

We watched the rest of the season of Weeds and I was unsatisfied.  We went into bed near 11:30 and I played Solitaire until I fell asleep.  Around 4am I woke up with the iPad still beside me.

6.28

Dave's shirt and shorts: JCP
My shirt and shorts: F21. Shoes: Famous Footwear

I woke up and was going to go for a run. Instead I watched 10 episodes of One Tree Hill.  (And for some of my TV watching, Poly was in the TV stand.)
I had a Boston Market frozen dinner.  This time I ate more than last time but still didn't finish it. The thing is only about 500 calories and I can't eat the entire thing anymore.

I updated my resume a little bit and applied for some jobs.

I went to Google for dinner.  Dave and I walked around campus for about 30 minutes trying to figure out where to eat.  Then we ate but they were running out of food. I was still hungry after.  They did have good banana cream pie once I took off the flaked chocolate off.   The chicken was probably good but it was too spicy for me so I barely ate any of it.  I enjoyed making the panini.  After we ate, we heard a noise that sounded like a jet. After a few minutes we still didn't know what it was.  We saw people going over a fence. We went over. The white thing in the left picture is what the noise was.  It seemed like a gas leak or something but who knows.  After a few minutes, it turned to some smoke and then went away.  It was a very weird occurrence.  I'm glad we walked  over to see what it was.  Between us and the mysterious thing was a golf course and people were just there golfing like it was no big thing.

I ended up watching more One Tree Hill and tapped out at falling asleep during my 16th episode of the day.

6.10

I woke up after a long sleep and still felt tired. I figured this is what joblessness feels like.

I sold my white furniture early in the morning. The guy came after a 12 hour shift.   Then we started to clean out our dresser and chest to sell that furniture.  Dave and I carried all furniture downstairs because we didn't want the buyers doing it because they might ding up the walls and not care.

Dave cooked breakfast at 9:30 so I had been up 2.5 hours but I still wasn't hungry. I ate 1 bite of the hash browns, 1.5 slices of bacon, 1 piece of toast, and half the egg he made me. (I'm not sure if he made me 2 or 3 eggs worth though.)  I was so full I just wanted to curl up in a ball. I hate how I can't eat in the mornings.  I also realized Dave is doing to me with hash browns like my dad did with fish. I'm getting it far too often so now I'm just grossed out by it and don't want to eat it even though hash browns used to be one of my favorite foods.

We watched a little TV.  We cleaned some more drawers upstairs and carried more downstairs.  I had bread and butter and peanut butter sandwich for lunch.

I think I wasted time on my computer in the middle of the day. Now that I don't have a job, I feel like I just read facebook more.

My parents came at 5:30 and brought me stuffed peppers. Man they were good.  I ate 1.5 worth and would have had more but my dad was itching to load the car and I didn't want him to do it alone.

I gave my parents my exercise bike and my Christmas Tree.  The tree is super nice but with a 60" base, we won't ever have room for it in the smaller places in California. I kept all my ornaments. I did leave the tree lights on for the first time ever this year and my mom has other lights to use so leaving them on was no benefit.

At 7, some more people came to buy my 2 pieces of bedroom furniture.   So that made it 2 of 3 things we sold that I put on Craigslist. The 3rd thing was supposed to have someone pick it up on Saturday but he never showed :( Now we still have to get rid of the end tables, coffee table, and sofa table.

With my parents we went to the store to buy club soda to work on cleaning a few stains in the carpet. I tried other stuff but not club soda.  The stains are a little better but not perfect.

After the carpet cleaning, my parents left. It was around 8:30 and they like to drive when it's daylight.

Once they left, Dave and I cleaned up the little messes we made all weekend and organized all the junk from our drawers better. There is still 1 containers worth of my old junk I have to go through.  Dave wanted me to do it before bed but I was tired.

I went into bed early and played Solitaire on my iPad.

I fell asleep while playing and Dave knows how I love pictures so he took a picture of me.

Random Thoughts

1. I can't believe I live in California now. It still feels like a vacation or something fake.
2. I'm sick of applying for jobs and having nobody contact me.
   
3. I'm almost out of One Tree Hill which means in ~10 days I watched 8 seasons.
   
4. I don't know how all our furniture will fit in our apartment.
   
5. I've worn shorts more this summer than the previous 8.
6. I've worn shorts more here and it's cooler here than in PA. 
7. Most restaurants and stores aren't crazy with their use of A/C here. In Pittsburgh, I'd wear pants because when you got in A/C places it would be freezing.
   
8. There is so much dining outside here and I love it.
9. 75 degrees can be hot and sunny but 75 degrees can also be cold and Sunny
   
10. I have enough junk to fit into 4 apartments but I only have 1. I am NOT looking forward to unpacking. (this picture only has about 1/4 of what is currently in the room now.)
11. Each set of movers complained about the previous guys. Each set said they took longer than expected.  But if 1 group took longer shouldn't they all pass on the word that it takes longer so the rest know what to expect?
    
12. I wonder how long it will take me to get used to the trees around here.
    
13. I wonder if Poly will go back to her old self after we move out of temporary housing.  This would include sleeping on us and sleeping at night (versus now where she never hangs out with us except when we sleep where she hangs out in bed with us but she does not sleep the entire night).
14. I should have known more about 4 because clearly everything was far from being able to fit.
    
15. I wonder how long it will take for me to get used to motorcycles being allowed to drive between lanes of traffic if there is congestion.

I'm pretty sure I had different observations when I decided to make the observation post. Then it took me a day to start the post so I forgot it all and had different thoughts. 

What do you think? What are your reactions to my thoughts?  What did they trigger in your mind? 

1-9 were typed on 7/1

10-15 were typed on 7/2

6.9

I ran the race and went to Red Robin after so I didn't get home from that until after 5pm.  After that we got my old white furniture ready to sell.  I'm missing it a bit. It was nice furniture and mine from growing up.  I guess I had to sell it though.

I found old shorts (from early college).  Dave said they looked old. I believe I asked him what matched them and he said 2004.  I went with a white tank because I didn't know what else to wear with them. The print really throws me off.  I love that the denim is stretchy.

6.8

I did laundry. I took pictures of stuff to put on Craigslist.  The rest I don't remember besides what the pictures show.  I know I was up late.  I was up until 1am or later (and I had to wake up before 5am the next day.

Joblessness = boring days