Getting Older

Two days ago, I received a call from my sister Villa letting me know that they took daddy to the hospital. It was very hard for me to compute in my mind that this strong man I have come to know and love is now what society calls old.

Daddy is 78 years young and besides his hip bothering him, he is all there, mind, body and spirit. I actually think as he's become older he is less patient, more crabby and more demanding. I guess if you reach this age you have the right to be all these things. He is doing good, all the results were fine, he just got up to quick became light headed, than passed out.

Time has a way of deceiving me because I don't feel old, I remember things like they were yesterday, except when I look in the mirror I see an older me. Gray hair, deeper lines and the person looking at me looks tired from just living life. It is when I look at my daughter that I realize that I am getting older. Young vibrant ready to take on the world, I remember thinking that at one point in my life. Sometimes I feel like life has overtaken me, I have weathered the storms and come out a bit battered up but still swimming.

I am so thankful that living life with my husband and daughter makes these storms much better because we're all together, helping, encouraging and pushing one another and reminding each other that there is another day.

Praise GOD that he is the light at the end of the tunnel and I am not alone.

Finally a Sunday off

Finally a Sunday off, it has been at least 18 months since I have seen one. The weather is cold outside and I think I'm going to skip my walk. Mini Cooper is now clean and she is a happy dog.

I have looked at the "work" ads, craigslist, career-builders etc. Nothing really big, nothing that fits my job criteria.

I am going to work on my Spanish, maybe it will help with the job hunting.

A day to relax, looking for a local church to go to, starting next week. I found one down the street, prayerfully it will be a good one.

January 15, 2012

It has been a very long time since I have written. It has been two and a half years since we moved to Downtown Los Angeles. Currently we live in Glendale and love it. We have been here for a year and half, and the scenery is prettier. We have trees and even mountains we can see from our front yard of the town-home.

Living in downtown LA was better than Peter and I could of imagined. During the work week it was busy and on the weekends it seemed pretty desolate. We participated in every activity that took place at the Nokia/Staple Center that year we lived there. It seemed like we did something every single week, which kept it exciting for us. They had summer concerts in the plaza on 7th and Fig which we enjoy immensely, the farmer's market every Thursday and just walking around the city itself was interesting.

When it came time for us to renew our lease, we opted to look outside the city. We searched and when the decision had to be made, it was based off my new job located in Burbank. So we found a nice half way point between LA and Burbank, that is Glendale.

Since then, I was working steady for at least 18 months. This past December I was let go because the Franchise Owner moved to Orange County and the Corporation didn't have a position open for me. So as of now I am un-employed, it has been very frustrating because we were just starting to catch up with the finances.

Calinia graduated from FIDM last June and took six months off just to kick back. This year she has started seriously looking for a job in the Event Planning field. Last year she did a intern job for a Event Planning company and they liked her very much but she needed a paying job. A day ago she received a call from Sabra her previous boss and she would like Calinia to be the second in command, since her partner opted out of the business. So Calinia will be working 3 days a week to help coordinate and plan for the up coming event taking place at the Staple Center. This is the break she needed, now to learn all that she can, with venues, cater's and so forth.

As for Peter, he has been learning to trade the Forex. He has been studying for the past two months diligently. Now, he is putting to use what he has learned. As for me I am looking for a job and working on building my ASEA business.

I praise GOD for his faithfulness and most of all his grace which is always sufficient.

KEEPING IT REAL - One week living in downtown Los Angeles...

I do realize that it has been awhile since I have written. I also realize that I didn't even finish my blog on the day I wrote last. I will up date that after I write this one.

It is officially one week as of today that we have been living here in Los Angeles. Can I tell you that it has taken a whole seven days to re-coup from moving.

So this is what happened two days before our move...

I am thinking I am ready to move... I know I am packed in every room except ours. When Friday rolled around my sister's Annie and Villa came to help me pack. We started slowly with each of the rooms to make sure I did not forget anything. Calinia's was packed and room cleaned. The second bathroom was also packed up and cleaned. Around 11:00 am Alison & Brett came to help soon to be followed by Ray, Valerie & Ron. At this time I realize that Peter wanted all the boxes to be loaded into the moving van, our room was not even close to being packed. So with that Peter broke down the surround sound system in the family room, and the sauna in our room. While Valerie, Annie helped me pack mine and Peters stuff. Villa packed our bathroom, cleaned it and followed up by cleaning the family room with Calinia's help. Then my sister's proceeded to help pack my miscellaneous stuff which seem to be everywhere. Valerie helped pack my computer and Uncle Peter's closet. In the mean time, Peter and the boys proceed to pack the furniture only to realize half way through all this, the truck was to small. We mis-calculated the amount of space due to the ad that U-haul shows regarding their trucks. Peter than informs me that we will need a second truck to take to LA. I was going to drive a 14 foot truck loaded with our stuff into downtown LA! I was not pleased with this information but knew it had to be done. Friday seemed like a blurr and it did not help because I couldn't sleep knowing I was going to have to drive this big truck.

Saturday Morning we were up, my sister's came with Mike (who by the way - Praise GOD) is adding weight on due to the new chemotherapy he is undergoing. We did the last and final packing and cleaning before we headed out around 9:00 am. I had Calinia, Mini Cooper, and Enzo Farrai in the truck with me. I followed my sister who also had her pick up truck filled with more boxes. As we were getting closer to our exit, she missed it and I followed her due to the fact that I did not want to get separated from her. Long story short we ended up on the outskirts of Long Beach, in a not so great neighborhood. I started to get a bit anxious and then Calinia and I noticed that the main street was Olympic Blvd which is the main street to our apartment. We had my sister follow us from this point because we had a better idea where we were. Peter and Mike followed about an hour behind, we just started to unload, we were moving so fast because we had two return the two trucks before 5:00. We did not want to leave them over night, first because it could get broken into and second the cost to park it. We just kept moving and Mike really worked hard to help, Villa did as well. Peter and I were impressed because Calinia stepped it up, she just started unloading all the boxes and stuff from the back of the truck, while the rest of them put it on the loading dock. A funny thing did happen while all this pressure was on, I got off the elevator on the wrong floor with a sofa and a couple of other things, I didn't even notice it, I could not get back on the elevator due to not having a key, so I waited and waited, it was 20 minutes later when the elevator open up and I saw Peter and Mike, they were looking for me! Crazy!!!! We finished about 4:30 pm and returned both trucks and were back into the apartment by 5:00. It was a total GOD move, it looked hopeless when we started but we finished off well. Peter had to go back with Annie in order to bring our car back from Temecula. So Calinia and I spent the first night in the apartment.

Peter spent Sunday at Ray and Valerie's. They were doing a lunch for all the dad's for Father's day. He did not get home until 7:00 pm. I know he was exhausted, we all were.

KEEPING IT REAL - Calinia's last day... tomorrow

Well, today like the past few weeks have been really busy. We are trying to finish up the house, getting it ready to rent. We have had a hand full of people look at it but they have big dogs and we are not wanting to have them ruin our back yard after we put in 2,000 sq ft of grass. It is hard for both Peter and I to think that we will be renting the house out once again. We did it about 13 years ago for Peter's job moving to Illinois. We have been talking to a young Military couple who is very interested it renting from us for the full amount we are asking. So we are doing our due diligence with looking into them.

Every year on Calinia's last day of school, we go to lunch and a movie. We did lunch a day earlier since Calinia wants to spend her last High School day with friends. Went to the Yard House, which has very good food and finished with a Whimsical gelato. It is very hard to wrap my thoughts on how fast 17 years have gone by. I know most of you have already gone through this, and then there are those of you with younger kids who will soon experience this for yourself.

With all this packing we still managed to get together with some of the kids from RCCS, it was really good to see them all. Calinia's graduation party was fun, she had alot of her friends come and it started around 1:00 pm and continued until 2:00 am due to the fact that they were playing poker. Ray, Valerie, Precious, Ron & Joey all stayed to supervise and meet all her friends. It is a very bittersweet month for all of us, I think that we are all trying in our own way to deal with it.

KEEPING IT REAL - Still packing...

Today was a beautiful day. Peter and I had to do errands, and we came home to finish up what we started. We put our house on the MLS today so hopefully we should get alot of calls.

Did I mention we sold my piano? I was heart broken when we did but after I found out that the gal has two girls who are begging her to learn how to play, then I knew it went to the right family. It made letting it go alot easier. In it's place are boxes ready to go to the new apartment or storage depending on what sq. ft. we get in our new complex.

We sold our waterfall yesterday, and someone is looking at the pinball tomorrow. Still no luck on the trailer and that one we need to sell a.s.a.p.

It was a productive day for the both of us.

KEEPING IT REAL - All this packing...moving?

The past two weeks have been a reality check for us. In less than two weeks Calinia will be finished with High School. Graduation day is May 30th and in July she will start college!!!!

It is amazing how much you accumulate in 23 years. We've been getting rid of alot of items and we have had one of three garage sales needed to get rid of these things. We have put big ticketed items on Craig's list, with success.

We put a for rent sign in our front yard, and we know that GOD has the right renter for our house. Alot of things have been going on and I think that Peter and I are handling ourselves very well. I know Calinia doesn't want to deal with it but slowly it is sinking in her thoughts of how big this pivotal moment really is.

Peter and I have alot to do in regards to getting the house ready for rent. Sometimes it is way to much for our minds to wrap around. I know it is by GOD's grace we are getting things done in a timely manner. We keep reminding ourselves one day a time.

KEEPING IT REAL - What a busy week!

Well, this week went by fast. Monday and Tuesday we spent in LA looking for apartments. We ended up looking at two very nice one's close to the school. It was a eye opener for Calinia to see how crowded it was, yet she is excited about the city life. We just received a letter confirming that we were approved for our loan for her college, thank you LORD.

Now the past couple of days we have been spending on our backyard patio. Since we added on to our house two years ago, we have not fixed up our yard until now. We have no choice but to make it nice so we can rent it out. Peter started applying to downtown dealerships and prayerfully a job will come soon.

Next week is Calinia's Senior Prom, and she is excited to go but sad because what it represents, the end of the year. It has been such a mental challenge for all of us and yet we are keeping a positive attitude on the whole situation.

Our Easter was great as it usually is, family just seems to make life a little bit more fun and pleasant. See the photobucket for pictures. I love Easter because of what it represents - JESUS has risen! The egg hunt with all the candy just makes it much sweeter.