Wednesday, July 28, 2010

City Life.


If you follow me on Facebook, you've probably seen me complaining. A lot. About the weather. I don't really mean to be so negative. I actually really like it here in our new home. There has definitely been some adjustment, but I am really enjoying our home, our friends and our new area. It's just cold. And I really don't like to be cold. Apparently, even by local standards, this has been the coldest summer they can remember in years. So. I'm not the only one. :) I've never lived in a city before. Like a real city-fied CITY. It's busy, and bustling and there are literally people from all cultures and walks of life here. There are people of all colors and shapes and creeds. So much different than your typical middle class suburban white/African American and Hispanic community that we were used to out in the valley. But I like it. I think it's good to see another side of life every now and then. Plus, living up here on this gorgeous hill, it's like we've go the best of both worlds. We get to roam around in nature and have deer in our yard and chickens in our barn (not yet, but soon) and all the fun of country life, all while the city is just minutes (seconds) away. It's pretty cool. Except when I was at the ATM today, this very tall, mentally ill, black man came up to me and poked me in the side while I was making my transaction. Yes, he came up to me and touched me with his finger, in my side. Bless his heart, he was just looking for some change, but IT FREAKED ME OUT. I mean he was harmless, but jeeze...when someone walks up to you at an ATM and pokes you in the side....well lets just thank the Good Lord it was just his finger! And also luckily I had no cash, it was broad daylight, there were LOTS of people around. Anyway, that was not so cool.
The other neat thing about living here is that there is SO much to do. And we've been doing it! We are two minutes away from the Oakland Zoo. Some friends and I took the kids there today. It was really fun, the sun came out and the kids really had a good time. It's a great zoo.
We're also minutes away from all kinds of beautiful parks (like the one in my last post) and hiking trails, Lake Chabot (we go here at least once a week for a walk/jog), and Chabot Space and Science center (we've been there twice already since we moved in). I really can't wait to get out and do some exploring!
Plus, we're also just a 20 minute BART ride from San Francisco. We've already been over there this month too! The kids and I just keep making a list of all the places we want to go see and do. So, is this a cool place to live?-ABSOLUTELY! Despite my negativity about the weather, we are all pretty happy to be here and are enjoying it.

Other random stuff:
Pretty much since we moved in Pete has been working nights. It's fun to have him here during the day, but him coming home at 4 o'clock in the morning and me cooking the family dinner and eating by 4:30 in the afternoon is taking it's toll on me. I sort of feel like either we have a newborn baby, or we're really old people. Like the senior citizens at Denny's having dinner at 4 in the afternoon! Plus it's just kind of exhausting. I always end up staying up late when he's not home at night, then of course I wake up when he gets home, and then he doesn't come straight to bed so then I either lie in bed awake or drift off only to be awoken again an hour later when he does come to bed. Then I'm awake again just 2 hours later to get up for the day with the kids. So that's where my newborn baby reference comes from. The up/down/up/down thing.
This is supposed to be his last night on nights. *whew*
The second night on this job, Pete cut his hand really bad. He ended up with 12 stitches total in between his thumb and fore-finger on his right hand. The doc said he cut an artery and was very, very close to needing major reconstructive surgery and losing the use of his thumb. So basically he almost cut his thumb off. It was only God's grace that he didn't!
We also have already started some of our homeschooling curriculum. Nicole had asked what we were going to use and 90% of what I chose has come from Evan Moor. I chose this publisher for Reading, Grammar, Science and Geography. I'm also looking into getting their History Pockets too. I just really like the way these workbooks are set up. There's no guess work. Everything is set up in short, concise, daily exercises. It's not overwhelming, but the kids (even Megan) are learning a lot from it. So far so good. These would also be great to supplement regular school learning simply because they're so short. And for home school it's really easy to supplement the lessons with library books and other projects. So I like it. Still looking for a math curriculum though. And I'm dreading it.
Anyway, so that's about it. BUSY BUSY BUSY! But fun!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wordless Wednesday.

Tilden Park, Berkeley











Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Wow.




The view tonight is AH-MAZING! I don't have a camera that even comes close to giving it justice. This is the first night we haven't had any fog. I can see all the way to the golden gate and a beautiful crescent moon is delicately hanging over the bay. I could get used to this :) Wish I had someone to share it with. Pete is working nights this week. :(

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Settling In. Random thoughts from this week....

Well we've been here six days now and things are sorta kinda getting back to 'normal'...or maybe a new normal. It's funny how life just keeps changing even if we don't really realize it all the time.
Most of the boxes are unpacked. Well, the most important ones are anyway. I've been to Target for just one more thing about 10 times already. Our first night here I couldn't find the sheets for our bed so I had to run out and buy some. Isn't it funny how when you move all of a sudden you NEED certain things right away that you never needed before? Like a shower caddy. I never needed one before but now all of a sudden we need two. And a microwave. We had one built-in in the old house. And a dinning room table. We ate at the counter at the old house and the "dinning room" table was really the craft table.
The days seem much shorter here. Before, the alarm would go off at 5 am. Pete was out the door by 6 and I was up shortly after. And then he wouldn't be back home until after 5 in the evening. Now, since we're so much closer to his job, the alarm doesn't go off till 6:30 (i actually find myself waiting for it to go off) he's out the door by 7 and back home at 4:00. It certainly is nice having him home so early, but we both kinda don't know what to do with ourselves. He even said he was 'bored' the other day. He never says that!
The weather is reeeeaaaaallly taking some getting used to. I knew it would be different but.....I'm not dealing well so far. It's cold. I do not like to be cold. The fog comes in around 6pm and stays until around 10:30 the next morning. And when the sun finally does decide to come out, it's only been warming up to 67*. I'm sorry, but if it's not at least 80*, I'm FREEZING. And maybe that's another reason why it feels like the days are so short. It's like the sun doesn't come up till half the day is already gone.
I walked down the hill to the mailbox the other day. Yeah, I don't think that's something I'll make a habit out of. It's a really long way down the hill. Which means it's a reeeeaaaalllly long way UP the hill on the way back. I thought I was going to puke at one point. Good exercise though, I guess.
I just had someone ring my doorbell. It kinda freaked me out. Because you have to pass through a locked gate to get up here. So you either have to know the secret code, or have a clicker. I figured the person at the door was going to be my neighbor coming to play with Jake. And we were all surprised to see some dude standing out there we didn't know. Turns out it was just the power company. But still. Freaky.
Anyway, so here we are. I said in another post that I really had no emotional connection to our old house. I guess that was kind of a hasty statement. I was fine until Pete said he got a little sad leaving the little red house the other day. And then it hit me. There was a brief teary moment. And then it passed. I like this new house. And I'm glad to be rid of the old one. But it was a mistake to say there's no emotional connection there. Life was lived there and memories where made. And so connections are there. Good, bad and ugly. I told Pete...it's just time for us to make new memories here, and that's a good thing, and that it's ok. It's all part of life. A new chapter starting here, starting now.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

House preview

First...please excuse my messy hair, and just over-all tired looking face on this video. LOL! oh my...it's been a looooonnnnggg week. I have no other excuse except that.
Might do this again after furniture is moved in. Saturday is moving day. Finally.
Please pray we don't have to do this again for a long time.

Untitled from Corey Wilcox on Vimeo.