Still here!

I know it's been a while but obviously a lot has happened since my last post. It's late so I'm going to make this short and sweet.

First we had the conference in Long Beach which actually went quite well. The hotel was average and not really designed for kids but the trip out and back went really well. The actual conference responsibilities were shared by us both and where it could have been better (the conference hall was huge and had no "vibe") it was still successful for us. After returning to Las Vegas we got ready to move and it was very draining on both of us. Mavis was a great help and the dogs were really stressed, it seemed the only ones who were unaffected were the girls. It actually snowed on the day we were moving. Can you believe that? Hail sized snowflakes for 45 minutes. Crazy for April and even crazier when I've got boxes of things in my driveway ready to be packed. Things got wet and it generally was so messy. I wasn't happy with the chill that I got either. Yay, nothing beats sniffles and a temp when you're moving!

Anyway, back to the story - Storm pulled a "Storm" on me and decided that we were going to go a day earlier than planned which really put me into a place that I wasn't prepared for. I had mentally planned out the last days in Vegas and it's surprising how much I had planned for that last day. Oh well. I lost - we left on Wednesday.

Storm handled the RV really well and it liked him back. The girls were fantastic and really coped well with the environment they were stuck in for the 3 days. The dogs also seemed to do well (car sickness drugs really helped our spewy Oscar) and even though Rudy was troubled by the change in scenery as long as he was with us it was OK. We drove through fires, severe wind and deer and hopefully never have to do it again too soon.

The house and neighborhood.
We got to the place and I really have to commend the photographer that the real estate agent who sold the house had hired to take the piccies. Things looked really much longer in the photos - like the driveway for example. (The RV just fits onto the driveway now so it's not staying here at the house after the car arrives).  Don't get me wrong the house is quite spacious - more so than the house in Vegas but it was smaller than what I had envisioned from the photos. (Maybe I should get the same photographer to take photos of me - the height/weight ratio may look better!)

Anyway, within 1/2 hour of arriving and unpacking the RV, some of the boards that Storm had stacked outside of the garage fell down in the wind. A huge spout of water erupted from the area and I thought that he had knocked off the top of one of the sprinkler heads (forgetting that we don;t need a sprinkler system down here). Well it wasn't a sprinkler (as previously explained it was the water main coming into the house. Yes, Storm managed to shatter the main water source to the house. Luckily enough three neighbors came to our assistance with phone numbers of plumbers (welcome to Hicksville we only work weekdays and certainly not Friday afternoons!) and after 4 hours of no luck with plumbers, two rides to the hardware store to get the products to fix it. Talk about 11th hour and we were able to wash our hands, feet and flush a toilet after it all. Hot showers would have to wait (remember Storm pushing up the leaving date? Well I had organized for the gas to be put on on Monday not Friday so we had to boil water in a tin kettle and small saucepan for kids, baths, face washing and washing up.)

Now I wasn't prepared for a couple of things when we moved in.
1) The colours and finishes on the walls. I'm not sure what was going through the previous owner's minds when they made the decisions they did but man we had some work ahead of us.
2) We had a 6-month settlement on the contract and I think they moved out once the contract went unconditional and as a result - the bugs took over where they left off. I couldn't let the girls touch anything inside for a good day and a half (it took me that long to boil water and clean it all off!). Crazy yukky.
3) A nice surprise was that the previous owners left their working fridge. I was expecting to have to buy a fridge and a washing machine straight away and not having to get the fridge certainly helped the budget (on the flipside was that we also had to buy a new dryer - go figure the washing wasn't drying well in the humidity and the dryer we brought with us - well it was a gas dryer not electric. I know - why didn't I think of that before I made Storm and DV carry it out and then pack it in the trailer? I don't know!)
4) The gloriousness of the sunroom. This was the reason that we bought the house and my gosh it is so worth it - a really lovely place to start the day, spend the day and finish the day. Can you tell I love it?
5) The roof. This is an update from news received today. Yes, before the insurance company will insure the roof we have to have it replaced! The quotes so far have been interesting to say the least and certainly not something that we expected to have to do so soon. (Must have killed a holy man in a previous life!)
6) The fact that we're in a small town in a dry community and having to get used to the fact that services are not as good or as plentiful (my landline telephone story is a learning experience), that we had power outages quite regularly (it ain't even hurricane season yet!) and the fact that we can only get tequila/vodka or anything liquor based at one shop in town. Welcome to Hicksville! I love it!

Apart from those few observations and not having the minivan (at least it's on its way now!) life has been pretty good. I have no regrets about moving and still have a few things to still get sorted so any real enjoyment still has to wait a bit but I cannot wait to get back into a groove.

P.S. - We had our first BBQ/dinner party last night. Our next door neighbours (golf playing CC copper and bartender wife with 2 yr old daughter) came over with their doggy (cute and surprisingly Rudy just loves him - even letting him sleep on him on the couch without flinching!). A good time was had by all. She sure knows how to make a good margarita!

P.S.S. - I have some piccies that I need to post and will do so very shortly.