Buhbye PES Building!

Welp...I moved all my stuff out of my office on Monday night. Eddie came along because I promised him some show-watching time while I packed the boxes (and Dave wanted some Eddie-free time to pack the trailer).

I moved into this office in January 2010 when I returned from PELP/maternity leave. Eddie was a wee 4.5 months old then. 

This post comes to you via my old desk during a coffee break, which I'm using through the end of today. I have to complete a few more lab tasks (lignin and cellulose extractions plus some Costech tin loading) before we depart permanently for Gualala, but otherwise I'm done with the desk work for the time being.  We found out this morning that my PI did not get the department chair position he'd been fighting for, which is a huge bummer for him.  Us students, however, are a little (lot) relieved because it means his current focus on us will remain.  Whew.

Dave hauled my boxes of desk/office stuff up to the Coast House but in a few weeks I'll set up shop in the water company office.  I will write my dissertation at an abandoned desk in the corner of the seldom-used conference room and I will work in the water office one day a week.  It turns out that there are a few volunteer opportunities that I can fill too much time with, so I'll have to pick one or two and save the rest for post graduation (a couple of farms, visitor's center, library, school).

Me in the emptiness today...as compared to only two months ago.

And because I'm too lazy to write another post about it, here's a bit about Father's Day.

Sunday was Father's Day and I took some cute pictures of Eddie and Dave that evening.  Eddie had just given Dave a card from school and four lollipops--one of which Eddie declared was actually for himself. Ah, kids.

I LOVE these new Picasa gif's!

Retroactive Post: Spring Break on the Coast

Whoa, I realized I never posted about our 10 days in Gualala back at the end of March.

Since we move there in about 3 weeks and I finally have a moment to spare, I'll post about it now.

I decided that it'd be good for Eddie to be up on the coast with Dave again, to give Eddie an idea of what it'll be like once we live there permanently. He hadn't attended the "big day care" there since the previous summer and we'd never slept downstairs at the Coast House before. So I figured out when I'd be done with my winter quarter TA duties and finalized all the spring quarter things (updating the syllabus, posting stuff to the class website, etc.) and found 9 days when we could be there.

Next, of course, I made a long "to do" list for myself and for Dave to accomplish that week.  I quickly realized that we needed my dad up there with us to do some of the work so I begged asked him to come with us. He relented agreed so Eddie and I picked him up in Livermore before heading north. Dave had been driving the van every week so he could take loads of stuff to the new house. That left me with the Saturn--i.e., the tiniest car ever. So we swapped cars with my mom and packed  her station wagon TO THE BRIM.

We had boxes of stuff to move into the house, a Costco run, a Lowe's run (including fragile seedlings), seedlings from my dad's greenhouse, luggage, one dog, two adults, and one child. 

We arrived on Saturday and the guys started working/planning immediately. The week FLEW by, with only a few things on my "to do" list finished. (At least they were some of the bigger things!)  I'd planned on having a day or two to work on my school stuff but that...totally didn't happen.

Saturday afternoon there was a burn practice going on at the airport. Papa John let the volunteer FD burn the fields on the south and north ends of the runway. It was cool to see them using the fuel-drip fire starters.

The guys removed an old intercom box downstairs and Eddie was fascinated that he could see into the office closet.

The view as we left the garden. You'll recall my horror at the view upon returning two months later.

Most of my time was spent with my dad, gardening. So...basically the best combination ever.  We tilled, double-dug, amended with composted horse manure, tilled again, irrigated, and planted to our heart's contents.

My dad, standing in the garden. 

He kept remarking shouting to me about how DIFFERENT it is to garden up on the coastal ridge. Maybe he was talking about the lack of rocks in the soil??????  =)

A typical weeknight while I prepared dinner.

Papa John asked me to get him a microscope at the UCD Bargain Barn before I came up. I've always wanted one so he said we could keep it at the Coast House for me and Eddie to use. Woooooo!  My dads spent a night looking at fibers, water, saliva, etc.

One night we looked outside after it rained and saw a bright rainbow reflecting in the Gualala River. If that wasn't spectacular enough, a double rainbow developed.

If the local paper printed in color I would have sent this to them. It was so lovely.

The best part of the whole week was the Eddie had TWO grandfathers in the house AT THE SAME TIME (at least at night when Papa John was over for dinner).

That is a one content little kid.

The following Friday Edward arrived in town via bike. Yes, person-powered BIKE. He biked from SF to Healdsburg on Thursday, spent the night at a place he found on WarmShowers.org and spent Friday navigating the desolate Fish Rock Road. He was tired and starving when he arrived (duh) so we immediately went to a logging site and roasted sausages, hot dogs, and marshmallows for dinner over a fire Papa John made for us.

We had dinner on the fire twice that week, actually; Monday and again when Uncle Edward arrived.  My dad enjoyed it so much he was the one who requested the second time!

I have to admit, I love cooking over the fire.

My dad had NEVER EVER EVER made s'mores before. He'd roasted marshmallows but never combined them with chocolate and graham crackers. Isn't that CRAZY?

Friday when Edward arrived in town.

Late that night, my mom and Jennifer drove into town and spent the Easter weekend with us. Saturday we made a delicious GF breakfast and then my mom took Edward, Jennifer, Eddie, and me to the Sea Ranch to walk on the trail. It was a lovely, breezy day.  One of the photos I snapped that day will be used for our "we've moved" announcement cards.

Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Edward at the Sea Ranch.

Eddie and Uncle at the Sea Ranch.

Eddie has learned that my mom is not a "rough play" person so he always finds a comfy spot in the house and asks her to read to him for a long time. The house was quiet after our Sea Ranch trail walk and I found them snuggled up in the upstairs. I crept in without him noticing and took a picture.

It was a pretty fantastic and productive, yet exhausting, week. As is usually the case, we ended up staying one extra night/day so that Dave and my dad could finish up some work on the house that Dave wasn't 100% sure he could do on his own (at least without a zillion phone calls to my dad).

Five Generations

I got to see my Uncle Bill and Aunt Bev today with my mom.  We went to their house to visit and took them out to lunch.  My uncle is recovering from surgery and seems to be doing quite well, which is awesome.

Before we left, Uncle Bill gave me a chair that used to belong to my Great Great Grandma Clara Atwood Cain Gillmore and then to my Great Grandma Bessie Gillmore Halliday.  He even had two photos of Bessiert sitting in the chair, right after it'd been reupholstered by her kids for her birthday.  She's sitting in front of her house on the main drag in Point Arena.  The house is still standing as you see on the left side of the photo (see?) and I point it out to Eddie when we drive by.

And he also gave us a baby blanket from their 1940s infancy.  As if that wasn't sweet enough, he also gave me a copy of a photo of him and my mom in 1943 sitting on the blanket.  Ahhhhhhhhhh! I told him I'll make sure to pose my future children on the same blanket someday.

It's a small rocker, perfect for me.

We think this is a hand colored 1943 photo.  The blanket coloring is a little off, but we know it's the same blanket.

Left: Bessie on the chair with Della, Joe, and Roy Higgins (no relation, the upholsterer). Right: Great Grandma Bessie on her chair.  Apparently, she usually refused to have her photo taken so these are rare pictures of her (notice that she wouldn't even face the camera).

So the main point of this post is to admit that I forgot about the Hallidays.  Oops.

My mom is Point Arena Halliday; her family goes way back in that area (1870s).  Dave's family is from Gualala back to his maternal great grandparents who emigrated from Italy in 1890.

And in my last post I stated that Eddie would be the third generation in his family to attend Arena Elementary.  WRONG.  My aunt and uncle kindly reminded me that I'd forgotten about all those Hallidays who attended for generations!  So Eddie is actually the fifth continuous generation in "his family" to attend there.

Relative to Eddie, in order:

1. Bessie (Gillmore) Halliday--maternal great great grandmother and
1. Joseph Henry Halliday--maternal great great grandfather
2. Rex Halliday--maternal great grandfather (plus all his siblings)
3. John Henry Bower--paternal grandfather
4. David Dominic Bower--father

Third or fifth generation, it's still a lot for one school!  I think it's pretty neat.

So all of this reminds me that while I may complain about moving to the boonies, at least they're OUR boonies.  This coastal land is steeped in our history--the Bowers, Hallidays, Gillmores, Gianolis.

Memorial Day Week: Moving, Unpacking, and Espresso

Last week we were in Gualala so I could get all/most/some of the stuff unpacked and put away. For weeks and weeks Dave has been hauling stuff up there and unloading it into the house--anywhere into the house, generally.

There was no class to teach on Monday because of the holiday and I didn't need to be there for Wednesday's lecture so I just had to cancel discussion section for the week (with permission, of course). We were considering cancelling it anyway since the students flew through their collage presentations the week before.

So.

Eddie, Ruby, and I packed the van to the brim with kitchen stuff (pantry items and cookware) and dirty laundry to wash and wear up there. We made a stop at Costco and stuffed that in there, too.  The orange trailer was loaded with both rototillers, paving stones, gardening tools, and Eddie's bike.  I tried to load the big red tiller alone but lost my nerve so my friend Danny stopped by to help.  I'm so glad to have the majority of the stuff from the gardening shed moved!

We had a leisurely Saturday morning in Davis, allowing Eddie to play with the neighbors until they had to leave for a party across town.  I gave all of us pedicures, prepared snacks, and took a long shower before the long drive.  With a couple of pit stops on the way and a heavily weighted down van, it took us about 4.5 hours to get there.

The weekend was spent unpacking boxes, installing bookcases, packing up the random cookware in the Coast House kitchen and replacing it with our own (much, much nicer) stuff.  I still dislike the glass top stove but it cooking is easier with pans that aren't bent and bulging on the bottom.

A lot happened during the week:

• Eddie went to "big daycare" each day up in Point Arena where he hung out with his friend, Mason, and made some new friends
• I got a library card for the Coast Community Library--such a teeny tiny little thing!  It's in the building that used to be owned by my second cousin twice removed (I think?) and operated as a general store in there.  Eddie and I checked out some books for him one evening after daycare. 
• I rented us a PO box so now we can receive mail.  The Coast House is not on the mail delivery route, even though I can basically SEE the post office from the front door.  Weird.
• I got my W-4 forms and health insurance forms from Papa John so I can work for the family enterprises. There's a spare desk in the back room where I can work on my dissertation, too. 
• We had a land line phone installed. It's only local so we can't even call "local" cell phones but it should work for the water company alarm systems for when Dave's on call. We get cell reception at the house to make other calls as needed.



My dad gave me this old phone, which we had on Amherst in Livermore in the 1980's. Eddie'll probably the only kid in his class who knows how to literally DIAL a phone.

• I spent 2 (!!) hours on the phone with USAA to get our insurances in order--home owner's transferred to a renter's policy and starting a tenant occupied property policy for the Davis house. 
• Eddie's preschool forms were submitted to Arena Elementary School. He'll be the third generation of Bowers going to that school. My mom and his Papa John went there as well as Dave and Uncle Michael. I thought maybe it'd have been the fourth generation but Tutu Ida (John's mother) went to a one room school out in the hills east of Point Arena where all of the Italian homesteader ranching families went.  Update: Duh, I totally forgot to tally up all the Hallidays who went to that school, too!  My Uncle Bill reminded me that Eddie is actually the FIFTH generation in my family to attend. 
• We attended a BBQ that's been happening for 47 years as a sort of reunion for a group of abalone diver guys and their families and friends. John helped the organizer find a suitable location after their previous location didn't work out anymore. So every year John supplies the firewood and starts the fires for them and in exchange we all get to attend to mingle, meet new people, and eat LOADS of amazing foods--including lots of abalone and smoked salmon.  
• I weeded the garden for a total of about 6 hours over the course of the week. We did NOT have much success with seed germination this year because it wasn't watered regularly, I think.  It's okay with me because if we hadn't made the garden in March and planted all that stuff we'd've had NOTHING to work with now.  As it is, we have plenty of dill, fennel, potatoes, chard, garlic, and tomatoes.  I know it's late in the season, but I did get some peat pots and start some basil, zucchini, and beans that Dave can plant in a couple of weeks (fingers crossed!).
• Dave and I spent way too much time deliberating on flooring options for the Coast House downstairs living area. We got bids from three tile installers but are still deciding on what to do because it's sooooooooo expensive but it'd be sooooooooooo much easier to have someone else do it. Hopefully Dave'll finish that process this coming week.

And now: pictures of the week. I didn't take many because we were too busy.

Eddie burned off some energy on the drive up by playing on the trailer and tillers while I sipped an iced latte at the Petaluma Starbucks.

Who needs Starbucks when you find this thing in the house?  Dave got it working and we thoroughly enjoyed steamed milk drinks and espresso all week long.  He looks silly in this picture because I told him to look as excited as I felt about having that espresso maker working.  He pretty much nailed it.

We enjoyed that espresso maker so much we decided to 'Amazon Prime' (yes that's a verb now, like to Google) us some flavored syrups.

An afternoon snack of cinnamon raisin rolls and a latte.  I could get used to this!

I don't know how I ended up with this gif thing but isn't it cute?! There was a doe and her twin babies right outside the kitchen window one evening.  Eddie and I enjoyed watching them nurse and jump around afterward.

I was looking out the window on Monday while it was drizzling and found Eddie playing outside on the deck. He didn't see me up in the kitchen as he yelled and hollered to himself about saving the drowning pirate or whatever. I made a yelling sound and he didn't know where it came from so he mimicked the sound and looked around underneath him. I made the sound again and he yelled again, too. This happened a few times until I giggled while yelling and he finally saw me.  Such a cutie.

Most nights Papa John ate dinner with us and he'd read stories to Eddie while I cooked. It was very sweet.

Per Papa John's request, I made crab and garlic bread for dinner one night. It was good, but not as good as the warm Brussels sprouts salad I served that night.

Garden, day 1.  You can see that Dave had done some weeding the week before (thanks, Lover!).

Garden, day 1.

Garden, day 2.

Garden, day 2.

Garden, day 3.  I was about 2 beds short of finishing, still needed to weed wack and till the walk ways, and mulch everything with a thick layer of horse manure compost.  I guess Dave will have to do that for me this coming week. 

Garden, day 3. I heavily watered the tomatoes and gave fish emulsion to the tomatoes, peppers, and two wimpy zucchini plants Dave uncovered from the weeds. Hopefully they'll really take off now.

I found a dead snake among the weeds one day; Dave thinks maybe I stepped on it because it looked fine. Eddie thought it was pretty cool and asked us to keep it. I hung it on the fence to dry; hopefully it'll still be there when we return.

So that was our week in a nutshell.  We'll return FOR GOOD in about 4-5 weeks. And I can't wait.  I met some really nice moms while I was out and about in Gualala and Point Arena so I have playdates and friendships to look forward to, in addition to finally living together as a family. 

Eddie's Phases

Phases are good and they are bad.  The good part of them is that they pass.  But the bad--or maybe just annoying--part is that you don't know what the next phase will be.  In my experience with Eddie, I've learned to go with the flow (when my sanity permits) because I can be sure that the next phase will be worse.  Harder to deal with, more annoying, more complicated, more dangerous, always worse.

Some of his noteworthy phases of the past included:

• Pulling things out of the dishwasher at about 10 months old.  I dealt with this by not opening the dishwasher during his waking hours.
• Putting his hand into the ice maker bucket at about 10 months-1 year old.  We have a bottom drawer freezer in the house and it was the perfect height for a crawling and standing baby to get into.  I dealt with this by not opening the freezer when he was around if at all possible.
• Insisting on having several spoons to eat with during all meals, even meals that didn't require any utensils during his third year.  I dealt with this by letting him have the damn spoons because it was easiest.
• Running down the driveway, down the path, and into the park at about 14 months old. I dealt with this by not letting him into the front of the house at all unless he was in my arms or we were walking to the park anyway.  
• Collecting sticks, rocks, and other "treasures" (i.e., usually garbage) everywhere we go from about age 2 to the present.  I deal with this by letting him do it and throwing the piles of crap away once he loses interest in them.  He often insists on washing the rocks with soap and water so at that point they are allowed inside the house and we put them into a special "treasure" jar (and then after a while I chuck them outside).
• Taking off his shoes and socks to run around barefoot from whatever age it was when he learned he could do this until about two months ago when he got excited about picking out his own shoes.  I dealt with this by insisting on shoes only when we went into stores (the alternative was that he'd have to ride in the cart, which he hates).
• Demanding that we use a big orange flat cart at Costco for the last few months.  I think his father allowed this phase to happen and dangit, it sucks. Those carts are harder to push around and the won't sit still on them, rather he stands and holds onto the handle.  The only good thing about it is that he helps me load the cart with stuff--and the kid is strong enough to grab a 2 gallon pack of milk from inside the walk-in fridge and load it himself.  Pretty impressive...but it doesn't completely outweigh the annoyance factor.
• Sleeping with zillions of book on his bed from about 2.5 years until just a few months ago. I dealt with this by allowing it because heck, it's better than having books on the floor.
• Filling vessels with water from about 3.5 years to the present. If there's ANY container in any sink where he's supposed to be washing his hand, he'll first fill everything up and dump out the water a few times before he's satisfied and will then wash his hands. I deal with this by allowing it.
• Screaming bloody murder when I try to brush his teeth from about 1.5 years until age 3.  I dealt with this by doing whatever was possible to get his teeth brushed.  I've heard from dentist friends and relatives that you should pick your battles and teeth brushing is one of them that you must choose to fight and WIN.  Sometimes that required a headlock maneuver or pinning down his flailing arms with my knees.  Eventually he realized that those toofies were going to be brushed no matter what and he stopped fighting. I'm glad I dealt with it this way because now brushing is expected, something my folks didn't do and I hated brushing.
• Dumping out ALL THE THINGS in his room before he falls asleep for the last couple of months.  All the books, all the toys, all the stuffed animals, all the clothing.  Everywhere.  I deal with this by making him clean it up about once a week and not consoling him too much when he steps on a toy and breaks it or hurts himself (he's gotta learn to take care of his stuff!).

I'm sure I've missed some but those were the ones that have stuck in my mind.

And here's the latest and worst of the bunch.  They really do always get worse.  (Phases, not the actual kid.)

• Hiding when he hears us calling out for him for about the last month. This has only happened a few times.  Initially, he'd hide in a moving box and it'd jiggle with muffled giggles escaping from his excitement--a dead giveaway to his hiding spot.  But now he's gotten so good that he can actually stay completely quiet and still so I absolutely cannot find him.  This morning he hid for twenty five minutes while I walked around the neighborhood, the park, went to the neighbors' houses, etc. calling his name.  I know that statistically, he probably wasn't kidnapped. So I while looking for him I was much more frustrated than scared.    I finally noticed that the chickens weren't following me around the cul-de-sac as usual, but they were instead sitting down by "their" bush in the front yard.  That was odd, so I hunched down and spied my mischievous child under there, grinning up at me.  It was clear that he was able to see me walking around the entire neighborhood from that vantage point.  I was so mad.  There were strong words, there was crying, there was screaming when his toy cars were taken away as punishment.  I explained that I was mad, frustrated, scared, and disappointed in him.  And then he cried and begged for his cars the entire 15 minute bike ride to school.  He was still very, very upset when I dropped him off to Miss Amanda at school.  

The good news with this hiding business is that I know that he's fully capable of sitting still and being quiet for an extended period.  Hanging out with him during meals, quiet/nap time, while playing you'd otherwise think he could only wriggle, squirm, run, bounce, talk non-stop, yell, and sing during every activity.

Lord help me if the next phase after hiding his even worse--cause I'm not sure I'll be able to handle it.

(Anyone have advice on how to handle his hiding?)

Moving Progress

Dave just took off with Clifford the Big Red Truck, hauling off our living room and a 8 totes of our kitchen stuff (which is to say only maybe 20%).  

My dad loaned us his pickup and cargo trailer so moving should go much faster now.  The only thing we're missing is a garage in which to move all the workshop stuff and time.  Sigh.

This was the state of the living room this afternoon. The entropy of this house was reaching my maximum threshold and I was about to explode in frustration.  So, I ate some Mint Milano cookies, took a deep breath, and went back to work loading the trailer.

And this is what we're left with now.

It's so empty!  These pictures were taken many minutes apart...yet you'll notice that Taters is still in position.

Next weekend we'll load up the garden shed contents, some of the kitchen/housewares stuff from the garage, and maybe Eddie's furniture (since really, that's all that remains of furniture in the house). Slowly, slowly we make progress.

I am terrified that I'll have a stroke when I walk into the Coast House when we next visit.  Dave is in charge of unloading the stuff he hauls up there...and that of course means he just sort of dumps it wherever.  Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!  I can't stand that this Davis house is a nightmare of disorganization, but to think what the Coast House must look like right now seriously makes me go into a minor tachycardia rhythm.

AND Dave reports that he can hardly see the veggies we planted among the smothering weeds.  Even without that damn dissertation, there's so, so much work to be done.  Just thinking about all this makes me want to curl up and take a nap to escape reality...which is what I did on Sunday afternoon after taking Eddie on a walk in the 90F weather and realizing that I was way, way too exhausted to do any packing.

Eddie and I were playing with his dollies and then I fell asleep. Taters' rump was an okay pillow but my jaw hurt when I woke up in a puddle of drool in his fur. Ew.

I repositioned myself to use the dollie as a pillow, which was much more comfortable.  THIS is why I have a dog--he's the best snuggler ever. He could stay snuggled up with me (or any person, really) for hours and hours.

Wish us luck next weekend!  Dave takes his water exam on Saturday afternoon and then we'll busy ourselves packing the truck and/or tiling the bathroom and/or prepping the living room window for replacement.  Ready, set, go.

Oh, Davis

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much I will (or will not?) miss living in Davis.

Things I anticipate missing:

1. Our relatively kid-safe cul-de-sac where Eddie can play without much worry of being hit by a car
2. The neighbor kids and the countless hours Eddie spends playing with them outside
3. The variety of grocery stores within walking/biking distance (the International market, stocked with Indian items; the Asian market; the food co-op; Trader Joe's with it's healthy convenience food; regular run-of-the-mill stores)
4. Biking commuting to daycare and work/school
5. Limitless internet bandwidth (at least seemingly limitless)
6. Long growing season and fertile soil
7. Antenna TV
8. The tank top wearing weather
9. Sidewalks
10. (Relatively) short drive to my folks' house
11. Seeing my friends and coworkers every day
12. Not having to set aside time to exercise
13. The park next door
14. Talking about soils, chemistry, ag, and stats every day
15. Cassie and Miss Amanda
16. Lack of immediate judgement from random people who learn that my last name is Bower
17. Being the only adult in the house (there's soooooooooo much to do and I could really use some help with all the chores and child rearing)
18. Stores open past 8 pm
19. Sushi
20. Going to the movies (which, admittedly, we don't do often but knowing that we can go on a whim will be missed)
21. Relatively plentiful college age baby sitters
22. Unpaved, horizontal land right outside my door
23. Home Depot, Costco, and Target being only 10 minutes away
24. Constant cell phone service
25. Twenty four hour medical care (ain't no urgent care or ER in Gualala)
26. Chatting with random people who pass our house 

Things I anticipate not missing:

1. The 100 F weather in the summer
2. The hot, dry wind
3. The dusty air
4. Flies
5. Having to keep the dogs on leash 
6. Cleaning up dog poop
7. Having to find appropriate places on our property where Eddie can dig in the dirt and make HUGE MESSES of mud and plant debris without making our suburban house look gross and unkempt
8. Lack of trees for tire swings, tree houses, elaborate forts, etc.
9. Buying fruit
10. Single-handedly juggling Eddie, school, the dogs, and the house
11. Gross, disgusting tap water (even after going through a Brita filter)
12. Hauling fruit 3 hours by car to process it (apples, plums, cherries, tomatoes, blackberries, huckleberries, mushrooms)
13. Being the only adult in the house (I want the chores and child rearing to be done my way, darnit!  And I want some privacy!)
14. Being too hot while sleeping (hello cold sea breeze!)
15. Cooking for two--it's so much harder than cooking for a larger group
16. Having to close the curtains so passersby and neighbors can't see in our windows--at the Coast House this will not be a problem since there are no passersby and none/few of the neighbor's windows face our house
17. Limited communication with Dave--Eddie and I sometimes only speak to him once a week via video chat, depending on his work/meeting schedule
18. The nervousness I feel every time Dave is commuting on the curvy roads, which is always at night)
19. High cost of childcare
20. Not seeing Dave every day
21. Having to count off the days until we next see Dadda to Eddie every.single.day

Things that go through my head on a daily basis:

1. Holy crap...are we really moving?
2. Yay!  We're moving!
3. HOW AM I NOT DONE WITH MY DEGREE YET?!
4. OMG we will NEVER be able to move out of this house in time!  We have soooooo much stuff and moving is going soooooooo slowly!
5. I'm so proud of how much progress we've made moving using only the minivan and a small trailer so far!  Two rooms done in only...wait, 6 weeks?  Ug.
6. Are we making a mistake by moving to the boonies?  Will Eddie suffer from the relative isolation? Would it be better for us as a family to force Dave to find a job near Davis so Eddie can grow up here? But then what job would I have to find in order to stay in suburbia, too?  If us parents are happier and more fulfilled, won't that translate into a happier childhood for Eddie?  Or won't it?
7. I can't wait to move to where the air is dust free, where I'll never have to use AC again, and where it rains more than 10 times a year!!!!
8. I don't want to move to a place where there's fog all summer and rain all winter, where it's too cold to wear tank tops or shorts, where I have to drive so much.  
9. I can't believe I agreed to live in that monstrous, outdated, ridiculous Coast House...which I swore I would never, ever do.
10. Eddie's gonna love it!  All the space to explore, dig, build, and camp! 
11. Eddie's gonna hate it!  No neighbors next door to play with, all the driving on the coast roads,  living in a new house.
12. We'll get to see Dave every.single.day. Every single day!  Multiple times a day!

Things I am thankful exist, because they will ease the feeling of isolation:

1. The internet
2. Amazon Prime
3. NPR

********************

Dave and I were engaged during my last semester of college.  I remember sitting in my environmental econ class, waiting for the professor to begin lecturing and I glanced down at my (horrendous) emerald engagement ring on my hand. It was left to Dave by his late grandmother "Tutu" and was such an old lady ring.  I mean it: it even had a hinge to enlarge the band diameter to fit over an arthritic knuckle.  While I love(d) Dave, I didn't like the ring because it wasn't me or mine. It was a hand-me-down and we didn't have the money to replace or restyle it to something that reflected me.  As I contemplated the ring I thought, "What if being married to Dave is boring like this ring and nothing interesting happens for us?"  OH BOY.  Isn't that funny?  How boring my life was back then.  If only I knew what was in store for us.