Last Day of 2009!

I know a lot of people who are glad that this year is ending.

It seems as if everyone on the planet has experienced some sort of major change in their lives this year.

I personally think it is ending too fast. I mean it just seems like 3 or 4 years ago we were all worried about the new millennium meltdown and that was a decade ago!

2009 was the year of my major cross country move from the west coast to the east coast. Followed by 2 months living in Wilkes-Barre and then a move to Bloomsburg. Humm.... 2 moves in one year and I am not settled. One more move and then I will be settled. That move will take place sometime between March 2010 and July 30, 2010. I don't know where it will be to and am not even contemplating looking until March.

The snow arrived while I was sleeping last night. Kinda magical how that happens. I went outside to shovel off the side walk and it was quiet. The only thing I heard were other shovels scrapping the sidewalk and the smell of fireplaces burning filled the air. I like it! I got in my car and went to the store to get the traditional corn beef and cabbage to throw in the crock pot tonight. I am very proud of myself for sticking to resolution of not becoming immobile because of the snow. I have kept moving and living and going with life.. and I don't think I have gained a pound...lol...lol...lol..

My new friends, Eric and Sara, are having a New Year's Eve party complete with live band. They invited me to join them. I have declined. Eric and Sara are young. Up until around the age of 30 you think that you have to be awake at midnight or you will miss something. After the age of 30 you go to parties and sit around looking at your friends asking each other "Is it midnight yet?" You just want it to be over so you can go to bed and go to sleep. Around the age of 40 you realize that New Year's is going to get here and be the same even while you are sleeping....lol..lol...lol..

The last thing I am going to do this year... is going to be something I have never ever done in my life. My neighbors have invited me over, in the early evening...lol..lol.. to play Wii. I have never done it before and have heard it is a ton of fun.

Be safe and have fun ringing in the new year!

Ciao

I am Moving Again!!!

Friday after posting my intentions of finding a place to live I got in the car and drove to Bloomsburg, which is about 45 minutes from Wilkes-Barre.

I picked up the tiny local newspaper and went to Applebees for lunch. I read through the ads and circled the ones that looked interesting. I called a couple and left messages (never got calls back). I saw this ad: Bloomsburg: Fine brick in-town 2-story. 3 BR, French doors, HdWd, tile, built-ins, 3 porches. All appls. $.

I called and began talking to the lady who owns it. Since Bloomsburg is a University town lots of renters are students. She asked me if I was going to attend the University. I told her probably. She asked me how long I would be attending the University before graduating. I didn't realize that she was trying to figure out if I was a conventional student. I told her I might attend the University until I die and never get a degree in anything, and I was laughing a bit. She... on the other hand... wasn't laughing... she said in a nice polite voice, "So how will you pay the rent?" And that's when I told her that I have a solid 16 year old business and I also told her my age. I could hear a sigh of relief in her voice. We agreed to meet at the property and I walked through it. It is really big and really beautiful. It's 2 blocks off of Main Street. So I can really walk everyplace I need to go.

My lease begins August 1st, however she left me a message yesterday and said that the place was all ready and I could come and pick up the keys any time I wanted and begin moving in.

I am super excited about getting settled for a while. I will resume my property search in the Spring as ultimately I want to own something.

So now the process of moving my business again begins. I really have this dialed in so it isn't really a hassle. Just a matter of putting the time in to do it.

The picture is of a sign I made when I lived in my old apartment in Woodland Hills. My apartment was at the end of a grassy cull-de-sac. Everyone who had a dog would walk them to to that spot to relieve themselves. It looked like a dog toilet outside and every time I would open the door to walk out to check my mail these huge lethargic flies would come into my apartment. I hated it. They were suppose to pick up after their dog and the apartment complex even had poles put up with plastic bags for them to use. One day I just couldn't take it any more and I made my sign. Guess what? My sign worked. It was up for 7 days until someone took it down and immediately after putting it up you could see a difference.

Ciao

I Can't Believe it's Already Friday!

Where did the week go?

I have been busy doing work related stuff this week and looking at homes here and there.

I really feel that I am not finished with my move. I feel like I am 3/4 finished. I am here in Wilkes Barre and feel as if my life is pretty much on hold until the next move. I want to live in Bloomsburg as I want to attend that University and like the feel of the town.

The picture is of a note I use to have in the guest bathroom at my old apartment in Woodland Hills, California. There were these two huge spiders living in the bathroom and my friends would come over and tell me that I had spiders in my bathroom and ask if I wanted them to kill them. The spiders never bothered me, so I didn't want anyone to bother them, hence the note.

Ciao

Finding a Place to Live in PA is Done for Now

I hit the ground running regarding looking for a place to live and it just didn't seem like the timing was right for what I had in mind.

I would see a place and tell the real estate lady "Okay, I'll take it. Make it happen." And she would come back to me with a reason why it wasn't going to happen, "Landlord says no cats. Was promised to another person. Blah, blah, blah."

The real estate lady also kept telling me, "There will be more available in Bloomsburg around July 1st." Why? Because Bloomsburg is a college town and right now the students are taking finals and will be moving the end of May, beginning of June and then more will be available.

Last night I laid in bed and thought, "Okay, I have to look at the whole picture. It isn't meant for me to move to Bloomsburg right now. Where am I suppose to move to....."

My special man here in Pennsylvania said in the beginning.,"You can move into my place." And while I thought it was sweet, I really wanted to live in Bloomsburg, not Wilkes Barre. As I laid in bed last night I realized that was the only immediate opportunity. So this morning I called and ordered my business lines to be installed in his place and I rented a storage unit right out side of Bloomsburg where my furniture will be delivered from California.

I will move here and continue to look for a place in Bloomsburg. Like I have said before.... moving to here wasn't as important as leaving California.

Tomorrow morning I will be at the airport at 5am to head back to California and finish packing up my apartment and get it loaded on the commercial trailer to head here.

The picture was taken in Pennsylvania.

Ciao

Status of House Hunting in PA

I have spent the last two days running around looking at houses and apartments for rent in and around the Bloomsburg area. I am not finding what I want and I think it is because I am feeling a bit stressed. I don't feel as if I can operate on a leisurely time line. Which is true... I can't.

At this point my main goal is to get out of California. I feel that should be my number one priority. Where I land will all work out.

There are two places that I could move to, however here's the deal on both of them: First place is in Bloomsburg on East 3rd Street. It's nice and clean. It's a 1/2 double. The owners live in the other half. The house has some good points and bad points. Good points, clean, washer and dryer in the basement. Bad points, the owners have a ton of "rules". For example, "If you hang pictures, make sure you put the nails in the wall this way. No BBQ grill of any sorts." The owners are a very sweet old couple which means that that don't have a life and may want to make my life part of their life. Hummm......... maybe I have been living in California too long. Okay, so it might take me some time to get friendly with the neighbors. They sit on their front porch like a lot (I have seen them as we drove around) and I don't really want someone watching me come and go. There is absolutely no yard at all and there is only street permit parking.

Then there is a place that is 15 minutes outside of the city. It is on a golf course and is also a 1/2 double. It is more modern and has central airconditioning. The thing is it looked like shit when I walked through it. The walls were a mess, there were like a ton of dead flies in it. The carpets looked a mess and needed to be streteched. The real estate lady said that the place would be all fixed up by the time I arrived June 1st. However, hears the deal... I guess I have lived in California a bit too long because I operate by believing none of what I hear and half of what I see. I told her that I just didn't feel comfortable signing a lease and agreeing to an apartment that looked like crap and hoping it would look different when I arrived. If these people really wanted to rent it they should fix it now. I couldn't take the chance of arriving to find nothing had been done and it looked a mess.

Right now I am considering having my furniture delivered to a storage unit in Bloomsburg and camping out for the month of June in Wilkes Barre at my man's place while looking for a place on the weekends in Bloomsburg. That is what makes the most sense to me right now.

The picture is of the city of Wilkes Barre, PA.

Ciao