Screeching Torment

The electricity went off at 4:20ish this morning.  No big deal.  Rolled over to get back to sleep and a minute later, every smoke detector in the house started screeching.  Every single one!  It was a moment of real 'um, is there a fire??' but...there wasn't.  We trekked downstairs...the pets went outside and stayed there 'cuz the noise was so intense, they didn't want to be in the house.  We felt the same but it was cold out and we don't have fur. 

J. dutifully got a ladder and took out the battery - and if that had worked, we would have repeated that seven more times.  It didn't.  No battery and no electricity (they are hard wired into the ceilings) but they were still screeching.  We called the non-emergency police number and the guy answering the phone tried to convince us that what was happening couldn't be.  How could you remove the battery, the electricity is out yet they are screeching?  No idea - which is why we called for help. 

He transferred us to dispatch and upon hearing 'what is your emergency?' J. said 'not an emergency but we were transferred here from the non-emergency police line.  She dispatched a fire truck.  A short time later, I heard it coming down the street.  (Side note:  I talked to my friend C. who lives near my office and she had seen the big ladder truck with a huge spotlight in her neighborhood shortly before they showed up here).  Three very nice firemen came in and used our ladders to assist.  They said they were getting calls all over town with the same issue. 

Helped us not feel quite so inept to hear that.  C. said the power went off and flickered back on quickly so maybe it was a surge or something that sent alarms into a frenzy.  (She was up 'cuz she had to get her son ready for a debate tournament). 

I improvised coffee when the power was off and after the firemen left.  Wasn't interested in going back to bed because if I did, I knew I'd sleep until 9 or so - and I had to work today so I wanted to get up.  I used some coffee filters, a strainer, some regular ground coffee (that thankfully was in a gift basket we got for Christmas) and did a couple cups of 'drip' coffee.  Not great but better than nothing.  We enjoyed chatting at the kitchen table - about the house, design ideas, etc. .  It was a nice early morning visit with my husband. Very glad for a gas stove that allowed me to get some hot water! 

I did get to work fairly early and worked a good amount of the day.  I'm ready for a great night's sleep.

H. got laid off from his job - they did away with the night shift and when they moved everyone back to days, they had 4 Wiley X regular employees plus H. and only 3 machines.  H. was the one to go.  It's hard to understand how/why - would be easy to feel they sort of set him up - moved him to the lens room (where by all accounts, he did a really great job) - and then let him go after the extra shift got them caught up?  But he's taking it in stride.  The manager who moved him to the lens room said he can use Wiley X as a reference.  And when H. phoned the manager (not knowing yet that he had been laid off), the manager talked to him - which he didn't have to do - he could have told H. 'I can't talk to you - call the staffing agency'.  So...that's something. 

He's staying with the same agency but moving to the Stockton branch so he'll get assignments in Tracy or Stockton - closer than Livermore.  He interviews there on Tuesday morning and J. will help him get there. 

We've had some good discussions and he's looking into some options for staying here in Tracy when we move.  BUT one of his options is to move to Texas and live with one of his best friends (and former roomate) J. and his girlfriend. 

Personally, I'm hugely enthusiastic about that option - because it gives H. the same thing J. and I are getting - a big, bold change and a fresh start for the next phase of our lives.  I know for sure he will be fine there - J. is a fireman and he and his girlfriend B. just bought a house.  They are super happy to have H. come stay with them.  J.'s dad (H.'s friend J. not his dad J.) also lives nearby and is equally happy to think H. might move there. 

We'll see. 

Cruising In Perpetuity

J. is going to call Norwegian Cruise tomorrow and put a deposit on an Alaska cruise in September.  It's the cruise certificate I received from my white-knuckle snow driving to Reno a couple weeks ago.  We'll be cruising in April, 2019, again in September, 2019 and a long cruise in May, 2020.  AND we keep seeing tons of other cruises we'd love to do - but really, I'll be excited to be on land a bit, too!  :-) 

I worked yesterday and today and accomplished quite a bit.  We've decided we are definitely not heading to Carson City for next weekend - the weather is going to be awful and we'll just wait two weeks and head up the end of the month.  I'm glad because that's two more days in the office this week - the timing of our next planned trip to Nevada means I have to get a huge report done well before the end of February.  I plan to work next weekend as well - another 3 day weekend to just plow through stuff at work. 

We have a reserved storage unit in Carson City - only $149 a month with the first month free.  It's the same size as the unit we rented for the 'kids' which was $253 a month.  We are going to live like kings in Carson City!  Things are just much less expensive -

We will head up in two cars (assuming the roads are clear enough for us to drive up) loaded with stuff to put in storage.  We've made a list of bigger things we can also move to storage and will be contacting a moving company to arrange for them to make a trip up with a truckload of stuff in late April or early May.  We're going to start moving stuff out of the house and up there as we prep for painting and other projects.  Then we're hoping the same company can make a 2nd trip up - and that trip will be (hopefully) directly to the house - and then they can also retrieve stuff from storage and bring it to the house.  Sort of a multi-stage move - we'll have to see how that works re: scheduling. 

Muf is behind the computer playing with the power cord - and when scolded for doing that, she moves over and starts chewing on the jump drive cable attached to the computer.  Geez, she is a PITA. 

I'm really struggling with H. being here.  Example:  I was in his bathroom last night and saw something I didn't recognize at the side of the sink.  My immediate, first reaction was 'drug paraphernalia?  No reason to think that - but - the history lives long and large.  I moved something away from the unidentified item - and it was....wait for it....a toothbrush. 

Clearly, I am in need of some kind of remediation - I also spent a lot of time keeping an eye on a strange car parked in front of the house - it was a neighbor's guest.  But I convinced myself he had someone upstairs with him.  He didn't. 

My anxiety levels are off the charts these days - it's hard balancing everything and I feel like I'm mostly failing.  I'm working hard on reminding myself to not be so hard on myself - and also reminding myself to lighten up on J. and H..  I'm super grumpy when my anxiety is high and it doesn't help anything for me to be snippy and pissy a good amount of time. 

It will pass.  I remind myself.  It WILL pass.  Things will start falling into place and once the house build starts, things will be super exciting. 

Holy Moly! February!

We just met with the realtor who will sell our home.  No big surprises.  Some work to start arranging - painting, repairing some linoleum and getting a bathtub resurfaced.

The market now has him proposing a price that's $25K less than I was expecting - but we're still months away from listing it so fingers crossed the market will improve.  It's winter and interest rates went up the last quarter of 2018.  We have a lot of new homes being built in our area but he said lots of people look at new homes and then end up coming to existing homes - where the landscaping is already done and many houses (like ours) have pools.

We've got an awful lot to do between now and May/June - and we're going to have to start putting together some timelines of activities to get things moving.

From the timeline re: my replacement standpoint, it's looking like I will be building the district budget for the next school year solo - which frankly has me depressed, moody and grumpy.  I know I can do it - I was just really mentally prepared for NOT being the person solely responsible.  But I am.  So...it's going to be a super crazy April, May and early June for me like it's been every year for the past 12+.

J. finally started to consider that maybe we could postpone the Panama Canal cruise we've booked for the first two weeks of April - but it's too late.  We'd pay a very hefty penalty and lose 75% of what we've paid - so we're going.  It will be a good 'practice run' of what retirement will be like - lazy days, no alarm clocks and sleeping in.  Well, some days of those things.  We have excursions planned in most ports so we'll be getting up early to get to where we're headed - but we always enjoy those days.

H. is staying with us at the moment - he's going to (hopefully) speak to the person at WileyX this coming week who said he would be hired on as a regular employee to confirm that is still in the works.  If it's not, he's got to start looking for a job here in Tracy - he's sometimes having to pay for an Uber to/from work - mostly from 'cuz J. has been trekking to Livermore at 11:15 five nights a week to get H. there nightly.  When we're gone - which is more often than not this month - two long weekends up to Carson City planned so far - he'll have to get there and back on his own.  He's doing work as a temp that he would be paid more for as a regular employee...and he's paying $50 out of pocket to get to/from.  The numbers are very quickly becoming not do-able.  He knows this.  It's a great place to work, he loves it and they seem to appreciate him - but...he has to have a real job with benefits because as of May 25th, he no longer is covered on my health insurance - he has to find his own.

We have a confirmed floor plan for the new house, including elevations - so we see what it will look like - and the footprint.  It's super hard visualizing a house when all we've seen are drawings.  No model homes and designing it ourselves from the ground up is a new experience for us.  We head to Reno/Carson City next Thursday via Southwest - to ensure we can get there.  Time to start picking cabinetry, flooring, lighting, etc. - sinks, tubs, counter tops....such a very long list of decisions still to be made.  We're excited to get started.

That's all the news.  It's crazy.  Really.