oh despair!

but first.. what a joyous Mother's day & 8 year Anniversary!
Celebrate the good times



The fun, the games, the laughter from the sugar high quickly following a too sweet for words breakfast.
Yet, it's true what they say that all good things must come to and end. Thus, we enter into the realm of moving.. and the ongoing saga that has become our lives.

Over the past month we have logged more miles on our car, and envisioned ourselves in more homes than I can keep track of.
To no avail!
The moving container comes tomorrow, and we have no destination address as of yet.
Oh, :::sigh:::

We are holding onto all hope and faith right now, but what we really need is a miracle.


3 days left






What a beautiful city, oh, how we love SF!

Cruisin' down the highway on our way to Santa Cruz,some fun and games..

before we knew it we arrived.

House number one,

cute, pretty nice yard space, yet it just didn't feel big enough.


House number 2..
definitely bigger, but...

lack of yard space, and a bit on the darker side(lots of close trees)& very close neighbors.


:::Sigh::::


...so the search continues, and we're off to deliver resumes to any and everyone in town.

Little did we know the drama that was in store for us later in the day.


We're doing pretty well passing out the res. as we now call them ;) crossing the various lucky businesses off our list, and we actually only had a few left to deliver when...


the car starts making a strange noise, yes people, four kids and a small dog, and car trouble.


So what are we to do?


We drive for a bit and decide that we should pull over and access the situation further. As opposed to just continuing on as if everything is fine, can you guess which idea was mine? Anyhow, a little prayer and let's just drive a bit further,and who would have guessed it but there is a park on the very next block, and what? an available parking space so we parked and played, yes, a very much deserved and needed temporary escape from our current reality. But, no dogs, so little Yarno and I did laps and Daddy led the little ones through their


super exciting new park adventure.20 minutes give or take and it's back to the car, and to what to do next.


Call dealership service dept., no help, but here is a close service station, drive there on pins and needles with fingers crossed, oh, they only service Japanese cars. So now onto the third stop, previous shop called ahead, they are closing but will wait to see us, Thank You!


So we pull up and by now our car is knocking, and smelling strange, I'm thinking okay this is all happening for a good reason, this is just what we need to experience right now, breathe.


First guy comes out takes a look,or listen,(Yarno stop barking this guy is here to help)


Could be this, or that,no you shouldn't drive it, let's call for a rental car($$),...stay overnight.($$$$), I'm hearing the cash register, and the kids are in heaven, a hotel, YAY!


So, after a few calls no one has a 6 passenger car, then the most amazing thing happened,


Others may only know him as Jeremy, but to me and my family he is our hero. On his way home for the day, taking a last minute phone call, he overheard our plight and offered to take a look.


Well don't you know that he fixed our car in a matter of minutes and TOTALLY saved the day!


Now we were of sound vehicle, but what to do about a car full of heart set on a hotel kids?


Not to mention the remaining res. recipients on the list, what if one of them could be THE one?


Oh the pressure, stay or go...so being as indecisive a couple that we are we let the cost of the hotel room and the available work for the next day decide.


The work could be picked up on the following day, so all that was left was the hotel,by this time we had pretty much been warn down by the roar of tired children that spent way to much time in a car, so any price seemed reasonable(well almost)


The hotel that we have a members card with had just opened up a new hotel, and we were the lucky guests to stay the first night! What fun, on a rather strange side note; the woman at the front desk just happened to be the granddaughter of our neighbor a few doors down! The world feels so small sometimes.


With no fresh clothes and trying to save as much money as possible, while I bathed the kids in the tub I just threw in their undies with them and they had the best time "playing" wash the clothes. Let me tell you, that brand new hair dryer had everything dry and toasty in no time, and a good thing too I was beat!


DAY 2


Started out normal(familiar theme?)


Deliver remaining res., get lunch, pretty normal walk on the dog friendly beach, until we spot a woman with a bird she has rescued from being pummeled by waves in the rocks.


So we call wildlife rescue, they are of course closed. Let's just set it down by the rocks, everyone is leaving, but we just can't leave it there, with the night approaching, the dogs all around, and with it just looking so tired and hopeless (a bit like us I must admit) We stood there unsure of what we could do, I watched twice as people just stepped right over the spot where it lay and thought if we don't help this bird I don't know that anyone else will. Then it hit me there must be a 24 hr vet or animal hospital, maybe they could look after the bird til the morning when the other office opens. After calling wildlife again we get the address and number for a wild bird rescue a few blocks away,HooRaY!


Wonderful bird rescuing woman, helps get the frightened bird into a reusable grocery tote and we're off!

Long story short, bird was safely rescued,and we arrived home safely.

No word yet on the job front but we return again to look at more possible homes, fingers crossed!


It was a success!




Look what I sold at our garage sale!

Yes it went off pretty well

considering all the prep work that went into the "lemonade stand".


it all starts with a simple banner..
of course it must be hand painted,

and then what is an Eco-conscious mom to do with the empty lemon shell?

Why make soy candles of course (at 11pm)


So Fun!

Then we thought what the hey, let's just pull an all niter, so we did.

Yes, literally all night, and the result...

fresh homemade lemonade,soy candles, chocolate chip cookies,

and the crowd favorite lemon poppy seed bread.

Above is the photo before they made any sales,

and this is the after ;)


That's pretty much how we all felt, it was a LONG, but great day!



SO, the house hunt has begun, we travel this week to scout out our future domicile.
We are hopeful with a few promising leads, and our 30 days now down to day 23.







my faithful running partner, today after our run :)

projects update

Ah, the joy of finishing long overdue projects. This fantastic find came to yours truly via roadside giveaway, my favorite! It looked much different then with all the charming cracked black paint in all. I had a vision of restoration for this beauty though and it only took 3 years to attain! I know, I know... I'm totally bragging, but hey, in my book that is pretty quick.
So still riding that wave of creative courage I decided to put the finishing touches on..


..this cute little hemp sleeper I've had cut out, and lounging about the craft room for, oh 6 months or so.
Did I mention this is all thanks to a wonderful little family that are content with mama popping in and out of the craft room for various intervals throughout the day. A little lunch here, story there, some math, a bit of spelling, don't call your sister names, be nice to the kittys' tail, yes, I can spin you around like a princess, okay, one more glass of water, and everyone goes to sleep happy.

stillness


a quiet morning...





an amazing flight,





This entire flight from lift-off to landing couldn't have lasted even a minute, and oh the marvelous sound effects that accompanied this fantastic aeronautical display. I found myself transfixed, wondering right along with her just what the next step would be. Yes, by Joe this small plastic man fits into this part here, and , oh okay, his legs bend... and, oh what is this , hooray he sits, now up into the air with him, let's fly to the moon.

How is it that these brilliant discoveries have been occurring all around me and I with my "busy" agenda have been so completely oblivious to them. Now don't get me wrong I love a neat, clean home, something warm and delicious smelling coming from the kitchen, freshly bathed and well mannered kids. Somewhere amidst all of that orchestration, a part of me got lost.
Yet right here amongst the newly constructed towers of boxes, and the ever expanding mass of items by the front door fated to weekend garage sale (a.k.a. fundraiser), the persistent and mysteriously regenerative dishes in the sink, and my dear friend, the pile of clean clothes on the couch (that actually make a great pillow my ever "silver lining" husband tells me) and despite all of the chaos that is our lives right now, a space has opened for me. In it I have discovered the mama I want to be. No matter what the "mama... watch me" is for, or how many hundred times we read their favorite story, the time that it takes to Be there with them in those moments, will never equal the length of time they will carry those moments with them.


My first post, yay!
Here I will attept to chronicle my journey into the unknown (how's that for drama!)
About six weeks ago my husband got laid off, our home has been foreclosed on and we now have 30 days to:
1. make enough money for moving costs
2.find someone who will rent to a currently unemployed family of 6
(plus 2 cats, 1 papillon)
3.move out!
Don't worry we have a plan,.... well a sort of plan. Our little family has it in our hearts to live near the ocean, but not just any ocean community. We've scouted up and down the Great California coastline and have settled on the area of Santa Cruz Co. Yes it's a little backwards some may say, to choose the area first and the job secondary. Yet we have this silly idea, that if you have a dream, or a goal, and you go after it with everything you've got, magic will begin to happen and your dreams will become your reality.
So I invite you to come along with me and my family, as we hold hands and jump straight into the deep end together. This is our chance to experience the change of a lifetime, and live our lives to the fullest. I can't wait to see how it turns out!