Unpacking= Mission Impossible

I'm pretty sure these packing boxes are breeding. 

 It seems that every time I feel that I'm making progress with unpacking, I find another brown box that hasn't been unpacked yet or a suitcase magically still full of clothes.  It's exhausting.  Once I finally exterminate all of these brown boxes... I don't want to see another one for quite some time!

Thankfully I was able to squeeze in a week of unpacking before I headed back to Florida for my sister's graduation.  Juggling work in the chaos of the trip wasn't easy, but I made it happen!  The first couple of days I spent scrambling to get stuff ready for Kaitlyn's graduation.  :'(  I still can't believe my baby sister graduated high school!  After graduation was over, I enjoyed catching up with friends, movie nights, dancing, Sunday brunch, and even *gasp* a trip to the beach.

                            

Unfortunately my skin no longer appreciates time spent in the sun. I left with funky tan lines and some pretty sweet lobster red skin.  However, it it a step in the right direction (a normal skin tone.)

While in Florida I turned 27!  I don't feel old, but with all these kids I used to babysit graduating high school... it serves as a great reminder that the days of gray hair are getting closer ;)  I'm also reminded that  tomorrow is never guaranteed, and  you have to live life to the absolute fullest!  

                                               

                                         I paid off my car loan!

I've been throwing money at that loan like no one's business since last fall.   I was on track to wrap up 2014 by paying it off, but since we opted not to buy a home, we went ahead and took care of the loan. I am happy that I can start putting my paycheck toward better things like retirement and maybe some new clothes. (my summer wardrobe needs some serious updating) 

Being back in California with my husband and the fur babies has been great.  Speaking of the fur babies... Begley and I are loving living right by a park!  Hannah gets time in her "fun run" in the backyard while Begley and I go for a stroll.  It's glorious! (Minus some bad timing and getting attacked by the park's sprinklers.)

                                 

So back to these breeding boxes... 

We had three people stop by last week to "pick up all of the boxes" and we somehow still have boxes left.  It's ridiculous.  We are now looking at a trip to the recycling center so we can rid our home of the empty boxes.  However, even after that is done, I still have boxes to unpack :(  This weekend we are taking a break and heading over the fairgrounds (conveniently located right up the road) to look at some motorcycles :D  I'm excited!

If you have visited/lived in Northern CA, what do you recommend to go do/see?  My next project is making our CA bucket list!

Welcome to California!

We have been in California for a week now and we have stayed busy!  We kicked off last week with an afternoon of house hunting.  John and I have been looking forward to buying a home since we left Alaska.  Boy were we in for sticker shock!  I believe that if you are going to go into debt to buy a house, you might as well love the house you are in. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a house that we loved within our budget.

During our house hunting adventures we did stumble across a home that, as landlords, is our worst nightmare.  The outside of the home was gorgeous and it had an awesome back yard.  When we took a peek inside... we were shocked.  The tenants' dog had torn the walls to shreds in some places, the grout in the kitchen would have had to been replaced, the carpets needed to be deep cleaned or replaced, and the garage smelled like cigarette smoke. Oh yeah...during our tour I found a melted push pop in a cabinet. o.O The tenant was supposedly a realtor.  How could the tenant let this happen??? All I could think was "What if this happens to our house in Alaska???"   The market here doesn't appear to be buyer friendly, so we have moved on to Plan B- renting.

 We are close to settling on a house to rent. We are hoping to look at one more house this week before making a decision.  At this point, I'd be ok with setting up my bed in a park.  I just want to sleep in my own bed.  Since December 15th we have been in hotels or TLFs for all but 3 weeks.  I miss my stuff. It would be nice to not cycle through the same summer clothes over and over again.  I would like to microwave a meal and not have the Internet crap out on me. I would like to have a clean and spotless bathroom. A thermostat that actually works would be a major bonus at this point.  Oh yes..  in Alaska, our TLF thermostat  was stuck on high so we had to open the windows to cool off.  Now that we are in California?  Our AC doesn't work at all and we have no fan in the room. *facepalm*

We did manage to arrive to California just in time for allergy season.  Poor John has been suffering all week.  Supposedly June is better. I guess time will tell!  Speaking of June... my sister graduates high school in just a couple of weeks!    If we can get settled into a home before my flight out, I should be able to spend some extended time in Florida.  I'm stoked! I'm ready for some sunshine and time with family and friends.

So tomorrow begins a new week!  My fingers are crossed that we find a place to call "home" soon!