Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Squash Bottom Gang!

Have you ever been so excited, that you felt like you had a whole zoo full of animals, jumping on a trampoline inside of your stomach? Well, multiply that by approximately 10 zoos and that is how I am feeling. 

It’s all good until I open my mouth to talk and a screeching baboon noise emerges!

Today we signed the final papers on the house. Tomorrow we move in. I can hardly breathe as I type this.

As Mark already brought Hercules, the Cargo Trailer, here from Colorado we are good to go. After it is emptied, he will be sold. 

The Tumbleweed and Toad are safe for now. We’ll be back in the Tumbleweed for travels over the summer.

We have also added a golf cart to the family. He has been dubbed the "Tadpole." Although it's not a lily pad, he does have his own little garage, which I am sure he will come to love.

Since we sold everything except our bed and some memorabilia, our house will be quite empty, but I don’t care. I am so anxious to stretch out my legs. Have some privacy.  Be able to spin with joy and not bruise myself from head to toe. (I’m a spinner).

No more cooking dinner as I simultaneously have a conversation with Mark who is sitting on the throne.
No more having to cram clothing into a drawer so tightly that when you open it, the clothes pop out like those giant spring worms in a prank peanut can.
No more CLUTTER!
No more laundromats.
No more washing dishes by hand.
No more having to unload the oven of items stored inside prior to using it.
No more having to walk Cotye to the “dog park” every time he needs to relieve himself. Did you know we have been doing this since we rescued him? 

I am sure he thinks this must be a family thing. When we are in the loo, he too comes in to watch us. (Hahaha) 

Cotye is going to LOVE his new backyard. And there are no cacti back there; only in the front yard!

I am hoping he (and I) don’t freak when it is time to pack up the house for the summer and hit the road again for 3 months. Mark may have a tough time getting us BOTH back into the rig!

shouldn't bash RV-ing. I really do love it as long as we are on the move. 

There is a freedom and unfathomable beauty in life on the road that is something you have to experience to fully comprehend.

I love that every time we relocate and “set-up” I can have the whole place sparkling clean within 30 minutes.

The hardest thing for me to get used to, but the most convenient, was that I never had to pack for our next destination – everything we owned came with us wherever we went!

Nope. Very glad we are not giving up the RV Life. A split life will be perfect for us.

This summer we will be loading up the Tumbleweed and heading to Minnesota. It will be a BIG summer for Cotye. He gets to meet all of his Minnesota rellies; including many 4-legged cousins. PLUS he will have to stay with someone else while Mark and I travel to Hawaii for our youngest son’s wedding.

Cotye has never been separated from us. I am afraid he will think he has been abandoned like he was before we rescued him.

We plan on Skyping him nightly to let him know we are still around.  Still, I worry. 

He was a runner when we first got him. It would be horrible if he ran away again because we were gone.  I saw a gadget on-line (I am a gadget junkie) where you can get a GPS device for his collar, with a phone app, so that if he does run, you can track him. I think I will go with that and make sure his “sitter” has the app too.

Funny story; when Mark and I began hitting open houses, one of the first homes we looked at was on a street Mark said was called “Squash Bottom”. My reaction; “Ew! I could NEVER live on a road called “Squash Bottom!”

Throughout weeks and weeks of house hunting, he continued to refer to that street as “Squash Bottom” until one day I happened to look up at the street sign and found it read “Squash BLOSSOM!” Twit.  

Well guess what; out of all the streets in that giant housing development, we ended up buying a house on Squash Blossom! Yet, since we had been calling it Squash “Bottom” for so long, I have THAT stuck in my head and whenever someone asks for my address, guess what I tell them? UGH! LOL - - - Oh well, I guess we are going to be known as The Squash Bottom Gang!

The description of our home is ranch-style. There is a master suite and a guest suite with a media room separating the two. There is a living room, wet bar, powder room, kitchen, dining room, laundry and a 2 car garage plus a golf cart garage. Pretty basic, but we love it. We have two outside patios, both have views of the Catalinas. Lots of work to be done, but the process will be fun.

Here are a few pics of the nakey-newness. More to follow as we get the house “dressed up”. 


Back Patio



Side Patio



View from the Kitchen Garden Window



Living Room (Staged)



Dining Room (Staged)


I actually forgot to take picks after they removed the "staged" furniture but you get the gist. More to follow as we make progress! We get the keys tomorrow!!!