Whew! I am pretty much all moved in to my new place. When...
Whew! I am pretty much all moved in to my new place.
When I moved to my house by LAX 30+ years ago, I had friends all over LA, and those friends who lived in the San Fernando Valley, I could reach - on a good day - in 20 minutes. Over the years the situation has changed. All my dearest friends now live in the Valley, and it was taking 45-60 minutes to reach them. (When I first went to work at Pierce College I could get there in 30 minutes. Now... not so much.)
And, the old house was literally falling apart. It needed to be re-piped, re-wired, needed kitchen and bathroom remodels if I was going to continue to live there. But every house on the street for the past five years, when they've sold, were simply torn down and replaced with these immense McMansions. I couldn't see pumping $100,000 that I didn't have into something that was just going to be torn down.
So, in May I sold my house (to an Investment Company, as a tear-down), and bought a slightly smaller, slightly newer one in the Valley that DIDN'T need to be re-piped or re-wired and already HAD a new, lovely, remodeled FRAKKING IMMENSE kitchen. Yes, it's hot as hell's hinges, but the house has an A/C plant the size of an apartment building. I donated literally a ton of books to the California prison library system, got rid of about half my Stuff (filling 4 construction-sized dumpsters in the process and about 6 pickup-truck-loads of stuff for the Goodwill), and the garage here is STILL packed to the ceiling with books, mostly publisher copies of my stuff and George's stuff.
So it's been a very stressful and tiring spring. (I also injured myself in the moving process, so I had to work around that).
I'll be very glad when every day doesn't involve something being inspected, installed, or repaired. We're coming to the end of that cycle, I hope, this week.
That's the explanation of why I've been even more dilatory than usual about posting. I'm happy with the new place. The old house can regenerate and go on to someone new. I'm already behind on the next book, but am able now to start work again.
I will keep you all posted. Thank you for your patience.
When I moved to my house by LAX 30+ years ago, I had friends all over LA, and those friends who lived in the San Fernando Valley, I could reach - on a good day - in 20 minutes. Over the years the situation has changed. All my dearest friends now live in the Valley, and it was taking 45-60 minutes to reach them. (When I first went to work at Pierce College I could get there in 30 minutes. Now... not so much.)
And, the old house was literally falling apart. It needed to be re-piped, re-wired, needed kitchen and bathroom remodels if I was going to continue to live there. But every house on the street for the past five years, when they've sold, were simply torn down and replaced with these immense McMansions. I couldn't see pumping $100,000 that I didn't have into something that was just going to be torn down.
So, in May I sold my house (to an Investment Company, as a tear-down), and bought a slightly smaller, slightly newer one in the Valley that DIDN'T need to be re-piped or re-wired and already HAD a new, lovely, remodeled FRAKKING IMMENSE kitchen. Yes, it's hot as hell's hinges, but the house has an A/C plant the size of an apartment building. I donated literally a ton of books to the California prison library system, got rid of about half my Stuff (filling 4 construction-sized dumpsters in the process and about 6 pickup-truck-loads of stuff for the Goodwill), and the garage here is STILL packed to the ceiling with books, mostly publisher copies of my stuff and George's stuff.
So it's been a very stressful and tiring spring. (I also injured myself in the moving process, so I had to work around that).
I'll be very glad when every day doesn't involve something being inspected, installed, or repaired. We're coming to the end of that cycle, I hope, this week.
That's the explanation of why I've been even more dilatory than usual about posting. I'm happy with the new place. The old house can regenerate and go on to someone new. I'm already behind on the next book, but am able now to start work again.
I will keep you all posted. Thank you for your patience.
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message 1:
by
Dona
(new)
Jul 16, 2019 09:34AM
Downsizing and moving is never an easy process; especially from a home where you've lived for over 30 years. Enjoy your new place.
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I can sympathize, having been through all of this in the past year and a half. Happily, though, I moved AWAY from LA area to the midwest, to a small city surrounded by cornfields and woods and streams - beautiful. Four seasons - lovely. And I hated the constant broiling heat of SO CAL - I'll take our polar vortex thank you very much! I can sit at my kitchen table and look out at my parklike backyard and watch the goldfinches and rose breasted grosbeaks and cardinals at the bird feeder. This same decent house with insulation and WORKING A/C as well as central heat cost one tenth of what it would have cost to have the same house in Burbank, and it is on a lot that is twice the size of the lots in Burbank. This was worth the months of sorting, tossing, recycling, and donating of excess stuff, even though the packing and unpacking and furniture assembling did not help the hip that now needs replaced.
My kitchen is 70 years newer than my last kitchen, but it is still 28 years old and worn out. Oh well...can't have everything.
I'm glad you are happily moved and that at least most of it is behind you. Wishing you much joy and comfort in your new place, as we have found in ours.
