We got a virus. Hopefully none of received bugged e-mails from us. Jon spent Sunday trying to fix the problem and by Monday night it was all over. It has been a strange week without the computer. I actually "went back to work." The FSEA office is located in Stanton (just south of Knott's Berry Farm) about 50 miles from our current home in San Clemente, but the drive had to be made as I've had about 8 hours of work that needed to be done this week. I have the added benefit of being able to check my personal e-mail once my work is done.
Things are progressing with our house, but not in a quick or as orderly a fashion as we saw the first week. I have had to stay on top of a number of people and today I will take the plans to the site along with my measuring tape to make sure things are really set up right for the delivery of the house. It was supposed to be delivered this week, but due to some of those people I have been keeping tabs on, it won't go in until Monday. Oh, well, what would my life be without a construction project to stay on top of? We still hope to be in the house before Christmas, but we'll see.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I had a great time with friends where we currently live and then a couple days with my immediate family -- all of us, including our newest member -- Madeline McKenna France (almost 3 months). We all had an extended slumber party at my brother Steve's house in Escondido. If I had my own computer, I could post some pictures of our time together. :) I know, you are releaved not to have baby pictures to look at.
All for now,
Sheryl
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
And now the bike is gone
Last night Jon sold his BMW motorcycle. He owned it for 3 1/2 years and was able to get hours of enjoyment out of it. He fulfilled a life-time dream of biking around the US with his two brothers in 2005 and has loved driving it to work just about every day since he bought it.
But it was time for the bike to move on to another owner so we could save about $10K in interest on our new home. I'm not sure if Jon will post a eulogy on his blog, but here is a picture of his baby with the load bearing system that he created and built himself.
Farewell, good bike.
Sheryl
Saturday, November 17, 2007
It's Gone
We moved out of our house Monday evening, November 12. Tuesday morning I drove by to check it out and men were already working stripping down the awnings, carport, etc. I took the picture to the right that morning. We salvaged a few items we realized we'd forgotten. Wednesday they were still hard at work putting axels and wheels under the house. By Thursday morning the two halves of the house were separated and prepared to be driven away. I took Joshua by after school to see the two halves and the house was gone. Amazing!
Ready to go. Notice that the street sign/stop sign is still in place, but did not survive when the house was pulled out.
Same corner from reverse angle this past Thursday:
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Lots to celebrate
Last week was crazy with Jon and I cleaning out, packing, organizing, packing and moving all of our "stuff" out of our old house. As of this morning, we are out and the old house is being dismantled. I'll try to get pictures up later this week.
On Saturday Jon and I were able to get away for another overnight date. My brother and sister-in-law watched Joshua this time and he had a great time with his cousin Evan. They are 6 months apart and great friends. Joshua even lost another tooth while he was there.
Jon and I arrived at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe around 4:00, so we were able to relax and enjoy the picturesque inn while getting ready for the ball that evening. This town was about the last community blocking the fires from getting to the ocean. The burned areas we drove through were stark but it was amazing to see surviving houses dotting the burned landscape. Numerous "thank you firefighters" signs mark the driveways along that road.
The ball was great fun because we had 12 friends join us. We were also with a unit that Jon used to be connected to when he was a Reservist. Many of the "old guys" showed up for the ball, so it was fun to see familiar faces. I usually don't know anyone at the big MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) balls.
It was very nice to spend the night at the inn and sleep in a bit Sunday morning. Jon wore his uniform on Sunday in honor of Veteran's Day and we took a little walk into town to find some breakfast -- we were trying to save a few bucks since the breakfast at the inn was a little more that we would usually spend. Well, we were stopped by many people and Jon was thanked for his service. One man stopped his car, got out and came over to shake Jon's had. He invited us to the local church and then handed Jon $40 for breakfast. Everyone insisted that the best breakfast was at the Inn, so we headed back and enjoyed the delicious meal immensely. What an encouragement as we prepare for another deployment in two months.
When we got home Sunday, we spent the rest of the day and all day Monday getting our stuff together. It is amazing how long the final day of packing took. We fell into bed around 11:00 p.m. after going all day. But we got everything we wanted out and we are settled at our friends' home in San Clemente. My proudest moment was getting my computer set up all by myself last night. When I saw my e-mail popping up, I felt like I was home. :)
We are so grateful to have a comfortable, beautiful place to live for the next month or so. God has been very good.
Sheryl
On Saturday Jon and I were able to get away for another overnight date. My brother and sister-in-law watched Joshua this time and he had a great time with his cousin Evan. They are 6 months apart and great friends. Joshua even lost another tooth while he was there.
Jon and I arrived at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe around 4:00, so we were able to relax and enjoy the picturesque inn while getting ready for the ball that evening. This town was about the last community blocking the fires from getting to the ocean. The burned areas we drove through were stark but it was amazing to see surviving houses dotting the burned landscape. Numerous "thank you firefighters" signs mark the driveways along that road.
The ball was great fun because we had 12 friends join us. We were also with a unit that Jon used to be connected to when he was a Reservist. Many of the "old guys" showed up for the ball, so it was fun to see familiar faces. I usually don't know anyone at the big MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) balls.
It was very nice to spend the night at the inn and sleep in a bit Sunday morning. Jon wore his uniform on Sunday in honor of Veteran's Day and we took a little walk into town to find some breakfast -- we were trying to save a few bucks since the breakfast at the inn was a little more that we would usually spend. Well, we were stopped by many people and Jon was thanked for his service. One man stopped his car, got out and came over to shake Jon's had. He invited us to the local church and then handed Jon $40 for breakfast. Everyone insisted that the best breakfast was at the Inn, so we headed back and enjoyed the delicious meal immensely. What an encouragement as we prepare for another deployment in two months.
When we got home Sunday, we spent the rest of the day and all day Monday getting our stuff together. It is amazing how long the final day of packing took. We fell into bed around 11:00 p.m. after going all day. But we got everything we wanted out and we are settled at our friends' home in San Clemente. My proudest moment was getting my computer set up all by myself last night. When I saw my e-mail popping up, I felt like I was home. :)
We are so grateful to have a comfortable, beautiful place to live for the next month or so. God has been very good.
Sheryl
Sunday, November 04, 2007
A busy long weekend
November has started off with our usual crazy busy schedule. Thursday Joshua was home from school (elementary schools were having parent/teacher conferences) and I needed to attend a meeting at the district office. Jon got home from work around 1:30 -- early because the MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) was having their Marine Corps Ball that night. We loaded up our truck to take more of our stuff down to the storage bin at Camp Pendelton. Then we headed south. This was my first sight of the burned area in Camp Pendelton along the 5 freeway. 
It was awesome to see 8 miles of burned hills. I took this picture while I was driving north on the 5 freeway. For me the fire has already become history but I know there are families who only just got to go home this weekend and of course the families who lost their homes will be rebuilding for a long time. Later in the weekend we drove a short way down the 15 freeway to get a glimpse of the burned area in Rancho Bernardo -- we could see places where the fire jumped a freeway that is at least 10 lanes wide -- those were powerful winds.
Thursday evening we were able to drop Joshua off with my sister Sandy and her husband Sonny. He had a wonderful time and was introduced to Wii. Oh, great, a new expensive toy to add to his wish list -- thanks, Uncle Sonny. This Marine Corps ball was held at the Pechanga Casino -- 1,200 Marines and their guests and it seemed like the majority were about 18 years old. I started feeling old when the music started and I didn't know many of the songs and my head started ringing -- that was loud music. Jon and I had a wonderful date night together and I got to meet many of the Marines that he either worked with the last time he was deployed or who he will work with next year. It was just fun to be out for the night together.
Friday we got back home in time to run over to school to our conference with Joshua's teacher. We learned that Joshua is quite smart -- tested at the 3rd grade level in English and Math. Of course he is being taught in Spanish and his Spanish reading is lower than it "should" be so he will be having some after-school "enrichment" classes for the next few months. We also are supposed to work with him to get him to memorize the addition and subtraction facts. Unfortunately, his math major mother never memorized those facts. I have been known to use my fingers while balancing my check book. So I know for a fact that Joshua will be fine without being able to complete 100 addition or subtraction problems in 5 minutes. Oh, well, we'll try to find a fun way to help him memorize them.
Our craziness was in full swing on Saturday. We had soccer at 8:00 a.m. -- Joshua played and Jon was the ref. Then we headed to our house in Orange to unload the nearly-new oven from our current mobile home, a dishwasher in fairly good shape and mirrored sliding glass doors. We also helped our friend and tenant Lauri pack up her stuff as she was moving out. Then we were off to sign the revised papers for our new home. We rushed home so Jon could show his motorcycle to an interested buyer. We loaded the truck again so Jon could take another trip to our storage unit at Camp Pendelton. I headed off to Jumpin Jammin with Joshua for a friend's birthday party. What a day. The extra hour of sleep last night was greatly needed and appreciated.
Next weekend we'll be moving and I'm not sure how long I'll be without a computer. The friends who are hosting us for the next 6 weeks have said I can get connected to the Internet, so hopefully I'll only be off for a day or two. Thanks for all your prayers.
Sheryl
It was awesome to see 8 miles of burned hills. I took this picture while I was driving north on the 5 freeway. For me the fire has already become history but I know there are families who only just got to go home this weekend and of course the families who lost their homes will be rebuilding for a long time. Later in the weekend we drove a short way down the 15 freeway to get a glimpse of the burned area in Rancho Bernardo -- we could see places where the fire jumped a freeway that is at least 10 lanes wide -- those were powerful winds.Thursday evening we were able to drop Joshua off with my sister Sandy and her husband Sonny. He had a wonderful time and was introduced to Wii. Oh, great, a new expensive toy to add to his wish list -- thanks, Uncle Sonny. This Marine Corps ball was held at the Pechanga Casino -- 1,200 Marines and their guests and it seemed like the majority were about 18 years old. I started feeling old when the music started and I didn't know many of the songs and my head started ringing -- that was loud music. Jon and I had a wonderful date night together and I got to meet many of the Marines that he either worked with the last time he was deployed or who he will work with next year. It was just fun to be out for the night together.
Friday we got back home in time to run over to school to our conference with Joshua's teacher. We learned that Joshua is quite smart -- tested at the 3rd grade level in English and Math. Of course he is being taught in Spanish and his Spanish reading is lower than it "should" be so he will be having some after-school "enrichment" classes for the next few months. We also are supposed to work with him to get him to memorize the addition and subtraction facts. Unfortunately, his math major mother never memorized those facts. I have been known to use my fingers while balancing my check book. So I know for a fact that Joshua will be fine without being able to complete 100 addition or subtraction problems in 5 minutes. Oh, well, we'll try to find a fun way to help him memorize them.
Our craziness was in full swing on Saturday. We had soccer at 8:00 a.m. -- Joshua played and Jon was the ref. Then we headed to our house in Orange to unload the nearly-new oven from our current mobile home, a dishwasher in fairly good shape and mirrored sliding glass doors. We also helped our friend and tenant Lauri pack up her stuff as she was moving out. Then we were off to sign the revised papers for our new home. We rushed home so Jon could show his motorcycle to an interested buyer. We loaded the truck again so Jon could take another trip to our storage unit at Camp Pendelton. I headed off to Jumpin Jammin with Joshua for a friend's birthday party. What a day. The extra hour of sleep last night was greatly needed and appreciated.
Next weekend we'll be moving and I'm not sure how long I'll be without a computer. The friends who are hosting us for the next 6 weeks have said I can get connected to the Internet, so hopefully I'll only be off for a day or two. Thanks for all your prayers.
Sheryl
Thursday, November 01, 2007
A Happy Halloween
Jon and Joshua were out trick-or-treating for 2 hours and came back with the most candy Joshua has ever collected. And unknown to me, Jon did dress up. He put on his coat and hat because in past years he had discovered that this favorite outfit of his looks like Freddy Kruger to everyone else. You can decide.
Sheryl
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