June 16, 2008
I was thinking about the excursion to Chino Hills on Saturday for Steve McQueen Day. It was really fun to drive up to the hills in the pre-dawn hours, enjoy the inland fog, see a celebrity, talk to people, etc.Everyone was really excited when the hamburger wagon pulled in. The pricing for the meals was kind of funny.
Burger $5
Double Burger $6
Double Burger Combo $6.50
Double Double Burger $7
A burger was just a burger. A double burger was two burger patties in one bun. A double burger combo included chips (no fries available from the truck). A double double burger was two burger patties in one bun with cheese PLUS chips and a soda. I thought the double double burger should have been called the double double burger combo, but they had limited space on their pricing sign. I just wanted chips so I talked my co-worker into buying the big meal. He got the huge meal and I stole his chips. It worked out well.
Good old In-N-Out Burgers....simple as the early McDonald's. They serve burgers, cheeseburgers, fries, sodas, and shakes. Period end. None of this chipotle chicken wrap in a bowl stuff. Meat and taters all fried up nice to give you heart disease.
They get so much grief for that name. I can only imagine what would happen if they sold sausages.
And yes.....it is time to move the old domicile. The property here has been sold twice in the past three years to people who don't care about people or the displacement of people. They are merely property developers. They want to convert everything here to CONDOS. The neighbors are fighting them on this, but it looks like the city has granted their permit for conversion.
Oh, Lord! The property has three separate structures. Translated, that is four separate living units and eight people tucked together on the edge of a large canyon.
I have lived in the largest house for 10 years. It is falling to pieces from basic neglect and termite damage, etc. It's huge with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms plus dining room and living room. But since it's falling to shit and they keep raising the rent, it's pretty clear that they actually want everyone to move. For example, when one of the decks off the living room was deemed dangerous, they simply ripped it off the house and boarded up the outside of the patio door with plywood. I haven't been able to use the shower in my bedroom for several years because the pipes leak into the kitchen. The skylights leak too. We had to pay for our own rat control, etc. The list goes on.
The last owner who attempted condo conversion offered us all first dibs on our units after they were "remodeled." This one was going to cost just $825,000. What a bargain, eh? Knowing the true condition of this house, I wouldn't buy it for even half that price.
Everyone thought these new owners might actually care about the property and fix things up while we are all living here, but that has not been the case. They are worse than the previous owners.
So.....there is a new home berth for the HMS Pie Rat. I didn't want to say anything until now because I didn't want to jinx anything. But all the leases have been signed now and the movers have been contracted. It's a go for the end of the month.
The new digs are GORGEOUS! It's much smaller and that's good. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms plus dining and living room and a huge kitchen. One entire wall of the living room is glass - and that faces the gorgeous back yard filled with fruit trees and a rose garden. There is a covered patio in the back too, and since the weather is so nice here, one can almost count that as an extra room. There is another self-contained yard in front of the house that is surrounded by a privacy fence. The double garage is extra long to accommodate laundry AND a work area for mosaic work and furniture painting and all kids of artistic projects!
Roomie has a gorgeous bedroom that faces the fruit trees and the rose terraces. There is a small bedroom down the hall that her child unit can use when she comes home from college for visits. It can also double as a guest room since she isn't actually home very often.
My bedroom is really large and faces the front. The attached bathroom has a separate shower stall AND a round air tub! OMG! Air tub!
Plus, this house also comes with a gardener! And the landlord wants the grass watered every other day and is willing to pay for the water!
Housing is uber expensive here in San Diego. In spite of that, even though this house is far nicer and better kept than the old house, the rent is cheaper! It's not as big but the space will be better-used. Plus, the dogs will have two yards with real grass which will be much nicer for them. I'm excited about the roses too.
So.....I am moving 10 years of stuff. Actually, I am trying to get rid of more than I move. I went through tons of books yesterday and have boxes and boxes ready to donate to The Book Man. He provides reading materials for prisons and people who cannot afford to buy books. I feel really good about letting him find my books new homes. I am being merciless with my clothes too. If I haven't worn something in the last 18 months, it goes into a bag for Goodwill.
Yesterday, I bagged up my old hats and other stuff I will never ever use again. It was surprisingly easy to part with a giant Canadian goose puppet that I have dragged around with me since 1987. Merciless, I say.
And so it goes. More changes. The one thing we can always count on, eh?
