Husband had arranged to rent a big truck to go and get the new Airstream trailer, as it needed something meaty, being 32ft long. He left on a monday morning, to get down and back when the roads were quiet, and planned the route he would take. I would have loved to have gone with him. If anything, for moral support, but there was just too much prep work needed at the new cottage for that, so we just kept working away, hoping to here from him soon.
You may remember back a couple posts, I mentioned the pretty kitty hanging around when we went to see the trailer? Well, the first news I got from husband that day was when he texted me this picture:
He took it with his phone camera as he was preparing to leave San Juan Bautista with the Airstream for the drive home.
Oh lord, I thought. Looks like we now have a cat.
He told me later that when he arrived at the trailer, the mournful kitty had been hanging around begging for a kind hand and some food. He asked the seller if she had been joking about the cat being abandoned. She said, sadly no, it was true, and asked him if we could possibly take her with the trailer. By that time, the cat had already jumped into the big truck, and made a comfy spot on the passenger seat, looking at Husband as if to say 'I'm ready! When do we go?' So she sat next to him purring all the way home. Well, what was he going to do?
I took this picture as he pulled into the driveway:
After some careful maneuvering, it looked great in its new spot.
I dashed to the store for cat food and a litter box. Then I shut the dogs away so I could greet the new family member. At this point I was seriously wondering how this was all going to work, as the dogs are horrible about cats, and chase them whenever they get the chance.
The poor cat was desperately thin, and so, so hungry. I fed her bowl after bowl of food, watching her finish and then ask for more. I believe she cleared five bowls before I thought I'd better be the one to stop as it didn't look like she would. It was decided that she should live in my work studio for the time being, until we could figure out the relationship with the dogs, so we closed her in that night with a dog bed shoved in a cardboard box. Five bowls of food resulted in five poops in the litter tray the next morning, and Trailer Kitty (as we were temporarily calling her) was hungry again and ready for more food.
Here is a picture of Skinny Trailer Kitty when she arrived:
More about Trailer Kitty and the Airstream next time!
Changes are afoot in these parts. It's been a whole three weeks since my last post, and sometimes it's surprising how many things can change in a short period of time.
The window on the bench from the last post is finished, but I am yet to take a picture of it, and it hasn't yet been installed.
Mr C, baby and I took a short trip to San Diego for a little vacation. It was a 'not too far' place to take a three year old, with plenty to do, and we all enjoyed the hotel pool and the San Diego zoo.
We made an offer on a house and will be moving next month!
That's the big news. We made a mental list of all the things we wanted in a house, and ended up with something completely different. But I think thats ok. We've been looking at houses for around five months, and were struggling with how apathetic we felt about everything we saw. In spite of it supposedly being a 'great time to buy', houses are still exceptionally expensive in this part of the world, and many of them are tired and flimsy, and in most cases, haven't been updated since the 80's.
Then, out of the blue, we spotted a little place in a town around six miles from where we currently live. A tiny cottage, built in the 1940's, a mere 884 square foot, two bed, one bath home. I checked out the pictures on Redfin, and showed Mr C, telling him jokingly, "Now there's my dream home!"
He looked at the photos silently for a few seconds and said "lets do it", picked up the phone and called our realtor on the spot.
The next day we visited and were both blown away to the emotional response we had to this little place. The garden is large, at nearly an acre, and contains lavender, raised beds and numerous fruit trees. It took me a while to get my head around the idea of moving to a home that is nearly half the size of our current home, and yet, as discussions continued, we realized that this is what we've been waiting for, but just didn't know it.
Mr C and I both turn forty in the next six months. Well, I turn forty in the next three weeks, actually, but neither of us were thrilled with the idea of starting a thirty year mortgage at forty. This house is smaller, and therefore less expensive, and we can have a fifteen year mortgage on it, which makes us both feel we have a real chance at possibly owning our house one day. Like so many, we lost everything on our last house, so starting again at forty, with a young family, was not something we had planned either.
But somehow - this all feels so - right. I have been a keen follower of the tiny house movement for several years now, and love the Tiny House Blog. I'm not quite sure why I hadn't applied the idea to us before. This has somehow all been rather a revelation.
So - no pictures today. Rare for me! But just news, and hopefully soon, I can add pictures and adventures from our new 'way of life' as well as the usual artistic endeavors. As I have to believe this decision we have made is just that. A new way of life.
