At Home

If you are a long term fan of the site and have read this section before you will see it has completely changed. I thought about just updating it but heck that wasn’t life anymore, so it seemed like a silly thing to do. Since the last time I wrote this, kids left home, pets passed on and we moved 3 times.

After many years of struggle trying to make the house payments, and the 2nd on the house we had to let it go. It was so hard after 10 years to walk away. The kids really only remember that house from their childhood, so many memories were in that house. It was so hard! But at the same time, it was good too. Master needed to shake it up to get out of the swamp as it were, so with a new job in Vegas it was an easy choice. Thankfully we sold the house when people were willing to purchase homes and flip them. We actually came out on the good side of that nutty housing market.

By the time the move came, our oldest daughter, Anka was living down in Tucson attending the University of Arizona. Our oldest son, Michael, had moved up to live with Paul and Veronica. It wasn’t an easy choice to send him but ultimately it was needed for both him and I. I found I was having the same arguments with Michael that I spent all those years having with Paul and I couldn’t do that anymore nor did I want to be in that kind of negative relationship with him. It wasn’t easy to do it and it was hard for Michael sometimes but in the end it turned out to be the best thing. Alexis, William and Arthur will all up with Paul and Veronica too. 

With Natalie, Mocha the dog, Pita, Pixie, Orion and Guido the cats, we all moved to Las Vegas. Master did a great job of finding us a nice home and we started life again. It was a good time too. One of the best parts of Vegas was the Bellagio fountains and atrium. They change both of them about 4 times a year and every time they changed we would go back and see it again. It was magic every time. Neither Master or I are gamblers, so we were never big on the casino stuff but we did see a few shows we enjoyed. We loved to go bowling, perhaps one of the only inexpensive entertainments up there! We even did the whole league thing. Natalie enjoyed school, made some friends. The kids came to visit and we had the wedding. While in Vegas, our little Pixie cat died and our Pita got out and disappeared. Those were the worst things that happened in Vegas. But no matter the good points, it wasn’t home. My family of choice wasn’t there. Those witnesses to our lives that we had shared so much with were all back in Arizona. While we were in Vegas, Michael came to live with us too, out of high school and starting college he needed some extra support to try and do all he wanted. When Master got the chance to take a better job back in Phoenix, we jumped all over it.

Back in Phoenix and damn it was good to be back with the family! I missed them all so much! Since we have been back, Master is still working for the same people. We moved after being here about a year because the house we were renting was being let go back to the bank. Michael moved out and now lives with his girlfriend. Anka is finishing up her degree in forensic anthropology, like Bones on TV and she lives with her boyfriend. We ended up with another kid at home now too when Arthur, the youngest at 16, decided he wanted to come live with his Dad and try life in Arizona. It has been working well for all of us, even with the house a bit more crowded. 

Since we have been back our furry family changed again too. We acquired two new kittens, rescues made by our friend Lori and vet student daughter, Rissa. The little girls are Dahlia and Lizzie are evil little cusses but cute as can be too. We had to finally put Mocha down, after 12 good years of service to us, our sweet chocolate Doberman had just given all she could and we couldn’t watch her suffer anymore. I think given the option she would never have left us but it was just too much anymore. After a bit of grief we went looking for a new doggy to rescue. We visited many of our local shelters. It was so hard we just wanted to take them all home but we were looking for the one that was waiting for us. Master said I could have any dog I wanted, I am a spoiled girl. I had never gotten to pick the dogs I have had my whole life. It always fell to others to make that choice and while I loved all the dogs, they weren’t mine. I got to pick the cats. We found our little Charlie waiting for us at the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. He was sitting with his head on a window sill just looking like he needed a home. After Master and I met him and hung out with him for a bit, we were ready to take him home. It was so hard to leave him there because he still needed to be fixed but he finally got to come home with us a few days later. I have to say I am just totally in love with this dog, in fact so is the whole family. He came to us all house trained, very well mannered and sweet as can be. If you just remember to not leave shoes where he can get them.

Master loves his job enough that after 2 years he is still happily doing it. The kids are doing well in school and with there boyfriends and girlfriends respectively. The grown kids are hanging in there having all the fun and drama of being young broke students in college or just trying to make enough money to pay for life and fun. 

The house we moved to has a pool and we have been enjoying it lots. We love it and so do our friends and even the dog loves it. What time isn’t spent in the pool, at school or work, is spent doing the SCA stuff, if you don’t know what that is visit the Society for Creative Anachronism section. 

It still isn’t the bohemian life of a west bank artist. Not even wild parties but I have to say it is a great life that I love dearly and am grateful for each and every day.