Special friends...

This week I got the pleasure of a girls night out with Vonnie Taylor, Rhonda Rendahl Ray, Jean Blue, and Chrissey Blue. Rhonda, Vonnie, and I went to dinner at La Casa Cuevas in Anderson, and then the three of us went to see Jean. Chrissey came and joined us all. What a great evening!!! It was my first girls night out here and I hope there's many many more to come. 

This is myself, Vonnie, and Rhonda at dinner. Vonnie took a photo of us with her new Ipad, and was learning to use it.(Thus the 'look'. haha)

This is the five of us. Rhonda, myself, Jean, Chrissey, and Vonnie. The whole gang! hehe

Just a few thoughts to add...

All my friends here from long ago have made my life so much more complete. With the loss of many friends due to time and circumstances at 28 years old, in a way I had lost my identity. But now the pieces are coming back together in a way I never dreamed possible. Life is good, and it feels so incredible.

I love each and every one of you who have come back into my life. You're all precious and I hope we all grow old together.

Old friends...

We love being back in Northern California! It has brought so many blessings to our lives.

The most special of those is getting to see old friends that I grew up with. So I'm sharing because our lives have woven in and out of one another over the years, and their very special people to me.

Above is Rhonda Ray and I. The wind was blowing so hard we almost couldn't get a picture. lol But we did... and talk about a Mohawk! haha I went to Cypress Elementary school, Central Valley Intermediate, and Nova with Rhonda. hehe We still have a lot of catching up to do, but what a blessing to have that lifetime connection. 

This is Tonya Lindler and I. We go back to Burney High School. lol She is the neatest lady, and SO funny! It's so nice at our age to have that cynical humor, and share a dose of reality with some. LOL She stopped on her way to a concert in Oakland that she was venturing to all by herself. hehe Adventure is her middle name. haha

This is my friend Jeannie. Talk about special. Marc and I spent last Saturday visiting Jeannie during her recovery from surgery. Rhonda (above) and I went on Sunday to see Jeannie again. We met at Central Valley Intermediate school in the 8th grade. Jean and Chrissey Blue, or commonly known as the Blue twins. hehe I always had a special place in my heart for these two with the common bond of us all being adopted, and our love for horses. Jeannie was in an accident many years ago, and it left her paralyzed. She is still strong and a fighter. I look forward to each and every precious moment that I get to spend with these amazing ladies.

Gilda and I

Jeremy, Gilda, and the boys

Marc and Gilda

This would be Gilda and us. I met Gilda when she dated my son Jeremy years and years ago. She was this fiery little redhead, and still is. lol We've stayed friends over these years, and I've watched her blossom into this amazing woman! Her two children are very blessed to have such a hard working and attentive mom. I think I'll keep this one for many years to come, and we have lots of memories to make. hehe 

Marc and Uncle Ronnie

We also got to see Marc's Uncle Ronnie. What a nice guy he is. I hope he comes and visits us often.

All in all, I feel most amazing at being here! The friends, family, weather, work, and home make Red Bluff such a wonderful place to be. 

Lucky us!

AND

Love to all!

California... do we get to stay?

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog. :) There have been so many changes in our lives.

One thing I can say before I begin is that we can never say our lives weren't without adventure. hehe

At the end of May 2011, Bismarck's river was flooded due to Northern dam releases, flooding our cabin, land and so many people lost their homes. In all, there were more then a thousand homes lost in the area. We managed to get lucky at the time and rented a 32' fifth wheel trailer for a while. But this grew old quickly. With the flooding, and the oil boom close, there was a housing shortage in Bismarck. Rents increased too.

So when our son offered Marc a job in California, we made the move. That was the end of June 2011. The job didn't work out and ended quickly. lol Marc returned to Bismarck, and worked for a while, and then when my health improved so much by being in California, he returned and we began looking for work. Talk about adventure! haha We interviewed for so many jobs, and nothing would come through. I was beginning to think that we'd never find work. lol

But, in February of 2012, I got a call one evening asking me to interview in Red Bluff, CA. I jumped on it, and was so excited to have another interview. Maybe if I could find a job myself, then we'd have a place to be and Marc could find something in that area. So I met with the lady, and within the first few minutes, she informed me that she had two positions open! haha I told her that my husband was in the car, and qualified, if she would like to meet him. She talked to us both, showed us around the property, and within a few days after the interview she offered us the job! Then the hard work began. lol Background checks, drug tests, and waiting. It felt like an eternity to get here.

We're here now though, and I feel as though life has brought us full circle. We have been so many places and done so many different things. Now we're home. This property has a lot of work to be done, but when it's caught up... it will be much easier. We have a 3 bedroom apartment home, and utilities as part of our package, and are both paid hourly also. The residents who reside here are warming up to us, and welcoming us. Their happy to have some consistency. lol

Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day... but we love what we do. The people here are awesome... and we're home. That is worth it's weight in gold.

Kimball Crossing ... Our new home!

R.I.P. Randal Allen Norton ~

R.I.P. Randal Allen Norton 

January 30, 1955 to October 9, 1995

Today marks 16 years since you left us. This year you would have been 56. 

I wish you were still here every day. I miss your laugh and smile. 

I wish you were here for your son. He looks so much like you. You would be proud of the person he became. 

You would be proud too of how Brittany has grown into a beautiful woman, and Jeremy a great dad, and Julia an amazing mom and worker... and Jason you would scold because you would know how quick life can be taken from us. 

In the blink of an eye you were gone. I only wanted to say goodbye... and never really got the chance. 

So... Goodbye brother. 

Let's see... where to begin...

Ok... I'm ready for some sweet luck at this point. :)

We made the journey to Norcal, and Marc worked a week and the job ended. There's not jobs here unless you have one upon coming. We thought we did. We were told we did. In fact we were guaranteed we did. But nada.

I've put in resume's everywhere for Property Management and not even gotten 'one' call for an interview.

Marc has returned to North Dakota and is currently working for Paul again at P&B Transportation. He is waiting to hear on Oil rig jobs in Williston, and at least he has employment.

When he gets on a rig, we will return at least to Montana, but maybe North Dakota. There is stability at least job wise there. I will miss the grand kids very much though. I have gotten loves and hugs every day since arriving, and it will hurt to leave that. Plus, my health has gotten much better too. I can breathe here, and be outside every day, which is wonderful!! Hopefully Montana will be dry enough for me to keep feeling good... and we can get a large home that I can move about in come winter time when it gets cold. :)

I can remember the excitement about returning to Cali... and now I feel worn and saddened that things haven't worked out. I feel we're put different places for reasons, but why? Two good things have come from this... being with Anthony & Andrew, and getting to see Christina, Malia & Faith. Those two things cannot be measured ... their priceless. Time is precious. Seeing them and being around them has and was so beneficial and good on an emotional level.

Now we will return where a comfortable living can be attained, and I will do all within my power to continue getting healthier. And we will be happy because we have one another.

Tons of love to all!

*Edited to add*
After talking everything over, we have decided to keep working towards a California goal. Marc will spend his offtime with us here because we made a promise that we would be here for our grand children and kids. And we will keep that promise even if it's difficult on us. We've spent many years wanting this, and we're going to carry it through. :) So... Cali is where I'll stay. <3

Flowing with changes...

A lot has happened since my last blog entry. I had so many things to add to the cabin, and we were looking at expanding into a 3 bedroom. All was going well, and things were on track... until... about 2 1/2 weeks ago.

Our friend Tim sent us a message telling us of flooding that was to begin the next week of the Missouri River. From what he knew, this may involve our cabin and property... so we began checking into things.

And the nightmare began. As the days progressed we found out this was going to be far worse then they had first anticipated. Our home was basically going to be a casualty of their man made flood. All in all, 1000 homes were to be lost, and over 4000 people here are now are without their homes. All of this was caused by having to release the waters at Garrison Dam north of us. It was expected that this would last 2-3 weeks, then 2-3 months, and currently we're looking at September/October before we 'may' be able to see and estimate the damage. The time frame puts us into the first freeze and snow here, which means we wouldn't be able to fix any damage before hard winter sets in. Also, their saying this could happen again next year. Our cabin is now landlocked by a dike on our street. We have no access other then to hike onto property in muck boots. We're all staying in a 33' rv... thank goodness to family for helping with that arrangement. Many have no place to be.

All of this happening made us really take count of the blessings in our lives. Also, we came to a decision to relocate to Northern California. So many reasons to go there, and only a few to stay here. But my health and a good job offer has led us to the crossroads and we will be moving there very soon. I know Marc will miss his job because they've treated him so well, and I know we will miss Ken, Katie and kids, as well as Brittany and Kyle very much. For now, Brittany is staying with Kyle. They may or may not join us there. We hope they do.

We do a ton of thanks to our close friends and family for working so hard to try and help us save our home, and belongings before this struck.

We believe this is a good choice for us, and we look forward to being in a warmer climate. We are returning to ND in October for Katie and Ken's wedding... and getting our furnishings and household items then.

Wish us tons of luck!!! Our life is truly an adventure, and the script changes as life does. We just have to adapt, and roll with the changes.

Hugs!

A work in progress...

Well, the moving is just about finished. This move has been so hard on all three of us. It's too cold for me to go outside, so I've been at one house or the other... but no loading or moving things. 

We put a lot of stuff in storage, and are working on getting things put away in the cabin. There's limited space, so right now there's path's through the cabin, which makes us all testy with one another. I'm hoping over the next couple days to get things organized to the point that we have some room to move. hehe

Here are a few snapshots of our progress.

Here is the kitchen...

Here are living room pictures...

Marc's computer area...

And a picture of Maizy finally relaxing in her new home. She had quite an adjustment to moving and was scared to go outside even for over a week. Collie's are so neurotic! haha

I'm looking forward to everything coming together and being done.

Keeping track along the way... hugs to all!!