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  1. Updates

    June 16, 2011 by Jenna

    I have a few things on my mind tonight so I’m pretty sure this will just be a bunch of random thoughts (i.e. a Brain Dump…as it’s know in the blogosphere).

    1) Do not exfoliate your knees/elbows/ankles and then put on scented lotion. It hurts.

    2) Also, do not use raspberries in a fruit salad. They all get squished and it turns out like well, fruit salad with pieces of raspberry all over it. I am calling it a fruit salad with raspberry compote because I am fancy.

    3) I should be looking for a new potato salad recipe to make for a Father’s Day BBQ we’re going to this weekend. I don’t want to though so I am writing this post instead. Father’s Day was “invented” in Spokane…where I went to college. I have also not purchased gifts for my dad or father-in-law yet. With my luck, they will be the only two people to read this post. Sorry!

    4) My mom had another doctor’s appointment with a neurosurgeon at USC University Hospital. The good news is that the doctor was really positive about my mom’s prognosis. She is going to have the Gamma-knife radiosurgery I talked about in this post. The bad news is that we had to wait close to THREE HOURS to see the doctor. They came and got us…put us in a waiting room, and then we sat there for almost three hours. It was awful! We are meeting with yet another doctor, an oncology radiologist, next week.

    5) On a related note, the first doctor we saw introduced himself as “Dr. So-and-So,” the neurosurgery chief resident. Later in the appointment we were joined by the “real” doctor (Dr. Apuzzo), a nurse and a medical student. At one point Dr. Apuzzo made reference to the chief resident and my mom said something like she was impressed with him…being so young and the chief resident of neurosurgery. Then the head/chief/main doctor (Apuzzo) interjected that the “resident” wasn’t the chief at all…”he just thinks he is.” What?!? So was this guy a resident at all…maybe another med student? Who knows. But he pretends to be the chief resident so that’s weird. Right?

    6) I am getting a LOT of spam comments. Like 25+ a day. But no real comments. Bummer. Maybe you should leave a comment. Just sayin’.

    7) Keith got his job at the Apple store back! He worked at the Apple store a few years ago but I’ve never mentioned that here. If you’ve been following this blog at all…then you know he quit his job as a videographer in Orange County to work in the Spokane, WA market. For several reasons (see previous blog posts) that didn’t work out. So, Keith didn’t have a job for a little bit…until today!

    8) < --- This is supposed to be showing up as the number 8. It does in my drafts and then when I preview how it'll look when I publish it, a happy face shows up. Maybe I am just that happy about Keith's job? So, number 8 is that I am as excited about getting our health insurance back as I am about Keith getting a regular paycheck again.

    9) Our dog, Bubba, busted into his food container today and helped himself to a self-serve buffet. I was shocked he didn't eat the entire 35 pounds of food available to him. He knew what he did. But Keith and I couldn't stop laughing while reprimanding him. We're going to be great parents. Just so you know the sweetness we're dealing with I'll include a photo of Bubba. But don't let the face fool you. He's very, very bad.

    10) Looking for that photo of Bubba I came across a ton of videos and photos of him I think need to be posted on this blog. We don’t have kids yet so…dog is what you get.

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  2. It Is a Tumor

    June 8, 2011 by Jenna

    *FYI- There may be some formatting issues with this post. I don’t know enough about wordpress/html/whatever to figure it out.*

    Anyone remember this scene from Kindergarten Cop?

    So, Arnold denies having a tumor. Sadly, in the case I’m referring to, it is a tumor. My mom has a brian tumor.

    I think (hope?) that sounds worse than it is. The tumor is benign and slow-growing. We found out about it last Saturday after she fainted at a church meeting and we were called to pick her up. We took her to the hospital to get checked out and the tumor showed up on a CT-Scan.

    I have a lot of things floating around in my mind about the whole thing and figured writing things out might be helpful. *Disclaimer* this post may be long and boring to read but I’m not too concerned about it since I’m writing it more for me than for you. That’s how blogs are supposed to work, right? No? Well, that might explain why I have about 3.2 subscribers.

    The tumor my mom has is called a meningioma. She can’t seem to remember the name of it so I keep saying things to her like “Think of meningitis, ok? Then just switch out ‘itis’ with ‘oma.’” Or “You know that Russian revolutionary, Lenin? It’s like that but with an ‘M’ instead. Then add ‘gioma.’” Neither of those brilliant explanations worked. Looking over them now maybe they aren’t so brilliant.

    Lenin - "L" + "M" and "gioma." Meningioma.

    She also has a torn meniscus in her left knee. That really isn’t related to the meningioma except for that it’s happening at the same time and has doubled the amount of medical appointments we’ve been to over the last few days. But, we did get her a temporary handicapped placard which is a silver-lining is there were was one.

    So back to the tumor. We met with a neurosurgeon today at USC University Hospital. I was sort of hoping Derrick Shepherd would show up at some point but that did not happen. I’m not sure why I was thinking Dr. Shepherd would show up anyway. My mom has a brain tumor…not Alzheimer’s. < --- Reference only makes sense to you if you watch Grey's Anatomy.

    The doctor we met with is named Dr. Charles Liu, M.D., Ph.D (!!!). I was impressed before we even met him. I am pretty much in awe of anyone with the tenacity to finish medical school or get their Ph.D. This is directly related to my experience getting my M.A. which was pretty much the bane of my existence. I *barely* made it. Well, actually since I am writing this post for me (remember?) I do need to remind myself every now then (for self-esteem's sake) that I did get a 4.0 in my coursework. It was the thesis that really got to me. It took a few days short of eternity for me to finish it. ETERNITY! Anyway, back to Dr. (twice over) Liu. He has an M.D. and Ph.D. and I was really glad he was the one to explain all this brain tumor business to us.

    After a few unsettling analogies (including one about my mom meeting her maker...what?!?) Dr. Liu got to the explanation of what was going on and how to treat it. The meningioma is in my mom's left parietal lobe. For anyone out there who is not doctor, that is here...

    Basically, a meningioma is a tumor that arises from the arachnoid “cap” cells of the arachnoid villi in the meninges. Would you like me to translate that into common language? I can’t…because I stole it from wikipedia. But basically from what I remember from my internet research, the meninges are three (?) layers of tissue/membranes that surround the brian and spinal cord. So, while meningiomas are called brain tumors, they are not actually in the brain. Well, they don’t start in the brain but can grow in to the brain as they increase in size. My mom’s meningioma is 13mm in size. The only problem with that is I have no actual concept of millimeters as a unit of measurement. Why can’t we change to the metric system already?!? Kindly, Dr. Dr. Liu translated for us and said that 13mm equals about 1/2 of an inch in diameter. Dr. Dr. Liu said (per the previously taken medical history) because my mom was not experiencing any symptoms related to the meningiomas (which is common, apparently), a craniotomy to remove the tumor is not necessary at this time. He recommended either waiting and monitoring the tumor via MRIs every few months or Gamma-knife radiosurgery. Thank goodness for Google or I would have no real idea of what Gamma-knife radiosurgery is. Dr. Dr. Liu explained it but the explanation was brief and not as detailed as I would have liked. In defense of Dr. Dr. Liu, he could have spoken about Gamma-knife radiosurgery for hours and I may still not have been fully satisfied. I like to be informed, especially about brain surgeries that may be performed on family members.

    Gamma-knife radiosurgery administers high-intensity radiation therapy in a way that concentrates the radiation over a small volume (explanation stolen from wikipedia). Here is a picture…

    It kind of looks like surgery of the future, right? Apparently, per Dr. Dr. Liu, the surgery is an outpatient procedure and my mom would be able to go back to work the day after the surgery (!). If you can’t get time off work for brain surgery…I don’t know what will get you out of work. Anyway, I asked Dr. Dr. Liu what he would recommend if his mom or aunt had a meningioma exactly like my moms (in size, location, etc.). He said he would definitely recommend going ahead with the Gamma-knife radiosurgery because he is a “proactive person.” I’m guessing that’s how he ended up with an M.D. and a Ph.D. Take note, proactivity is good for you.

    Dr. Dr. Liu recommended we meet with another M.D./Ph.D., Dr. Dr. Michael Apuzzo, the person who performs Gamma-knife radiosurgery for the department. We have a joint appointment with Drs. Liu and Apuzzo next Monday (6/13). Dr. Apuzzo will be able to provide a second opinion about my mom’s treatment plan and be able to further describe the Gamma-knife radiosurgery procedure. I am not sure what will happen when two geniuses (genii?) get together. It’s possible they will be to bright (ha ha, get it?) to actually look directly at. We’ll see. I’m just glad they’ll both be advising us on what to do.

    So, that’s the loooooong version of the tumor story. Kudos if you made it this far (and aren’t one of my aunts). I’ll try and keep everyone posted.

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  3. Picking Our Battles

    May 24, 2011 by Jenna

    I’m not sure if the title if this post reveals what we decided to do about the whole the-landlord-raised-our-rent-by-60% situation or not. So, let me fill you in.

    Although we were pretty sure we’d win if we took our landlord to court to fight the retaliatory rent increase, we needed to step back and look at the bigger picture. Did we really want to fight our landlord in court and then continue to live in his house? The answer was a was a resounding…N-O. So, no court for us. That left us a few weeks away from being homeless.

    At this point, Keith was working full time and I only had a few days left before I had to be back in L.A. for work. So, with my return to L.A. as a looming deadline, I looked for a new home pretty much non-stop for the remainder of my time in Spokane. I found a few places that seemed like they might work but…nothing really seemed to fit. I didn’t want to move in to a house that wasn’t right just because we were on a tight schedule. Cue minor panic attack(s).

    At that point, I was seriously burned out. The awful move to Spokane, the craziness with the landlord, flying back and fourth between L.A. and Spokane, and not having a place to live took its toll on me. Keith wasn’t thrilled with his new job and I didn’t even have a job in Spokane. It was too much, I tell you. Too. Much. We decided Spokane just wasn’t working out. We were going back to California.

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  4. The Time When We Were (Basically) Evicted

    May 22, 2011 by Jenna

    “We are making arrangements to have the dishwasher and gas fireplace unit repaired next week. We will forward your contact information to the respective repairmen to schedule an appointment with you. Please be advised that effective May 1, 2011, we will be raising your rent by 60%.”
    Very truly yours,
    Landlord

    So, we succeeded in getting the landlord to make the biggest repairs necessary in the house. And, well, we also were functionally evicted. In case you’re wondering, raising the rent in response to a request for repairs is also illegal. Very illegal. I learned all about retaliatory rent increases while doing my previous research on landlord tenant laws. We found ourselves at a crossroads of sorts. We could take our landlord to court and fight the rent increase or we could move. Both options seemed extremely crappy.

    The situation seemed especially dire since I was still teaching down in L.A. and was only going to be in Spokane for another several days. If we were going to move, we needed to find a house immediately. If we were going to court, we needed to do that immediately. We were between a rock and a hard place having no place (to live).

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  5. If It Is Broke…Don’t Fix It?!?

    May 20, 2011 by Jenna

    In my last post, I mentioned that I thought things between our landlord and us were headed downhill. I was right. There were several issues with our rental home that needed to be addressed but when we brought them up to our landlord, he told us he wasn’t going to pay for any repairs. We had just moved in and things were not going well. We figured we should prioritize the repairs, focus on what we really needed, and prepare to go to the mattresses- Godfather style.

    So, that’s what we did. We asked for the fireplace and dishwasher to be fixed. Well, really, we insisted they be fixed since the landlord had already denied us once. After a bunch of stalling, the landlord responded, refusing to make the repairs again. I was really, really not happy. The broken fireplace left this California girl freezing in her own house. The busted dishwasher made kitchen cleanup even worse than it already was. I was not going to take no for an answer. I started researching landlord-tenant laws in Washington state, and confirmed what I suspected, what the landlord was doing was against the law.

    Yes, Landlord, you need to follow the law.

    We let the landlord know that what he was doing was illegal and that he needed to fix the broken fireplace and dishwasher A.S.A.P. (it had been six weeks already!) or we would withhold rent and get the repairs done ourselves. And that’s when the umm, poop hit the fan.

    The next e-mail we got from the landlord was, in essence, an eviction notice.

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  6. Landlord Lamentations

    May 18, 2011 by Jenna

    Let me just start this post by saying I only know our landlord as just that, a landlord. He could be a perfectly good and ethical person. However, in my experience, when a person is good and ethical those qualities tend to govern all areas of their lives…just sayin’. So regardless of whether our landlord is a good person or not, in our experience, he was a completely awful landlord.

    I'm officially nominating our landlord.

    The issues with our landlord began (well pretty much the day we moved in) but got worse when mentioned a few repairs that needed to be made in the home. These are the things that needed attention:

    - The dishwasher was completely broken/unusable
    - One of the burners on the stove wasn’t working
    - The refrigerator leaked out on to the kitchen floor
    - The gas fireplace didn’t work
    - The garbage disposal made super loud sounds
    - There was a missing drain pull in the master bathroom

    Ok, any house is bound to have some issues. We were totally open to working with the landlord on getting these things taken care of. Our landlord, however, did not see things the same way we did. Here is a direct quote from his e-mail response to our request for help with the items in disrepair. My thoughts/comments are in italics.

    “As you know I really am not in a position to turn this house into a rental (That’s interesting since you ahem, just rented this house to us.). I agreed to rent the home to you as a first step towards you potentially offering me the short sell price that I have listed it for (We had mentioned we were in the market to buy a home. Not necessarily his home. ). My hope is that you can decide within a couple of months whether you wish to offer me the short sell asking price or not (Whaaaat?!?). Until then I am not in a position to spend much $$ on this house.”

    I knew we were headed downhill fast after reading this…and I was right.

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  7. Our Wedding

    May 18, 2011 by Jenna

    Keith and I got married three years ago today (May 17th). Our wedding was everything I could have asked for and then some. We were engaged for 18 months and it felt like I needed every last second of that time to plan our big day. I was a complete stress case leading up to the wedding (including staying up until 2am the night before the wedding working on changes to those darn seating charts).

    But there was something that came over me on our actual wedding day. All the stress was gone. A few minor things went wrong and I couldn’t have cared less. I was just over-the-moon happy to be marrying my love.

    In honor of our anniversary, I wanted to revisit our wedding ceremony. I loved every single second of our wedding day but there was something so incredible about our ceremony. I loved saying our vows with our friends and family there to support us. It was an emotional experience for me and the most special thing I have been apart of so far in my life.

    We have about 1,500 pictures from our wedding day but I wanted to focus on our ceremony here. So below you’ll find parts of the message from our pastor and words we said to each other on May 17th three years ago.

    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    We are gathered here in God’s presence to witness the joining of Keith and Jenna in holy matrimony, an estate instituted in love and occasioned by joy. We have come together to surround Keith and Jenna with our prayers, and to share in their happiness.

    Keith and Jenna stand before you today in love, in trust and in hope. They have honored us by inviting us to be with them at the formal declaration of marriage that will unite them as husband and wife. Because their individual lives and their lives together are greatly enhanced by their relationships with others, they have asked you, those whom they love and care about and who love and care about them, to witness and share in their wedding celebration.

    Marriage is a gift and calling of God and is not to be undertaken lightly or from selfish motives but with reverence and dedication, with faith in the enabling power of Christ, and with due awareness of the purpose for which it is appointed by God. This celebration is the outward token of an inward union of hearts which the church blesses and the state makes legal, but neither the state nor the Church can create or annul; a union created by loving purpose and kept by abiding will. Marriage is appointed that there may be lifelong companionship, comfort, and joy between husband and wife. It is appointed as the right and proper setting for the full expression of physical love between man and woman. It is appointed for the ordering of family life, where children, who are also God’s gifts to us, may enjoy the security of love and the heritage of faith. It is appointed for the well-being of human society, which can be stable and happy only where the marriage bond is honored and upheld.

    We are called to rejoice with Keith and Jenna in their happiness, to help them when they have trouble, and to remember them in our prayers. Marriage, like our creation as men and women, owes its existence to God. It is His will and purpose that a husband and wife should love each other throughout their life. Marriage is enriched by God for all who have faith in the gospel, for though the saving grace of Christ and the renewal of the Holy Spirit husband and wife can love one another as Christ loves them.

    So let us rejoice with Keith and Jenna as we gather to participate in their wedding ceremony. Let us ask God to bless their new life and let us who love them add our blessing. May the peace and love of Christ be part of this wedding day, and all the days that follow. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God, be with us now as we stand in the midst of your beautiful outdoors. Please bless this marriage ceremony and its participants. Look mercifully upon Keith and Jenna, who have come seeking your blessing. Enrich this couple with your grace, in order that they may enjoy the comforts, endure the trials and perform the duties of their new relationship together, with your heavenly guidance and protection. Let your Holy Spirit rest upon them so that with steadfast love they may honor the promises they make this day, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

    Keith and Jenna, you have come together here so that the Lord may seal and strengthen your love in the presence of this community and a minister of the Church of Christ. Jesus abundantly blesses this love. He has consecrated you in baptism, and now He enriches and strengthens you by a special sacrament so that you may assume the duties of marriage in mutual and lasting fidelity. And so, in the presence of all who are gathered here, I ask you to state your intentions. Keith, do you promise before God and this community that you will have Jenna to be your lawful wife? Do you promise to live with her in love, honor and comfort her, and stand by her in sickness and in health, in poverty and in prosperity, and forsaking all others, remain faithful to her only, so long as you both shall live? If so, say “I do.”

    Jenna, do you promise before God and this community that you will have Keith to be your lawful husband? Do you promise to live with him in love, honor and comfort him, and stand by him in sickness and in health, in poverty and in prosperity, and forsaking all others, remain faithful to him only, so long as you both shall live? If so, say “I do.”

    Keith and Jenna, I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord. Let your tolerance and gentleness be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near. There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.

    Finally, Keith and Jenna, fill your minds with everything that is true, good and pure, everything that we love and honor, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Then the God of peace will be with you, the Christ our Lord. Amen. Be merciful in all your ways, kind in heart, and humble in mind. Accept life, and be most patient and tolerant with one another. Forgive as freely as God has forgiven you. And, above everything else, be truly loving.

    Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, remembering that as members of one body you are called to live in harmony, and never forget to be thankful for what God has done for you. Keith and Jenna, you have committed yourselves to each other in this joyous covenant. Fulfill your promises. Love and serve God, honor Christ and each other, and rejoice in the power of the Holy Spirit. Since you have now pledged yourselves to one another in the covenant of marriage, and have made your declaration before God, and these witnesses, by the authority committed unto me as a minister of the Church of Christ, I declare that you are now husband and wife, according to the holy ordinance of God and the laws of the state of Colorado. May you live long together in joy and steadfastness. Those whom God has joined together let no man separate. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

    Let the grace of Christ attend you, the love of God surround you, the Holy Spirit keep you, that you may live in faith, abound in hope, and grow in love, both now and forevermore. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and give you peace. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.

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  8. Happy Anniversary!

    May 16, 2011 by Jenna

    As of today (May 16th), Keith and I have been together for nine years. Tomorrow (May 17th) is our three-year wedding anniversary. Keith and I started dating when I was twenty years old so we’ve been together for the entirety of my twenties which means, I have been with Keith for more than 30% of my lifetime. Good thing I like him. And, in observance of our anniversary, I thought I would let you all in on some of my favorite things about my sweet husband. Here they are (in no particular order).

    He is super funny. See, I don’t laugh out loud at many things. Typically, TV shows and movies make me chuckle but it’s rare that I totally crack up (unless it’s this sketch from SNL…or maybe this one). Keith makes me laugh every single day.

    Keith has a way with people. He is so friendly and warm with pretty much everyone he meets. It might seem weird to mention the way Keith is with others as one of the things I love about him but, hear me out. Keith is wonderful with my family. He loves and accepts them just like he has been here all along. We’ve had some ups and downs in my family over the years and Keith has been by my side and has been there for my family every step of the way. I know he would do anything to help me or anyone else in our family. He has lived that and I love him for it.

    Keith is weird. He’s weird and I love it because…I’m weird too. I think this quote fits us, and our marriage perfectly.

    Keith and I have our own language. Well, it’s more like a dialect. Yes, it’s true. It’s related to English but has been heavily influenced by years and years of inside jokes, life experiences, and other things we have done together. I am not going to share any of our language/dialect here because part of what makes it so fun is that it’s ours…it’s just between us, and I like it that way. Frequently, one of us will say to the other, “You know, I was normal before I met you and you made me weird.” And then we laugh because we’re both weird and have been for a while (forever?). I’m just glad Keith’s weirdness matches up with mine. We do call it love.

    Keith is a wonderful dad. Right now he is the proud father of a seven-year-old Labrador Retriever mix, Bubba. He is so loving, playful, and kind with our sweet dog. I know having kids is way different from having a dog but Keith’s unconditional love and support is universal. I know he will an amazing dad, partially just because of the person he is but also because of the way he interacts with our furry baby boy. It is so much fun to watch.

    Keith is my partner. We are a team. We make decisions together, work out problems together, have fun together, and pretty much do everything else together. One of the things I love most about our marriage is our great friendship. We just genuinely enjoy each other and being together.

    So there you have it. Some of the many reasons I love my husband. I love him as a person, a friend, a (doggy) father, and as a husband. Happy anniversary, husband!! I am so glad I found you.

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  9. A.W.O.L.

    May 15, 2011 by Jenna

    This is me, apologizing to you all for being completely absent for the past several weeks. I spoke briefly (here) about our decision to move back to Los Angeles from Spokane after only six weeks or so in Washington. I can try to elaborate a bit more on that decision here and in future posts but I am afraid that it might be difficult to understand our choices from the outside looking in.

    What it basically came down to was finances (isn’t that typically the case?). We didn’t really do our due diligence before deciding to move. We were so excited to head up North that some of the details (like, can we really afford it?) fell by the wayside. I quit a full-time teaching job to make the move up to Spokane where I had ummm, had no job at all. I, of course, planned to try to find employment A.S.A.P. but as a college instructor, building up to working full-time takes time. I had finally accomplished that goal in Los Angeles (after 5 years of teaching at different universities) and gave that up to move to Spokane where I had no job at all. That was not the wisest idea ever. But, Keith and I both thought the job opportunity offered to him in Spokane would provide enough for us to make it while I searched for a job to help supplement our income. And it was, at first.

    Now is the time for me to introduce some back story. You know how in the movies, when they revisit the past, or a character has a flashback, the footage is always like undersaturated and/or cloudy to indicate the difference between the past and present? That’s what you should imagine now. We’re going back in time a few months.

    Yes. This is the best graphic I could find for "going back in time."

    When we first decided to move to Spokane, things were moving very quickly. Keith accepted the job and he was to start said job about 6 weeks later. Since Keith was still working at his old job, this left a lot of the packing, planning and logistical stuff to me. The biggest issue we needed to figure out was where we were going to live. Initially we wanted to buy a house but after a few days of chasing that idea, it became clear that we were not going to qualify for the type of home we wanted because I didn’t have a job lined up in Spokane yet. Booo. So, we realized we were going to need to rent a home. I (no joke) spent every waking our for about 2 weeks trying to find a good rental for our little family of 3. Of course, most landlords didn’t mind having Keith and me as tenants. Many weren’t too thrilled about this wild animal though…

    Another problem we ran in to was the short lease time we were looking for. We wanted to buy a house ASAP, after I found a job so, renting a home for a year or even 6 months didn’t seem appealing to us. As such, my search criteria were, a single family home with a fully fenced yard that would accept us (and our 80 pound dog) as month to month tenants. What? You’re not surprised that this ended up being extremely difficult? Being the hopeful/naïve/optimistic person I am, I was actually shocked at how hard this was and was getting really depressed towards the end of week 2 of the search when we still had nowhere to live.

    I was really excited when we got a call from a real estate agent in Spokane letting us know about a potential rental property that met all of our required criteria. It was a huge house, bigger than we needed really, with a giant yard for Bubba the wondermutt and was in a good neighborhood close to where Keith and I had both gone to college. It sounded perfect! And it was pretty affordable for what we’d be getting. What was the catch? The house was for sale. But not just any regular sale…it was up for short sale.

    This was, in fact, a red flag for me. However, I was so so so tired of looking for places to live that would work for us, my normal reasoning had fallen by the wayside. We went ahead and negotiated a somewhat discounted rent based on the fact that the home would be for sale while we were living in it, and we may have to accommodate showings of the home. The real estate agent brokering this deal assured us that the closing process on short sales takes forever and we would have plenty of time (“Even if the house sold tomorrow.”) to move out.

    I was also somewhat worried about having a someone who was trying to sell their home as a short sale as a landlord. Would the house be in good condition? Would he be willing to make necessary repairs to the home if he’s trying to sell it? I just want to point out that I did think of these things before signing the lease. I just ignored them because of my house hunting exhaustion and our quickly approaching moving date.

    We asked my dad, who lives about an hour away from the house, to do a walk-through with the real estate agent. He took hundreds (!) of pictures and inspected the property before we ended up signing the lease. At that point, I felt like we had done the best we were going to do in terms of finding a house. I had to divert my attention to another of the 2,567 things we had to get done before moving.

    So, with a few doubts/questions in my mind, Keith and I signed on the dotted line and chose to rent the house on Morton Dr. in Spokane.

    It turned out to be a very bad decision.

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  10. Getting from Point A to Point B

    April 19, 2011 by Jenna

    I started this blog as a way to keep in touch with and update friends and family all over the country as we moved from Los Angeles to Spokane.

    As has been established (in 16 installments), that move did not go well. We are hoping things will go better this time around.

    When relocating, either across the city or across the country, it seems as though there are three general options.

    1) Rent a moving truck, load it, and drive it to your new home.

    2. Rent moving containers, load them, and have them delivered to your new home.

    3. Hire a full service moving company and have them load, move, and unload your things at your new home.

    You can bet your bottom dollar that after our recent experience with Budget, we did not choose the first option. Is “bet your bottom dollar” an actual saying or just lyrics from Annie’s “Tomorrow”? Not sure. Either way, you get what I mean.

    Renting and driving our own rental truck was not something we were willing to repeat.

    I got quotes from a few full service moving companies and would have loved to get this Groundhog Day-esque move completely taken care of by someone else. However, with the most affordable quote coming in at more than double the self-serve moving options, we just couldn’t justify the cost.

    We chose what was behind door number 2, renting moving containers…but with an addendum. We are hiring additional labor to help load and unload the containers in Spokane and Los Angeles. It seems like the perfect hybrid of DIY and umm, DWDIO (don’t wanna do it ourselves).

    The moving containers will to be delivered to our home in Spokane with the professional movers scheduled to load the containers on April 27th. We’ll see how it goes. Wish us luck!

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