2017 was clearly a year of transition for me. I loved my job in Austin, but my heart was in California, the place I said I would never return to live! I spent so much time traveling back and forth but I couldn’t see any other way for it to be. My friend in Austin, John, was wonderful at keeping me sane and pretty well grounded. As the year went on he helped me to figure out where I really needed to be……..
January 2017
I returned to my teaching position in Austin in early January and continued with the renovation of the 14th Street property. I lived in my RV parked in the front yard until enough of the construction was done that I could move into one of the rooms. It was fun to see things taking shape, but, as most renovations are, it was slower and more expensive than I had hoped!
Whenever we returned from a school break, there would be this question on the board in the teacher’s lounge. My comment is in orange =) In San Dimas I often took some time in the afternoon for a long bike ride to break up the day. Being so close to so many great bike routes it was always a temptation to get out and clear my head – Glendora Mt. Rd., Baseline, Foothill Blvd., Arrow Hwy. And once I hit the road it was often hard to turn around and head back to the office – hence the 32 miles one afternoon!!
The first step of the renovation was to lower this peninsula to counter height and add lots of additional cupboard space to an area of the kitchen that was just empty space. My son, Mike, had a friend who worked in construction and offered his services. It turned out beautifully!
While the work was being done inside the house I hired another friend to help with the outside work. This hideous plant outside the master bedroom window had always bothered me and I had done some research about plants that could be used for privacy that looked classy and discovered that there is a type of bamboo that does NOT spread uncontrollably. So we pulled out this horrible eyesore and prepared the ground for some lovely bamboo. We had no idea when we started how tenacious the roots of this bush would be. It actually took the JEEP to pull out the roots! Then we weeded all along the side of the driveway and added the flat concrete stones as an inexpensive way to widen the driveway.
So much better!!
The kitchen granite turned out so well I decided to put it in the bathrooms too.
Some additional lighting to what was once a VERY dark kitchen and we are looking good.
Still lots of work remaining in both the front (left) and back (right) yards. You can see the remnants over the back porch of what was once a patio awning that the wind tore off.
February 2017
This trip to California was very different – Joel asked if I would accompany him to a trade show in Portland to promote his iTroll in the Pacific Northwest market. Since my job in Austin allowed me to make my own hours I was able to arrange for that week off. Portland was REALLY cold and damp this time of year and the drive was pretty grueling because it had to be so fast. But the show was actually fun and turned out to be very profitable for Joel’s business.
One of the “exhibits” at the show!
Of course, upon returning to Austin the work at the house continued.
New carpet upstairs….
New paint on the bathroom cabinets…
Updated kitchen fixtures, cabinets painted, clean up the washer/dryer closet.
Saw this in the window of a store in Austin – GREAT message!!!!
And this is my friend John’s sense of humor. He saw this and sent me a picture of it =)
March 2017
I celebrated my 63rd birthday in Austin having dinner with my friend John. I had planned my next trip to California to coincide with Indian Wells tennis week, so Joel and I had to put off our celebration of my birthday until then.
Look who I saw at Indian Wells!!
My son was busily trying to finish up all the detail work at his new house in Driftwood and it was coming along nicely, although slowly….
….and my projects at the 14th Street house were gradually coming to an end.
No work on the backyard yet. Still need to remove the chicken coop & plan a patio cover.
Time to take the RV to dump the tanks, but it wouldn’t start! Wow, were those batteries corroded! Another unexpected expense, but at least Mercedes Benz came to me free of charge to replace the batteries.
April 2017
The highlight of my living in Austin was being able to spend time with my son and his daughter! What a great dad Mike has become!! The first time Eva came to visit me at the 14th Street house, in spite of all the new remodeling that had been done, she immediately recognized the place. “Hey, this is my house. I lived here!” were her comments =)
Mike finally got the tattoo he had been thinking about for a long time – the Wong character
During my next California trip Joel took his new boat out to Puddingstone Lake to do some product testing. I even got to back the car up to the water to pick up the boat.
Back in Austin I had my granddaughter, my hammock, and my beautiful back yard!
I finally bought a case for my Brompton folding bicycle so I can easily take it on a plane.
Some new (used) furniture for the living room, Mike installed a new washer/dryer combo, new blinds and stools in the kitchen, new shower enclosures in the bathrooms……
The stone on the back patio had to all be re-leveled & new posts sunk for the patio cover that would eventually be built. The swing on the front porch added some character too.
May 2017
Look very closely at the first photo and you’ll see the big surprise we had one afternoon. Felipe (my patio guy) had dug this post hole right next to the back door early one afternoon with the plan of sinking the post the next morning. But later that evening my roommate, Olivia, and I kept hearing scratching and decided to investigate. We found this baby opossum that had fallen into the hole and could not climb out! We tried numerous tactics but it was obviously dehydrating and losing strength very quickly. We knew it would die soon if we didn’t get it out of the hole, which was a good 12″ deep. After several more attempts we were able to pull it out and place it in a cardboard box. We found a local animal rescue facility and took it there immediately. A few days later we were very curious if it had survived or not, so we called to ask. They were not sure, so we drove over there to see if we could get any more information. He had survived! We were so relieved our rescue efforts had not been in vain. After that event, Felipe covered every hole he dug if he could not immediately fill it!
Speaking of my roommate, she had a VERY curious cat. You can see here that NOTHING, not even my stuffed Bevo, who traveled with me every trip between Austin & Cali, escaped her scrutiny. Bevo was relaxing outside my closet door when the kitty wandered in to check him out. It was mutual attraction, I’m sure! (Bevo told me her whiskers tickled!)
In early May my niece Sophie from Boulder, Colorado, came to Austin with her college soccer team. It was so much fun to watch them play the local Austin team! Even Mike and Eva came to watch. Sophie had never met Eva!
Mid-May I made a quick trip out to the West Coast, but this time I met Joel and his boat in Las Vegas so we could spend a few days at Lake Mead. I then accompanied him back to southern California before returning to Austin.
Time was running out for me to begin my summer drive to California in the RV. So we had to hurry and finish all the work to be done at the 14th Street house.
The patio cover and the fire pit are works in progress….and the fire pit is done!
New area rug, TV and TV stand for the living room and beds for hosting AirBnb in the master bedroom (see note below)
Mike taking a break from all the hard work
Now that I was living in the house in Austin (much cheaper than an RV park because I now had tenants) I had no need for my RV so I had decided it would be a good idea to take my RV to California to store because I could do so for very cheaply at the resort where Joel and I were members. But before taking it to California I needed to have some work done on my RV at the location in Fort Worth where I had bought it, so I used this opportunity to visit my stepdaughter-in-law and her family there.
One of my favorite places to eat in Austin!!
My Austin classroom closed and prepared for summer break
As the school year in Austin came to a close I began preparing for my cross-country drive. Since I had previously decided that I would spend this summer in California instead of Colorado (for obvious reasons!), I had also decided to sell my Jeep because it was not economical to tow and would be of little to no use in California (Joel already had two cars and we bicycled almost everywhere anyway!)
The work on the patio cover proceeds – although it clearly won’t be finished before I leave Austin. The indoor remodel is complete.
After one of my tenants had moved out in late April I could not seem to rent her room, and I was beginning to stress about it as my days in Austin were dwindling. I considered AirBnb, but didn’t know how I could possibly manage it from long distance. As it turned out, my dear friend John needed a place to stay at least temporarily, so when I made the final decision to go to California for the summer I offered him my room in the Austin house in exchange for managing the property. He jumped at the chance! He also told me as I was leaving Austin that I should not be coming back in the fall because it was clear that my place now was with the man I loved, who happened to be in California. John was always very good at reading me, and always told me the truth. Everyone should be so lucky to have such a wonderful, caring friend! And he was rarely wrong about me……….
The Jeep has been sold, a new bike rack installed, and the RV is packed and ready to go.
June 2017
The drive was very long, and I actually had some malfunction with the RV that caused my cruise control to go out for most of the trip, so it was an even tougher drive! But I was so determined to do this – I had never done anything like this by myself before in my life – that I actually got ahead of schedule and arrived in southern California about 3 days early. It was fun to surprise Joel! We spent the first weekend in my RV at Glen Eden, the resort where we had met on the tennis courts more than a year previously.
During the week when we had to go daily to his San Dimas office we lived in the room Joel was renting in La Verne (bordering San Dimas) which is also very close to Glendora where an old friend of mine lived. I decided one day to give my friend a call and tell him I was in town. We had a lovely lunch together and caught up. When he dropped me off at Joel’s place, Joel just happened to be there so Rich took this photo of us. It has always been one of my favorites!
July 2017
My mom always used to tell me that things have a way of working out for the best, and this was a great example. Shortly after I arrived in California, Joel discovered that there was a commercial property very close to Glen Eden (GE) that might be a perfect fit for his business, if he wanted to move it. We could move out of the room he was renting (it was very tight with the two of us and no privacy!) and stay at GE in one of our RVs as a way to live very inexpensively. Then, just on a lark, we started looking at possibly buying one of the Glen Eden sites. And wouldn’t you know it……an incredible deal on one just dropped in our laps. We couldn’t say no. But the commute to the San Dimas office would be impossible! So many hard decisions!
We can’t believe it! Site #49 is actually OURS!!!!
Joel actually found a commercial property near Glen Eden, so he decided to take a look at it. He wasn’t really expecting much…..but when he walked it his face lit up. The more he looked at it the more he liked it! Then Joel found out his rent in the San Dimas office was going to increase by 10% in September and that, along with the Corona property being almost a PERFECT fit for his business and our new place at GE, pretty much cinched it. However, the thought of moving our domicile AND the business all at once was DAUNTING. We just figured we’d have to deal with whatever it took to get everything taken care of.
Future home of Innova Design and Distributing
While still living in the San Dimas area I decided I would like to embark on another adventure. The previous summer Joel had ridden his bike from San Dimas to Glen Eden, just to see what the 45-mile ride would be like. He did it and thought it was pretty cool. So this summer I thought I would like to try it! (We’re not competitive at all, are we?!)
After 4 flat tires requiring a few detours, I actually ended up biking about 51 miles!
We officially took possession of our new GE home on July 29, 2017. We officially began the move to the new office on July 30th. Let the adventure begin….
August 2017
Every day we worked a full day in the San Dimas office, while also packing boxes, cars and trucks, then around 5pm each day (yes, the height of rush hour!) we climbed in the cars and headed for the new place in Corona. By the time we had unloaded everything and grabbed a quick bite of dinner we either headed back to San Dimas for the night or crashed at our new GE place knowing that we’d have to brave rush hour traffic again the next morning….ugh. Then we did it all over again the next day!
Our place at GE needed work too. Removing a display case the previous owners had built into the wall, removing carpet and tile and installing a new floor were some of the fun things we did while moving the office at the same time.
Believe it or not, amidst all this chaos of moving and renovating, I was able to convince Joel to take a small “break” for a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to view the solar eclipse. I had actually made all the plans a few years previous and had booked the campground a year before. We were not sorry we took the break – it was an amazing trip!
September 2017
Just packing up the San Dimas office was quite the chore
And in the midst of all the craziness I took a quick break to go to Austin for my granddaughter’s 3rd birthday. But first Joel helped me buy her a birthday present. The bear traveled well…..hahaha
Eva loved her bear!
Our trip included a visit to the San Antonio Zoo
Last days in the San Dimas office – looks a bit different now!
On September 25, 2017 Innova officially started business in its new office in Corona, California
October 2017
Joel’s birthday is in October and last year I had taken him to Jamaica for his special day, but this year we did not have the time, the funds, or the energy to do such a trip! So we spent a week at Caliente Resort in Florida instead this year.
Unfortunately earlier this month Dave’s dad had fallen and sustained what proved to be life-threatening injuries for a man of his age. Garry passed away the day Joel and I left for Florida, so I was unable to attend the funeral in Provo, Utah. Garry McRae had been very special to me and I was heartbroken I was unable to attend his service. I would have to think of another way to show my respects.
My October project – assembling the kitchen cart I bought, all by myself
November 2017
November 20th this year would have been Garry McRae’s 85th birthday. I decided I would pay my respects by visiting Ann, his widow and my “second mom”, in Provo with a very special gift. Dave helped me “smuggle” a piece of his favorite clothing to my sister, who used it to make a memory bear. I then surprised her with it in person!
McRae family dinner in honor of Garry at Pizzeria 712 (his son Joseph’s restaurant)
Ann and me
I had an opportunity this month to go by my old home in Cerritos. Wow it looks different!
December 2017
My son Mike had now been living for a year in the house he built in Driftwood. I convinced Joel to take a few days off around Christmas and accompany me to visit him and Eva. It was a really fun little vacation for us.
During the visit I wanted to see the finished patio at 14th Street that I had never had a chance to see. Also, no one had ever put up the lights, so Joel helped me do that.
A play day at Eva’s gym
Christmas presents
Back home we celebrated our own Christmas. Joel gave me this gorgeous package on Christmas morning, and this crane still flies over the bed in our GE home. Inside? A new Garmin bicycle computer for my bike!!!!! You rock, baby!!!!!
And so ended the year 2017. A very significant year in my life, as it turned out. So now it seemed only fitting that the name of this blog that I’ve been writing should also change to reflect my “new life”. Ever since that night in the hotel in Steamboat Springs, Colorado when Joel dedicated John Denver’s “Annie’s Song” to me, I have been his “Annie.” With that in mind, this blog will now become ANNIE’S JOURNEY……….See you in 2018………
Meandering Momma / Annie's Journey 