moving (2)

A pilot widow week

This morning Taylor left for Memphis for CAT-II training. He’ll overnight there, and then fly up to Montreal for 4 days of simulator bliss. He will be at the Bombardier Headquarters, and apparently its a pretty nice place to train. Unfortunately, that means we’re going to go 4 days without talking on the phone. I’ve briefly blogged about it before, but Taylor is very anti-surcharge when it comes to our phones. It took two years before he agreed that it was worth the $5/month to add texting to his phone. He knows it would only be $5/month to be able to call from Canada, but since he flies there infrequently, he doesn’t want to sign up for a month, just to cancel. It’s 35 cents per text, so we’ll text if it’s an “emergency.” We’re going to rely on webcams and instant messaging to communicate for the next few days. It means we’ll only get to chat at night, but better than nothing!

Once he’s done in Montreal, he flies back to Atlanta Monday afternoon. He hopes to take care of his SIDA badge and get his parking pass Monday. He’ll fly home to Detroit sometime Tuesday, pack up his car, and “move” to Atlanta Wednesday. His first flight in his new bird is Thursday – Friday. His November schedule should be posted tomorrow, but it will likely be a month of reserve.

It was so nice to have him home for 5 days. It’s going to be a long time till he has that much time off in the same location as me for a long time.

As for the job hunt…about 20 applications in, two “thanks, but no thanks” emails, and no calls.

Checking in from ATL


This weekend, Taylor and I have been in Atlanta. He starts training for his new plane on Monday. When we boarded the half-empty plane on Friday, we looked at each other with a cock-eyed face. We realized this was the first flight we’d taken, just the two of us, since our honeymoon. For a couple that flies thousands and thousands of miles, it’s pretty funny that it’s been so long. Oh wait, there was one trip in the Cessna 172 right after he passed his private pilot checkride, but that still was 3 years ago…

We’ve been checking out neighborhoods and apartments, spending some time downtown, spending time with friends, had a BBQ on the Chattahoochee, enjoyed Stone Mountain, saw a hillarious play, finally tried the Waffle House, and today we’ll part our separate ways again. As I laid in bed this morning, I just had such a good feeling. I’m certain that this will be a good move for us. We don’t know exactly where we’ll live, or exactly where we’ll work, or exactly when we’ll move…but it’s right.

Ch-ch-ch-changes….

In case you didn’t hear Taylor’s “leak” on Facebook earlier this week, the Bullock family is gearing up for another life change. We’ve been living in Michigan since January, and come January 2009 (or sooner!) we’ll be moving to Atlanta, GA. He’ll still be flying for the same company, but under new colors (which will coincidentally merge into one within the next few months.) His bid was originally approved for January 1, but he just got his October schedule, which shows him starting training October 12. That’s 3 weeks away.

“Why?” you may ask. Why would we be crazy enough to move to our fourth state in our nearly four-year marriage? We expect it to be an excellent career move. He’ll be upgrading to a nicer aircraft (from CRJ-200 to CRJ-900), and making a significant percentage more pay in his lowly F.O. pay. He’ll continue to have great schedules (sometimes up to 17 days off per month) and probably have less than 6 weeks on reserve. The wages in my industry are comparable, possibly more, and housing is affordable. We also have close friends in town, who have vowed to make it worth our while. We discussed having Taylor commute, but have decided we need to keep our family together. Atlanta was actually an option when we moved to Detroit, but at that time wages were the same, and he would have had to work 6 months in DTW before transitioning to ATL. The time is right, and we’re going with it.

Life in Michigan has been difficult for me. Four days after I arrived in the state, my dad was nearly killed in a car crash. I spent the majority of two months flying back and forth to SLC to keep things together for my family. I had a very unsuccessful semester of school that has truly shaken my confidence in ever finishing my bachelor degree. I’ve been sick over and over, and have gained a significant amount of weight. Our finances have been a wreck, and we’ve only survived through the generosity of family and church members. I took on an extremely challenging job that ends up keeping me continually stressed outside of work. The upcoming grayness and cold of another Michigan winter make me shudder. I only have a handful of friends here, but those I have become close to I will miss dearly.

The fact that we’ll be close to 76 locations of Chick-fil-a makes it a bit more tempting to move…

The Cost of Relocation

When Taylor and I decided to relocate to Michigan, we though that in addition to finally living together again, we would be saving a lot of money. This is what we’ve seen so far

I started out by pricing out moving trucks and storage units. Taylor started looking for apartments. We price-shopped, and figured that if we were in Michigan for less than a year, it would be a better deal to take the most important living items in a moving truck, stick some long-term storage stuff in the shed, and get rid of the rest. I sold my couch to Liz, gave away hundreds of dollars of clothes, housewares, and unused food. Our quoted $1700 moving truck ended up being $2300. Gas money for a cross-country drive and hotel rooms were about $500. Luckily we didn’t have to pay for a hotel for the two weeks that we stayed with the Pearces. We did have to pay more money than we expected on trips to SLC, but that couldn’t be helped.

This week I’ve been going to the store at least once a day. The first trip I spent about $150, thinking I was doing great on our budget. We had a few trips to IKEA to buy furniture and housewares. But then as we were unpacking, we realized things that I decided not to bring. I didn’t bring the mop, broom and cleaning supplies, since I wanted to leave it for Eleanor to clean after I left. I ragged out some old towels, which meant that I had to buy some new towels. I had to restock the fridge with condiments, sauces, and other staples. So $800 later, I think we’re finally set!

Murray Christmas!


Greetings from Murray! After a crazy year of being across the country from my husband, and a crazy month of packing, planning, and moving…it feels so good to be “home” in Murray!

There’s no way I could have gotten through this insane week of moving without Eleanor, Debbie, Jake, Mary, Lizzie, Andrea, Brett, Anastasia, the Elders, and Rosie….packing and cleaning by my side. I worked my last day at Montclair Hospital, finished up Christmas shopping, gave multiple rounds of “See ya Soon” hugs, packed my car to the gills, and drove up to snowy Utah. I dealt with torrential rain on days I needed to dumpster-dive for boxes. I ate my last Animal Fries, Sweet Potato Stack and BJ’s Pizookie. I had my last four hours of dental work (with a monster boil by my lip to prove it). I suffered through 5 hours of smoky-smelling movers packing my life away into a semi truck (and having to pay over $600 more than my original quote) I had three “incidents” with my car, giving Cami a few more battle wounds. I closed up utility accounts, put in my change of address forms, turned in my modem, and said goodbye to the “blue house” that’s been so good to me for the last 18 months.

It’s unreal to think that I’m moving across the country from all the friends and family I have. It’s unreal to think I’m trading in my tees, capris, and flip flops for parkas, thermals, and snowboots. Trading palm trees and ocean for naked deciduous trees and the Great Lakes. Trading the Clean Air Act for “Smoking or Non?”

But in between the reality of my California existence and the surreal future of my Michigan life…I’m blogging from my parents’ blue leather couch that holds so many memories…Family Home Evenings, recovering from my ARDS nightmare, making out with HS boyfriends, birthday circle memory games, folding mountainous loads of laundry, and countless other parties and domestic tasks. My feet are propped up on the long-loved coffee table that I gave to my parents when I moved to Cali. The hand-made stockings that my mom assembled when we moved to Murray are hooked on the mantle to my left, and the blue-and-pink adorned Christmas tree is in view to my right. I’ll be attending church at the good ol’ Highland Ward today. The only two things that could make my time at home better is Taylor…who plans to fly out to SLC on the 26th and 27th….and listening to Amy Grant’s Christmas CD…my dad’s mainstay holiday music continuously played during every December since 1993.

Merry Christmas. Joyeux Noel. Mele Kelikimaka. Feliz Navidad.

Help!

If anyone out in cyberspace that reads my blog, and is in the vicinity of La Verne….HELP! I have tonight and tomorrow to pack up my house. The truck comes Thursday at 7 am, so it’s crunch time!

If you have some free time tonight or tomorrow…call me asap. I’m freaking out! I’m running out of boxes too…and it’s been raining like crazy and my dumpster dives have been wet and unsuccessful.

*hyperventilates*

Little by little

This weekend Taylor came home for a day and a half to help us pack up the house. We got about 20 boxes squared away, and went through the junk in the shed. We still have a long way to go, but I’m not quite as stressed as before. Thanks for asking.