Since we sent out updates and New Year's Cards in Sept. for the Jewish New Year, we didn't plan to send out anything for the secular New Year, but then we MOVED, and as long as we are sending out notice of our new address, we might as well include a note as to what's been happening in our lives, so here we are, boring you once again.
When we last reported on our lives, Jonathan was enrolled in nursery school two days a week, but hadn't started yet, Marc had just accepted a permanent part-time position with his biggest client, and was planning to continue JMZ Consulting, and Jackie had been promised a promotion soon.
Jackie's project is accepted by the customer, and her workload dies down to where she can stop coming in on weekends (most of the time). The promised promotion is submitted to the higher ups for their OK. Marc starts working for ITG 20 hours a week. Jonathan starts nursery school 2 days a week (all day) and suffers some separation anxiety, but not much. Marc suffers more. Jonathan is also going to Grandma's house one day a week for some good bonding time with Jackie's mom.
Jackie's promotion is put on hold so that a group of promotions can all be processed together. We found a house that we liked and made an offer on it, but the bid is rejected. Jackie is sued for half a million dollars by the asshole on cocaine that crashed into her van. She was stopped, she had right of way, she is being sued. Thank god for good insurance coverage - barring a lot of bad luck, when this is over, we shouldn't be out of pocket for anything but lost time.
The other promotions in the group go through, but Jackie's does not. Jackie is promised that it is just a technical screw up. We make a second offer for the house. It is accepted and we enter escrow.
Jackie's promotion finally comes through! Yea! And a raise to boot! Better late than never, we always say. Escrow moves along with only the usual hiccups (like some major work that had to be done on the house!) We start packing. Jonathan thoroughly enjoys Chanuka, and with all the great gifts, we are thankful that we will soon have a bigger house!
Escrow was scheduled to close on Friday, January 5. That day came and went. Then it was scheduled to close on Friday, January 12. We told our broker that if it didn't close on the 12th (Friday), then we weren't going to close until the 23rd, because we were going to Florida for a wedding on the 17th (a Wednesday), and didn't see any point in closing while we were in Florida! That motivated them, and we were able to close on the 12th. We moved over the weekend.
We had planned to take a red-eye through Detroit to get to Florida, because we were able to get 2 for 1 tickets if we flew Northwest. Then Jackie's work stepped in. She was asked to go to Dallas on business on the 18th (Thursday). She told them that she would if they would pay for a ticket from Dallas to Florida and then home. They were more than happy to do this, especially because a round trip ticket from L.A. to Florida, stopping in Dallas, and staying over a weekend is about half the price of a round trip ticket to Dallas without a Saturday stay. In fact, her work was willing to pay for our hotel and rental car in Florida up to the difference between the two tickets.
Jonathan stayed behind with Jackie's parents. We were concerned that the combination of moving to a new house and then leaving him a week later would stress him out but he handled both with grace. Like nursery school, leaving him was harder on us than on him. The wedding was very nice. Jackie enjoyed meeting the east coast segment of Marc's family -- they really made her feel welcome. The hotel was not so nice. Since we didn't have Jonathan, we had really looked forward to sleeping in until 10 - or maybe 11. This was not to be. Construction noises woke us at 6:45 the first day and 7:45 the second. Plus they didn't have any king or queen sized beds, so we had to sleep in a double. Fortunately, the rate was cheap.
So here we are - not 100% moved in, but close. We love the new house. It has five bedrooms, three baths, and a three car garage. It has a great kitchen (although every appliance is almost as old as I am, and is avocado green to boot!) It has a big backyard with both a pool, a great expanse of grass, fruit trees and even some grape vines. The house is 3300 square feet and the lot is over 15,000 square feet. The house is a tri-level. The kitchen, dining room and living room are on one level, and from this level you can go down half a flight of stairs to the family room and two bedrooms, or up half a flight of stairs to the master bedroom and two other bedrooms. We've turned one of the downstairs bedrooms into an office, and the other into a playroom for Jonathan (a "toy room" as he calls it.) We now have room to entertain overnight guests -- come and stay with us!
Looking forward to a great '96,
Jackie, Marc, and Jonathan
You can also read our September 1995 Newsletter.Created 5/16/95. Send corrections, criticisms and comments to: jzev@isx.com