Well, another week is gone, and we are now about a week away from the moving trucks arriving. Our anxieties are mounting, but it is good to know that in a couple weeks, this phase will be over.

Challenges:

• We still don’t have a firm move date. With our move just a week away and many thing hinging on when the moving trucks come, this is difficult.
• We are going through another round of nightmares related to getting health insurance. If we thought CA was bad, it is nothing compared to AZ, where apparently the insurance companies can “rate you up” almost without limit due to pre-exisitng conditions. A policy which cost us about $500 a month here in CA was quoted at first $2,000+ and then $4,000+ in AZ. It is unbelievable. (Same company, same policy. CA regulation triumphs again.) Needless to say, we won’t be having the level of coverage we have had in the past. Yes, Virginia, there is a national health insurance crisis.
• Still no phones. Hopefully, Monday.

Successes:

• We finally got the deed to our property. (It’s been almost 3 months since we closed, and I was starting to worry. We were told the delay was due to election-related activities at the county office.)
• We are doing very well with packing. We have sold, donated, and got rid of lots of stuff and have packed most of the rest. Packing everything by the end of next week does not seem daunting.
• All the car situations are resolved. Santa also got Brad a new stereo for the truck with sat radio. This will be very nice for the drive and for Portal, which I am thinking does not get regular radio. (We are addicted to NPR.)
• The fencing of our property has commenced.

Depending on our move date, we are likely going to spend a couple day’s at Brad’s mom’s after Christmas before we drive to Portal. We are planning to relax and maybe see some movies. Then we’ll drive out and spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at a guest house in Portal before moving into our new rental house sometime between Jan. 2 and 5.