Author: Tracy

And the good news keeps coming . . .

Apollo
| Tracy

Item number two on our “big list” was to sell Apollo.

A week ago, we listed Apollo on Craig’s List after getting him a bath and taking a few photos of him all bright and shiny. We knew that we needed to act quickly before the winter season set in as it is very difficult to sell a sport car when it’s snowing, especially one that is rear-wheel drive.

So after his mini spa day and photo shoot, we wrote an ad, uploaded some photos of Apollo’s big smiling mug and listed a price we thought we could negotiate around and sent it into the vastness of the Internet to work it’s magic on the right person.

Three days later the right person came along. Exactly the right person — over the age of 40 and could drive a manual transmission, someone who had sports cars his whole life (mainly Corvettes) and who could appreciate a GM product, someone who had a second vehicle and wouldn’t need Apollo as a means of transportation in the winter, and best of all . . . someone with cash.

A quick phone call, a 15 minute meet at the marina, a peek under the hood and a hop into the driver’s seat and he was on his way home with his wife and Schnauzer. The following day, another quick phone call, a 15 minute meet at the bank and finally a quick test drive (my first time in the passenger seat) and Apollo was on his way home with his new family.

Now we are looking forward to getting “big list” item three handled. Number three is selling the Smart car which we are expecting to start in November.

Things continue to move forward and we are grateful and appreciative of all those who are helping us along the way, even if it’s just rehoming a few “big list” items for us!

Kiara is not having fun

Kiara sleeping in her favorite blanket
| Tracy

About 10 days ago, we made an appointment at Baring Village Veterinary (our vet) for Kiara to begin her export process.

After reviewing all the paperwork for exporting a pet to the European Union and Italy specifically we were happy to realize that on January 1, 2012 the process changed and actually became simpler. Yay for us. But although the process is simpler it still requires some attention to detail.

Kiara must have an international microchip (15 digit number) which will work with a specific hand wand brand used in Italy. No problem, the vet’s office had the right chip, so we had it implanted in February when she went in for her annual dental cleaning (surgical cleaning, chihuahua’s have horrible dentition) however the required rabies shot used in Nevada is a three-year shot done two years prior to her microchipping.

In order to export her to Italy she must receive the rabies vaccine AFTER being microchipped. So we brought her in for her appointment and had her vaccines updated. In addition to the full exam, including having her temperature taken (something she completely despises) it was also time to check her blood work for the medications she takes. So she was poked and prodded a bit more than she was expecting and was not happy about it at all, and then to add insult to injury we had the vet tech give her a pedicure. Displeased was only the beginning of how upset she was when we left.

The following day we noticed that her necked was all bruised and the following afternoon she was moving around in circles and crying. Usually the only time we see this circling behavior is when she is having seizures, so we were extremely worried about this particular behavior especially with the crying because she never, ever cries. By that afternoon we were back at the vet’s office for a sanity check up and set of x-rays to assure us that she hadn’t eaten something that was causing her great pain and making her cry. Thankfully, the x-rays came back clear and the vet didn’t think there was anything to be concerned about. The bruising on her neck was from a blood draw and would fade in a few days. We took her home and haven’t heard any further crying. Thankfully, we have used the same vet’s for over 15 years and they know us and Kiara very well since they see our baby often due to her seizures so they often discount our treatments and visits knowing we are repeat customers.

The next step for her exportation is to wait until 10 days prior to our departure and have the vet sign off on the export paperwork which will then go to the USDA office in Sacramento for certifying. Their web site states that they need 48 hours to turn around the paperwork and if we submit the paperwork with a return FedEx slip they will happily expedite shipping, or we are free to come by the office and pick up the paperwork. Seeing as we are leaving in January, we are planning to use the Priority Overnight option available from FedEx rather than attempting to get over Donner Pass on I-80 in January.

Once we receive her certified documents, she will be able to travel with us throughout the EU as well as in the cabin of the plane on Delta Airlines. Delta is one of the few airlines that transport pets in the cabin of the plane on international flights, a necessity for us as she needs medication twice a day and the flight is over 19 hours. There is another airline that transports in the cabin, but they are affiliated with United and United does not allow pets in the cabin. We are unwilling to take a chance on her being de-boarded or stuck in with the luggage or as cargo, so we are more than happy to fly Delta.

At least for now, she’s all ready to go once we get within our 10-day window. Whew.

Homeless . . . and happy!

| Tracy

We got great news today — the house closed!!

Our beautiful, 3 bdrm, 2 bath, 2 car garage home has a new owner and we couldn’t be happier about it.

Selling the house was one of those “big list” items that was important to both of us to be handled prior to our move. This morning we received an email from our realtor that the house has closed and that there is a check awaiting us at the title company. Woohoo!

After our first buyer didn’t quite work out due to their bank not getting the paperwork together over a rather long nine month period, we had to make the decision to abandon our first buyer and re-list the house. It was a difficult decision as we had been hopeful that the first buyer’s bank could get it together and close the deal, but that just didn’t happen.

So, after a discussion with our realtor we re-listed the house on July 5 at 9:30 am, by 10:30 am there were 25 requests to view the house, by July 6 at 5 pm our realtor took the house back off the market so that we could go through the four offers we had already received. Of the four offers, two were cash. After reviewing each of the four offers we accepted one of the cash offers. The buyer had checked the box on the offer stating he was not planning to live in the house and we figured it was someone interested in flipping the house.

We eventually found out that the buyer wasn’t intending to flip the house but the reason he wasn’t planning to live in the house was that he bought it for his paraplegic brother and sister-in-law. Talk about feeling good about a decision, after realizing what an amazing person was buying our house, we couldn’t help but feel good that we had re-listed the house allowing this new buyer the opportunity to find a house in his price range, leaving enough left over for the renovations necessary to add ramps and remodel the master bath to accommodate his brother.

Thankfully our home had wide hallways, spacious living areas and would need minimal upgrades to accommodate a wheelchair, thus allowing his brother to move into the house within weeks of the purchase and the few upgrades the house would need.

We are super happy for the new owners and hope that they have many happy years in the house, we sure did.

For us, it was a moment of joy to find out that we are now free to move without fear of having an anchor back in the States that we’ll have to deal with from afar. We are grateful to our realtor, Terri Cole with Coldwell Banker and would recommend her to anyone in the Reno/Sparks area in search of a dedicated realtor.

With 143 days left until we move, this news couldn’t have been more timely. Now we will refocus our efforts to selling the cars and finishing our other tasks before moving.

Planning the annual Girls’ Trip for 2012

| Tracy

We are a family who loves to spend time together! Especially the women of my family. For years now we have tried to get together once a year to do some girl-bonding. No husbands, no children is the general rule. This year, the girls are gathering again . . . for a 4-day cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. Woohoo!

We will be visiting La Bufadora in Ensenada and doing a bit of shopping and sightseeing, and a few of us will try our best at not drowning during a kayaking trip off Catalina Island. Should be wonderful and packed full of memories.

We will be on the Riviera Deck near the front but not close enough to get seasick and have ocean view rooms that will be just lovely.

Our ship for this trip is Carnival’s Inspiration.

  • 2052 passenger capacity
  • 920 crew onboard
  • 855 feet in length

This is a first cruise for a couple of the girls, but most of us are seasoned sailors, yet as with every cruise we look forward to having a wonderful time — from food to comedy clubs to waterslides — we are sure to have an amazing trip in 112 days when we sail!

Woohoo! Cannot wait.

We got it!

Terrace Garden - Florence Apartment
| Tracy

We have secured our first apartment in Italy!

50 square meters off via Laura just a block from Piazza Innocenti on a pedestrian street. It has all the features we were hoping for: terra cotta floors, dark beam ceilings, a garden/terrace area and room for company. We were looking for apartments in the historic district and this gem of a place is just a few blocks from the Duomo in Florence. One of the nicest features is that it is a ground floor apartment and all the areas that Kiara needs to access are on one floor, no stairs for her.

Our lease is 18 months and has an option to renew, so we’ll need to decide if we’re staying on a little longer in Florence or making the move to Venice which is stop number two for our Italian adventure.

Master Bedroom - Florence Apartment
Master Bedroom – Florence Apartment

This shot of the master bedroom shows the terra cotta floors (which will help keep the room cool in the summer) and part of the study loft above.

Study Loft - Florence Apartment
Study Loft – Florence Apartment

This is the study loft in the master bedroom which shows the dark, wood beam ceiling as well.

Living Room - Florence Apartment
Living Room – Florence Apartment

The living room, which is actually part of the great room which includes the living room, kitchen and dining room. The space is not very big, but is nicely appointed without being crowded so even the small space looks larger.

Guest Loft - Florence Apartment
Guest Loft – Florence Apartment

The guest loft has two single beds that can be made into a double bed for couples (this is a standard in Italy which allows for a lot of flexibility for hotels and vacation rentals).

Dining Room - Florence Apartment
Dining Room – Florence Apartment

The dining room has a nice view of the terrace garden, we are hopeful that the fountain actually works! This was the shot that sold us on this apartment, we could just picture ourselves having breakfast at this table every day.

Kitchen - Florence Apartment
Kitchen – Florence Apartment

The kitchen is all pretty normal as Italian basic kitchens go, except for that nice big oven. That is definitely an upgrade from the average Italian kitchen and one that we’ll appreciate all winter long.

Terrace Garden - Florence Apartment
Terrace Garden – Florence Apartment

The statue and greenery are a welcome sight, we never expected anything so beautiful or even a backyard at all, this was such a huge bonus for us.

But as far as apartments go, this one is actually very nice and quite spacious for it’s minimal square footage and it is so beautifully situated within the historic district that it will definitely be a great starting point for us.

Tracy’s Swan Song

photo of a sunset
| Tracy

I retired yesterday. 

I drove to the office like it was any other day, AC/DC’s Highway to Hell on Apollo’s [my 2008 bright yellow Saturn Sky] stereo, caramel macchiato from Starbuck’s in the drink holder, keys clipped to the strap of my purse — a regular day. As I drove up the hill that I have driven up for 18 years it finally dawned on me — this is the last trip up this hill I will ever have to do. Wow! After 18 years you’d think that there would be something amiss with elated attitude, it almost seemed wrong to be so happy about leaving. But in the grand scheme of things someone must leave in order for the next person to promote and grow.

And besides, we have a schedule to adhere to. This is item number 2 on the “big list” of things to do before going to Italy and I’m just not sad about it. Number 1 was selling the house — downsizing, minimizing, moving to an apartment — check, done. Number 2 — Tracy retires and begins wrangling paperwork — check, done.

So yesterday morning I parked the car, grabbed my purse and my coffee and headed in to the office like any other day — except the only thing left to do was to write a farewell e-mail to my colleagues, turn in my keys, my checklist, my exit interview and meet a few friends, the husband and my boss for lunch at my favorite restaurant for what Barb (my boss of 3 years) called my “swan song.” We had a great time and laughed plenty, especially since the three friends that were there knew ALL of the stories from my 18 years at the college, every last goofy, slightly unprofessional, moronic thing I had done these three knew it all — I haven’t laughed that hard in a long, long time!

My farewell e-mail went something like:

It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to have worked with all of you during my 18 years at TMCC. I will be leaving today with great memories of such things as registering students manually for classes, the invention of the Tel-Reg system, the annual Poker Run, commencement at Rancho San Rafael, Welcome Back skits, Night of a Thousand Classes, the Tenure Celebration and much, much more.

I also want to say thanks to some of the professors I’ve had over the years — Kelsie Harder, Jim Roderick, Bill Gallegos, and my dear friend Carola Naumer — as I retire from TMCC with degrees in Art History and Fine Arts, largely due to their encouragement and teaching excellence.

Our next adventure starts January of 2013, when we move to Florence. Which is my next assignment — taking care of paperwork and all the loose ends that need to be tied prior to our departure.

It may not be La Dolce Vita but life in Italy will definitely feel like a retirement made in heaven.

Thank you and farewell.

What I didn’t expect was the 63 responses I received within a few hours of sending this message. I know most of the people at the college, but I still didn’t expect that many responses, especially since most of the faculty are away for the summer — it felt good to know I’ll be missed, you really can’t ask for more than that.

But even with such a wonderful out-pouring of support I cannot feel sad, I know that I’ll miss the people that I worked with for 18 years, there are some very nice people at TMCC and I really enjoyed working with them over the years, but I’m not sad and I won’t miss it. I had a great job, I loved what I did and I was pretty good at it [well at least people were kind and SAID I was good at it =) ] but it was just what I did during the day. It was always a job, never my life. Life was what happened between 5 pm and 8 am the rest was just work. Some days good, some not so much, but the job paid for the life and the life was at home — and that’s where I am now, home living my life and — largely due to an awesome husband, great kids and family and amazing friends — it’s a pretty good one.

7 days and counting

| Tracy

One week to go. In just seven short days, I’ll be retired after 18 years at the college. I won’t miss the work, but I’ll definitely miss the people. After so many years of driving to the same place, parking in the same place, seeing the same people for lunches, breaks, meetings and events they all feel like family. So many good memories over the last 18 years that it’s almost hard to believe there is so little time left. With such a great team of people who always have your back, it’s a little daunting to think that my “go to” people will no longer be a phone call away. Thank goodness I know all their e-mail addresses!

. . . in Italia!

| Tracy

While all of our preparations are coming along great for our “big move,” we still expect a certain amount of culture shock when we arrive in Florence.

One of the things we know will be challenging is the paperwork required by the city and country for our “extended” stay retirement visas. We read other blogs of those expats who have made the journey before us and know that we will face long lines, take a number and wait three hours only to find that we do not have the correct documents with us so we must start the process anew the following day. We expect this, we have planned for this and we are hoping that we are prepared each time we undertake such an excursion.

We have put together a binder with all of our most important documents, photocopies of our documents and are even planning to have many extra copies of passport style photos that we already know are required for different types of ID cards and such.

However, as life-long students in higher education as well as employees of the same, we know that things often change so even the well-prepared, pre-planned and organized fall victims to bureaucracy.

That’s were movie history comes in. Historical fantasies like Arthur (the Romans at Hadrian’s Wall, not the rich drunk) and Troy will serve in shaping our destiny a wee bit. You see we’ve noticed that warrior’s in the movies have “battle cries” to encourage their men and whip them into a frenzy of patriotism to face an impossible-to-win battle and come out victorious.

Our battle cry: “. . . in Italia!”  The reminder that no matter how daunting the bureaucracy becomes, no matter how tedious the requests, no matter the number of hours spent waiting only to come back the very next day . . . we’re doing it “in Italia!”