Tag Archives: new home

The Good and The Bad of Our New Home

It’s a bit of a switch moving from Poway to Yucaipa. It may all be southern California, but there are a lot of little changes.

Like apparently no watering restrictions. That was one of the first things I asked about, and was told there are none. Considering that all the neighbors are watering at just about any time of day, no matter how hot, I can believe there aren’t any.

Add in that the owner had put the sprinklers to 15 minutes of watering twice a day every day, and I’m just about tearing my hair out.

I think she did it because the lawn was going brown in spots. Well, that happens with poorly adjusted or broken sprinklers, and adding time doesn’t help that problem at all. We’ve dropped the time way down already, and this weekend my husband should be able to figure out where the problem sprinkler heads are and get them fixed.

On the plus side, Yucaipa is surrounded by great hiking. We’re near lots of mountains. Even walking around the neighborhood with all its hills makes for a pleasant workout.

There are also some really nice parks for the kids.

The weather is just a little hotter than in Poway, and there’s some definite humidity, especially in the evenings when the thunderheads over the mountains collapse.

I have tons of unpacking to do, and my husband is getting quite the “honey do” list. I need my clothesline up… discreetly so it doesn’t bother any neighbors. I’m not sure of HOA rules on that one, but I think we can be discreet enough about it. Not like any part of our yard is easy for anyone else to see into. Cloth diapers just do so much better drying in the sun rather than the dryer, in my opinion.

So do some other clothes, but it’s a more pronounced effect for cloth diapers.

The HOA seems to be pretty mild. I still need to get the realtor who’s handling the rental to send me a copy of the rules, which she seems to have forgotten. But lawns are decidedly imperfect in front of many homes, and cars get parked in driveways and on the street pretty regularly around here. I consider those to be good signs. Time will tell.

The house is huge in my terms, although not as gigantic as many newer homes, being 2200 square feet. That’s still close to double what we had before, and since we do want to move back closer to family we will try hard to not buy new furniture. We may need to fit back into a smaller home in a year or two, after all. Not to mention a sheer lack of need.

But the kids sure appreciate the space and the stairs for running around when it’s over 100 degrees F and humid outside.

I hope to get back to regular posting soon. I’m still unpacking and of course dealing with the kids. The older two have been fine, but the baby’s dealing with a cough and is up a lot at night, so I am too. But that should be better soon.

Despite all this, I am so much less stressed now that my family is under one roof again. There’s still way too much to do every day, but it really helps to be together.