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Go to 2007 Tour

 

PART 1: Our Move and Where We Landed
PART 2: The Creative Place
PART 3: The Amazing Big White House
PART 4: Birds and Critters
PART 5: Fog
PART 6: Plants
PART 7: Earth Wind and Fire
PART 8: The Galexis Business
PART 9: Travel
PART 10: Autumn Adventure with Patricia Bragg
PART 11: Health Changes
PART 12: LA, the Future?


Part Three; The Amazing Big White House

     Our landlord Doug and his wife Diane are a cool California couple.  He made his fortune on software design back in the 90’s and early 2000’s and still have a software company. They have moved north to live amongst mountains and big trees in Nevada City, California. Trying to sell the house on a down-turned market didn’t work and so we lucked out (and so did they) for us to live here for now. It happened by magic. We asked attendees at a Galexis event back in 2007 where they’d recommend we live. One of the attendees, Tonia, suggested we visit her and live in perfect-weather “Fernwood,” a section of Topanga. When we visited, she happened to mention that her next-door neighbors (Doug and Diane) had moved and would like to rent the house. Voila!

     The place is a huge white mini-mansion built in several stages by our landlord, first while he was a bachelor, and then more once he was married to Diane. The “big white house on the hill” is therefore an unusually shaped architectural hodgepodge, and larger than our house in Plantation – a spacious 4400 square feet! We’d sold or given away a third of our stuff in Florida, expecting to live in a smaller place. But here, we didn’t have enough furniture!

     Daniel and I each have our own roomy wing, for our bedroom, bathroom, and office. That way, I can sleep late, undisturbed, and Daniel can get up early, work in the office, talk on the phone, and even leave on errands. The house is so big, we have to use the intercom system to coordinate when to meet at the kitchen for meals! Although we spend our workday in our second floor offices, we enjoy our very special kitchen-dining area with a comfy TV lounge. Separated by sliding doors from the hard-to-heat living room, we can be warm and cozy as we eat our meals, entertain, and cook, and look outside at the mountains and big sky to our north.

     This house is quirky. When we moved in, the electrical outlets created great confusion, especially for me. Seems that Doug, besides being a software designer, was the ultimate engineer when it came to electrical lighting. Many outlets around the house are programmed for various combinations of lights. It took us months to sort it out so that we know which buttons to push for what lights! We had a phone intercom in every room and his office room (now mine) has outlets for a good dozen phone lines. Shortly after we moved in, FIOS came to our neighborhood. So we are upgraded to the supposedly fastest TV, phone, and computer service anywhere. We now have changed over to a digital TV set too.

     The house was quirky in other ways too. Immediately, we noticed that it didn’t have good Feng Shui (or arrangement of space for aesthetics and flow). With awkward angles and shapes, plus an unusual traffic flow pattern, we surmised that the flow was part of the reason why the house hadn’t sold and had stood empty for two years (besides of course, that it was meant for us to rent!) So we did some Feng Shui work and then called on the house spirit. Every house has one or more, and if you befriend them, the house will warm up into a cozy home. So we gifted the one we found living in our coat closet with a nice crystal, and it has been nice to us since. Also, since we cleaned up the electricity flow (see Health Changes, below), the place is calm. People who visit us say they feel comfortable and are now charmed by the house.

     Our living room, with its high ceilings, marble floors, and seldom-used entertainment area, is still mostly bare, except for our crystals on display and our rebounders. We rebound when the weather is too unpleasant for a walk. Three times now, we’ve used the huge entertainment area for parties. We have 18 folding chairs and have brought them out for party guests to see a movie premiere viewing in the entertainment area! Another time, we had a fun charades competition with over 20 people competing in the ample space.

     The ceiling of the entertainment area is slanted up to have near perfect acoustics in the living room. Recently, we had an “instant” party here when a friend moved her birthday party to our house after the park site was rained out. Besides meeting a lot of wonderful people we have subsequently seen more of, several of the partygoers entertained us all. Anywhere you were in the living room area, you heard the music in balance – amazing!

     Then there’s the amazing kitchen. Daniel used to be a professional chef and had his own catering business. After he changed careers, he stopped enjoying cooking so much. However, our kitchen deserves a very special mention here, because it is a far better kitchen than any he had encountered in his years of cooking in millionaire’s homes in Miami! Huge, with three sinks, ample space for booze storage, several refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers, it’s definitely a party house!

     The center island, with fantastic professional gas stove is cut from one giant slab of gorgeous marble. The cabinets are top of the line and so plentiful that many still remain empty. Daniel got so re-inspired to cook, that he purchased several more appliances and now he can cook up all sorts of interesting and unusual things! All in all, I have never eaten so well in my life, with so much tasty organic food available here in California, and prepared by my very own fabulous chef Daniel! What a lucky gal am I!

     Outside the house, there is a pool we don’t use, as we don’t like chlorine. Also, I’m just about always too cold, even though the pool is solar-heated. Then there are gas bonfires, a grill, a tennis court surrounded by ball-eating bushes, a beautiful garden that the landlord takes care of, and of course, stunning views. When the weather is warm enough, we can play some tennis or lie in the sun, nowhere near as burning as the more southerly South Florida sun.

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