My friends and family always told me that they wrote my address in their address books in pencil.

And for good reason.  Let’s see.

First home, was on Essex Street in Essexville, where I lived with my sister, Mom and Dad.

Mom and Dad got divorced and my maternal grandfather died.  Mom, me and my sister moved in with my maternal grandmother.

Mom remarried, and Mom, Charlie, Linda and I moved back to the Essex Street house.

Mom and Charlie bought a house on Midland Road (Bangor Township), and we moved there.  And there I stayed until I was about 18, when I moved back in with Grandma.

My sister got married, got divorced and I moved into her mobile home with her.

Grandma had cataract surgery, so I moved back in with her; and eventually, Linda moved in too.

I got my first apartment in Saginaw, within walking distance of my job.

I got a roommate and we moved to a duplex in Saginaw, until he bailed on me, and I moved back in with Grandma.

Then the BIG move.  Moved to Los Angeles (Hollywood, actually) with a roommate. 

First lived with a friend of a friend, but that was not going well, so roommate and I got an apartment in the Hollywood Towers (yes, those Hollywood Towers – in case you know Hollywood at all) – and long before it was cleaned up and became a desirable place to live.  We left when a corner of the ceiling of our apartment caved in after heavy rains.

Roommate and I moved to apartment just off of Melrose and LaCienega.  His sister moved in, so I saved up for my own place.

Moved to my own place on Fairfax near the corner of Melrose.  This is the place where we had the battling lesbians – who would regularly punch holes in their front door.  Also, where someone lurked outside my bedroom window, scaring the bejeezus out of me.

Ex-roommate convinced me to move to Silver Lake, so moved to the top of Loma Vista Place.

The house at the top of Loma Vista Place got broken into, plus it was not fun carrying groceries and laundry up the gazillion steps up the hill to our house.  Also, the only heat we had was in the living room and during the winter, the other rooms were pretty much uninhabitable. 

So we moved to the bottom of Loma Vista Place (which house also got broken into – nice neighborhood).  Also, at one point, a car broke off the water hydrant and we got to watch a lovely fountain until they got the water shut off.  Also where the neighbors had to do 4^th of July fireworks and set the next hill over on fire.

Roommate bailed on me and I moved to a one-bedroom in Panorama City.

Liked the place, but needed more space – so I moved down the hall to a two-bedroom apartment.  The management didn’t want to rent me the two bedroom – and I told them, they could either rent me a two bedroom or I would move somewhere else and they would totally lose a tenant who always paid the rent on time.  That worked.

Building started getting rough (lots of cop visits) – plus after heavy rains, we had Lake Cedros in our parking area, so I moved to a two bedroom apartment in Van Nuys – which you might think was a rougher neighborhood, but it wasn’t.  Some parts of Van Nuys are very nice.  I was just a few blocks from the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, where I could go bike riding – until my bike got stolen.

Went on the road with Bottom’s Up.  Lived in Central City, Colorado; Jackpot, Nevada (the two cheeks in the butt-end of nowhere); Laughlin, Nevada (well, actually I worked in Laughlin and lived in Bullhead City, Arizona); and Lake Tahoe, California (I walked to work in State Line, Nevada!). 

Lived with ex-roommate while looking for an apartment for the both of us.  He (again) bailed on me (I think I’m a pretty good judge of character, but clearly, I am a lousy judge of roommates), and I ended up getting a two room apartment on Magnolia Boulevard in Sherman Oaks – right next to Mr. Underwear!  This is also where I was living when the Northridge quake hit.  The building came through great.  The biggest problem was some genius had run a gas line through a wall between properties and the wall collapsed, breaking the gas line open!  It took many 911 calls to convince someone to come out and take care of it before somebody drove by, tossed their ciggie out the window and a big part of Magnolia Blvd went up in flames.

Met my husband online, and moved to San Jose to get married.  And here I’ve been for 25 years.  This is the longest I have ever lived in one place.  Ever. 

So, like I said, instead of doing spring cleaning, I moved. 

Now, no excuses.  I just don’t do spring cleaning.