Sometimes things don’t quite go according to the schedule we have in our heads.

And while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it can take some getting used to.

For example, my recent move to a new household.

After spending 11 years in my last location, I recently found myself moving in with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.

It was part of the long-range plan. In fact, my son-in-law Judd and I used to talk about how, when they got their new home and had a little bit of property to go with it, he would build me a yurt in the backyard.

For those who don’t know about yurts, they are round homes, often with a domed roof, and can be portable. It seemed like a unique thing to me to live in a home with no corners; maybe have a skylight in the roof so it almost felt like I could be camping under the stars while reading a book and drifting off to sleep. That way, too, I would be just a few steps away from their house but have my own space. Judd had basically agreed to the plan, though I’m not really sure he thought I was serious about it.

That, or a tiny home in the backyard; I love to watch the shows where people downsize from 2000 square feet to 250 and try to figure out how to make it work.

Anyway, me moving in or moving to the backyard was in the future. But late this past fall, an opportunity came up, their house sold quickly and in an incredibly short turnaround time, they were moving in to a larger home, complete with room for me.

As my daughter put it, my moving in with them would mean I wouldn’t have to get up at an absurd hour to drive to their house to watch Lorelei and get her off to preschool when Ally had to be at work at 6 a.m.

Neither would I have to hop in the car when Lorelei didn’t want anybody but Mimi to put her down for bed.

I would already be on site.

And so, the move was afoot. They got into their new home shortly before Halloween and I lagged behind for a bit, wanting them to have some time to settle in first. I did get there shortly before Christmas.

My bedroom and Lorelei’s bedroom are side by side and we share a bathroom that is just across the hall. We each have our own sink (nice) and many mornings she insists on brushing her teeth at the same time I am brushing mine. We even just picked out matching hand towels to have by our sinks.

The first night I spent there was a Friday; on Saturday morning I walked out in to the kitchen area and when Lorelei saw me, she ran toward with a big hug and a “Mimi!” screech.

She kind of likes it that I’m there.

That got me to thinking about all the places I have lived in since arriving here in California way back in the old days, 1993. This marks my eighth ‘home’ and I must say that a lot of the ‘stuff’ I have accumulated through the years here – and even some I brought with me from New York – has moved from place to place with me.

This latest move, I did do some purging but there’s still so much more to go. I always knew I was a bit of a pack rat; OK, hoarder, but there were some things even I couldn’t believe I’d saved.

I unearthed an old reel-to-reel tape that had the live news reports I did during my time at WDOS radio, in Oneonta, NY, when I covered a hostage situation. I showed it to Judd and explained what it was; since I do not have a reel-to-reel vintage tape recorder to play it on, it went in the discard pile.

“You’re not throwing that out?” Judd asked, a little incredulous, declaring it a one-of-a-kind keepsake.

Well … maybe I can convince him to build me that backyard yurt after all.

For storage.

Marg Jackson is editor of The Oakdale Leader, The Escalon Times and The Riverbank News. She may be reached at mjackson@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 209-847-3021.