Travel, Gypsying & Living Lilliputian in a Goliath World

I'm Back...and We're In The House!! September 29, 2010

Okay, I apologize. It's been so crazy for the last 2 months that I haven't written a word. I'm alive, did not drop off the face of the earth, and only have a small bit of depression from NOT going to Uruguay. But that ship has sailed, so concentrating on life here.

Now after living in the RV for 3 years (8 x 31 feet space), and now having a small house (1136 sq. ft.), we feel like we're in a mansion. And Guayo (pronounced Wha-zho for you non-Uruguayos) can run from the living room through the dining room and around through the kitchen and spare room so he thinks he's got a real runway going!  He chases his ball and runs and plays like a crazy guy. Once we get the fences up, he'll be ecstatic...he's a lizard chasing maniac and is totally obsessed with their lightening speed and trying to pace himself just as fast as them.

Roy told me this morning that he loves the place...it's like being at a vacation house every day and thanked me for making it so nice. That it's bright, and uplifting, and fun. I am having trouble adjusting. It seems like it's not real, not ours, and not a "home", just a place. Weird. I've never felt like this before. Don't know if it's the residual let down from not being able to go to UY so I'm still hoping subconscieously that it will happen, or I just haven't marked my territory. Maybe I need to pee on the walls!!

 Anyway, I think I just need to cozy it up a bit with art work on the walls that hasn't been hung, and curtains. I'm sure the neighbors will appreciate them...I forget about making sure I'm dressed when I come from the bedroom to the kitchen...ooops!

Still getting photos together. The transformation has been phenomenal, so hope to get the befores and afters done and published soon. Til then, this is all you get!!

Okay, so I'll share a recipe with you. This is super, super easy, and Roy and Ben loved it.  BTW, Ben is our roommate until Oct. 8 when he will be going to OR to be with his wife and sweet baby boy Quinn in their new home. It's been a pleasure having him with us and Guayo will miss him desperately. He's young enough (Ben that is) to run and play and rough house with him and take him on bike rides..Ben rides, and Guayo tags along on his leash.  Guayo loves Ben and goes ballistic when he sees him...1st thing in the morning, when he comes home from work, etc.

Anyway, here's the recipe. This recipe turned out so good...Kelly and I have been canning for weeks, and have come up with some excellent and different recipes. Cherry Salsa; SW Peach Chutney; Cherry Rum Preserves; Pear Butter, and this recipe, Pear Relish. Yummy on Brats!!!  Can be cut in half easily.

 

PEAR RELISH

13 lbs. pears (firm)
6 hot peppers
14 bell peppers
12 lg. onions

Grind in food chopper and drain for 2 hours.

3 c. sugar
3 tbsp. table salt
1 tbsp. dry mustard
1 qt. vinegar
1 tbsp. celery seed
Dash of turmeric

Boil mixture for 3 minutes; add drained pears and vegetables. Boil hard for 15 minutes. Pack in sterile jars; seal. This is an excellent relish with brats, ribs, chicken and vegetables.

GOOD FRIENDS ARE LIKE STARS. YOU DON'T ALWAYS SEE THEM, BUT YOU ALWAYS KNOW THEY ARE THERE!!!! –August 4, 2010

   I found out this morning that my very sweet dear ET (real name is Andrea) is moving to Phoenix. It is a medical move to help with her husband’s health problem…going from 5000 feet to 300+ will make his condition much more manageable and make him feel better.  I understand…but it still makes me sad to think of her not being close enough to stop by, share a bottle of wine, give and get a hug, etc.

   I have to say that the get togethers and time spent together have been few and far between lately. What with our adventures in home remodeling and her working, taking care of her hubby, and spending as much time as possible with him, it just hasn’t been conducive to our former times.  But she is always in my heart and I think of her daily, and it just seems odd she won’t be here.

   The one thing you can count on in life is change…sometimes that’s good, sometimes it’s not. But she will be closer to her children and those wonderful grandsons of hers whom she adores. Plus if her dear love, Houston, feels better and does better, it will make her feel better too.  So I send all my love and best wishes to her, and with phones, email, etc. we WILL stay in touch.

   We went over to the house for about 2 hours last night and I 2nd coated the walls in the master bedroom and did 2 coats on 8 of the cupboard doors in the spare room. Jeff removed the master bath sink and reset it and put in new faucets and spicket and it looks SO much better. And put in a new valve turn off on the toilet water line as it was dripping.  So, Thursday and Friday I will do 2nd coat on the cut in portion of the master bathroom and all of the trim and the door, do cut in on the master bedroom and finish it and the trim up, and 2 rooms will be ready for flooring. 

  We decided last night that we are contacting the wonderful young man Sunny who dry walled the ceilings and have him finish the painting. It will be some extra $$, but he can do it faster and I won't be so exhausted, so we decided to spend the money and spare my health and sanity...and Roy's life as I'm getting a bit grumpy and testy with him!! So maybe if we're real lucky, we can do floors next week—with the help of the wonderful and talented Hank!!  Once they are done, then Johnny can finish the electric, Jeff the plumbing, and Kenny can come do the trim work and we'll be able to move in. So possibly by Aug. 15...Roy's bday...we can actually get into the place. I'm not holding my breath as something always seems to come up to hold us up, but as long as it's by August 28 I'm good. RV can be moved to Affinity on consignment til it sells, and we can move on with our lives finally.

   Plus Sept 12 will be the 2^nd Annual Jammin’ in the Pines and am sandwiching it with our housewarming. A party…that will help settle us in!  Still have a couple trips to Phoenix to make…pick up things from my sister, and from Ikea, and that will do it in the furniture department.  The big moving day I hope to have help from nephews/nieces as they are still young enough to do all this.  And thanks Robbie, Mindy, David (and Daniel the Extreme Painter) for all of your help to date.  Don’t know what we’d do without family and friends!

  More photos to come this weekend when I have time to do them. Besides the house making me crazy, work is amazingly busy and we have 5 different events happening in August, so I just don't have the time or energy to finish the painting—plus still need to work on the dining room chairs I’m refinishing and recovering the seats. Plus this humid muggy weather is killing my arthritis...the knuckle under my right index finger is swollen and sore and sends shooting pains down my hand intermittently throughout the day and night. Nice!  It's so wonderful getting old!!

Where Did Summer Go?---Aug 1 2010

As I was driving around doing errands in the pouring, drizzling, 60 degree temps this a.m. I was wondering…where did summer go?  I was transported back to Oregon, in the winter, with black clouds darkening the skies, dripping trees and bushes, damp steering wheels, the musty smell of tracked in mud in the car, wet dog smell, and NPR on the radio. It was a veritable flash back of my winters in OR, and yet, it was the first day of August in Arizona.   I had mixed emotions---I was so peaceful when I thought how much I liked those soggy chilly damp days I spent in OR, but I was cold and wanted to go hide under some nice warm snuggly soft blankets and take a nap. I also wanted the sun to come out and dry things up so running errands and going in and out of the house weren’t so miserable, and so that the paint would dry at the house.

Painting still goes on.  Mindy and David came over with the kids today and helped. It was wonderful. They did so much painting, and Daniel was amazing. That boy grabbed a roller and away he went painting the bedroom walls, then the hall, then the dining room, and even walls in the living room until stuff piled up against them wouldn’t allow him to go any further.  For a 7 year old, this kid is a painting dynamo!

It was depressing to go into the house and see water rings on the floor. First thing I did was jump up on the ladder and check the fresh painted beautiful ceilings I had finished in the last 4 days.  Nope, they weren’t wet, so it wasn’t dripping.  Well, that freaked me out, because all I could figure out was it must be coming from the bottom up.  I looked around outside, but nothing readily showed…no streams going under the house or puddling. When Roy and Lou came back from breakfast, there were lots of ideas thrown around, but nothing definitive. David crawled into the opening and looked for pipe leaks but didn’t see any.

No idea what it is, but it was so depressing and disappointing. Every time we turn around there seems to be another problem to solve. I just want to get this place painted, the floors in, the trim up, the appliances hooked up, and the furniture and us moved in. Tomorrow we’ll contact Jeff and see what he thinks…Roy seems to remember something he said during the inspection, but can’t remember what it was or if it even pertained to anything that could be making this happen.

In the interim, I threw myself into my 4^th day of painting. Took Thursday and Friday off to work on the house, and have been working like a young person the whole time….and I’m NOT!!  This would have been so much easier at 30, or 40, or even 50. But 10 years later, this is hard work and I’m exhausted from the effort and the emotional ups and downs. Roy’s contribution to the disappointment was to leave me stranded at the house and go home and sleep and mope. Oh well, I guess we all handle disappointment differently, but that was NOT the response I needed. Some bolstering of my sagging spirits would have gone a long way to helping out and making me not think of maybe there could be a fire since we DID have insurance to cover that!

I didn't go to the house today...work was constant and I just wasn't up to it. So tomorrow I will go with pen and paper in hand for a punch list of each room and the things that need to be accomplished prior to moving in. I started painting the doors on the closets and little cabinet doors all in the spare room.  I am painting them Ocean Kiss, the same color as the kitchen, dining room and hall ceilings.  It is a wonderful color, and it will make the room look so sweet.  I didn't want to do the ceiling in there as it is pretty low and keeping it white seemed a better idea. So the addition of the blue on the doors is just what it needed.  I will work more on them tonight, as it makes me happy to see that color in there. The paint isn't drying too well because of all the rain and dampness, but I can lay them out a bit here and there and hopefully have them all done soon, paint the cabinet fronts, and then get them all hung up again and out of the way so I can finish the rest of the walls in there.  I really can't be taking many more days off as we MUST be moved in by the end of August. I didn't leave it to Roy this time...I gave notice when I paid the August rent!

Some day we will take a hike up Granite Mountain or Thumb Butte...some day when I have a life again instead of just work and remodeling.  Hopefully will find time to do some photos soon...it IS coming along, and I love the ceilings--Embellished Blue, a light teal matching the Teal Zeal in the closets and on one wall in our bedroom, is on our bath and bedroom ceilings, and the hall, dining room, and kitchen ceilings are Ocean Kiss..isn't that cool?  I didn't pick put the color by name, we matched a lamp I had purchased at Salvation Army, but sure goes with the idea of a beach cottage.

If I ever get the time, photos of the beautiful Teal Zeal walls, and the Embellished Blue and Ocean Kiss ceilings will be posted. And if we ever get done, before and after photos will be posted via a PowerPoint. I hope it’s going to be as amazing a difference as my vision and goals.

So, off to bed….tomorrow is back to work and a month that is filled to the brim with projects and events there, so this all ought to be interesting, as usual.