Finally, the den is finished

So we started with this

Which evolved to this as we unpacked

 

And now we have a cozy place to sit and watch TV or read or extra seating for gatherings. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out and enjoying having more artwork hung.

 Fortunately this was the only room we had to furnish if you don't count our new beds!

Taking a deep breath after our move

Lots of things about our cross country move are working out very well. Our new house is comfortable, neighbors are friendly and the weather is divine. We have seen more of our family in the last 4 months than we have in the last 4 years - and that is wonderful. We are ready for the next phase of life as Hubby retires at the end of September and we figure out how to spend our time individually and together and how to make new close friends.

But .... we were talking last night about the unexpected expenses that have come with this house; not that we didn't expect some but still there have been more than anticipated. Some have been choices such as the quality of the den furniture we ordered but others were total surprises such as having to replace a relatively new water heater and a recirculating water pump.

So I think we are going to take a pause and hold off on a big expenditure that would be a quality of life improvement and also not necessary. The water here is extremely hard which is why the water heater had to be replaced. As long as we periodically flush the new one it should last a lot longer. However the washing machine and dishwasher could be damaged over time.

We have looked into a whole house water treatment system that would be great at solving this problem and making the water taste great without adding salt as many systems do. It would also make cleaning a lot easier as the hard water leaves deposits. But at $3,750 to purchase and install is it really worth it? A spending pause seems right so we can really think this through because honestly I'd rather take a vacation!

2 questions:

Any experience with really hard water and ideas for cleaning materials and steps to take to prolong the life of appliances?

Do you ever take a spending pause to contemplate your priorities overall or in a specific area of your life.

And the settling into the new house saga continues

3 days of partial day's work by the handyman crew.

Day 1:

- They successfully uncovered the window that had been drywalled over and started patching the wall around it. Window is in excellent shape surprisingly.

- Fixed gate latch that didn't work well.
- Filled holes in firewall in garage. Noted that we also need to replace the pull down attic stairs as they do not currently offer firewall protection and are installed backwards. A new item on list for the future sigh.

Yesterday's program:

Handyman company schedules workers to arrive at 9am. Forget to call and tell you that they have been rescheduled to 1pm. You miss a meeting really wanted to go to. Call and say they will be there at 2pm. Show up at 2:15.

They do excellent work. So now:

- The uncovered window is framed with nicely textured and sealed drywall.
- The garage door has an automatic closer as required and opens without kicking it.
- The guest room closet doors actually move smoothly with a new track in place.
- The French doors between living room and study will close without kicking them.
- The front door has new weatherstripping but the back door does not until they can figure out what to do.
- The non-working bath fan has been removed and the size of the opening changed. I think some wiring changes were made too.
- Determined that the recirculating pump under the other bath sink was programmed wrong and when that was corrected that it overheats quickly. Now unplugged.

Today's plan (we'll see if it happens):

- Show up at some yet to be determined time. This time I will call and find out.
- Install bath fan.
- Bring company owner by to figure out how to fix weather seal on back door.

And then, my chores:

- Clean house thoroughly before son and DIL arrive to visit on Friday afternoon. Lots of drywall sanding dust coating everything.

Just reminded me how ready I am for home repairs/improvements related to moving to be over with! We still have a water system to install as well as finding shutters for the "uncovered" window and getting that room repainted. Then we will take a break on all of this before fixing those attic stairs in the garage and remodeling the guest bath.

Tiny Steps

It only took 4 months (and the fact that our newly crawling and standing granddaughter is visiting in 2 weeks) to take more action to get art work off the floor and into storage or hung up. 3 small pieces went up today and one more will soon. We also hung the broom holder in the garage. Not much action but it is some. Now preparing for workers to be here Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning to do mostly invisible repairs. More on that when they finish.

This is our guest room which will get used for the first time this coming weekend by our older son and DIL and the following weekend by our other son, DIL and granddaughter. The dark collage on the left was a wedding present to my parents and is made of shells and dried flowers. The center drawing was done by a great-uncle and shows his sister, my maternal grandmother and namesake, in her youthful glory. She died when my Mom was just 5 or 6 so I never knew her. The 3rd is just a random picture that we had and enjoy.

The room certainly needs some more color but we are waiting until we have used everything we already own that will fit in before we buy new decorative items. 

 

Working our way through the rest of the new house list

Working on two of my Summer bucket list items:

19. Finish furnishing and decorating our new home. We need den furniture and shelves for displaying decorative items and/or photos.

20. Finish repairs on home inspection punch list.

Most onerous (to me) task first - furniture shopping for the small den/TV room. I am not comfortable on many couches as they are too deep for me and I dislike always needing a pillow. That caused us to end up at a pretty high end furniture store but the bonus is that they have a designer who will bring fabric samples out to the house and do some possible layouts for us. So tomorrow morning we will probably see that our initial fabric choices are poor colors but at least it is a start. I am conflicted about whether this is the best use of the room as we have another room with a TV. Hubby disagrees. We will see.

We had three ceilings that were painted dark. Hubby is finishing the second this weekend!

Then there is the list for an electrician. We have agreed how to approach the trickier/optional items so I will call and schedule an appointment tomorrow.

That leaves a rather random list of repairs where we are not quite sure who to hire since it would be nice to have one person who could do all of it.

1. A window was dry walled over with the mini-blinds still hanging inside the wall - odd. We want to open the wall back up, trim the window, buy plantation shutters to match the others in the room and then paint the room.
2. There are holes in the fire wall material in the garage. I think that is a specialty type of drywall.
3. Doors and gates that stick and an auto door closer for the door into the house from the garage.
4. Loose glass in one window.
5. Sink overflow drains that need connecting. (The plumber didn't want to do it as it is fiddly and time consuming)
6. Gutters & downspouts.
7. Patio leveled.
8. Install tool, ladder, etc. hangers in garage.

Monday I will call and talk to a drywall repair person, a handyman and the person who sold the windows to a previous owner to see who might be the best answer or if it will take a team!

More progress - the large pictures have been hung in the new house

We love art and have quite a few pieces including ones done by family. Slowly they are getting hung. Lots of smaller ones left to hang though.

The living room before and after. The painting over the couch was done by my MIL. 

Similarly the dining room before and after.

Our bedroom was pretty empty before. Now we have a real bed, storage bench and one picture. Progress.

The hallway got the framed original ballot from the 1994 South Africa election.

The air bed in the guest room has been replaced with a real bed and a poodle making new friends with our DIL and her dog. The last boxes to unpack are still in there though LOL.

  

The den is still pretty empty except for the TV cabinet that we purchased, a random table and lamp and more art waiting for homes. This empty space actually was very handy yesterday as we set up a folding table and seated 6 as part of Father's Day dinner for 12.

 

Two months in and it is feeling like home. The house is proving to be very comfortable and easy to live in which is a relief. Now to buy den furniture but first we are off to Berkeley for a long weekend with our younger son, DIL and grandbaby! Just the kind of family time this past weekend and coming weekend that we were hoping for when we decided to move back to California.

Settling In: 6 weeks since our move

We are starting to feel a bit settled and really, really looking forward to the delivery of our new beds tomorrow! 

 

Trying to get out and explore what is available for entertainment and activities in addition to finding out where all the stores we need are located. 

 

The dog is doing great and had her first doggie spa day with the groomer I selected. It was a success and I too would like a blueberry facial, shampoo, body massage, pedicure and haircut all in one place LOL.

Hubby is often playing 9 holes of golf after dinner and we are both walking more. Except for the first weekend we were here, we have spent time with family each weekend and that was the whole purpose of moving.

I'm debating what to get involved in. The pet club for sure (don't you love that there is one?). Perhaps the Leisure Village theater group that produces one act plays or the Camarillo volunteer run theater that we are going to check out with a Sunday performance. I am also contemplating volunteering to be the emergency coordinator for my "Village" because there isn't one and I think it is very important.

I am attending activities here such as the Women's Club monthly meetings and the performance (music, movies, live theater) that sound interesting. I still need to try out the pool and go to yoga class again/regularly. Still need to get to the Farmer's Market too.  I also found out that there is an art museum nearby and it has a book club - definitely on my list to try out.

We continue to work away at our "punch list" mostly arising from the pre-purchase home inspection and working on a bit of painting and decorating by hanging pictures, etc. We have ordered two pieces of furniture: a TV stand/cabinet and a storage bench for the master bedroom. Once they are in place we will buy den furniture and be pretty much done.

I am feeling like this has been a good move and will work for us for the next few years - then who knows.

May: Week 4 - Lots of shopping!

A week of necessary shopping, house improvements/maintenance and some socializing.

Achieved some goals:
- Decided to use Drs & DDS around the corner if they are in our network.
- Attended a lunch with online friends who live in the area.
- City inspector found items needing correction in HVAC installation. Trying to get work scheduled to fix.
- Carpets & upholstered furniture cleaned.
- Hubby painted feature wall in master bedroom. Since the color it was clashed with the other 3 walls we like it much better even if we are staying with the wall color that isn't our first choice.
- Ordered a summer skirt, maxi dress, 2 pairs of jeans, and 2 bras.
- Hung a picture in the dining room.
- Walked the dog daily.

Socialized some:
- Had lunch with some online friends including one from Australia.
- Son stopped by to visit!
- Had a long phone chat with my brother.

And shopped for the house - a lot!
At least our timing was good between Memorial Day sales and coupons we received with our change of address we got some good deals.
- Bought new kitchen towels and dish cloths as well as a bath rug and towel ring.
- Ordered queen & king mattresses, foundations and frames.
- Bought a set of queen sheets and a duvet cover.
- Bought a set of king sheets, duvet cover, bed skirt, down alternative comforter & pillows.
- Ordered a TV stand for the den. Next up is furniture for the den - couch and chairs, etc. 

May: Week 3

Not as productive this week but still making progress. We also took my FIL and Great-Aunt out to lunch.

• Booked a dog groomer and visited with dog to get acquainted
• 1 step left on HVAC installation: Passed the duct testing so were able to schedule the inspection for Monday
• Scheduled car passenger side air bag replacement under recall
• Scheduled carpet and upholstery cleaning 
• Decided what mattresses to purchase as well as frames, sheets, blankets, comforter - yikes.
• Bought pajamas, sunglasses & purse - returned too large rash guard
• Bought paint for master bedroom feature wall (what were they thinking - the color really clashes!) and ceilings that are painted dark beige and make them feel lower than they are.
• Found "shadow gray" towels for bathrooms. We've got to modernize that wall color & tile. 
• Actually hung one piece of art.

My good value shopping mojo is working

Just a note to say that we continue to be busy between furnishing the house, visiting family, getting out and about even if only for errands and general daily life.

I am thrilled that we have moved on to starting to fill in the furnishing gaps in our home. We even hung a picture to fill in a big gap over the kitchen sink. My Dad created this landscape drawing with pastels and it makes me happy to have it where I can enjoy it many times a day.

So that shopping mojo:

Today we went to an organic mattress store and found a very viable option and one I really love that is not viable unless you think about it being $1/day over 10 years LOL. Learned a lot about current mattress construction. Then we swung by Kohl's with a coupon and the Memorial Day sales in full swing and picked up much needed new bath towels and optimistically bought a mattress pad for the yet to be purchased king sized bed. We had been to lunch with my FIL and great aunt and didn't have the energy to decide on sheets, comforter, etc. Perhaps next week.

Yesterday I returned an online order that was too large and found at great sale prices 3 items on my clothing purchase list: lightweight pajamas, sunglasses and a purse.

Hope this streak continues!

Do you have any luck shopping sales? Do you work from a list and stick to it?

PS. Got my letter from Social Security saying what my monthly payments will be when I start collecting in September when I turn 68. Glad I am not having to live on that amount and realize it is higher than many people receive so I am very fortunate indeed.

Preparing for emergencies caused by nature

In our previous home the main nature caused potential emergencies were tornadoes and power outages due to falling tree limbs, ice or wind. Pretty simple to prepare for so we stocked up on water, food that could be eaten cold and emergency lights. We also were clear where in the basement to huddle and paid attention to tornado watches and listened for the siren nearby.

In S. Cal it is a bit different - earthquakes being the big one to prepare for. However there can be "forest" fires, mudslides, floods, etc. Having been to this rodeo before I know it is important to be prepared to get by on your own for at least a week with no utilities, stores out of food, gas stations not operating or out of gas and ATMs not working. You also need to have "bug out" bags for each person and pet in the car and/or home. In our case since we have one car that could be gone there needs to be something at home too.

I'm fortunate that the community has a emergency response group and a ham radio tower and operators. That would help but its a community of about 3,500 people all over 55 with an average age of 72. We need to be prepared to help ourselves and others.

Enter this thorough website that the state of CA offers. I think it could be adapted to any emergency situation if you are interested in checking or improving your preparedness. Be Prepared - Individuals and Families. I like Arizona's website too: Just in Case

So what have I done in the month since we moved? Nothing but buy a couple of gallons of water.

Today I looked up the list of what to have on hand and got started with upping our water and non-perishable food supplies.

(1) Water @ a minimum of 1 gallon per person per day for a minimum of 3 days. Add in some for the dog.
- We now have six gallons and I will keep stocking up until we have at least 15. I'll also look into a good water filtering system such as is used for camping to make non-potable water drinkable.

2) Food for at least 3 days including dog food. Pick foods that require no refrigeration, preparation or cooking and little or no water added. Make sure to have a can opener, paper plates, plastic cups and silverware, etc. Canned goods such as beans, fruit, & tuna, peanut butter, dry cereal, crackers, protein or fruit bars, nuts, canned juices, etc. I read a suggestion somewhere to actually make up a 3 - 7 day meal plan with calorie counts to make sure you have the right foods stored. Good idea.

Here is a great list of non-perishables to have on hand. Some do require the ability to heat water so take that into account. Not a good idea when gas lines many have ruptured during an earthquake but helpful in other circumstances perhaps. Disaster foods

- We now have a few extra cans of beans, fruit & tuna as well as disposable plates, etc. I will make sure to always have extras of the other items on hand as well as adding more canned goods.

Next on the list is a first aid kit. Will work on that next week and keep going down the list.

Are you prepared?

May: Week 2

Happy Mother's Day! I'm off to spend part of the day with my older son and DIL and granddog plus my own dog. I feel very lucky to be able to do that. Hubby is out of town doing his show up at work part of working remotely so we have them all to ourselves.

I've been pretty busy this past week. Not in the plans but on Wednesday I took hubby to the train station (train, planes, train or Lyftt for him), came home and took the dog for a walk. She stepped on a bee and had a thankfully non-life threatening reaction to the venom. Vomit and poop all over the bedroom carpet which I guess we will be getting cleaned after all. I was concerned about dehydration since she wasn't drinking water so off to the vet for 2 shots, 2 med and re-hydration.

How do we keep this from happening again? I didn't get any helpful advice from people I talked to but learned the vomiting was typical and some dogs go into anphylactic shock so we were lucky it was just money and carpet cleaning.

She is feeling well now it seems and did very well driving to my son's and spending the afternoon with them and their dog.

I managed to buy a few things on our finish furnishing the house list and got good value/prices on all - small yard waste trash can, bath trash can, 4 glasses and 2 candles (we didn't move ours). I also went to the HOA Spring Cleaning sale and bought myself a fun bracelet for a big $5.

Checking off my to do list:

• Get refrigerator water filter and ice maker fixed
• Make an eye exam appointment
• Routine Vet appointment 5/9; decide if staying with this vet or switching to one nearer us.
• Get recommendations for groomer and boarding
• Get CA driver's licenses, register car and get new HOA car sticker. Cancel GA car registration.
• Send in homeowner's property tax exemption form.
• Recycle old printer
• Get SS form to prove have had health insurance coverage
• Apply online for SS
• Connect with nephew who lives in San Diego
• Mother's Day with son & DIL
• Join Women's Club (and attended an interesting talk)
• May planned clothing purchases: swim rash guard/sun guard long sleeve top & an unplanned purchase of bead and leather bracelet

May: Week 1

We had to remind ourselves last night that we only arrived in our new home on April 19th and moved in on April 20th! Lots accomplished although I can't seem to list much for this past week.

Getting settled into our home has mostly taken priority over exercise and enjoyment. That will need to change soon. So what did we accomplish?

• Decided not to paint all the walls  Decision: Paint feature wall & 3 dark ceilings; touch up wall paint; we will do it ourselves so we have now saved $3,000 which pays for the new water heater and golf clubs for my husband.

• Unpacked some art work and a few more boxes; started clearing out the garage by putting all the boxes we are saving for a cousin's move into the garage attic.

• Bought and set up a new multi-function printer. We went with a more expensive Brother one as the ink costs are much less over the expected lifetime.

• Had some fun and personal time. Hubby bought a set of golf clubs and tried out the 9 hole course. We took some walks together and alone. I went to a musical performance and to the library. 

• We had brunch in Santa Barbara with our son, DIL and 5 mo old granddaughter as they were there for an event on her side - happy day.
  

• Later that day we had dinner at a restaurant on the Ventura pier with a friend who was in town from Atlanta.

And today's unexciting moving in news

You won't be excited (but we are) that we now have towel hooks in the master bath and the shower door closes smoothly.

We also are the proud owners of a CA smog certificate. See our excitement (mostly that I managed to find the smog check place). I failed at finding a car wash that I wanted to use though.

I did find a hair salon to try and made an appointment.

I failed at finding the Women's Club weekly gathering place this morning and ran out of patience before I found someone to ask. Must have been how much I was looking forward to getting the smog check done!

The irrigation repair guy is working right now to replace drip irrigation lines and make sure everything is getting watered properly as well by the sprinkler system. Just turn in the right form and it happens. Nice.

What is totally unexciting is studying the CA driver's license test manual.

In more fun news, I am going to go here the resident swing band practice this evening. I love that type of music and sat through so many practice sessions with our younger son when he was pursuing instrumental music including participating in a jazz band. Live music with refreshments for free - sounds good.

Happy Spending

Amidst all the necessary spending on water heaters, HVAC systems, etc. there have been some smaller purchases that are making me quite happy that I spent the money. In no particular order -

A set of 3 Kyocera ceramic coated frying pans

Expandable bamboo spice shelf

A humble doorstop for the front door

Tulips from Trader Joes

New home and it's plusses and quirks

 So we have lived here for 11 days and there are a lot of things in the plus column.

- People are so friendly!
- The weather is delightful. We can have the doors open with just screens a lot of the day.
- The house layout is going to work well for us at this point in our lives. We probably could have gone a bit smaller but then we would have had to do major remodeling work and we just aren't up for that at this time.
- The dog is really enjoying her walks here and is going crazy smelling the racoon and coyote scents in the grass.

Let's take a tour of the home.

Welcome. The entrance door is great with a retractable screen. We will plant some flowers in the front beds eventually and/or decorative pots with flowers.

  Want to be outside? We have a small patio in the back.

Inside is a work in progress. We plan to have the whole house painted and buy more furniture. We will hang our artwork once the painting is done.

The living room is enjoyable to sit in. Our living room furniture goes well and the dog thinks the carpeting is great for running.

The den room is off the living room at the front of the house. This room needs furniture and the TV needs a stand that will fit in the alcove.

The other end of the living room is the sunporch/office that opens to the back patio.

Our dining room furniture fits perfectly.

The kitchen is very nice and the two of us can actually cook together in this space. The laundry room is off to one side.

The family room mostly for TV is off the kitchen. This room is dark right now because one of the windows was dry walled over but we will change that.

Now to the bedrooms and baths. The guest room is at the front of the house. Right now we are using it with an air bed but it will get a queen size bed soon.

The guest bath is the only room that hasn't been remodeled completely. Eventually we will do that I think.

The master bath has been redone in a style we like a lot. However there were no towel bars/hooks at all! How do people manage with that?

And the emptiest room in the house - the master bedroom. Another bed to buy very soon.

So other than the garage and the utility patio area that is it.

Well that was a lot of money and there is more spending to come

The credit card should be feeling the burn after this past 9 days!
- Plumbing repairs and (surprise) a new water heater
- New washer and dryer - but I have to say I was happy to be able to do laundry at home today. The laundromat was nice and faster to be sure, but I'm not into doing that each week.
- New HVAC system & thermostat today - still needs some work as they dislodged two ceiling can lights in the hallway and we aren't sure why or how to fix it.

Still to come
- A new printer
- Termite treatment
- Buying a bunch of miscellaneous household items at Home Depot
- Buying 2 beds and furniture for the den
- Some electrical work and fixtures
- Getting some drywall work done and some minor handyman type things as well

Undecided
- We got a quote of $3,000 for painting the entire house. We may learn to like the wall color more than we do right now lol. That would mean we could paint the 3 ceilings, one feature wall and one small room ourselves. We might also paint the inside of the closets.

What we haven't had to spend on, but thought we would
- Carpet cleaning - a bit of club soda and elbow grease removed the spots
- New shower head - it was just a loose at the connector
- Less annoying doorbell - the volume and type of ring could be adjusted on the existing one

Surprisingly more expensive here
- Food, especially produce. This is a shock as we live in a major produce producing area of California. I'm going to try the Saturday Farmer's Market next weekend to see if that is better in terms of price and selection. This weekend is full of family visits.
- Restaurant food.
- Toiletries.

Surprisingly less expensive here
- Auto insurance.
- Live theater tickets at small venues.
- Our cable/internet/phone bundle part of which is included in our HOA feed.

That is just what we have experienced in a little over a week.

I am pleasantly surprised at the exercise programs available in our community and will be spending less in that area. There are also lots of free or inexpensive entertainment options in the community. We are talking more walks. The response to a request for a repair of an item outside our house was swift. The city library is fabulous.

Our house is smaller, but feels larger as it is a relatively open floor plan on one level with attached garage while the house we sold was 2 stories and a partial basement with lot of rooms and a detached carport. That is a 1941 home vs a 1980 home reality. We have discovered that there is good storage space in the attic area over the garage with "Attic Master" pull down stairs and plywood flooring.
We are also seeing that this house dustier inside faster as we can have the screen doors open a lot. Trade offs.

I am trying to explore a bit each day now as I run errands and also to take different routes so I can learn my way around this city. I have found the post office, a bakery, restaurants, a pet store around the corner, an ATM for cash withdrawals without a charge within walking distance, a car wash, etc. In a few weeks it is onward to learning the adjacent cities.

Moving has certainly been an adventurous learning opportunity and full of unexpected financial consequences. I do think that it is going to turn out well for us physically, socially and financially.