Here we go again

Yesterday we purchased and set up a 20 gallon aquarium. It took some doing to make room for it because this home is smaller than our last home. But it's up and in three days or so we will add fish to the tank. The temperature and water chemistry need to be right before adding fish. We did start with bottled water this time instead of Yuma water, which killed too many fish. The water here is way too  salty for the fish to survive. I'll be testing each day to make sure it is stabilized. We are so anxious to have fish again.

A super nice surprise phone call to Mark yesterday made us both so happy. A dear friend from our home town is in AZ and wanted to see us. So today we will be sharing lunch and chatter with some very special friends. We never thought any friends would ever come down here and visit us. Mark is on top of the world. Thank you Ken and Julie.  💜

Made the call

 My darling husband finally made the call for help with some much needed repairs around here. He is used to doing everything himself, but not all things can be done that way anymore. Not just repairs but some areas need to be brought up to code. The AZ room is cold this time of year so we know that it will be HOT come summer. So Mark called a company to put in a heat pump in this room. They found some things that are not up to code so that will have to be fixed before they can even do the work we need done. They will be getting back to us with an estimate. Also a plumber is coming to look at and give us a bid on replacing the shallow, 6 inch deep kitchen sink and old faucets. AND.... the electricians will fix or replace the nonfunctioning exhaust fan in the bathroom. The exhaust fan in the bathroom does NOT exhaust, but just circulates the air. After taking a shower, the walls, towels, everything is wet. NOT good. We can't have all the humidity in the house, especially in the summer. It all make me wonder if the previous owners ever took a shower or cooked. About cooking, I've resolved to just putting up with the under sized range until it dies or needs repair. Replacing that will require new counter top and rebuilding that area. Geesh. I'll start saving now.

Mark put in a new RO system under the kitchen sink this last week. I drink quite a bit of water and the water was not tasting right when we moved here and it just kept getting worse.  So he was going to replace the filters. Not surprising, the filters were totally plugged and the water reserve tank was rusting on the bottom. We were lucky that we didn't get sick or worse. After a day or so of clearing out the new filters and tank, we had good water again. Many thanks to my loving, handy hubby.

The AZ room is so noisy with echo's and outside noise and cold  that we had to do something. It costs too much to replace the bogus single pane windows so we had to do something less expensive. We hung thermal, black out curtains yesterday. It made a big difference in the sound and it wasn't quite as chilly in here this morning either. It seems as though our time and money was not in vain. And the curtains look very nice in here too.

Considering we were told that everything worked well, we found that to not be the case. Gee, imagine that someone would not tell the whole truth. It's just one thing after another lately and we are tired and sore from all the extra work we were not anticipating.  Starting over at our age is no small feat. And it is too stressful with our medical issues. But with Gods help we will make it through this hurdle too. We have made it through much worse with His help.

Even though there was more work involved than we had hoped for, we do like our new home. It feels more comfortable each day. And it's beginning to look like our home with a few changes from other years.

Our first full week at home

 It's really starting to look like "our" home around here. Thanks again to donations from wonderful friends and family we have been able to not only get some much needed clothes and food, tools for must do chores, but also some items to help make our house feel like home. We had insurance to help with some things we lost but some items will never be replaced. We no longer have any family photos or photos of our travels etc., no more personal memorabilia of any kind. But we have tried to get our new home reflect us.

The bedroom has new curtains and bedspread. We are waiting for blankets that actually fit the bed so we both can stay covered at night. Some kitchen decorations to make it feel welcoming. We covered the worn old loveseat with a fitted gray cover to make it look nice and comfortable and added a couple throw pillows for a nice place to rest your back or head. The bathroom of course has to be purple so some nice rugs and new towels made the dark gloomy bathroom bright and clean looking. What was left here was tattered and stained. That leaves us with the extra room that we have yet figured out what to call it. Try as hard as we can we have yet found a spot for a much needed freezer. There is a nice queen size bed in there that takes up a lot of room. But the bed is nice to have when either of us has a bad night or by some chance someone would actually come to visit.

Friday we had to go and pick up the toilet we ordered. The one here was so low that we both had a hard time getting on and off of it. And with my back and arms it was also painful. As with any plumbing job for Mark it didn't go well. The pipes are very old and brittle and the main line into the bathroom snapped and broke. A mad rush to turn off the water and find old towels to sop up the water, left us in a pickle. Two trips to Ace Hardware and Mark had enough fittings etc to stop the flow into the house. But that left us with no true functioning toilet.  Just before dark Mark had to stop working, it was too dark to see anything while under the trailer anymore. So jugs of water were used to "flush" the toilet. Saturday we both were totally worn out so we pretty much took a much needed break. However enough energy was found to hang our large wind chime, Big Ben.

As of yesterday Mark planned on finishing with the plumbing job today. That remains to be seen. I wish he would just call a plumber. I know he can get it all to work, I just  worry about him crawling around under there. He believes that if you can do it yourself why pay someone else to do it for you.  Work smart not hard my dear. Hire it done. LOL

More to be done

 Woohoo, thanks to my tech savvy husband we have internet. It’s not the fastest but in Yuma it never is fast.  Today he is going to the cabin and take the internet antenna off. The one here is old technology so that may be why the internet is even slower. We can borrow a ladder from Leroy to do that. The antenna is on the side of the roof, not on top, or I would not allow Mark to retrieve the antenna. Our internet provider will come in 3 to 4 weeks and put it up here and adjust it for signal. Mark no longer has the equipment to do that.

About a month or so before the fire my heart was not working right. I was concerned and planned on seeing the doctor. After our move here I purchased some pomegranate juice and started drinking 2 ounces each day. No more heart palpitations or hard pounding going through my chest. That juice is to help clear arteries and work with the heart for good function. I did not expect it to work that quickly, but am thrilled. 

Last night Mark found a toilet that will fit in the tiny spot in our bathroom. He found it at, of all places, Amazon!!! It won’t be here for a couple weeks, but at least he found one. And he looked at the exhaust fan in the bathroom that doesn’t exhaust. It may need to be replaced. It circulates the air NOT exhaust. When we took our showers the other night, the humidity in the house was awful. So Mark will have to see about that too. Always something when ya move.

 I’m pleased at how the angel area are turned out. It still makes me sad that I lost so many. The ones that made it through the fire are all the ones that Mark gave me just to give to me. And my two beloved eagles survived too.

I have so little kitchen work space that I bought two big cutting boards for over the sink when I’m cooking. We also ordered a kitchen Island to help. The kitchen is hardly a kitchen but I have to make it work. The range is small, not the normal size, but my cookie sheets do fit in the oven. The stove top only has one large burner with three small ones. And not much room for more than two pans on the stove at a time. It will be tricky, but at least I have a range. The fridge is only two year old and bigger than the one we had. We will still need to get a free standing freezer. There is not enough room for much food in a fridge freezer. We will look for a used one this time. We don't need one that will last 20 years, we won't last that long either. LOL

Mark is enjoying having a shed again, even if it is small. He now has a place to himself and to putz around. We both have room to move and get away from one another for a bit. Now it actually takes more than three steps to get to any one place in the house. 😆

Today I need to take down the curtains we just hung yesterday, and iron them. Or maybe I’ll wait and see if the creases from shipping just fall out. The Christmas tree on the porch needs to come down and put away. But it needs to warm up before I tackle that job. This Yuman doesn't like this cold weather. It was 40º when we got up this morning. I'm not doing anything outside in that temp. Ok, so call me a Yuma wuss, I don't mind. LOL

Good riddance 2021

Rain for the last two days and this morning we finally see some sunshine. I hope it dries up and warms up a bit. It's only 47º and if I read right it got down to 39. Too cold for me. But I am very happy to see the sunshine this morning.

Last night we were so exhausted that we never did get to kick 2021 to the gutter. But it did leave just the same. Today we are not going to work too hard. I've got a pile of ironing that I need to get done and Mark is going to hang the curtain rod up in the bedroom. I'll be happy to get the black out curtains up in there. Bright light in the morning is not very welcome, I don't like to get up too early. At least here, when I get out of bed I don't run into a wall. This bedroom is much better than the cabin, we can actually walk around the bed on both sides.

Yesterday afternoon we went to look for a toilet, the one here is not very nice anymore. We couldn’t find one to fit the small area so may have to order one and pay more. Then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and found out that they are closing. We love that store so it really made us sad. We purchased some things that I needed with some of our donation money. Everything in the store was 20% off too. Then to WM to get some bath towels, hand towels and wash clothes. Carol only left 3 towels, one hand towel and one wash cloth. And they were so stained and scratchy. We should have enough to get us by for now.  We needed LED light bulbs for here to replace the old fluorescent ones. 

 

Yesterday, Maria, a lady from a charitable church organization, picked up all the stuff I don't want or need. She left with a pick up load, box, back seat and front seat. Needless to say she was very happy. And we are happy that someone can use the things that I don't need. Yes, we lost everything in the fire, but, we did manage to salvage a few, very few, items and we had to purchase some things since the cabin we were in for over two months had very very little.

 It's now a new year and prayers for a good one. So far it's starting out very nicely.

 God is Good.