Sailing Along In Naperville

Our day yesterday was almost the same as the day before. The boys got to school on time, we relaxed until pickup time at 2 PM and we had a nice dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce. Austin returned home from an excursion with his friends into downtown Chicago to see the NFL Draft which started yesterday.

Josie and I took a few pictures yesterday of the Spring effect in the neighborhood and in town. The house still looks super with the trees now beginning to bloom and regain their leaves for the summer:

and the front porch area where we spend a lot of time - of course, with Oakley:

We especially like the blooming trees in downtown Naperville where we pick up the boys after school. This one is a good example and happened to be next to the car while we were waiting for the boys to come:

Spring is definitely in the air.

Today will be the last "normal" day as the boys have a full day at school.  The only difference is that they have baseball practice tonight between 5 PM and 7 PM. The schedule from here on out until Sunday is filled with sports activities which is the "norm" for the Guido household...

Problem Free Day

Our first day with the boys was problem free. There was no problem getting them to school in the AM following Patty and Mark's departure and we picked them up at the regular time of 2:15 in the afternoon. In between those hours Josie and I just relaxed and took a short trip down the street to Costco to pick up a book and look around at what might be different from our Costco store at home.

The boys spent most of their afternoon outside and one of the activities was a little one-on-one basketball in the driveway:

Austin made it home from school around 8:30 PM and visited a short time before one of his friends came by and he was gone for the rest of the night. His finals are over and he will visit his friends here for a couple days before going to Wisconsin to see his best friend, Troy, who is a tight end on the Wisconsin football team.

Josie and I watched a little TV before going to bed around 9:30 and Oakley settled right in on our bed for the night:

Patty and Mark were met at the airport by their friend Tom who moved to Cabo several  years ago to semi-retire and started a mortgage/real estate business in Cabo. He is the one that owns the condo where we stayed on our trip in the early 2000's. I'm sure that they will have a great time and fall in love with Cabo as we did.

All is moving along well with our home purchase and I will keep up with satisfying all of the requests from here as best I can. So far, I am able to use Mark's equipment to print out documents and scan them into my computer with the portable scanner I brought from AZ.

Day 2 will be very similar to yesterday with no after school practices for the boys or any special requirements that we need to satisfy. The sun is shinning and we expect another good day in Naperville...

Arrived in Naperville

We started out yesterday - very early - to catch our 10:45 AM flight to Chicago. We had plenty of time but had to meet our realtor at the Denny's off of the freeway on the way by 8 AM. We actually arrived early at 7:30 and he invited us to have some breakfast while we talked about the plans for the house this week. I transferred the checks to him for our deposit and inspection that will done while we are gone this week and basically just got things rolling.

There was plenty of time for us to kill at the airport as we sat at the gate for over an hour before the plane departed. We arrived almost on schedule in Chicago and Patty was there to pick us up to go back to Naperville. The boys were at a ball game with Mark and didn't get home until after 8:30 PM. So, the three of us had some stuffed peppers for dinner and watched some TV while waiting for Mark and the boys. It is amazing to see the change in the twins after only about 6 months since we last saw them.

Patty and Mark made it out on time this morning at 6:30 and are on their way to Cabo San Lucas. Our fun begins now with the twins and we are looking forward to spending some quality time with them over this week. There is a busy schedule of games and practices so there shouldn't be much down time. We also look forward to seeing Austin sometime later tonight as he comes home for a few days from WMU following his finals. The weather looks like it will cooperate while we are here and we will spend a lot of time sitting out on the front porch - and maybe, having some wine...

We Have a Deal

We looked at three homes yesterday. Two of them were in the same development that we had our other home before we lost it with the title issues. Both of those were the same model as the one we lost. One was a dump and the other was a rental that came very close to what we wanted. We made an offer on that home and it was accepted after a small counter offer was made that we accepted. There are few small issues with the home but it is well worth the $7K less that we will pay over the previous one - and it is only three doors down from the other one. It is still on Palmaire Ave (8720) and is in Rovey Farm Estates.

There are only a few photos of this house that we are able to show as the owner/agent only had these photos of the home before her tenants moved in:

We will get more photos after we return from Chicago.

We will meet our agent on our way to the airport this morning to give him the signed addendum (counter Offer Acceptance) and a check for the deposit. That will make it official and the clock begins toward our scheduled closing date of May 28.

It's off to Chicago and a week with our grandkids while Patty and Mark head to Cabo San Lucas for their trip.

See you from Naperville tomorrow AM...

More House Hunting

There were two houses that our realtor wanted to show us yesterday. We scheduled both viewings to start at 11:30 AM which would be good enough for Josie to take a long lunch and we would be able to see both houses together.

The first one was just OK, was available at a nice low price, but needed a lot of work to be brought up to our needs. The second one was in much better shape, had great landscaping and a nice pool. The inside was even nicer except that it had a couple flaws. The first was that the family room was small. The second was that it had such an unusual floor plan that it would be difficult for us to use our furniture the way we want. The price of the second home was also at the upper price point that we established.

The end result was that we get to spend our last day before going to Chicago looking at more houses. Eventually, the conditions will be right and we will get the home that God intended for us...

House Hunting

While Josie was working yesterday, I went back and forth with the realtor reviewing new listings of homes that have just come on the market. There were a couple that were interesting enough to schedule viewings which the realtor set up beginning at 5 PM last night after Josie got off work.

Neither one of the homes turned out to be as nice as the pictures that were part of the listings. We will keep plodding along hoping to find another home that satisfies our criteria and is nice enough to replace the one we lost through the title problems with the seller. We also signed the Mutual Consent document that releases our deposit back to us on that nice home we almost bought. That's two homes now that we can say we "almost bought". The next one better be the final go around or we might be tempted to set a new direction for the foreseeable future.

Josie works a full day today and I work from 3 until 9 PM so our house hunting will be limited for today. We hope that there will be something we can see by the end of the day tomorrow, as we leave Monday morning for 8 days in Chicago. Following that, Josie faces long days at work every day through Mother's Day which is May 10.

The couple wanting to purchase our amenities on our RV site came by late yesterday to take some measurements and talk more about buying everything we have except our furniture and the shed. That solves a problem of having to take down everything and move it to our new home (?). All we need to do now is finalize an address and a date for moving ourselves to a new home...

Market Recovery

There is now no question about the housing market being in a recovery mode. The really good values that become available on the market are being snatched up within the first couple days of their being listed, and with multiple offers. They are also selling at full price.

We had another experience yesterday with that recovery as one of the houses that we were interested in was under contract with multiple offers on the third day it was listed as being available. The one house we were interested in sold new for $305K in 2005 before the housing bubble burst, resold in 2010 for $199K and was under contract yesterday for $275K. The fascinating aspect of this recovery is that the interest rates are remaining very low at around 3.75%. We are beginning to get a little frustrated as it reminds us of the way the market was in 2005 when the available inventory of good values was small and what is available is being sold within a few days. Somewhere out there is the perfect house for us and we will keep a sharp eye out for its availability.

We expect to have the response today from the investor of the home we thought we purchased but has a lien on the title. It's still hard to believe that an individual so astute at managing his real estate portfolio would allow this to happen so that his hands are tied while trying to flip his properties. Oh, well. It is back to the search for us...

Ground Zero

Most of the day yesterday was spent following up with our realtor and the mortgage processor regarding the problem with the owner of the home we are attempting to purchase. It seems that the consensus is that it will take this guy a lot longer than 30 days to clean up his act and get the lien removed from the title on the house. For that reason, we reluctantly made the decision to give the other realtor a 'Cure" notice and withdraw from the purchase of the home and get our deposit back. We still have to eat the cost of the inspection - $315 - but that's the way it goes. We were able to stop the appraisal before another $400 was added to our loss.

We located three other homes that recently came on the market that we wanted to take a look at following Josie's day at work. There was another home in the same area as the one we wanted in Glendale - not quite what we are looking for - and a couple others that are in Peoria. Both of those were possibilities and we especially like one that is about a mile from the home we were having built. We may make a move on that one today.

The problems that were created by the failure of the last home are numerous. We will have to extend our stay here at the resort, reschedule furniture deliveries and perhaps put another deposit on those, pay for another month at our storage unit and reschedule that move. Whoever thought that buying a house would turn out to be such a problem...

Options Options Options

The problem with the owner's lawsuit against him and some of his many properties has created a huge concern for us. I spoke with our mortgage guy who thinks that the problem can be solved with a 30 extension and our realtor who doesn't think the owner can even get a court date to resolve it within 30 days. Of course, our realtor wants to sell a house and get his commission - sooner than later. Our banker may or may not have the experience with these situations and could be right or way off. So, we are deciding between granting the 30 day extension to the owner - at a price - or locating a nice replacement home that has all the amenities and meets our requirements that we could buy and move into with short notice. We need to decide fast as we are leaving for Chicago on Monday.

I expect to be working closely with our realtor over the next couple days as I have until 5 PM on Thursday before I return to work. We may schedule a couple of viewings today, if we can get appointments. One home that we have looked at - on paper, at least - is in the same neighborhood as the one we are trying to buy but has zero landscaping in the rear. If we could get the home for $30K less than the one we are buying and put a pool/landscaping package in the back yard for that amount, it may be a viable option. It otherwise looks like it has all the features we are looking for. We actually have up until our scheduled closing date to decide whether to extend the existing contract, or take our deposit and move on. The scheduled close date is May 7.

This is not our favorite activity these days. We are hoping that we can get everything resolved and will be able to finally move into a house without any obstacles...

Turmoil

Everything was moving too smoothly on our house. While at work last night, I received a message from our realtor that the seller - the investor that owns our home and 16 other properties in the Valley - has an outstanding lawsuit against him that requires removal from the title before we can close. They are asking for a 30 day extension on the close. This really throws a wrench into our plans. We have some commitments that will require rescheduling and some of those may end up costing us more money. For sure, we will have to extend our stay here at the resort and who knows if the interest rates will go up during that time. Our options include walking away from the deal and getting our deposit back and looking for another home somewhere, or writing language into an extension that lights a fire under the investor to make sure it gets fixed within the next 30 days. That language would include further penalties to cover us for any inconveniences or any further delays. We are to work out a plan to go forward this morning before I have to go to work again at 9:30 AM. Our desire is to get it fixed and move forward with this house. Working today will be very difficult with this problem hanging over us. I hope to have a chance this morning to make sure everything is back on track.

I also ordered the cover for our RV yesterday and expect to have that here by the time we return from our trip to Chicago. I hope we get a chance to use it this summer...

Storage Visit

We knew we had some loose belongings in our storage unit that we have placed in the front over the last couple of years. We wanted to make sure that everything was in boxes so that when we move, it would be easier to load everything in a truck. There really wasn't that much stuff that we had to pack, but we are now ready for movers to come in and load it all up and deliver to our new house.

Following our time at the storage unit, we drove around Surprise looking for one of the many flooring stores in the area so we could price various flooring options like wood planking and tile for a couple areas in our new house. We aren't pressed to get anything done, but we wanted to get some ideas on costs for doing that job when we are ready. Unfortunately, we didn't have a tile sample with us to compare to other options in the case the tile in our home is no longer available. We discovered a  new (to us) bakery and café near the flooring place called My Daddy's Bakery and Café that was excellent. We had some lunch there while waiting for the flooring store to open at 11 AM.

The rest of our afternoon was spent looking at more furniture options at a couple of stores in Glendale and we ended up at Costco to pick up a couple items that we needed. We are almost there as far as furniture needed to get started in our home, except for a small table and chairs to put in our breakfast area. Time is running out as we will work a heavy schedule this week and be in Naperville the following 8 days. When we return, the fun begins as we are scheduled to close two days after we get back...

Back to Heavy Work Schedule

I worked yesterday from 10:45 until 4:30 on a day that Josie had off. She had a chance to get the laundry done while I was gone and she made a pizza for dinner last night. She has the weekend off and I have today off, but our schedules get complicated the rest of the week. I work five days this week, all crazy hours, while Josie has her regular five days before we get ready for our trip to Chicago next weekend.

We are hoping that all of the steps are completed for the house closing before we leave next week as it might be difficult to respond to requests in a timely manner from Chicago. The tentative closing date is May 7, which is just a couple days following our return. So far, the process has gone smoothly, and we see no reason for it not to continue that way.

It looks like the ADCO RV cover will be ordered soon as the other one - the Calmark - is over double the cost for the size we need. The big difference is that the Calmark is made from a much better material that carries a warranty for 6 years, while the ADCO is only warranted for 3 years. We don't expect to have the fifth wheel for more than the three years anyway, so we can save the extra money. Right now, we plan to downsize the RV to one that we can use for the summers rather than a full time home. First things first - it is our immediate goal to get settled in our new house...

Biding Time

This is the time when all of the inspections, repairs and appraisal are being done and not much else is visible during this phase of the home purchase. I didn't hear anything from anybody yesterday, so I'm hoping that no news is good news.

I did some research on locating the right cover for our fifth wheel to be used when we place it into storage. There are many choices and none of them are cheap. But, it is a requirement in Arizona with the hot sun to keep your equipment covered and protected from the harmful UV-Rays of the sun. I have narrowed down the choices to a Calmark cover or an ADCO cover - the two most popular brands and ones that have been proven effective. We expect to pay around $500 for a cover which, I guess, isn't unreasonable. Another concern that I have is how it will fare during the monsoon season when the already fierce winds in this area become very destructive. It's a good thing we will be close enough to check on the rig following any serious weather.

Speaking of the winds - we have had four straight days of winds in the 25-30 mph range. We have gotten strong winds in the past, but April, so far, has been the windiest of all this year.

We are getting anxious to get everything done and get moved...

Work and Work

Josie's wrist was much better yesterday while she was nursing it at work. Her co-workers aren't letting her do much activity that requires lots of motion with her arm. It should be back to almost 100% in a couple days. My day was a long one as I worked a full day from 12:30 to 9 PM.

Before going to work, I did some research on RV storage facilities and ended up with the decision to just store it here at the resort. The problem is this: There are no reservations for RV spaces at any of the storage facilities and you must take an open space when it becomes available. I was not going to pay for a month's storage for an empty space that I couldn't use before the middle of May. If I take a chance on locating a facility with a large enough space to handle our rig on the day we need to move it, we could be out of luck. Plus, the resort fees are lower and we would have enough space to open our slides if we needed to - right in the space. The storage facility spaces are so narrow that opening the slides would be impossible. It is farther away from the house, but it isn't like we need to go visit it very often.

With the RV storage decision made, I turned to the issue of locating a mover to move our belongings from the storage unit in Surprise to the house. That may take more research. We signed up for Angie's List to help us locate quality services and there are some good moving deals. The fun will be sorting through them and committing to a date to move. Right now, it looks like May 9, but we will have to be certain before we schedule anybody. The one good thing about all the planning is that it will be nice when we finally get moved in and settled...

Injury Report

We had a bit of a scare Tuesday night when Josie came home from work and could hardly move her hand. She was in pain every time she tried to twist her wrist and we were wondering what she could have done to hurt herself. She believes that the injury occurred when she tried to force a cooler door closed at work. Anyway, she went into the Urgent Care that her shop uses yesterday AM and it turns out that she strained a ligament in her wrist. Of course, for someone who uses her hands and needs the flexibility in her wrists, it was a long day for her. She was given a wrist wrap and splint to keep the movement at a minimum and this morning it seems to feel much better.

Nothing else of any significance happened yesterday as I also went into work and came home at 9 PM. It was all quiet on the new-home front as I heard nothing from anybody. I guess we are in the phase where work is being done behind the scenes. I made sure yesterday that my work schedule is clear for the projected dates that we will close and move into our home. We have the last five days of April and the first 5 days of May set aside to travel to Chicago to help Patty with the kids while she and Mark take their annual trip with Mark's company. They will go to Cabo San Lucas this year - a real nice place to go, anytime...

Repairs Are a Go

The investor that owns our home agreed to perform all of the repairs that were required as a result of the inspection on Saturday. None of them were major, but usually there are one or two that an owner will reject. This way, there is no back and forth on amendments to the existing agreement and we can move forward.

More documents were sent to the mortgage company and we should be all set on that end. I guess we will have a period of little activity for awhile as all of the various parts are working to complete the approval process.

I have a work day scheduled today but don't have to go in until this afternoon. I expect to get some research done on RV parking and movers this morning. So far, we have some tentative dates set for closing (May 7), moving our goods from storage (May 9), and moving the RV into wherever it is going (May 13). All of those dates are before our original closing date that was scheduled for May 15. We may hold off the moving from storage a day or two if we decide to do something to the floors in the new house. We would like to replace the carpet in a couple areas with either tile or wood planking. We'll make that decision very soon.

It is tough figuring out when to begin the packing because we really don't have any place to store boxes. I'm sure all of that will take care of itself as we get closer to the move. With all of this going on, it would be nice if the temperatures didn't zoom into the 100's too early...

RV Parking Out

The biggest surprise yesterday was the discovery that there was no RV parking allowed at our new home. We had driven around the neighborhood following the inspection on Saturday, and we only spotted one RV parked next to a home. That made us a little nervous about the rules, so I checked with the HOA yesterday and, sure enough, parking is not allowed where the RV will be seen above the fence. Evidently, the one we saw was either parked there being loaded, or unloaded from a recent trip. Anyway, it is a huge disappointment but not a deal breaker. The house has so much more than we could have gotten at the Pulte home and we would have had to park it at a storage unit somewhere no matter where else we lived. You have to find a home in an area that has no HOA in order to find RV parking next to your home. Those neighborhoods generally have other problems, as with no HOA, people tend to allow junk to accumulate around their homes. Now, we have to figure out how we can utilize that nice big space next to our house.

I spent a good part of the day cleaning up outside around our space so that the neighbor wanting to buy our gazebo, pavers, grass, rugs and fence will see how nice it looks when it is clean. He was expected to stop by last night, but I guess his wife got tied up at work and they didn't make it. They will most likely stop by today.

We are moving rapidly through the mortgage process and through the inspection phase. I have a lot of documents to send to the loan processor this morning and the inspection results were sent to the owner for his review and acceptance of the items we need to have repaired. So far, we see no glitches and the process is going smoothly...

Shopping and Golf

The first order of business yesterday was to go to the Arrowhead Mall where there is a jewelry repair store that we have used for years to fix our watches, change batteries and clean our rings for free. Josie found her Mickey Mouse watch on the floor between the bed and the window that she has been missing for probably two years. She thought originally that she left it in the Jeep that we sold while in WA state a couple years ago. Of course, it needed a new battery, so now it is like new again.

We also stopped at The Roomstore to see if there might be a small table and chairs that would fit in our kitchen eating area but we didn't find one that appealed to us. I guess that will be put on hold for now.

A neighbor that has been looking at taking over our site whenever we leave the resort stopped by and wanted to know if we were going to sell any of our site amenities. He was initially just interested in the gazebo, but is now interested in everything else also. He and his wife are expected later today to swing by and talk about a price for buying everything except our furniture which would suit us fine.

The final round of the Masters was on tap for the afternoon and it was one of the best Masters tournaments I've ever watched. The young man - Jordan Spieth - led from the beginning and set several records along the way. He is a breath of fresh air for the PGA Tour and a great kid that could, potentially, equal or surpass Tiger Woods as the premier golfer of recent times.

This promises to be a busy week of activities for the new house. We have the inspection results to present to the owners and we will get the appraisal done this week. Along with other paperwork, we hope to get it all but wrapped up this week...

Home Inspection Done

We met with our realtor and the inspector shortly after 1 PM yesterday. The Inspector was a very experienced guy who has been used by our realtor for years, and he really knows his stuff. He was telling us that there are some builders he loves doing inspections for, and others that are almost always full of major fixes. He mentioned Toll Brothers and Fulton Homes (our builder) as very good ones, and - he was not prompted in any way - named Pulte as one of the problem builders. Maybe, we dodged a bullet.

There are only minor fixes required and our realtor will write up the results and our request for repairs for the seller's agent by Monday. While there, we took some more photos. Starting with a photo of the home from a different angle showing the corner lot:

We took a couple more shots of the pool and pool area:

The fence and gate that are on the one side of the pool will be removed which opens up that entire area.

This is a shot of the kitchen area:

and this one of the Master bathroom:

We have decided to replace the carpeting that is in the living/dining area at the entrance and in the family room. There will be wood flooring at the entrance, and we will carry the same tile through the family room from the kitchen. Our priorities have totally shifted now that we don't have to spend any money on appliances, fans, window coverings, landscaping, etc. Also, the home is already wired, entirely, for a home security system and for surround sound throughout. We spent about 3 hours at the house with the inspector before leaving and stopping up the street - next to Cabela's - at the Cracker Barrel for some dinner:

Yesterday just added to our excitement for moving into the home. All of the steps are on schedule so far and we are anticipating a smooth process over the next couple weeks to get all approvals and the work done to be ready to move.

We'll do a little shopping this morning for a small table and chairs for the kitchen area and I will settle in to watch the final round of the Masters Golf Tournament this afternoon...

RESET! Biggest House Update

We have been going down the path of construction of our new home in Peoria, AZ, and, recently, within the last two months, we came to a realization.: We would have a beautiful new home. at a huge expense, that didn't satisfy much of what we needed and wanted. Not included in the home were: appliances (refrigerator, washer/dryer), fans, landscaping, window coverings, sun screens and screen doors, RV parking for our fifth wheel, and several other necessary, and expensive items. The main thing it was lacking was something for our families to do when they visited - there was no pool, or even a community pool for the kids. So, we started looking at options that would be cost effective and come closer to satisfying our real needs. After secretly looking at other homes over the last several weeks,

this is the home we are moving into on May 7:

 

8754 W Palmaire Ave, Glendale, AZ 85305

 

The interior is in many ways similar to the home under construction:

 

 

But the real difference is in the completely landscaped exterior with - a pool and spa:

 

 

 

 



and a very wide and fully paved RV parking space on the side for our fifth wheel:

This home is ten years old and carries this description on the listing information:

"LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. 1/2 mile from JOBBING.COM, UNIVERSITY STADIUM and numerous restaurants. This popular floorplan is highly upgraded and property has a heated pool & spa, granite counters in kitchen, upgraded 42" cabinets with glass inserts, upgraded appliances, granitec dual sinks & counter tops, same surface on tub surrounds and shower. Secondary bath has dual sinks in bath, huge laundry with over-size soaking sink, upper and lower cabinets, 2' extended three car garage, higher rating on A/C, heated pool, spa and grass area for the children. Don't miss this home!! 2x6 walls!! Extra thick insulation."

All of the above, and the total cost is over $32,000 less than the Pulte home under construction! The neighborhood - Rovey Farms Estates - is a hot area and in high demand. We were the first of three offers on this home, made the first day it came on the market!

We will be at the home today to walk through with the inspector and we will have more photos for tomorrow.

Now, it just doesn't get more exciting than this!

Another House Update

It's been a few days since we drove by the house to see any changes and that was mostly because I didn't feel much like going anywhere. I went there myself yesterday while Josie was at work and got a couple shots of the progress. With only about 5 weeks to go, they completed the stucco and outside painting, were working on completing the roof and were framing out the driveway and sidewalk in the front of the house. The inside revealed all the drywall completed, shelves placed in all the closets, laundry room, linen closets and pantry. Here is what the outside looks like at this stage:

I began to get some things lined up for the move. I found that there was an individual in the resort that will move fifth wheels for people. It's for sure that he will relocate one within the resort, but I need to talk to him about moving ours to a location outside of the resort. I'm sure that, as long as it isn't a long drive - like across the state or even to some other state - he would agree to move it for a price. I will contact him when I know for sure where it will be going.

I work today from 9:30 to 2 PM which is about as much as I like to work on a given day. More hours than that are really too much with all the standing that is required. I wouldn't even mind the standing if I could move around and do other things. It will be a normal day for Josie before we both have the weekend off - hallelujah!

Critical Period

My fever broke last night and I feel like I'm almost back from my "whatever it was" sickness. I still feel a bit weak and haven't eaten much solid food since Monday - good for the weight, though.

The next 4 weeks are very critical for us. We have some tough decisions to make regarding the transition from our workamping lifestyle to full time residents again. We saw the ad in the Workamper News yesterday for our replacements at the Virginian Lodge in Jackson. I'm sure that they will be overwhelmed with resumes and applications for that job. We hope that they find a suitable couple, but one that they are also able to part with next year. That is not a concern right now.

I will probably end my consecutive streak of blog entries at some point after we get into our home. There will not be any traveling - or very little - and it would get very boring describing a daily routine of work and some projects around the house. I will probably go to once a week or a set time frame of every few days. We'll see. The main objective for us now is to get into a home where we can have family come and visit and also get back into the home investment mode and make some money in the housing recovery. We feel we are getting back in at the right time with prices rising and interest rates still low.

Near the end of this critical period and just before Mother's Day, we will travel to Chicago and be with the twins for a week while Patty and Mark go to Cabo San Lucas for Mark's company trip. That will be a great time for them and a nice break for us...

Long Day Without Working

I honestly can't remember the last time I missed any day of work, anywhere, as a result of sickness. I was feverish and had chills right up to about noon, and it became obvious that I shouldn't go to work and take a chance on spreading anything to other folks. I didn't start to feel better until late in the afternoon, or early evening. Josie came home early from work as she had some hours to spare, and I am so glad she takes care of me. I still can't figure out what happened except to say it was probably a stomach flu of some kind. This morning is starting off a heck of a lot better.

It's a good thing I don't work again until Friday, so I should have some time to catch up on some things around the fifth wheel. We are rapidly closing in on the move date for our home, so I have to begin scheduling things like movers, transport company for the fifth wheel, mail forwarding issues, and deciding what to do with the "stuff" we have on our site here at the resort. We are thinking that most of what we have can be utilized at the new house with the possible exception of our gazebo. We will most likely advertise that for sale in the laundry room here and see if we get any nibbles.

The closer we get to closing, the more nervous we get about coordinating everything. It's a good thing we are not going to Wyoming this summer, as that would only complicate the move. It is exciting, but scary...

Sickness Carryover

Whatever it was that Josie had on Easter Sunday, I got a more severe dose last night. I was up and down a good part of the early evening and lost my cookies several times before midnight. I am still very weak this morning and have no idea what it was that caused this sickness. On top of that, I have to work today from 2 PM until 8:30. I really feel like doing that today. I will try to nurse myself until it's time to go at 1:15 so I hope I can make it. Sorry for the short post today, but that's about all I feel up to doing this morning...

Change in Easter Plans

Yesterday morning started with a concern. Josie had been up several times during the night with stomach cramps and other flu like symptoms. She went ahead and made her deviled eggs for our planned afternoon at Brian and Amy's for Easter dinner but as the morning progressed she felt feverish. I also started to get stomach pains, so we both thought there was a possibility that we had some kind of bug that potentially could be spread to the guests at Easter Dinner. That would not be a wise decision to take that chance, so we left messages for Amy that we would pass on the Easter visit. There were a couple of girls at Josie's shop that were out sick a couple of days last week with the stomach flu, and she thought she might be getting her turn with the sickness.

That made for a very quiet Easter Sunday for us. I watched the golf on TV while Josie tried to rest and get rid of whatever it was that made her feel poorly. I was feeling closer to normal toward the end of the day, but Josie was considering not going into work today for the first time in a long time. If I know her, she will still go into work as long as she has no fever and can go without any quick trips to the john.

I forgot to mention that I received another call from my doctor's office last week, after telling me initially that everything was OK, informing me that I had high cholesterol - what else is new - and he called in a prescription for me at the Pharmacy. The way I love eggs and cheeses, I will most likely always have that problem. I will go back in a couple months for another lab test to make sure the medication is working. Sometimes old eating habits are hard to break...

Happy Easter

The Resort is experiencing more weekenders and a lot more kids than normal for the holiday. I took my walk yesterday morning and discovered many more boats than normal at the launch ramp:

I'm sure there was a lot more partying also as we saw several families that were having games - like corn-hole, for example - in the middle of the roads throughout the park. All of this, and people are beginning to leave for the summer months as some of the  regular, seasonal people are heading back to their summer homes.

Our plans today include dinner at Brian and Amy's home for Easter. It will be the only day until next Saturday that Josie and I have off together. In fact, my work schedule will begin to fill again starting this week with two days scheduled. I will try to keep weekends open so we can plan some activities together.

Other than that, there is not much happening, so have a Happy Easter everybody!!

Continued Progress on House

Josie and I met at the house following her day at work yesterday to check on the progress. Another major milestone was reached as the stucco was done and the drywall is all taped and sanded and ready for the next step. They must have just completed the stucco in the afternoon as there were still some areas that were not totally dry. This is the way it looks now:

It looks like two different houses with the sun shining on the rear and not the front. The work has reached a point now where the next really big change will be the interior and exterior painting and the roof being completed. I suspect that the house will be locked up following those steps so that the interior can be finished.

Many of the neighbors that are already in their homes are completing their front landscaping themselves. The prices that the landscape companies are asking are outrageous. I don't know how we will get ours installed, but it won't be according the plan that we received from the one landscape quote we received so far. Residents have 90 days to complete the front, and another 90 days to complete the back. It appears that our May 15 closing date is right on target.

Josie works today before getting Easter Sunday off. We have been invited to Amy and Brian's for Easter dinner, so we are looking forward to seeing everybody again tomorrow...

Quiet Day

It's not very exciting when the major event of the day is a haircut. There wasn't much to do yesterday except get a much needed haircut. I used to go to the same place and have the same barber each time, but since living so far from Surprise, I have tried to discover another, closer barber. I tried one at the Walmart that is fairly close to us. I think the person that cut my hair - Jasmine - was a new stylist as she took forever to cut my hair and I had to coach her the whole way through. My first signal that she didn't really know what she was doing was that she asked me how the back of my hair looked after ten minutes of taking a little off at a time. She asked me that question without having a mirror or any way to see the back of my head. I answered "I don't know, I can't see it". Anyway, I'm probably good to go for another eight weeks or so.

The winds came back yesterday afternoon and haven't let up very much. Gusts to near 30 with steady winds in the 15-20 mph range are creating the rock 'n roll sleeping experience again. We will have these for probably another day if the normal pattern continues. That is one thing we will not miss when we move into our house. The house won't sway - hopefully - when the wind blows hard.

TGIF and Josie works today and tomorrow, so we will have a single day off together again this week. Her schedule gives her the next two weekends off, so, if Sam's Club doesn't schedule me for any weekend time, we should be able to do some things together during those weekends.

The hot days of temps in the 90's has ended for now and we are back to the normal for this time of year in the 80's. I'm sure the 100 degree days are just around the corner...

Longer Days

The longer days that we are experiencing as we get closer to summer are impacting our work schedules. The early morning sun is in Josie's face as she drives to work and the entire afternoon that I spend working the entrance at Sam's Club has the sun directly in my face from about 4 PM until the sun goes down at around 6:30. It makes it difficult to even see who is coming through the door. As the sun moves farther north for summer, it will only get worse. We love to have clear, sunny days, but we pay a price for them.

There wasn't much else to say about yesterday except Josie did laundry while I was at work and when I returned home at 9 PM there wasn't much time left in the day.

It also looks like the re-paving project on Carefree highway hasn't ended yet. The lines are long again and the wait can be as long as 20 minutes as they are putting another coat of blacktop on the entire road from our street all the way to I-17 which is about 10 miles away. Just when we thought it was all done, it starts over again. It makes no sense either, as they painted the lines on the road following the initial application and now they are covering those up with the new layer. Go figure.

I have the day off today as Josie works her normal, full day, so it looks like business as usual for today...

More Lake Debris

During my walk yesterday AM I saw that the lake is once more suffering from whatever is happening at the north end that is causing debris to float down to the south end. Once again, the south boat ramp was closed as the debris piled up:

The entire winter season has been punctuated with this runoff from the north side. The resort has tried to cope with this problem by trying to remove it with a front loader, siphoning off the debris at the boat ramp, but there is too much for that solution to be effective.

Josie had a short work day yesterday to prevent overtime on her work week - the new week begins today. We took a drive to Lowe's and Home Depot to check out their appliances, lights and area rugs. While we were there, we stopped at the model of our new home which is just around the corner, and took some more measurements - this time of the patio area. There were some nice flowers outside of the model and we had to get a shot of this Hibiscus that was in full bloom:

These pretty flowers were all over the rear yard at the model.

We stopped at the house to see if there was any more work done and the drywall was being taped. We didn't stay very long but met another neighbor a couple houses up the street from ours (David) who has a background that includes some landscaping experience. He was doing his own landscaping and putting in a courtyard in the front of his home. He will be a good resource for us as we begin our landscaping later in the year.

We had a nice, long telephone conversation - about one hour - last night with our friend and coworker in Jackson - Donna. She is not especially happy with the changes taking place at the lodge, but she also got a promotion to manage the liquor store which is a good move for her. She is one that we will definitely miss this summer, but plan to stay in touch and remain updated on the changes that are being made.


I have to work today from 1:30 to 8:30 and wouldn't you know that Josie has the day off. We will probably rarely ever have the same days off as long as we work the jobs we now have, but that's OK as we are thankful to have them...