Moving Forward on Some Fronts

I took the trial hearing aids back to the Audiologist and reported to her that they did not perform, for me at least, according to their hype. I will wait on pursuing any option to replace the ones I currently have.

Today, Josie will finalize her next move in the flower shops. She will give notice to her manager at Phoenix Flower Shops and will connect with the HR person at Cactus Flower to move ahead with the changeover. Her final day at Phoenix Flower Shops will be set today, and her start date at Cactus will be arranged. She had a discussion yesterday with the owner of the Phoenix Flower Shops, and he, basically, indicated that they tried to accommodate her in every way. What a joke. We all know that she has gone out of her way to work at the locations where she was needed most and that in almost ten years she has had no increase in pay, and no help with mileage while working at the far away locations. It is definitely time to move on.

I had another call yesterday from the Amazon folks about working at their Distribution Center on Buckeye Rd in Phoenix. The pay is very good but the hours and the commute are terrible. That will not happen. I have been very busy trying to get things on track from our decisions regarding the house and other long term planning. There are still many things to coordinate. We are hoping things go well the rest of the year and into the next year...

A Few Updates

First of all, it was a mostly disappointing day on the pro football scene. Although the Cardinals won - against the worst team in football - the Seahawks struggled in lousy weather and eventually lost in the final seconds to the Redskins, 17-14. They just don't have the dominant team that we are used to seeing.

Josie's decision on the work situation will wait one more day. She wants to get clarification on a couple points from Cactus Flower, and her manager at Phoenix Flower Shops is off on Mondays so she cannot give notice anyway. It appears that she will be making the move back to Cactus Flower if all goes according to plan. Her current shop traditionally doesn't accommodate any employee, no matter what the situation or who it is. Believe me, they will be sorry they let her go if that happens.

We expect to begin seeing some housing options soon. The property manager is busy working the issues with their monthly rent collections from their properties and will begin getting some ideas to us any day now. Our tenant is officially committed to vacate by 12/31/2017.

I will take the "trial" hearing aids back to the Audiologist today. These new technology hearing aids don't perform as well for me as my current set, and they aren't even comfortable while wearing them. Why waste time with them.

It promises to be an exciting week - stay tuned...

Work Options

It was an interesting day for Josie - both of us, actually,  - as she spent about 1.5 hours interviewing with a familiar employer at a familiar location. She interviewed with her old employer of nearly 8 years back in the early 2000's - Cactus Flower Florist - at her familiar location at the store in Glendale at 67th Ave. She made contact with them last week and arranged this interview as an option to her very uncomfortable, split working arrangement at Phoenix Flower Shops where she has had to travel to 7th St at the downtown location a couple days a week. Also, Cactus will pay her substantially more than Phoenix Flower Shops who does not believe in giving raises to employees. In eight years, Josie hasn't - nor have any of the other employees at that company - had any salary increases. It is a terribly unfair policy to the employees and results in them losing many valuable people.

Cactus Flower wants Josie to come back - and immediately. They have also offered a management position which is even more money to her. The store where she is most needed is the Cave Creek store location which is in downtown Cave Creek next to Carefree. That has a lot of appeal to us as we love that area and could be a possibility for us to rent a home nearby. Any split working arrangement between the Glendale store and the Cave Creek store would be so much better than her current arrangement, even if we stayed in this area. So, she has a decision to make before going to work tomorrow.

We expect to begin seeing some rental properties (on paper, at least) this week that satisfy our requirements. At this point, we don't know where to concentrate on these offerings until Josie's work arrangements are finalized. That should happen sometime this week.

It looks like another good day of football on TV as the Seahawks play the Redskins this afternoon. After another close loss by Penn State yesterday, their 2nd in a row, I'm ready for a blow-out win by the Seahawks...

Hearing Aid Experiment

My hearing test yesterday produced no surprises. My hearing has gotten a little worse in the higher ranges, but has remained the same (bad) in the rest of the ranges. I was there for about 1.5 hours and my Audiologist is trying an experiment with the newest and latest technologically advanced hearing aids. She indicated that my current hearing aids do not produce the power required to effectively separate the background noises and these new ones should be a vast improvement. Of course, she wants to sell them to me after the one week trial period, but there is little chance of that happening. These hearing aids would have to bring back my hearing ability to where it was when I was 21 years old in order for them to be worth the money. That won't happen. After only one day, I can't see enough of an improvement to justify switching - at any cost. I will try them for the trial period and then return them for my old ones next Friday.

Josie worked at the 7th St store again yesterday and that drive is really brutal. It takes her one hour to commute each way to that location. We will address that situation next week.

It's nice to have weekends off together so we will try to do some things that we enjoy. One idea is to drive through a couple of areas where we think it would be nice to rent a home. We have seen some nice homes in different areas where RV's are allowed to be parked on the properties. Both of us are getting anxious to get on with the plan so that we can get our goods out of storage and have our RV with us all the time...

More Appointments

Josie had her appointment yesterday morning with her Neurologist and, as a result, will have several more appointments to get shots in her back and legs to help with her recurring pain in those areas. I have my appointment today with the Audiologist to get my annual hearing test. That result is as predictable as the summer heat in AZ. My hearing is not improving, and the test will only show that my hearing is, at best, the same as last year. I expect it to be slightly worse as that is the way it goes. I will also get my hearing aids cleaned at that appointment.

I still haven't decided on which way to go with the cataract issue. I guess I will opt for the surgery since it is going to happen anyway within the next couple years. The next step will be to find out how much the insurance will cover - or, will not cover. Depending on that number, I may be wearing glasses forever.

For the first time this season I saw a line at the office for check-ins. There were several RV's in front of the office and the park is now getting ready for the winter crowd. With cooler temperatures arriving now, it is a great time to be here in sunny Arizona...

Baseball History

The 7th game of the World Series last night did not disappoint. The Houston Astros took it to the Dodgers and won 5-1 to win their first ever World Series in franchise history. What a great series. The two teams were closely matched and, I believe, it was pure determination that provided the Astros edge in the end. We saw where there were over 17K fans in the Astros stadium in Houston to watch the final game on the big screen. They truly deserve  the championship as that city has been through a lot this year.

I had my eye exam in the morning yesterday and have a decision to make. Do I get another prescription filled for glasses, or do I opt for the inevitable cataract surgery. I will eventually have to have it anyway, probably within a couple of years. I was given a packet that describes the options and will read over the material in the next couple of days. The doctor said that new glasses would be a waste of money if I go the surgery route within a year or so.

We are going to start to get some listings on available properties that match our requirements to rent. The time frame depends solely on how quickly our home sells. If it is anything like the time we purchased it, it will not last on the market very long. It will (hopefully) be an exciting experience for us...

Filling Our Schedule

Our calendar is filling up with more appointments - rapidly. I have one today for an eye exam and another on Friday for my annual hearing test. Josie has one tomorrow AM with her Neurologist before going to work. I will schedule my annual physical either next week or the week after. All of these appointments occur at about the same time each year and is one reason we return to this area each winter season. Just like clockwork.

The situation with our mysterious stain is not much different from yesterday. I put some bleach on the stain which seems to help but I only had a small amount of bleach. I will get more today and try again. Of course, we need to discover the source of  "whatever is causing this" and that may not be easy. It is obviously coming from under the floor and I am not up to removing any part of it, so we will see what happens from here.

Well, it all comes down to one final game in the World Series tonight. Game 7 should be a bell ringer as the two teams are evenly matched. I am still rooting for the Astros to win their first ever title...