Active Schedule

Most of the activity over the last several days has been Josie's work schedule - very busy. Yesterday was to be a short day with the shop Christmas party including the gift exchange taking place following work. They were so busy that the only party they had was at lunch time and they then worked until after 5:30 PM. She is off today but works again tomorrow and Tuesday.

Today will be a busy day in another way. Our friends - Rodger and Sue Sandlin - are expected this afternoon at around 2-3 PM. They are passing through on their way to Ajo, AZ tomorrow and then on to the east coast where they have family. We will have (hopefully) a nice visit with dinner planned in the early evening. We still haven't decided what to have for dinner so that needs to happen very soon so that I can go to the store and buy the fix-ins. The weather is expected to hold through the day so that is good news. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 70's which is perfect.

Only three days to go before Christmas, so We hope everybody is ready, or close to it...

Explanation on Termites and More

I wanted to point out that the termites that were found in our house were only in the new addition that was completed by the previous owners. The addition represents the new family room and the expanded master bedroom. The termites were discovered where the cement joints were placed that connects the two construction phases. There are no termites that were found in the original part of the house. The termite company will provide a 5 year warranty after the work is performed on January 16, 2020 to rid the house totally of termites.

We also had our annual "wellness" exams at our doctor's office on Monday which I didn't mention. We both checked out OK and this morning we had our blood work done at the lab which will be reviewed by our doctor in another appointment scheduled for January 7. I see no major problems with any of that.

This afternoon we visited the T-Mobile office in Glendale and started the transfer from AT&T to T-Mobile. We have to wait until our refinance gets completed (funded) so that we can allow another inquiry into our credit. That will happen on Monday, so our official transfer to T-Mobile will occur on Tuesday. That move will save half of our cell phone bill each month. Why pay $260 each month for the same service that we can get for $130 each month at T-Mobile. All services and benefits are included at that new price - including phone insurance and the new hotspot. I am impressed with the growth and development of T-Mobile and expect equal - or better - service than we had with AT&T.

We have our friends - Rodger and Sue Sandlin - that we worked with at Amazon back in Kentucky years ago visiting with us this Sunday. They are stopping by to visit following their completed work schedule at a JC Penney warehouse in Reno, NV that was similar work to Amazon. We are looking forward to seeing them and spending some time reminiscing on Sunday on their way through Arizona to points east to visit family...

New Update

There have been some changes recently in the way we will move forward. Some things are not important but there are a couple that are worth mentioning.

The first is that we signed all the documents this AM for the refinance on our mortgage. We were able to get favorable terms that reduced the interest rate by 3/4%. That is actually a nice reduction in our mortgage payment that helps with our new budget and the planned lifestyle without all the traveling. We also get to skip the mortgage payment for January as a result of the new loan which sure helps with the expenses over the Christmas season.

The second item is not such good news and kind of negates some of the impact of the first item. Already, we are committed to an expense that was not planned. Based on a termite inspection this morning, we will have to have a treatment that will cost us $725 and will take place in January. As  you may recall, we returned home from our summer travels to see some "tubes" hanging from our family room ceiling. Suspecting that there were termites that produced them, we had our inspection today to confirm the news. So, we will have a treatment performed on January 16 to rid the creatures forever. We take the bad news along with the good news and move on.

We mailed our Christmas package to Naperville this AM and the Guido's will receive it on Saturday, the 21st - in time for Christmas. It's time now to really get into the Christmas spirit and we look forward to that...

Week of Activities

The last week since my last post has been busy with lots of chores and projects around the house. Josie has been off since Monday and we have done some things in the back of the house and also had our landscaper come in and do a cleanup and trim of the bushes in the front of the house. He will return in January to trim our fruit trees and the palm trees. Speaking of the fruit trees, we have an abundant supply of oranges and lemons this year. These shots are of two of our trees that are just loaded with fruit:

There is no way that we can consume all that fruit ourselves. Josie will take some into work and we will offer some to anybody else that wants some. The oranges are very sweet and the lemons are perfect.

We also picked up some "deer and rabbit fence" spray to help keep the rabbits off of our back patio. We are getting tired of getting out the blower to remove all the rabbit "poop" that we are getting. So far, it has done the job as I haven't seen any new poop since we sprayed.

It looks like we might have some termites to deal with. When we returned from our summer trip, we discovered some mysterious material hanging from small holes in our family room ceiling. We didn't think much about it until we saw some photos of the exact same material that was representative of termites. I will contact a company to come out and investigate the situation asap as we don't want to wait on that problem.

I got the oil changed in the Escape this morning so that is ready to go for the next six months.

I'll keep everybody posted on any significant happenings as they occur - especially as we get closer to Christmas...

Just an Update

We have been spending almost all of our time - free time, that is - getting a few more decorations placed around the house. Josie has been working at the shop - 4 days this week - and is looking forward to having this weekend off. I keep looking at the "challenge" that we face in the garage and keep saying to myself "nah, it's not time to tackle that yet".

I have our landscaper scheduled for Monday to come and trim a few of our bushes that have been getting out of control. We have tons of fruit on our trees and he will return in January to trim our fruit trees.

I have returned to my cross stitch piece that wasn't completed in time to take to Jackson this past summer. I will finish it now without worrying about taking it to Jackson. Our plan, as you know, is to not go this year.

Basically, we are entering a "boring" phase of our lives and plan to stick close to home for the foreseeable future. Of course, things can change....

More Tree

The photo I published of our Christmas tree yesterday was not the finished look. Josie decided to put more ornaments on yesterday and this is now the new look - side by side:

The star got a little "twisted" in the new version and we will straighten that out this morning. (click on each photo to enlarge)

We went into the garage yesterday and located more Christmas decorations in the stack of boxes. Not only did Josie add to the tree, but she has placed decorations all around the house. It really looks like Christmas now.

So, here we are in December now and there are only 23 more days until Christmas. That should be enough time to get everything done that we need to do.

Josie has today off and then it's back to work for the next 4 days....

Tree is Up

We got a start on Christmas over the weekend by putting up the tree. It is actually late this year with the shorter time frame between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is our 2019 tree:

We still have some decorating to do in the house but the main feature is ready to go. This year, we will not have as much in the way of decorations. The outside lights will be omitted except for a couple small items as we were the only folks on the block last year that had a display outside. It seems that most of the people on the block either go away for the holidays or are too old or bothered to install the Christmas decorations. I must admit, it is a hassle to get out the lights and decorations only to put them back in a month. It is the spirit that counts, not the show of decorations - right?

Josie started back at the flower shop yesterday and it was a good day for her. She was welcomed back and was given her schedule for December. She will work 4 days one week and three the next for altrernating weeks. That is just the way she wants it - not full time, but enough days to make some money and stay active in the business. It's good to see her without so much stress for a change.

There were some good football games on TV yesterday. The traditional rivalries were played out yesterday with a couple surprises, but mostly outcomes according to projections. The ASU/AZ game was a good one but ASU won as expected. The pros play today and we are getting closer to playoff time. A lot can happen in the few weeks remaining and it should be interesting to watch....