2019: Time to Assess, Set Goals, and Carry On
Last year was chock full of change for Camp Rogers. Mr R, my IT Guy, finally retired from his day job. We sold our house in Seattle and bought a house near Owyhee County where my Hearts of Owyhee series is set.
We went from a postage size lot with neighbors in our armpits to a 1.25 acre lot with a huge yard and massive garden, of which we're not sure we're up to tending properly--time will tell. Our new house is quite a bit smaller but Mr R has a humungous shop, so it all evens out.
All went well until Christmas Day, when our furnace decided to push up daisies. That's not good when it's 14 degrees outside! So for the last week, we've had repairmen and installers buzzing over and under our house putting in a new furnace and insulating the ducts. We had the same outfit put in a hot water recirculation pump (because it took running water for two minutes and nine seconds to get water to the back bathroom) and insulate both the hot water and cold water pipes. They finally got done today.
This isn't the end of it, either, because Mr R has some electrical things he wants to get done. Mucho dinero, for sure. Also, we have to get the bathrooms and kitchen remodeled. The latter will be quite extensive. And we still don't have the guest room set up, which is important because I want my friends to come visit. Time is passing by! There's nothing like the calendar turning over a new year to remind us of that.
Of course, we had a marvelous Christmas present. A cat adopted us. He was meowing and we couldn't let him stay out in the 15-degree weather, so I let him in the house. He scampered right over to the pantry expecting to be fed. How he knew where the pantry was, I have no idea. Then he ate, meowed at Mr R, then jumped on our bed and went to sleep.
As for writing, well, I haven't been able to get back in the saddle yet, but I'm close. We've done some brainstorming and I have four possible beginnings. I might just have to start writing and see what happens, but that generally gets me into trouble. Oh well, Trouble is my middle name. LOL.
Has it all be worth the hassle and backache? Yes. Idaho is beautiful, the people are friendly, and besides, I belong here. Ultimately, this was a good move for us and yes, I'll start cranking out books soon.
Happy New Year! And Happy Reading, too.
We went from a postage size lot with neighbors in our armpits to a 1.25 acre lot with a huge yard and massive garden, of which we're not sure we're up to tending properly--time will tell. Our new house is quite a bit smaller but Mr R has a humungous shop, so it all evens out.
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| Part of our very cold back yard. |
All went well until Christmas Day, when our furnace decided to push up daisies. That's not good when it's 14 degrees outside! So for the last week, we've had repairmen and installers buzzing over and under our house putting in a new furnace and insulating the ducts. We had the same outfit put in a hot water recirculation pump (because it took running water for two minutes and nine seconds to get water to the back bathroom) and insulate both the hot water and cold water pipes. They finally got done today.
This isn't the end of it, either, because Mr R has some electrical things he wants to get done. Mucho dinero, for sure. Also, we have to get the bathrooms and kitchen remodeled. The latter will be quite extensive. And we still don't have the guest room set up, which is important because I want my friends to come visit. Time is passing by! There's nothing like the calendar turning over a new year to remind us of that.
Of course, we had a marvelous Christmas present. A cat adopted us. He was meowing and we couldn't let him stay out in the 15-degree weather, so I let him in the house. He scampered right over to the pantry expecting to be fed. How he knew where the pantry was, I have no idea. Then he ate, meowed at Mr R, then jumped on our bed and went to sleep.
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| Meet Walter, a very confident kitty. |
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| Idaho has beautiful sunsets. |
Happy New Year! And Happy Reading, too.
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Oh, I've done all that kind of remodeling. Good luck. Hope you sell a gazillion books! *g* Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you, Joan! I'm not looking forward to the remodeling mess but I'm excited to get the house set up exactly for us. That will be amazing. My guess is that writing might suffer for a while but not for long.
DeleteRemodeling can drive you crazy. We decided to remodel our main bathroom in Pennsylvania and found a contractor we really trust. So while we're in Florida for a few months, our bathroom will be redone. We keep getting pictures, and I'm excited to see it when we return. Best of luck with your renovations. And Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteI sure wish we could do the same, but we'll be living here during the remodel, and this house isn't that big! We'll live through it, though. Even with a remodeling project, we're lucky to have a warm house, beautiful yard, and great neighbors. I just have to remember that.
DeletePoor Honey went towards Arizona and we don't know if she got there or not. Poor thing is out wandering in the cold. Better get crackin' so we know what happened to her. LOL Hope the remodeling doesn't make you crazier. Wish we could remodel out kitchen and paint. Getting settled is taking longer than we thought.
ReplyDeleteI want to get the remodeling done before we run out of... ahem... resources. And you're coming to visit in June so it would be really nice to have the kitchen and bathrooms done before then. It's a conundrum because we also don't want to rush into something that won't work well, so we want to spend a goodly amount of time mulling over the design. We won't be moving again and we have to prepare for twenty years from now.
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