The Deed is Done

Today we became owners of the property at 353 W. Champagne Dr. Get the keys tomorrow. 20 days to move from our present to our retirement home. I walked the property before dusk and picked some nice lemons, looked in the windows...again. Stared over the wall at the pool area, knowing it needs some TLC. Walked behind our fence to discover a huge area that is maintained by our HMO but is ours to enjoy, as the location of this lot has so much room between house and fences. We have always been homebodies who enjoy maintaining and improving our property, a land baron am I!! You can see the large walking area behind us, and the really cool solar water heating system on the roof, and of course the patio waiting for our furniture to arrive. We are so blessed to have one more dream home. Now if I could get that couple from Waco to decorate with all their stuff!!

The Kissing Kid and Other Adventures

My bride and the groom 41 years ago. Hey honey, I bought a resort for our retirement!

Laura has been teaching long enough that some of her first graders and graduating from High School!!! Believe of not one student and his mom thanked her for the positive influence she was on his education, as he is graduating with scholarships.

She is sending him a piece of work she kept all these years to demonstrate good first grade penmanship. A very school deja vu kind of thing. Especially so because her drama this year has been dealing with a boy who won't stop placing unwanted affection on a sweet and innocent girl in the class. His mom says its her fault and so the drama of abuse begins. (this blog post will never reach this mom), so they moved him and he has chosen other girls to kiss. Such are the problems of teaching children to read and write in a culture where children see and hear way too much.

So busy getting this house sold and the other house closed I can't think straight.

The Tail of the Jiggly Shower Handle

The nice couple who sold us their winter home, now our year around resort, gave us this gas fired charcoal patio piece. We have our furniture waiting for some serious pool side lounging ahead.


Our Shower Handle Fixture has a loose screw, right behind the handle, and thus inaccessible to tighten without removing the handle. Our handy man told me you just take it off, tighten the screw and everything is easy peasy.


Problem is that the handle has a hex bolt, and my hex set has one too small and the next one too large. Again I am the frustrated un handy man.

In a few days we will sign the final loan papers to own our retirement home down the street. The owners have emptied it, and cleaned it, and locked it up except of one window into the living area. It was fun to walk around it after all these 14 years of admiring it when I passed by.

Now the endlessly tedious and difficult task of boxing all the breakables and preparing all the moveables, and leaving this house in the same clean and attractive manner as our sellers.

The big difference, I will not be rising to head to work at 8am, and work the weeks and the weekends. Working out what our days will be like with lots of help from out friends.

The tale of the skirted toilet and the un handyman

Why did the Chicken, cross the road...to find the answers.

Not too long after our master bath remodel the toilet seat got loose and we realized that we owned an amazing new type of toilet, at least for us,
called the skirted toilet. Until this week I did not know the name and thus all my google searches came up slightly askew. We tried in vain to figure out how to used the standard screw in end in a toilet that had no access from the underside.

Weeks and months and at least three failed attempts finally led us through many conversations to the concept of the top mounted toilet seat. I went to the plumbing supply store hope not to have to replace an almost new toilet and found top mounted rubber ribbed bolts called well nuts in the handyman vernacular.

Anyhow, what a handy man might know yours truly does not know, and a ten dollar repair took three times that and weeks and weeks of frustration.

Chapter two: the tale of the jiggly shower handle, and the continued frustrations of the un handyman.

Home Number Four

As I have shared before, in our early marriage we lived for over 10 years in church owned parsonages, which were called Manses in the Presbyterian tradition. They were delightful, over 100 years old with high ceilings and charm, but getting improvements and repairs was hard and everyone kind of felt like they owned it with you, in a kindly sort of way.

So we have now bought, lived in, improved, and sold three homes, and this last one is the one where we will spend most of our days, as I am currently beginning the process of vacating my office in a few months. So for the next weeks we close the deals, sign lots of papers, pack lots of boxes, and try to get our stuff .7 tenths of a mile away without bending or breaking, and as affordably as possible.

Counting some very short stays in apartments, this is the 12th dwelling in our fourty one year marriage.

I will keep you up to date with the progress. This is my dream home in many ways.

Why do more things go wrong during life change?

We are finding our stress levels and sudden problems arising all during a time of change and transition. Learning not to dwell on that which cannot be changed and look for creative ways to change those things that can be changed.

Countdown to life change

I love this because there is a couple who swam out to the island that lies in the far background visible if you look closely.

As the weeks move toward my retirement I find myself reflecting on creating quality of life and joy and also on continued usefulness to my gifting.

Still working on getting our home sold, roof issues. Still lots to do in our transition months. Thankful.

An unnatural way to live

A cute home on the Island of Kauai.

When you are selling a home you clean up and declutter and simplify and leave your home in pristene as possible condition when you leave. What an unnatural way to live!

Then someone calls you to bring a client and you take one last look and hide everything you can, and turn on all your lights and fix all your window dressings are balanced. And you have to dissapear somewhere for an hour.

Day after Day, and the cards are left on your counter, and you hope someone sees in the house what you see everyday. Its all very emotional and very unnatural.