Retirement Changes in a Big House

In Tracy, we had a cleaning service every other week and a gardener every week.  We also had a weekly pool guy.  Those services were luxuries that we covered in our household budget as a trade off for the crazy jobs and commutes we had.  Even when I started working less than 2 miles from our house, we kept them because I knew the job with the school district was way more than a 40 hour a week job.  (WAY!).  

In our new home, we're managing to take care of things on our own so far.  I joke with myself about finding inspiration in doing simple things well - but truthfully, there is no joy or zen involved in cleaning toilets.  

J. says 'make a detailed list by room and I will follow the list'.  This sounds good in theory but...in practice, not so much.  Example:  the list for bathroom cleaning would say 'clean the toilet'.  J. will do that.  He will clean the bowl.  He won't clean the seats, under the seat, the back where the seat meats the tank, the top and sides of the tank, the toilet base.  None of that will even register as needing to be done.  He'll swish cleaner in the bowls and call it done.  

I'm thinking the idea of a list isn't really going to work unless it includes every possible item to be done with detailed precision.  And crafting that level of detail on a multi-page Excel spreadsheet with a check-list component feels exhausting. 

So I try to clean the toilets myself.  See what I mean about no joy in toilet cleaning?  

We can definitely afford to hire a cleaning lady again.  Our monthly budget is perfectly fine and we can wedge in that expense again if we'd like.  I just keep thinking we're two retired people with a lot of time on our hands so we ought to be able to do this.  

Same with the yard.  It's beautiful but I'm realizing it's also going to be super high maintenance.  Very low maintenance during Winter - so that's three months of not having to do anything at all - but when Spring comes, the next 3 seasons are going to be intense.  And that's just the general maintenance - doesn't include the vigilance required for mole prevention.  

Winter is coming and I envision lots of days holed up in our house baking bread, making soups and puttering around the house.  There should be lots of time for puttering.  

It's been in the low 20's nightly for the past few nights so we've had to turn off the drip irrigation and remove all the hoses from the hose bibs outside.  No rain means we have to water the plants at least every other day or so to ensure they head into their winter dormancy state alive.  (NOTE:  we've lost about 5 plants so far and our landscaper has already promised to replant them in the Spring.  Some of the plants he purchased just didn't survive being transplanted).  

We gauge the nightly level of freezing by the state of the water in the bird baths outside.  Frozen solid this morning but they will warm up in the sun.

Construction Cleaning

Just when J. had pretty much managed to rid the garage of a ton of cardboard boxes - filling up to the brim two HUGE recycling totes every other week since we moved in - we tackled unpacking all the wall art.  Spent the last couple days unboxing and unwrapping.  We identified quite a few pieces we plan to let Salvation Army take with them tomorrow.  The rest we sort of pended as we sketch out what will go where.

I watched the video on how to use the Command picture hanging strips.  Felt ready.  Picked the 'You're the cheese to my macaroni' wall art to start with.  It's small, not heavy.  Completely do-able.  Got the strips on no problem.  

Prepared the wall - which involved wiping the area where you plan to hang the pic with rubbing alcohol.  It dries very quickly so made sense they would suggest using that.  

Let's just say that we know have a small area of the wall in the study that is a COMPLETELY different color than the rest of the room.  Why?  'Cuz the walls are completely filthy - covered with construction dust.  We got the dust off of the area we plan to hang the picture but the rest of the space?  Super dusty. 

I just want to cry.  Really.  We need to wash every square inch of wall space in this house and while I've sort of had a feeling that's what we would need to do, the stark reality of it is just incredibly overwhelming.  

I'll be stewing over this for a while.  But it's pretty clear it's the only way to proceed - which means we spent a ton of time unpacking art work for nothing 'cuz we have a gazillion walls to wash before we can hang anything. 

Hi again.  It's now October 25th so 19 days from when I drafted the above. 

We did wash the walls and glad we did.  We honestly should have done it first thing upon taking possession of the house but...we've never built a 'custom' home and honestly, truly expected the builder to hire a cleaning crew to remove all evidence of construction from the house.  He doesn't do that - they do what's called a 'broom clean' - sweeping up obvious debris and dust but not really getting the walls really clean.  It's been chore (still more to go) but it's good to be working on it.

We still have a discolored spot in the office from the rubbing alcohol so...hopefully, we can put a picture up there so it won't show.  

J. is getting his radiation therapy daily M-F.  It's pretty easy - travel is super easy - it's 5 minutes away from the house.  He's back home usually 30 minutes after he left.  So far, he feels great.  No side effects at all yet.  This coming week is week three so he is aware he may have some fatigue but so far, he's doing great!  He's playing a lot of golf and working around the yard.  He's like the energizer bunny.  

We continue "The Battle with the Moles/Voles" and hope we have made progress.  I bought a product that creates a smell they can't stand - we sprinkled that around the base of every plant in the yard.  J. also added more sonic noise emitters.  We put in a call to the golf course groundskeeper as well because honestly, the moles were on the course long before we moved in.  We've been seeing 'diggings' every day but had (wrongly) assumed it was rabbits.  It's not.  

I make one or two trips to the casino in Reno weekly depending on scheduled free play.  I have a post in process about some of my experiences and revelations about the psychology of gambling (as told by a novice).  

Our great room furniture arrived this past Thursday and WE LOVE IT!  It's really making the house feel like home and we love what we picked out.  We're still waiting on the dining room furniture, bar stools for the island and the entryway rug.  Everything is really beautiful and really high quality - it's the nicest furniture we've ever owned.  

It's really starting to feel like Fall.  I've been turning the heat on briefly before bed to take the chill off the room and J. got out our winter down comforters and duvets for the beds because we were both starting to sleep with a stack of blankets on the bed - 

B.'s unit is finally returning home to Ft. Campbell - they leave Texas on Monday.  He's super excited about being home - and his main reason is he purchased a new car in Nashville while he was deployed and the dealer is holding it for him.  He bought himself a BMW SUV - yes, you read that right.  Couldn't really argue with him doing it - he's an adult, 3 months away from turning 30 and he saved up a massive amount of money to put a huge down payment on the car.  He's super excited and I can't blame him!  

H. is working for Dr. Pepper Keurig and doing well.  It's hard work - lots of lifting...but he's doing great. He's having some issues with getting a regular paycheck routine established - he actually hasn't been paid for a few weeks and is being told it's because a couple weeks where he worked a few hours they just pended.  As of this coming week, he's officially full time - so we hope that will all get sorted out.  

I spent this past Monday evening in the ER with a UTI.  The acute INCREDIBLY painful symptoms started around 8PM and by the time 10:30PM rolled around, I was terrified of waiting overnight to get to a doctor.  I also felt terrible about using ER resources for something so simple but there really wasn't any other option.  It was a new Moon and boy, howdy the ER was a bit crazy.  But I was home just after 1:30AM and while it was an uncomfortable night, the pain was much better after the first dose of antibiotics were in my system.  I have a followup with my 'regular' doctor on Tuesday and think the meds need to continue - still having some symptoms and don't want to risk it simmering for weeks.  

That's all the news to report so far.  The days are flying by - OH!  We finally found the bag of missing Disney Pins!  We worked in the garage a bit this week, continuing the massive cardboard cutting and general tidying and viola!  There they were next to the bag of my Disney stuffed animals which we've had since the kids were babies.  I'm going to donate the stuffed animals to the thrift shop - it's time to let them go.  But the pins are staying and I can add the pins I had in a box from our Florida trip in 2018. 

Travel beckons - we are both so ready to get back to Paris & London and venture into Italy.  And I'd really love to get back to Disney World!  Someday.  

Damn COVID-19.