HOT & STICKY

If there's one thing the people here cannot do without, it's their air conditioning.  The summer can heat up to 115 - 120 degrees and be so humid you can hardly breathe.  The funny (NOT ha-ha) thing is, it stays warm even into the evening.  Ken said once last summer he was driving home at 6:00 p.m. and the bank's digital thermometer billboard still read well over 100.  So it becomes a real crisis when your a/c dies.

Which, of course, is what ours did.  I should have read the signs.  It didn't seem to get all that cool in the house and our bedroom, about the furthest away from the a/c unit, would stay fairly warm.  Sunday evening after dropping Jonathan off at the church to go to Scout Camp, I came home...and it really was a bit too warm.  By Monday, it was obvious.  Our a/c was not functioning.  Well, it was blowing air, it just wasn't cold.

So we had someone come & look at it.  Prognosis: dead.  The compressor was shot.  A new unit?  $1,600.  Gee, if only I had that on hand.  Last week's water line replacement kind of ate into my capital.

While pondering what could be done, we've been pretty warm.  See, some brilliant person painted most of the windows shut.  And not just a little bit that could be easily sliced through.  Nope, they did a thorough job.  And the windows that could open...no screens.  Luckily, Ken found some in the garage that fit three windows in our home.  So, we have three windows in three rooms that provide some air, along with the ceiling fan movement - one in the living room, one in Jonathan's bedroom, and one back in the den.  For the first few nights, Analiese has been sleeping on the floor of the den under the open window.

Because of Jonathan being gone, I'd made lots of plans for stuff for Analiese & I to do, which has kept us out of the house and into air conditioned venues.  She's taken art classes in the library, we've gone to free movies a church (that is housed in an old movie theater) provides for the kids of the community, and she's gone to 4H sewing class.  Wednesday, however, was the day to top it all.

She and I headed out to Lawton for the day.  I needed to go to Sam's Club and start building up my supplies again and the closest one is in Lawton - a larger town than ours and 52 miles away (Ken says 46, but my GPS said 52 and I believe it!).  When you have to go so far for stuff, you plan it out.  Lawton has more and bigger stores - they're even building a Target & Petsmart!   I can't tell you how excited people are around here that a Target is coming.  You'd think with this being Wal-martland they wouldn't care.  It's funny.

We went to Hobby Lobby first, though, since I knew I'd have to drive straight back from Sam's with my perishables.  I needed something to hand my keys on...and I wanted something not just utilitarian, even if I had to make it.  Actually, I didn't, because they had all their metal decor 50% off and I got the cutest key holder that says "Home" on it.  And...we met up with a mom & two of her daughters (her son was off at camp with Jonathan) from our ward at the check out.  They had to go to Sam's, too, so we had lunch together (cheapest meal in town!) and then did our shopping.  

But our day wasn't over, because I'd promised Analiese that in the evening, Ken & I would take her to the city pool, which is just a few blocks away from our home.  They have an indoor and outdoor pool...and the outdoor pool had excited Analiese because they have TWO waterslides there.  Not just wimpy things, either.  Ken counted 53 stairs to climb to get to the top.  One is a straight shot down and Ken liked that one...he shot out of it like a cannon.  The other one was a curly-cue and Analiese must have gone down that thing at least twenty times.  It sure wore her out!  But we all agreed, we have to go back often, because it was too much fun.  I'll be going there 3x/week for the indoor pool's water aerobics class and on Fridays, I'll take the kids with me.  

So we've avoided much of the house heat.  We haven't been too hungry and I haven't wanted to cook, so we've eaten light and drank LOTS of water.  Sleeping has been difficult, but Friday night I had Ken put up the tent in the backyard and we've slept out there (he put my mattress in the tent, in case you wondered) and it's been a much cooler, nicer night's sleep.  Poor Jonathan came back from Scout camp only to be told he'll be sleeping more nights in a tent!  Still, when he felt the heat in the house, he didn't complain.

Oh, and at 6:00 a.m. this morning, the flash of lightning and sound of thunder woke us up.  I made them get up and move into the house.  I was really too chicken to endure a thunderstorm in a tent.  Not that the storm came...all bluff and no substance.

THE JOYS OF HOME OWNERSHIP

There's been no post for the past two weeks for a couple of reasons:

1) Somebody from Pompano Bay, FL (says Google), tried to get into all my Google-related accounts.  I had to change passwords, blah-de-blah-de-blah, etc.  Got it finally squared away today.

2)  I've been busy moving and settling into our new home.  The cardboard boxes aren't completely gone, but I've made a good dent in them!

And, don't feel bad.  I DID manage to post a lot of pics to Facebook from our trip and Oklahoma.  None from the house, yet, though.  That is a LOT of pictures.

I really like my little home.  It is cute and has a ton of potential.  But today, I wanted to focus on those inevitable little surprises that pop up at you and make you wonder if you did the right thing by buying this thing.

Getting ready to move in, we had asked our realtor for any recommendations for plumbers, electricians, handymen, etc.  Ken is a lovely helper, but don't put him in charge of projects.  He's not handy.  Luckily, our realtor gave us a list, and one has been a real goldmine.  He's been to the house several times now and I just call him whenever I need a little advice.

We knew there would be problems; we read our inspector's report thoroughly, putting at the top of our list the most urgent matters.  As part of the selling of the house, the family refunded our good faith money so that we could use it for some of these repairs.

We decided to tackle the issues with the water heater first.  After all, I am not a fan of cold showers and I like my dishes to be sanitized.  My new friend, the plumber, came over to fix the problems but...duh-duh-DUH! - found another one.  Coming up from under the house he showed us a picture of the galvanized steel water line running under it.  Galvanized rust was more like it; the plumber said he was afraid to touch it for fear it'd fall apart in his hand.  Guess what just became our new top priority?

Mr. Plumber came over last week to replace the water line.  I'd received my new washer & dryer the day before, but was afraid to use it until the water line was in, so I had loads of laundry piled and waiting.  My plumber replaced it with this new stuff called pex pipe; I guess it's used in all the new housing and with reason - it can expand some, so it won't burst if there's a freeze in the winter.  It's not very expensive, but the brass fittings for it are!  But Plumber is upright and reasonable and while it ouched our wallet some, we knew we couldn't put it off.  Plus, when he removed the old pipe, he showed me the inside...what there was of it.  I hadn't had much water pressure before and now I know why!  Talk about a clogged artery!  Plus, that had to mean the water coming through was pretty gross. Luckily, we've been drinking bottled water because Ken doesn't like the taste of the local water.

That seemed to be it, and we could breathe a little easier until yesterday, when I noticed that it was very warm in the house despite the a/c being on.  Oh, goody.  After passing a very warm, uncomfortable night, I called my buddy the plumber again (because he does more than plumbing, really, and could refer me to the right person if he couldn't do it) and, while the filter needs replacing (it's dirty, but not completely clogged), it could be we need more freon.  I just hope that's it.  His pal, the a/c guy is coming over to check it.  I don't have a lot of money for a big expensive fix but it is in the 100's out there and...what windows in the house that AREN'T painted over don't have screens.

Oh, and now there are ants in my back bathroom.  Probably thinking it's cooler in there than outside.  If they only knew...

Other issues with the home are annoying and will have to be dealt with in their own time (and some when my pocket $ builds up).  One, while I love my three pecan trees, I don't appreciate at all their little seedling children everywhere.  Some I've been able to pull, others I need to get my trowel and spade and dig them out.  Another are these bolts that stick up at the edge of the garage and I'm afraid I'll drive over and puncture a tire.  (By the way, I had to get a new battery for my van this last week on top of everything else.)

Then, there's the crazy issues of "Why did the previous homeowners do that?"  The painted windows are one of those.  Another is why they planted little plants in the back of the planter and bigger ones in front of them.  And then, why are there two and three plants practically planted on top of each others? Probably that bugs me more than most people, mainly because I care more about my yard & garden.

No, really, I like my house a lot.  I love to sit under the trees and watch the clouds fly by.  We all like to look for squirrels and birds...so far I've seen robins, blue jays & scissor-tails.  The carpet in our home is pristine (compared to the yucky stuff back in Corona), the bedrooms are spacious, the kitchen is big, and the neighborhood is nice and quiet.  I'm just kvetching.  It's all part-and-parcel of the moving process and "this too shall pass."  Thank goodness!

BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE..

It's finally ours!  Friday we signed the papers, and now we have our Oklahoma home, our cosy cottage, what have you!  We'll be moving in piecemeal this week, hopefully.  Pictures will be coming, once we get the computers up & running (and get internet going, too), but in the meantime, here's a description of the house:

The house exterior is a very light tan (in Ken's photos it looked light yellow).  It has black vinyl shutters, lots of window, and the cutest front entrance, with fancy metal railing and a curved roof, thus giving it the "cottage" look.  

The living room is fairly spacious, with light brown carpet.  It is rather dark at the moment, having been painted a deep maroon on one side and tan on the other (one thing to be remedied).  It also has some big windows facing front, giving it lots of light (when people open up the blinds!)  I just need to figure out how to place the furniture in there.

Jonathan's room is, admittedly, the smallest.  It faces front toward the street, but has two closets (I told him that one is mine!).  Still, it will be his alone, private, and larger than what he's had before.

Analiese's room is supposed to be the master. It is bigger, but has no windows, which is no bueno to this light- & air-loving woman.  It also has a walk-in closet, but she's only going to use half of it.  The other half is going to hold the 72-hour kit and supplies so we can take refuge there during a storm, if needed.

The main bathroom is pretty-good sized.  It has a shower/tub along with a sink, a cupboard and silver toilet storage (you know, those thingies they put around the back of a toilet).  The funny thing there is a surprise cubby that holds the water heater.  It's a weird spot.

Our bedroom is in the back.  It's actually a little bigger than Analiese's but doesn't enjoy all the closet space.  It does, however, have two big windows, one of which faces the garden.  Score!  Light and air!  I intend to make this room a restful haven where Ken & I can go to relax.

The kitchen is fairly good sized.  There is a big empty space in one corner that eventually I'd like to fill with a banquette. I'd rather the kids ate there, because the floor is tile.  The fridge & stove/oven unit are both pretty old, but if they function, I don't care.  Also, there's one big sink (kind of like a farm sink) with no garbage disposal.  Oh, and no dishwasher.  The spoiling season is over.  The worst thing about the kitchen is that the cupboards are shallow.  We'll see how that works for storage.  The pantry storage is not enough.  I'm going to have to get clever.

You have to go down stairs to get into the den room.  It is an addition to the house, you can tell by the window that lies between the kitchen and it!  It is carpeted which makes me nervous because that's where the dining table is going.  There's another wall where I'm going to set up tables and computers for the kids lessons.  At one end (nearest the kitchen) is a fireplace and the door to the yard and the other leads into the laundry area.

The laundry is long and narrow.  One end holds the washer and dryer and opens to the second bathroom.  The other has a rack for hanging things and some space (I'll put the freezer chest there) and has steps up to our bedroom.

The second bathroom is smaller, with an enclosed shower.  It's not much, but it will be the bathroom Ken & I will utilize.

And the yard, the glorious yard!  Big and ample.  It has two shade trees which I've yet to identify.  I'd like to get some seating under one for outside family dining & entertainment, and eventually get a hammock & stand for the other one.

The previous owners had a pool, which they've removed, leaving a big sandy circle in the middle of the yard, but is right in the sunniest spot, too.  I think it will be fun to try and design the veggie garden to go right there, sectioning it off into four spaces with paths like wheel spokes.  Right now I call it the "crop circle." The long west-side fence is where I'd like to espalier some fruit trees (apple and maybe peach).  The front fence gets enough sunlight that maybe I'll have some berry bushes or grapevines.

There's work to be done, I'll admit.  And over time, I'll probably want to repaint most of the rooms (the only one I'm really okay with is the den).  Still, we are eager and excited to sign the paperwork today and get into our new home!