Happy Holidays!

Things continue to hum along just fine in our lives. We are loving the new place more and more each day. We really feel a peace about living here. It is cozy and truly feels like home. Even the pets are loving living here. We get morning sun streaming through the front windows so you can find our furry friends lounging all over the living room floor basking in the sun. Brenda commented today that sunshine can bring enemies together. It is funny to see the dog lying beside the cats all in the name of a good sun spot.

Today, we finally got Brenda and her computer reunited. Even if it isn't her original computer. Let me back up and give you the back story. Once we were all moved in, we proceeded to get her computer hooked up. Unfortunately, it would start. There was no power to it at all. So we took it in to replace the power pack. To make a long story short, they no longer make the special part needed for her computer. We had to buy her a new computer. We got a really good deal on a Lenovo laptop at Best Buy. We took the new computer in to the repair place to transfer all her files.

We took in in last Friday and thought we would get it back yesterday. That was not to be. It turns out her hard drive was slowly dying and they were having trouble retrieving the files. They were finally able to get it all done and we picked it up this afternoon.  Now we both have our own computers again so I will be able to get on mine more often.

It has been a very frustrating 5 weeks waiting on her computer but the good news is she has a new computer and still has all her old files. Now she just gets to spend hours getting everything else set up just like it was on the old one.

We are looking forward to spending Christmas with my family in Brooksville, Florida. That is where my parents have chosen to do their snow birding. We will be flying out Christmas morning from Phoenix. We are spending the night in Phoenix so we don't have to do all that really early morning driving. I love the Sleep, Park, Fly deal. You stay one night in a participating hotel and you can park the car in their lot while you are gone. The price of the hotel is comparable to parking at the airport. Plus, we can have a more leisurely drive up there and and easier morning. They have a shuttle that takes you to the airport and picks you up. We will head up there after I get off work Saturday and we plan on having a nice dinner up their and a relaxing evening. We fly back to Phoenix on the 31st and I get to go to work the next morning. No big deal since I only work the weekends and I will be off the rest of the week.

I am continuing to stay focused on the abundance in my live and to keep being thankful for all that I have. I am seeing a difference in my live. We always seem to have exactly what we need when we need it. It is amazing to me just how blessed I am. I may not be rich with money but oh my gosh am I rich with what matters.

May you all have an abundant holiday season that gives you much to be thankful for!!!!!!!!

Time to Update

I guess it has been a while since I lasted posted. I have been so busy it just slipped my mind. Sorry about that.

We are all moved into the new place. We absolutely love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact, I think the longer we are here the more we find to enjoy about it. I will have to get some pictures posted. Brenda's computer has the photo program and it has been in the shop since we moved. It was working just fine but when we plugged it in here, nothing! I took it to the shop and they had to order parts. I will do some follow up on Monday to see get a status update.

The weather here has turned cold and rainy. In fact, there is snow up in the mountains. We made our first fire in the fireplace last night. I have missed having a fireplace. It just makes it so cozy and warm.

Prior to the cold weather, we spent a day at one of our favorite places, the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. If you ever come to Tucson, it is a must see. It is so awesome-its part museum, part zoo and part botanical gardens. You really learn a lot about the desert. Again, once we get the computer back, there will be lots of pictures.

Only three more weeks until Christmas. Hard to believe. I am looking forward to our trip to Florida to see my family. I wish the trip was a road trip, but we do not have enough time so we are flying. We will be taking an early spring road trip back to Indiana to see Brenda's family and the new granddaughter due in February.

Making Progress

We are doing really good downsizing. I can't believe how much junk stuff we are getting rid of. The house is a total mess as we are going through stuff and only taking what we actually use. In fact, I would say we are only taking a fraction of what we own. There is more stuff going to charity than actually getting moved. I look around and see so much stuff but Brenda keeps reminding me most of it is trash or charitable.

We called a moving company today and scheduled all the furniture to be picked up on the 15th. By all the furniture, I mean about 9 pieces. We have sold so much stuff and only have a few big pieces left. We are moving the smaller stuff over with the cars. We have made about three trips and are almost done. Amazing. By Friday we should have just the bare essentials left at the old place.

I found a listing on Craigslist for an organization that needs and wants everything and anything and they will come pick it up. I will call them tomorrow and see if we can get them to come and take away all the stuff we don't want. We will be donating lots of towels and blankets to a local no-kill animal shelter. We have been on the fence as to whether we should have a yard sale. We decided it wouldn't be worth the hassle so we will just donate all our stuff.

It has been a week since we said our goodbyes to Mattie. I still have lots of ups and downs. Some of the habits and routines are hard to break and a few times I forgot she was gone. The move is helping me. And as time goes by and I look at the older pictures of her, I can really see how much she had deteriorated at the end. I am so glad I didn't make her suffer any longer.

Tonight, we got to check out our new hot tub! It is great to have it just outside the front door. We will definitely be giving it a lot of attention. And now with the weather being much cooler, I can't wait to try out the fireplace. I am imagining cool nights with the fireplace roaring drinking hot adult beverages. YUMMMMMM!

As soon as we get them downloaded, I will post pictures of our new abode.

Bittersweet Times

Tonight we stand on the threshold of a new life. With it comes some good byes and hellos.

Tomorrow morning we have to say good bye to Mattie, our 14 year old lab. She is old and has many health issues and does not really have any quality of life. She is in a lot of pain. It is so hard to see her suffer but it is even harder to say good bye. I have had many moral and ethical conversations in my head about this. I could probably write a whole blog about it. I love her so much and don't want her to suffer. Mattie and I have been through a lot together and I don't remember what life was like before she came into it.

On Wednesday we get the keys to the new apartment and begin the arduous task of moving. It should be much easier since we have really downsized. We have sold lots of furniture, clothing and other assorted junk. We still have lots more we can get rid of. There are still quite a few items that we haven't been able to sell yet. I am hoping we can still get them sold and out of here. I am really looking forward to living at the new place. It will be a big adjustment but it gets us closer to our goal (not to mention a nicer area with better amenities.)

So this week is going to be bittersweet. I am so thankful for the joy, love and memories that Mattie has brought me and I am glad she chose to live her long and happy life with me. I am also looking forward to this move. It is another step toward our ultimate goal of living on the road. As always, life is changing and with it so will I.

We have been busy going through stuff and getting rid of all the unnecessary junk and furniture in this house. We have been very successful on Craigslist selling almost everything we have posted, at least all the big stuff. Today we posted a desk and it was sold within a few hours. We even sold a bunch of stuff before we could even post it to Craigslist.

We have also been lucky finding the replacement items needed. We found a great microwave cart the other day and today we got a great small dining table and chairs. I love that we are finding really great pieces.

Here's the table and chairs we bought today. They were even better that we had expected.













The other thing we have been dealing with is pack rats. They got up into Brenda's car and ate the spark plug wires. She was running on just three cylinders. Fortunately, we were able to get that fixed relatively cheaply by our awesome mechanic friend. We then went to the car wash and pressure sprayed the engine area to get rid of their marking scents. I will be glad when we move to the new place because it won't be so open to the desert areas.

Less than two weeks until we get into the new place. Our goal is to get all the small stuff in then have a mover get the big heavy stuff. I figured I have earned the right not to have to move the big stuff up those stairs. At the rate we are going, there won't be too much big stuff and the small stuff is quickly diminishing.

My Love Grows Strong For you Craig

I don't know who Craig is or when he started his list, but I love him so much.

We have been posting items on Craigslist and selling them quickly. We now have enough money for the deposit and all for the new apartment plus we have lots more to sell. And we still have 3 weeks before the money is due. We rock!!!!

Now we are seeing how much money we can get to help pay for movers so we can just sit back and tell guys where to go. LOL

We are also watching Craigslist for deals for us to replace some of the stuff we are selling. We are getting smaller items in place of the bigger ones we have sold. I enjoy reading Craigslist and seeing all the fun stuff people sell. Not only that, but it is hysterical reading some of posts. Many of them seem to be written by people who are unfamiliar with punctuation, spelling and the language in general. (I was going to post a great example, but when I went to copy it, it was flagged :( Oh well.)

Back to the entertainment!

I Really Am Still Around

I haven't posted lately because, well, nothing really exciting is happening. We are busy getting ready for the move and yard sale.

I don't even have any pictures to post. I suck.

I will try to go out and create some excitement in my life so I can have a fun post.