So we have been camping out in our new house since September 20th and we have been very busy. Our furniture consists of a card table and 2 folding chairs from WalMart and a small table for MIke's office space. We did splurge on two twin XL beds which will be going into our guest room. We figured they would be easier to store for the construction period through next spring rather than a king size mattress.
Week one , all the carpeting was removed, along with the padding and tack strips. We are convinced the person who handled the original carpet installation was paid by the tack as they must have been shot into the concrete about every 3 inches in both bedrooms, closets and the home office. That was trip one to the dump.
Next we tackled the kitchen. All cabinets and appliances have been removed. The 30 year old fridge is working quite well in the garage. The cabinets are stacked and will be donated to Local charity White Elephant as they just require either painting or refinishing...all hardware was saved too. We have the sink and one cabinet left in the kitchen was we needed someplace to set the microwave and prepare our few meals we don't eat out. Those will be removed when we move down to Tubac on November 1st for our winter rental. No way am I staying in the house while all the work is done!!
The "fun" started when we began to take down the soffit in the kitchen. We've done it before and thought it would be a piece of cake. Famous last words!! What a nightmare. The soffit was framed with 1/2 inch plywood covered by wallboard. The 2 x 4 studs were buried behind all of that so every part of the soffit was a pain in the butt to take down. After much pounding and sawing, it finally was all down...trip two to the dump.
Then we decided to take out the kitchen archway and expand the doorway into the living/dining room. That was also a fun experience as it was built never, never, never crack or split. It took us 6 hours to demo that archway. Third trip to the dump.
Right now we are patching holes in the walls and weeding. We are hoping for some rainfall before we tackle the back yard. Front yard is weeded and ready for our desert landscape expert, Kathy, to come out in November to design what we want - something very simple and full of cactus. We will not have a drip system and want low maintenance for when we travel away from home each summer.
Sundays are our day of rest. We've started going to the movies most Sundays and then stop for dinner at the Arizona Family Restaurant. Sunday specials are roasted turkey dinner just like Thanksgiving, which is our favorite. They also have leg of lamb or prime rib specials as well. And since football season is in full swing, we always ask for a booth away from the bar. Some of those Cardinal fans get quite loud!
We are enjoying the slow pace of life here in Green Valley. It is quiet and all of our neighbors that we've met are very nice. Everyone looks out for each other and they have all been welcoming to us. We even were invited to play Texas Hold 'em Poker in a league. Buy in to the game is a dollar and I won!!! Yep, got me $9. They say the size of the game will increase when the snowbirds from Seattle arrive so I think we'll be going a couple times a month once things settle in.
