Ten things I'm enjoying in the new house

As we work towards heading back to Florida and our RV, I thought about our time here in the new house. Obviously, a lot of time has been spent getting the house set up. Now that all but decorating is done, here is a little list of what I'm REALLY enjoying.

1) Lots of comfortable living room furniture
2) My office - great desk, super comfortable chair and my elliptical
3) Using ceramic/glass dishes & glasses rather than paper and plastic everything
4) Knives that are sharp (another reminder to get the set in the RV sharpened)
5) King size bed!!!
6) A bathroom bigger than a small closet
7) A shower with lots of room
8) Hearing my wind chimes and not worrying about annoying the neighbors
9) Full size appliances!
10) And finally, a hubby who is handy and fixing anything that needs fixing. Thank you, Stu, for all you do.

Ciao for now!

What's up with us? (part two)

We left you post our Disney adventure and busy packing for our trip to Tennessee....

We had an uneventful drive and stopped to see our friends who moved from MD to Philadelphia, TN to pick up a dining table and benches that they no longer wanted. Stu had put dibs on it back in MD when he was helping them load their truck for the move. The table now resides in our dining room. The short bench is in our utility/mud/laundry room. Perfect for sitting to put on/take off shoes and boots. The long section of bench is against one wall in the dining area. The bonus? Both seats lift for storage!

We planned on staying one night but the weather changed our minds for us. Snow, ice and below freezing temps delayed our departure until we felt it was safe to continue. We arrived at our timeshare condo in Crossville a day late. It was perfect! Half the price of a hotel, lots of room, free wifi, good television and a well equipped kitchen. It was reasonable because it's off season here. Worked out well for us.

We did our final walk through on Monday the 9th and closed on Tuesday the 10th. It was official - we were now proud but poor homeowners.

We have been swamped with buying things - lots of used furniture locally and even more items from Amazon. We got a duplicate of the floor firesafe we have in the RV, delivered free from Walmart. Our new office chairs were delivered free from Sam's Club. Yes, the mailman, UPS and Fedex drivers now know us well.

We found a small moving company that helped Stu unload all the stuff in our shed on our property. We then hired them to help pickup the last load of furniture and were glad we did. That stuff was HEAVY! Stu also got a great deal on a used lawn tractor and cutting torch from the folks with what became our guest bedroom. We have someone who picked up most of our trash and we will contract with him for regular service later. We met our new insurance agents at Farm Bureau, nice folks! We got our address changed and new driver licenses and as well as changed on the trike registration.

Many, many trips to Lowe's, starting with buying our new Maytag washer and dryer. After using them the last couple of weeks, I am very happy with what I chose.

We have donated three HUGE totes of clothes that will go to the folks who suffered in the recent Gatlinburg fires. Another box of books went to the local library. Some things left behind by the seller were taken to the dump (transfer station) along with a ton of cardboard to recycle.

We still haven't unpacked our safe and set it up, most of what will go in it will come out of the safe in the RV. I have several totes full of things to hang on the walls and sit on shelves, that will wait till spring.

We shared photos of the house before purchase in this blog post. Here are a few since we've moved in.

We have FIVE seats that recline in our living room! Not a fan of the TV stand but love our new 50" television.


Front foyer, cabinet needs contents but we have our marriage skeleton gnomes and my stained glass frog nightlight.


I LOVE my kitchen and all the pops of red!


Dining area works well...the walls are bare and we still need something on the other side, opposite the bench.


Master bedroom - need something on the walls for sure!




Mater bath -


Guest room, ready for company!


Guest bath is ready, too.


You first saw my desk here...


Now here is the office two weeks later. Yes, the elliptical is in the office. That encourages me to get up and MOVE more often.


We bought and installed a security system from SimpliSafe and are quite pleased with it. Inexpensive, easy to set up, good customer service (long phone waits due to how well these systems are selling) and portable if you move. We have all the doors and windows alarmed, several motion sensors, several glass breakage sensors, a web camera and just ordered carbon monoxide, smoke and freeze detectors.

If anyone is interested, PLEASE contact us and we will get them to contact you via email.

Oh, and we had our first snowfall today...well, this morning. All gone now!


We will probably be here another 4-5 days, finishing up all the loose ends. I hope to get some writing done on Almost a Touch while Stu works on "things". [giggle]

Ciao for now!

What's up with us? (part one)

It's been a crazy two months. First our cruises to Mexico and Hawaii. Then a week of recovery from being sick on the cruise. Then five days at Disney, camping at Fort Wilderness.

Oh yeah, Disney at Christmas. What an experience! We really enjoyed ourselves and loved the campground. Would we go back again? Absolutely, just not during a major holiday. The crowds were insane!

The first day was spent at the Magic Kingdom. We got to see one of the big parades and we stayed late enough to see Cinderella's castle FROZEN.









But this was my favorite - and I have no idea what movie it's from. Anyone know? The dragon actually had steam coming out the sides and fire coming out his mouth. I loved it! So steampunk.









Day two was Epcot. The most exciting part of the day for Stu was diving the Dive Quest experience at Epcot. You can see all the photos I took - some decent, some not. LOL! But he loved it and would do it again.

Day three was Hollywood Studios where Stu indulged several rides. We walked a lot as you can see here. Yes, I was exhausted and did take a short nap.



We really enjoyed the Storm Trooper march!



Day four found us in Animal Kingdom where we did the Safari. We did see some animals but the car was so crowded it was hard to take photos. We rested for a while in the Africa section and were treated to several great live performances.



Five days took it's toll - the final day, back in Epcot, I only lasted until just after lunch and we headed back early. I think I was still recovering from being sick and my energy level wasn't up to par. You can see all the photos here.

We came home and had a week to get ready to drive to Tennessee to close on our new house. Since we decided to take our cargo trailer with us, we purged as much as possible out of the RV. Poor KaZy must have lots several hundred pounds. Oh, and we aren't done. Come April she will undergo another purge while parked at the house.

The next blog will pick up here....

Ciao for now!

Helping Those Who Need Help

Our good friend, Dotty Metcalf (who opened her home to us when we traveled to CA to cruise), is participating in THE PGA TOUR VOLUNTEER CHALLENGE for a chance to win $10k dollars for her charity, the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission.

1. Go to: www.PGATOUR.com/Volunteers
2. Click on "Select a Tournament" under the Career Builder logo
3. Click on "Vote Now"
4. Find "Sammy's Mom" on the list and select.
5. Fill in the blanks
6. Hit "Submit" and confirm your email to validate your vote.

They will ask for your name, address, sex, DOB and email. There is nothing that says you have to use anything exactly factual other than your email - you must reply to their email for your vote to count. I hope you will help!

Ciao for now!