My TV can beat up your TV
My oh my, it’s been busy around the castle. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the old place and the new one, and slowly getting things unpacked and put away.
The old house is devoid of all my stuff. Nothing left except some dust rhinos.
There are still buckets of cash being dumped into the place, at least another mortgage payment, repainting the interior, and sprucing up the foliage and terrain to make it have more “curb appeal”. I have to say it’s ridiculous that I’m spending five digits - more than I’ve invested since moving INTO the place - on making it pretty for the next residents.
I gave up on painting the remaining interior of the new place, and hired a painter for a much more reasonable price to paint two bathrooms and the kitchen.
The solar panels were finally removed from the Paso place, which allowed the roofers to begin.
The complete roof replacement has been completed, just a rusty trailer in my driveway to be picked up and the dinner tab to be paid.
Squeezed in all the activity was hip surgery for my mother, and I spent a fun week with the parents watching movies, cooking comfort food, and hanging out with them.
For those who’ve ever asked me about a show, you’re aware I have no idea what is actually on network TV or current shows being streamed. I can’t even recognize actors or celebrities under about 30 years of age. But I love watching movies. I use quotes at inopportune moments and confuse people all the time. I’ve had a really big 46” screen for the last 10 years or so. Shut up, it was middling-big when I got it. With the new digs, I had a large wall crying out for an unneeded entertainment option. I decided to get an absurdly large 85” screen. It’s like have my own personal drive-in.
As for my co-pilot, she is now 10 months old and doing great.
Below, you see the old roof mostly torn off, some technicians that came by to install the giant TV, the first car at the drive-in, and one nappy doggo.
Moving on
It’s been weeks since the last post, and I’ve been dealing with lots of different things. In no particular order:
Several trips have been made to bring all my stuff from San Jose to Paso Robles. It’s so close to being completed. I just have another trip (maybe two, depending on if it’s raining and I need to only pack inside the vehicle) to completely clear the old house.
My dad spent nearly a week with me painting the interior walls and ceiling of the new place. The prior resident has a rather flexible view on color and design. The new paint looks awesome, but I still need to complete the bathrooms and some of the doors. By the way, anyone who is of the belief that painting is easy is pretty much on the mark. What people normally don’t talk about is the prep time of masking and taping and protecting everything that’s NOT what you intend to smear paint on. For example, I think we spent almost three hours on one room with masking tape, drop cloths, and plastic and paper to protect the non-targeted surfaces, and about 45 minutes actually painting.
My realtor for selling my place has recommended investing in some improvements such as painting, and such. Having just done the interior of the new place I have absolutely no interest in doing the painting of the old place. This, I will throw money at. 💸💸
Additionally, I will need to spice things up with improved yard, plants, and other such “curb appeal” generating updates. Remove wallet, throw contents at problem. 💸💸
Internet has been stopped at the San Jose location. Not normally a big deal, but I have a weekly D&D game which has some special configuration and techno-wizardry to enable a group of non-local people to gather virtually and play seamlessly. This still needs to be setup at the new place, and I’m hoping it goes well 🤞🏽.
I swapped refrigerators between the two locations, since I purchased a brand-spanking new refrigerator less than a year ago, and I have no idea how old the one at the Paso location was. This of course resulting in finding a leak at the water supply line which I will again foist off on the realtor and her contact list of “fix it” people. More money to throw. 💸💸
I’ve made so many little mistakes in scheduling and having the right thing at the right time because I was bouncing between two partially operational households that I’ve completely flaked on more than one commitment. I ended up wearing the same pair of socks for three days because I had packed clean ones and then forgotten to bring them with me to the next place. Thankfully, people have been forgiving.
Additionally, my mom is recovering from hip surgery, so I’ve crashed at the ‘rents house to be on-hand if needed. I mostly sit around and play with the dogs, but it’s nice getting a chance to spend more time with the fam.
Cardiff has been confused with all the moving around. She’s clingy-er than normal, and watchful for me leaving without her. Thankfully she is adaptable and doesn’t appear to be suffering long-term.
Git along little doggy
Cardiff is 7 1/2 months old now, and doing great. She’s super friendly to both people and other dogs. She hasn’t actually met a cat yet, but has seen them and wants to chase them - probably to play. We’re slowly getting better with leash walking. She is distracted by everything still, so getting her attention to sit or come to me is iffy at best.
Thankfully, she travels really well, and is patient waiting in the vehicle when I have to go inside a business. This is good, because we’ll be doing a lot of driving between Paso Robles and San Jose in the near future: my new house closes next week. Trips to start moving stuff in will begin afterwards, and we’ll shuttle things with no real schedule at this time.
It’s going to be very odd not being so close to family, but we’ll figure out how to make the best of the new location.