La Quinta, California: We waited until noon before going to the new house to begin opening all the boxes we packed last August/September in Portland. 48 hour quarantine was up!
Dave didn't stay long - he had to wait for a repair back at the bus, and to meet with Arnold Castro, the contractor who built our campsite over eight years ago in the Motorcoach Country Club. Arnold is going to make a few (ha ha ha) changes to our new house for us.
I brought a little sandwich, and set to work. Dave wanted me to set up a television. (I do all the tech-stuff in our marriage. Done.) Then I started unpacking a few rooms. Powder room (one little box) finished. Our Portland powder room was very blue-and-white and Chinese-style. Our new powder room is BLACK. Even the toilet is black! Luckily, all the black and white stuff from Lisa's childhood bathroom work well in the black powder room.
Next on my list was to unpack the guest room boxes. Just a few boxes and one of them was filled with only wooden hangers. Easy.
Then I started on the boxes from my office. I had a really large office/den in Portland. 14x14, with one wall filled with built-in cabinets above a 14-foot-long desk top. Blissful. My office in Portland is also where I stitched and stored all my needlework supplies. Now I have a little (a very little) desk in the kitchen, and a bank of cabinets in the laundry room for my office supplies.
However, I now have the HUGE black cabinet from our Portland family room (that used to hold booze, candles, and toys (odd combo, or what?), to hold all of my needlepoint supplies, canvases, fabrics, fibers, etc., etc., etc. This cabinet is in the room we now call the media room, though it really is just a family-room-type of situation between the two guest rooms in the "west wing" of our new house. I will set-up my needlepoint command center in this room.
Before Dave left me for the afternoon, we set-about securing the top half of this huge black cabinet (20+ years old; once used to hold one of those massive televisions we all had back in the day) to the bottom portion. We had to line-up screw-holes - using my phone flashlight! - and it took over 30 minutes to bump the top cabinet one-millionth of an inch (over and over and over to front to back to back to front to left to right...) until the holes finally lined up!
My needlework supplies should only fill the top portion of this cabinet. The lower (drawer) portion of this cabinet has traditionally housed a great toy box (long before we had grandchildren), and has been filled with Lisa's childhood toys for the amusement of any child who would visit our house. Lego blocks are Lego blocks. Lisa loved them; kids still love them. Books. Dolls. Games. Puzzles. Toys from all around the world.
I set-up the television, finished the powder room, guest room and much of my office boxes before DT returned to fetch me around 6p. He helped me recycle all the boxes and tidy-up before we returned to the motorhome.
I was exhausted and wasn't excited as I should have been for a Shabbat meal, but did my best. I prepared a nice Israeli/Greek salad and served slices of chicken from a Costco rotisserie chicken. (We can get Costco via Instacart now!)
It was after 8p by the time we had dinner. Tired. Excited. Stressed. Happy. Exhausted. It's like opening hundreds of birthday gifts all day long!
I keep forgetting to tell you about how I now have to add ice to the water in my salad spinner! The daily temperatures are SO HOT, the water coming from our cold tap is warm. Or maybe actually hot?
A few weeks ago, when our air conditioner was popping the circuit breaker all the time, I decided to turn-off the water heater (Aqua-Hot), as it is a big energy draw. Three (yes, three!) days later, we hadn't even noticed the water heater was not in operation! That is how hot the water is coming into our motorhome. A "cold" shower cannot happen in the summer in a campground in the Coachella Valley... so I have to add ice cubes to the rinse water in my salad spinner or our salad greens (MUST. MAKE. SALAD.) would be blanched!
Off to bed now. More unpacking tomorrow!
Until my next update, I remain, your "six rooms to go" corespondent.
Live just outside of Phoenix. We turn our hot water heater to pilot (it’s gas) in the summer. More than hot enough water! When we travel in our RV during summer months the excitement is being able to get a cool drink of water right out of the faucet! Understand completely!!
Unpacking is indeed the weird mixture of fun/grueling…but the sense of accomplishment in finishing just one room is great! You mentioned that your lot at Motorhome Country Club is for sale, but none of the ones listed look like yours (we think). Unless you never mentioned yours on a double lot with two casitas ~ LOL https://www.motorcoachcclotsales.com/ We’ve always LOVED the view you all enjoy!
Not officially listed yet, as we are still living here – photos coming soon. We are #322.
You have a beautiful new home! I can just imagine all the love and laughter that is going to be shared with your family around that pool.