June

 

Hello June!

May was dedicated to getting my folks moved into their new apartment. It has been exhausting to say the least. Jessica and I worked on helping them choose what items were making the move with them. It was very hard. My mom had so many decor items it's ridiculous. Since it's hard for her to make any kind of decision now, this was doubly difficult. We unpacked all of their stuff at the new place and Jessica made labels for all the cabinets hoping it would help them get used to where everything is. 

Mom is fighting this move tooth and nail. And since part of her cognitive decline manifests itself in being mean, my dad is just exhausted. She's already fallen once, requiring the EMTs to come pick her up. I'm not sure how long they're going to last in the independent living apartment/hotel we found for them.

Once they were moved in my brother and I held a garage sale to get rid of the rest of their stuff. Now that's done he and my SIL will move into my folks house to be closer to them. 

I was foolishly hoping that this move would be a huge improvement for them, but I think I was being hopelessly naïve. It's only been two weeks, so maybe they will start to adjust.

I can't remember what I wrote about our new house in May and I'm too lazy to look back so... 

I think I told you our windows are in. The scaffolding is up around the structure which means they will lathe next. We're hoping to have our frame inspection by mid June. The next step would be stucco and then interior drywall. We're currently looking at mid September for move in. I'm kinda past the point of caring when we'll move in. It changes weekly. I'm more concerned about when to sell this house and how that works in the overall timeline.

The grands are on Summer Break. This will be the first year of no Grammy Summer Camp. Instead I'm planning Grammy's Field Trips on Wednesdays. Looking forward to fun with the kids!

The forecast is for a wet monsoon this year so I have my fingers crossed that we'll see some rain! We're heading into the 100s this week, maybe up to the 105 range. Here in the Phoenix area that is called warm. Hot starts at 110 degrees. Last year we had 22 days of 110+, so really we only had 22 hot days last summer! Haha

I hope to post more in June, but am not promising anything. Enjoy the first month of Summer!

May!

 

May already?! As I whined about, er... I mean explained in my last post we are waiting for our house to be built. And by waiting, I mean WAITING. But as always, God's timing is perfect and it's a good thing we're not trying to move right now.

My dad finally came to the conclusion that he and mom need to move out of their house. We found a private pay Faith Based congregant living situation for them and they're moving in May.

So we're busy helping them pack what they want to move (it's a much smaller place) and encouraging them that this will be a much less stressful lifestyle. This place looks like a hotel and has two restaurants, a pool, a dog park, library, game rooms and multiple sitting rooms on each floor. There's also a fitness center, PT center, gift shop, full service beauty/barber salon, prayer garden, Bible studies, church service, the list goes on. It will be a great independent living choice for them. Each apartment has either a patio or a balcony so they can sit outside and enjoy the nice weather. We're so relieved that this decision has been made.

So, that's going to be my May. Wonder what my June will look like...

I Didn't Realize This Would Be So Frustrating...

 As you know, we signed a contract to build a new home on 3/28/2021. We knew at the signing that the build would take 10-12 months. Two weeks later we received a letter saying it could take 14+ months due to supply chain issues, lack of workers, Covid, etc. In early March 2022 we received a tentative date of July 2022. 

Yesterday we stopped in to see if there was a more definitive date. We need to lock in our interest rate now because the rates went up recently and are expected to rise again in the next few weeks. We were surprised and a little disappointed to learn that our new projected completion date is 8/28/2022 or beyond. 

Not only are windows still the issue but now that China has locked down for a new Covid variant the lathe product (exterior styrofoam) used by our builder is not being shipped. No idea (and obviously no control) on when China will open the port again. {{Sigh}} 

We have no choice but to lock in our rate at this point. The Lender will lock for 120 days. Then we can extend it 30 more days at that time if needed. If you're keeping track that means September 2022. A full 18 months after we signed the contract.

At this point I'm not really concerned about when the house will be complete. It is what it is. But the interest rate component of it is worrisome.

Yesterday I felt a little down, but today all I can do is chuckle. It is completely out of my hands. I feel sorry for our sales associate Rob and his co-worker Shelly. They get a lot of flack from disappointed or even angry buyers. There's nothing they can do about it either. 

Does anyone have any contacts in the Chinese government so we can plead our case with them? Hahaha

Progress and a Tentative End Date

 

The tar paper and tile strips are on the roof. That's the progress. Hopefully electric and gas plumbing will be done in the next two weeks. Maybe the tiles will be distributed on the roof to settle. We'll see.

The tentative date news is, as expected, in the future. I'd say in the far future, but it's discouraging to label it that way. We talked to our sales associate this weekend and for the first time he kind of gave us a date by saying 'we hope to have it done in July'. I told him my birthday is August 10th and he said 'we'll try'. {{Sigh}} The encouraging thing is we kind of have an end date. The discouraging thing is, well, obvious.

Moving in the heat of summer is not something to look forward to.

March!

 

Here we are... in March! 

I try not to whine too much about our weather because I know that when I'm freezing to death in the 60s most of the country is REALLY freezing. So I feel bad about complaining. Instead I'm choosing to focus on the positive and rejoice because we're in the 80s... FINALLY! I can open the doors and windows during the day and turn off the artificial environment (heater). I love this time of year.

So I have a new obsession. Every morning I play Wordle, Worldle, Nerdle and Wordle Jr during breakfast. It's a good thing there's only one puzzle realeased per day so I can't give in to the compulsion to play it non-stop! The Worldle game is particularly interesting to me as Geography is not my strong suit. I'm enjoying it immensely. And as I told my husband, I'll be able to answer Geography questions on Jeopardy with a little more confidence now.

Hope you all have a terrific March...

HVAC

 

Last week HVAC was finally installed in our new house. Today marks exactly 11 months since we signed the contract for our home. At this point we're hoping for move in around June/July. Even though we knew this was going to be a long process, the reality of it has been kind of a shock. Still waiting on electric to go in. The roof tiles have been delivered and are sitting in our front yard. Other than that, it's still a waiting game!

February!

 

Well, it's February. I don't know where the month of January went but I can tell you it was not a productive month for me. I seem to be in a slump. I'm not sick, I'm not depressed, I'm not sad, I'm just blah. 

But now it's time to shake off the blahs and jump back into life with enthusiasm! haha

I do think the drawn out process of building a house is starting to wear on me. It's been 10 months since we signed our contract and no work has been done since November 1st when the plumbing was put in. There's still a hold up on certain supplies, but the biggest hold up right now is the lack of workers. Plus, the growth in our area is phenomenal. We have so many people moving here from California, Washington, Oregon... it's just crazy. The outlying desert areas around us are being turned over for new housing in all directions. The number of industries relocating here is explosive. Amazon, Microsoft, at least three semi-conductor campuses are all going up in the West Valley. It's great for our economy! But the housing market is scrambling to catch up.

Another thing that's wearing me down is my parents' situation. My mom has cognitive decline, my dad has worsening health issues. They need a lifestyle change that will keep them safe, secure, and cared for. They refuse to move out of their home and mom is adamant that she doesn't want a stranger coming into their home. I get it. But something has to give. I keep trying to gently move them towards making the decision themselves before something happens that takes the decision out of their hands completely. To no avail. 

The reality is that both of these issues will get resolved. And it will be easier for me to deal with them if I shake off the blahs. So that's what I'll be doing in February. Hopefully there'll be SOME sort of progress on our new house. And hopefully we'll figure out a good solution for my folks. In the meantime, I plan to get out my stitching and work on the two stockings I need to make this year. Continue downsizing my stuff in anticipation of a move. And look forward to warmer weather!