If it makes you happy :-)

I love my little place...

I have said before that the mantra of a Road Warrior is not 'Om' but rather HOME...

One thing that has bugged me since buying is the bathtub - if you could call it that... the depth of the tub from tub floor to the over flow was 8" yes i did say EIGHT 8" in my world that is not a tub - rather a kiddie pool...

so the dream/vision has been a 'real' tub... when ever I would go to Lowes, I would walk past the tubs and basically drool over those beautiful slipper tubs - the clawfoot ones, that were oh sooo deep... and oh sooo expensive... $1500 range. No small change for sure... that is definitely a save a while purchase...

for two years I have longingly dreamed and drooled over bathtubs...

Well, early one sunday morning I went in to get drywall screws and a bit of caulking for a little project and headed to fixtures to endulge in my tub fantasies (ladies I know you understand this - men, most men will just not get it)...

When suddenly a ray of light shone down from above and I swear I heard a choir of Angels go ahhhhhhh there it was a beautiful tub... and this almost brings a tear to my eye... it was on clearance... Clearance... love that word... it wasnt the slipper tub instead this was a jaccuzzi soaker tub (no jets - i dont need jets) and marked down to $300 bucks...

Life is good! Because this was the weekend, the store is staffed by students... this young guy comes by, and I said I want this tub - but first I need to try it on to see if it fits... he looks at me like i am on crack... as I climb in...

Oh my, it fits perfect, the taper of backrest is exact, there is even built in armrests and and it is 17" from the floor to the overflow...

Ahhhh... I was on cloud nine... by 6pm that night - my new bathtub was sitting on the patio...

now, I do appreciate that we are creatures of habits...some of them good some not so much... my history - both the family I grew up in and when i was married - the 'great deal' purchase would be made... then it would be months or years till it was dealt with...

I took a stand, I am responsible... I will break the cycle here and now... so I set about to find someone to install it. YES, thanks to daddy I do have the technical know how to do this - both the demo and the new installation including plumbing - the limitation was two fold... actual three fold time, muscle power - doing it alone and the last one is a biggie... the day before contacting the contractor I found a really really yuck big black spider in the bathroom...

now being a realist - I know one my limits - if i were to encounter any ANY spiders i would run screaming from the project like a girl LOL

My wonderful neighbor Carla - had a guy she would recommend... his name was Tim... so i sent Tim an email... something along the lines of i need a quote before i can no longer resist the urge to run a hose direct from the hotwater tank to tub and bathe in the great outdoors.

Tim came over, gave a great quote and the project - at least Tim's part is done.

Again i give great thanks to the Universe... to find a contractor who is fairly priced, respectful with a great sense of humor - is truly a miracle.

This guy so ROCKS that although he was unable to finish the project on Friday and would have to return on Monday - he knew me - that i would go crazy if i couldnt use the tub... so he hooked up the water, and yes I did have a bath every night i was home... the first night there was no drywall BUT I HAD a TUB... the next night no toilet BUT I HAD A TUB... notice the theme... Oh and by the way - because this toilet had to be remove - i decided to install a new toilet and vanity... the toilet was on sale and the vanity clearance <= there is that word again :-)

I have him preparing a quote to redo the kitchen... *big grin*

I now have the responsibility of finishing the walls and tiling the tub...

i dont like dirt :-)

Still working on the patio... the 'garden' a 3ft by 20ft stretch of dirt... with the lemon tree and a nice shrub/bush... the rest was dirt... now maybe if i was home more - i would have put in some flowers... but i am a realist... thats not going to work for my current lifestyle...














so plan B (have you noticed my life seems to have a lot of plan B or C or D) anyway, decided it would be a nice solution to build a deck... love home depot... got a couple of deck blocks, a few stringers and had the depot cut my deck pieces to the correct length... easy breezy... except cutting around the lemon tree and shrub - that was time consuming... i am pleased with the end result..






















Ahhh, more to my little piece of heaven... funny, i had pics on my digital camera, and when things were stressful in Thailand, I would look at the pictures of the patio - it would help center me *big cheesy grin*

Little Piece of Heaven looks heavenly...

I have been trying everytime I am home to do a little something to make it feel more homey...
The carport turned patio - is a nice usable space, but it was bland... looked like everyone elses... so I turned on the imagination... and a lightbulb came on... wow it would be a massive project and require a great deal of materials...

The vision...

put up twinkle lights between the exposed rafters (I have a fair number of these in California - and still have some at mom and dad's) Love boxing day shopping...

then cover all exposed area with silk (obviously too much time in the far east). Hmm, silk would be a financial problem... needed a plan B - ah, sheer curtains. Wow that would require a lot of curtains and it too would be costly. However, and that is a big however... there is in Los Angeles a hotel liquidator store - and I know that every single hotel I have ever been in has had sheers...

So Jim and I did the road trip... we had to brave LA traffic (it was brutal)but after 4 hours of traffic and 3 hours of sifting through bin after bin of curtains - the mission was accomplished 13 panels in total...

After washing - they looked fab... so, we strung 4 wires the full length of the patio. The next morning after dropping Jim at the airport I began the process of converting vision to reality... It took me the better part of 6 hours and then it was complete not perfect but up there... I will have to touch things up when I string the twinkle lights...

So as I sat admiring my work - it dawned on me - I leave for Thailand in 5 hours for the next 4 weeks - I giggled and thought well I hope my neighbours enjoy it, and I look forward to having it welcome me home... *big smile*

Ah, some time at home...

The sensation of returning home - really took on different meaning - have my own place. It really is quite amazing - before when I would return to San D, it would take 3 or 4 days to come down from the work - this time only a day... very nice!

I have an objective of trying to get things organized, with my own personal stamp. To start the process - the windows have been replaced. Now to Northern 'east coast' standards - the windows used in California are in fact what we call storm windows. Aluminum storms... so now new double paned vinyl has been installed.

I had spent the afternoon out and about, and when I returned I open the door and thought 'oh my - I must have left on the air' - hey wait I dont have airconditioning. The windows offer an almost 15F difference between outside and in - money well spent.

I am a big fan of before and after photos - so here are a few.

The kitchen before	The kitchen after

The view from the livingroom Before	The view from the livingroom After

I know I sound like I am doing a window commercial... but I am impressed, temperature difference - I have been watching between 14-20F difference between outdoors and in... also the low E reflective enhances the view...

This is my little piece of heaven... i am thinking about painting a welcome sign reflecting the name of my home.

One more view shot... Ahhhh heaven...and yes that is my dog in the picture, being on the road so much - Jim knew I was missing having a dog... so for now the stuffed one will have to do - his name is James (Thanks Jim)

Pictures of the neighbours...

Home is 'my little piece of heaven'.

As children we were all big fans of the Road Runner and Wily Coyote...

Well, both live in my neighbourhood.

And for the record the Road Runner does not go BEEP BEEP, and as of yet i have not seen the Coyote receive any deliveries from the ACME co.

Yippie!!!

After more than 2 years living out of a suitcase - moving from hotel to hotel... I am a home owner *jumping up and down - grinning from ear to ear*

Since I have a blog describing the places I go with my job... I though it was important to create a blog that describes the place that I will now call home...

Home... hmmm such a nice sound...

When I took my job, I moved my whole life into storage... including the car, when i wasnt working I would rent a hotel room, get little tibby (the car) from storage, enjoy the time off and when it was time to go back to work... drive the car into the storage unit, close the door (locking it tight) and board the next plane to the next hotel.

sometimes my schedule was such that I would have a couple of weeks at a time off... In a hotel costs can add up - plus believe it or not... I really missed cooking. I would try to find a condo to rent in the area, if possible.

Found one north of the airport about 30 miles, the condo itself was nothing to look at... however the location ahhh, on the top of a hill, overlooking a valley with mountains in the distance, and at night the city lights twinkle below. Equally as impressive as the view was the peace and quiet... a colony of bunnies would invade the small stretch of grass between the front door and the slope of the valley...

I do love my job, but sometimes (most of the time) it is fast paced and hectic... so this condo that i would occasionally rent from Carla was an ideal place to regroup.

Over the past year I have probably stayed there 4-5 times.

During my most recent stay, Jim and I notice a unit a couple doors down was for sale... well after what seemed like forever the deal was in escrow - and I was off to Thailand, arranging that the closing would take place the day returned.

While in Thailand i was tasked with signing papers, arranging insurance, arranging mortgage and all the other 'liitle' details entailed in purchasing a home... I had it planned out - thanks to FedEx it would be easy... (yah right)

One day I got online to pay my bills - and discovered that my Citi bank account had in fact been sold to M&T... translation - I have no money - it is now in a bank - that i dont have an account # to access... It took about 10 days and numerous phone calls to get things to the point where I would be able to close on the condo. Did I mention that Thailand is a 12 hour difference to the east coast and 15 to the west? Needless to say did not get much sleep in Thailand.

The good news - closing went smoothly... We had arranged with the movers who moved me into storage to move me out at 10am the day after closing... 10am came and went 11am came and went - no movers. They stood me up... scrambled to find a moving company thankfully we did and were moved in by 8pm...

So thats the story of getting the house... next will be what we do with it LOL

I was able to unpack about 80% of things - then duty called me to Indonesia... true confession in my spare moments here in Indonesia - I am in my mind knocking out walls rearranging furniture and picking paint colours... never dull eh?