Back in California

We landed safely back in Sacramento.  Boy, flying sure was a lot nicer than driving that is for sure.  Once landed, we were able to have a nice dinner and visit with our daughter before she caught a plane to southern California for the long weekend.

Must say it will be so luxurious to sleep in our own bed tonight.  We have almost spent almost as much time away from the apartment as we have spent there LOL.  It was very nice to walk in and see all our stuff.  Can't wait to see what it will look like in our new home.  Starting tomorrow, we have a lot of running around to do along with a visit to the dentist for a cleaning, and of course, the most important item: packing.  

Our friends, Rick and Y, are providing us with pictures of the progress made on our new home.  Thanks so much you guys.  A lot was accomplished today: water, sewer and electric connections were made, driveway area was formed and ready for concrete on Tuesday, and exterior marriage (camouflage of the  of the two halves) is almost complete.  The guy who is taking care of the interior marriage of the two halves as well as laying the carpet was there this morning so who knows how much he got accomplished.  When we left this morning, there was a lot of activity going on at our home site.

We did get to walk through the home once the two halves were bolted together last night.  It is still very much a construction zone inside but you can still "see" what it is going to look like.  We are very pleased at how lovely everything has turned out especially the bathtub in the master bathroom.  John took pictures but we left the camera behind and I forgot to download the pictures to the computer last night sheesh.  We've even scored an extra cabinet in the hallway - very nice.  We are very excited to see everything completed on the construction end.  We are both looking forward to making our new house a home.  Lots to look forward to in the days ahead.

Home Arrived!!!!!

We weren't sure if our home would be delivered today or tomorrow.  We found out around 10:30 a.m. that both halves were soon to be on the way.  Woo Hoo!  We grabbed a quick lunch and were surprised to get the call that the trucks were about 20 minutes away.

We borrowed the sales office's golf cart to transport our two lawn chairs over to Rick and Y's for our viewing comfort (never used them LOL).  When we got to the office, the first half came in.  We hustled the chairs over to Rick and Y's and I returned the golf cart to the office while John waited with the camera.  Got to ride shotgun with Kari and we helped stop traffic as first of the halves started the journey to its new home.  I was zooming on my iPhone so a couple of the pictures are blurry.  Mike is leading the way in his golf cart.

The each half had to exit the park to be able to turn around and come in to make a left hand turn.

The left half did a bit of tree trimming as it made its journey down the main road.  Can you spot the greenery?  Also, each half got a bit of cross country travel as they were maneuvered into position to be driven in to the site (a pull thru lol).

Making sure it is placed just right.

You are "this" far away.

Both halves sit side by side waiting to be joined together.  This will happen tomorrow.  The workers did get the left section leveled and the wheels and axles removed today. 

It is a happening when a new home is brought in and neighbors come out to watch.  Sort of like a barn raising must have been like in the olden days.  Such fun!

We've got to give big kudos to those truck drivers in the maneuvering they have to do to go around tights corners and such with such wide and long trailers.

Here is a sneak peek of our kitchen.  Beautiful and look at all the cabinets!!!!

We have to wait to see the other half (living room, master bedroom and bath) once both sides are joined together tomorrow.  We have a HOME without wheels again!!!!

Change in plans :(

Well, our home was not delivered today.  Dang it!  We were advised yesterday morning that our flooring in the laundry room was somehow cut and we had to mutually come up with a resolution.  After talking with the builder's rep, and passing on their "easy" solution, it was decided they were to remove all the linoleum and install Navco flooring (an upgrade at no charge to us) in all rooms where the linoleum was to be.  Consequently, this has slowed the delivery process down.  Now we are being told maybe Tuesday or Wednesday, at the latest, will be delivery day.  In the meantime, the site has been beautifully prepared and sits waiting.  Hopefully, we will be able to see the interior before we fly out Thursday morning.

Fun in Phoenix and more

We set out Friday morning for our weekend in Phoenix at Orange Tree Golf Resort in Scottsdale.  I mentioned in an earlier post that we got a great deal on Hotels.com.  We were very pleased with our accommodations and wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.  

The pool was just outside our room and if we had had suits with us, we would have been out there enjoying the cool water.  Yes, it was hot but at least it was only 103 versus the 115 they had just a few days before.

We spent the weekend "shopping" that is looking at furniture, home decor accessories, and anything else that caught our attention.  Phoenix has just about every shopping experience you could want or need.  We got some good bargains on a few items and drove all around the east side of Phoenix.  We really love the architecture of the area so driving around was fun.  We were also surprised that the traffic wasn't as bad as we had expected.  Guess it was so hot everyone stayed home - yea!

Monday, we drove out to where our home is being built.  The homes are built in a former airplane hangar so the interior of the house was too dark for photos.  The crew was on break so we got to check out the interior out without being in their way.  We had some questions about how the master bath was going to look and were very happy with the results.  All the cabinets in the kitchen had yet to be installed so we have to wait for delivery to see how it turned out.  We knew that later in the week would have been better for viewing a more completed home but as we were in Phoenix anyway,we decided what the heck.

Doesn't look like much does it LOL?  Check out all that thick insulation.

We got word yesterday that our home will be delivered tomorrow.  We are so excited!!!!!  Here is a shot of our site all prepped and waiting for our home.

Not sure when interior shots will be possible to post.  We fly back to Sacramento on Thursday (got to get ourselves packed up) so hopefully the crew here will be able to get quite a bit done before we leave and we can post those pictures.  

Also happy to report that John's sleep routine is almost back to normal and he is still seizure free - 38 days and counting.  Woo Hoo!

Dewey, AZ

When you last heard from us, we were setting out on a road trip.  We left Rocklin, CA Sunday morning, August 5, and spent the night in Tehachapi, CA.  Left early (6 a.m.) as we traversed through the Mojave Desert with a stop in Needles at 10 a.m. (106 degrees already - yikes!) from there we drove on through to Dewey, AZ (east of Prescott, AZ).  Talk about tired when we pulled in around 3 p.m.  Our destination was Orchard Ranch RV Park.  

Orchard Ranch has put us up in a Park Model (small set trailer approx. 400 sq feet).  We once again toured their model homes and spent time in the community area of Dewey, Prescott Valley, and Prescott.  Why?  Well, we were pretty sure this area was where we wanted to settle down when we visited here in April but thought the timeline was out about two years or so.  Well, as you well know, life happened and plans changed.  Being here has been good for both of us and our visit has confirmed that this is where we want to be.  We decided to purchase a new manufactured home (double wide lol!) and it is in production as I write.  Our new home is supposed to be delivered August 27.  We can't wait to see it brought in and see how they put the the two sections together.  From what we hear, it is quite interesting and it brings out the neighbors to watch the production.  There is a lot of work to do once the two sections arrive and depending on the weather, it could take two to four weeks before we can move in.  We plan on returning to Sacramento on the 30th and the next time we return, we will be bringing all our stuff with us.  Woo Hoo!

We will give you a sneak peak of our new home.  This is what the front of our new home will look like as we have chosen the same color combination.  The picture comes from the courtesy of Rick Dyer.  No interior pictures until we are in our new home as we have made some changes from the model.  I will say that the interior is very roomy (1,333 square feet) and has lots of cabinets.  We fell in love with the floor plan in April and it has the same appeal now.

Being here at Orchard has allowed us to meet our future neighbors who have been very welcoming.  It gives one a good feeling about the sense of community.  We walk every morning two to three miles within the park and stop in at the model to take a look :)  Friends Rick and Y purchased a home here a while back and our other friends, Bruce and Jenna, settled in at Pine Lakes a mobile home community in Prescott.  We are very lucky to be able to move to an area where people we know are living.  Bruce and Jenna stopped by this afternoon to check out our chosen site and go through the model home.  Bruce had a couple of good recommendations of which we already talked to the office about.  Thanks Bruce. We must add that the sales staff (Mike, Mimi, and Kari) have been a pleasure to work with.

We got to experience our first monsoon this afternoon.  The wind came up, the temperature dropped, hail came down, and then rain with a bit of lightning and thunder.  Due to the monsoons, everything around here is so nice and green.  From where we come from, this time of year is normally brown and dry so seeing everything green is a real pleasure.  The temperatures have been a bit warmer than normal from what everyone says but unless you are out in the direct sun, it isn't so bad. We think the lack of humidity has something to do with it - it's a dry heat lol.

We have to vacate the park model for the weekend.  We got a great deal on a room for three nights at a golf resort so we are going to brave the heat of Phoenix.  Luckily, the temperatures are suppose to be in the upper 90's instead of 115 like they've had for a while lately.  We are looking forward to spending some time looking around.  On Monday, we get to take a tour of the factory where our home is being built.  It should be interesting.  We hope to be able to take some pictures of the process.

We are also happy to report that John has been seizure free for 31 days (keep on working medicine!).  John's body is getting use to the medication so his sleep is getting back to normal.    I do, however, wish we both could sleep more than six hours a night.  It may take being settled in to our new home before our sleep patterns return to normal.

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thanks for reading.

Passing of another month

Sheesh, I do wonder where the days go.  We have gotten into somewhat of a routine in the mornings.  We go out walking each morning and have two designated routes that we alternate.  Does us both good.

John started on medication July 20.  We started my birthday on Tuesday with a visit to the neurologist.  We came away with smiles and some pep to our steps after this visit.  The doctor was very happy that the second sleep deprived EEG again showed no seizure activity combined with John not having another seizure as the probability was very likely.  The medication John is taking is of the lowest dose and so far, the only side effect is insomnia.  This side effect is a bit frustrating for John as he has never had a problem sleeping.  We have found a work around that is allowing him to get around six hours of sleep a night.  At times during the day, John will feel tired but just can't quite nap even though he really wants to.  The past couple of afternoons, he has taken a mini nap or two which is an improvement.  The doctor feels that this side effect will pass with time.  We now have some idea of what to strive for.  The doctor says the ideal thing would be that John be seizure free on this low dose medication.  The goal is to get at least 90 days or more without a seizure.  If John can do that, then the doctor said he can get back on his bike (with helmet) for some easy riding.  That brought a smile to John's face for sure.  Now, if in the meantime, John does have another seizure, then the dosage will be increased and the countdown will begin again.  This could go on until the right combination of medications can be found.  So far, John has 17 seizure free days under his belt woo hoo!  We both feel so much better after having an idea of what to expect and that the doctor feels optimistic about John's prognosis.

I had a wonderful birthday and received calls, texts, and emails.  Thank you everyone.  We both agreed that it was the best day we have had in two months.  

Sunday, we are leaving on a road trip WOO HOO!!!!  We are very excited to do some traveling.  Where to you ask?  You will have to come back next week to see what we are up to.  Until then . . .