One Year

I meant to blog about this in July, but I didn't have time.  July marked one year since we moved into this house.

Sometimes it feels as if the year has flown by, sometimes it seems like it's dragged on.  But only because we've been in non-stop project mode for basically the entire year.

The first few months were a blur of unpacking, company, and trying to get somewhat settled.

Then project mode started.

Here's what has been completed since February:

1.  A kitchen for my mother-in-law:

2.  All duct work was pulled out of our house, along with the 3 swamp coolers (2 on the roof, one on the side of the house, and replaced with ductless cooling units (2 on the roof, one on the side of the house, as well as individual units for each room in the house (with the exception of the bathrooms):

3.  We had insulation blown into our attic.  No pictures....it isn't pretty ha ha.

4.  We had 3 rooms painted.  The kitchen, the sunroom, and the laundry room:

5.  Our latest project was some concrete work.  We needed to finish the outdoor part of the addition, as well as some work on the other side of the house.  We hired a concrete crew to add a pathway to my mother-in-law's new front door. 

We also added a patio for her:

The concrete is stamped and tinted to give it a little more character (as opposed to just regular concrete that looks like an outdoor basketball court ha ha).  The bucket is there for a future fence post.  We are putting up a vinyl-coated aluminum fence to close that gap.  We will have our backyard completely private again.

We also had the concrete crew pull out the old (non-working) 'water feature' that was in one corner of the yard.  It included a pond (non working and non draining, so every time it rained my husband had to suck all of the water out of it), and a rock 'feature'.  It was just hideous.  Maybe if it would have worked we could have cleaned it up and actually used it.  But we didn't want to invest the time and money to get something working that we weren't even sure we wanted.

Within about an hour, they had it gone:

In about 20 years (ha ha) we would like to put a hot tub in this corner.  But for now, my hubby and mother-in-law may plant some annuals or something.  It's nice to have the hideous water fountain gone!

Then, we had some drainage problems (of course) on that side of the house as well.  Basically when it rained, the water would pool in one corner around the garbage cans (lovely).  So the concrete crew pulled out all of the old stuff and poured new concrete that will drain properly down the driveway and into the street (as it should).

Unfortunately, because of these unforeseen issues, our flooring inside will have to wait.  We have hideous carpet all throughout the house.  It looks filthy, even though we have cleaned it multiple times.  :(  Oh well.  

We still have the front yard to work on, as well as adding the fence.  But those are more affordable things that we should be able to handle over the next few months.  

So we really have accomplished a lot!  I'm pleased with the progress so far.  And it feels good to have the not-so-glamorous-but-necessary stuff done (concrete, insulation, etc.).  It feels so...adult.  Ha ha.

Random

*Costco has started selling SKYR!!!!!  It’s not widely found in the United States.  We have found it at Sprouts and Whole Foods, but it is way expensive.  We LOVED it when we were in Iceland and it was one of the few grocery items that was affordable.  We get 2 cases of it each time we are at Costco.  It’s 4 Weight Watchers points for one container.  15 grams of protein.  There are other products out there (Siggy’s, etc.) that claim to be Skyr, but they’re not.  This one is the only one available in the US that contains Icelandic Heriloom Skyr Cultures (from Iceland’s oldest farmer-owned dairy).  It was a happy, happy day when we discovered it.  It’s the little things in life, you know?

*I’ve pretty much given up TV.  I watch maybe 1 hour on the weekends.  That’s it.  And sometimes not even that.  And when I do watch, it's usually something I've watched before like Parks and Rec or Downton Abbey.  And you know what?  I don’t miss it.  I’ve been READING LIKE CRAZY.

 

*We went back to English.  We talked and prayed about it for months now and felt it was the right decision for our family.  I am relieved, but I am also heartbroken about leaving our French family.  We truly are a family.  And it’s going to be hard to find that again.  But at the same time, English has already given us a huge spiritual boost.  And our new congregation has lovingly welcomed us.

*This hairbrush has changed my life.  Well, not really, ha ha.  But again…it’s the little things.  I LOVE it.  It’s the Conair Ceramic Porcupine Cushion Brush.  My hair takes less than a minute to brush out as opposed to 10 minutes ripping through it with a wide-toothed comb.  I don’t know why I waited so long to switch to a brush.  I got it at Target….I think it was $9?

 

*Monsoon season is still going strong.  This is the heaviest monsoon I’ve seen since I’ve lived here.  My mother-in-law says the same thing and she’s lived here 20+ years.  It’s been raining almost every night.  I love it!  The dog…not so much.  The picture below is from abqjournal.com.  It is a very accurate portrayal of monsoon season.  This is looking East (the Sandia mountains are right behind the rain) and the Rio Grande is where all the green trees are in the middle.  We live on the East side (so basically, right where the rain is dumping).  Anyways...the sun will be out, then all of the sudden one part of town will look VERY ominous and there will be an isolated monsoon that dumps a crapload of rain for a good 15-20 minutes.  Streets flood, traffic comes to a stop.  And then the next day, there are traffic crews out cleaning up the rocks.  Because there isn't a lot of grass here, there are rocks in it's place.  And when there's a tremendous amount of rain, the rocks get washed into the street. 

I just have to give a shout-out to my washer and dryer.  Ha ha.  I do at LEAST one load of laundry per day, sometimes more (gym clothes, work clothes, meeting clothes, towels, bedding, etc.).  They are LG Front Loaders.  I love them!!!!

I'm working from home today.  He is not making it difficult AT ALL: 

Kindle

I am a fan of books in all form.  Real books, audio books, and e-books.  While I use my apps (Hoopla, Libby) linked to my local library a LOT for audiobooks, I don’t use them much for e-books.  There’s a reason for that.  In the past, I read e-books on my iPad.  Have you ever read a book on your iPad?  Maybe it’s different for people who don’t stare at a computer screen for 8+ hours a day.  But it is incredibly hard to stare at a glaring iPad screen to read a book.  It’s hard on the eyes.  It’s easy to get distracted. 

But there are SO MANY advantages to reading e-books.  First, you can get LOADS of them free from your library.  It’s so easy!  And if you are an Amazon Prime member, there are loads of free e-books as well (I believe you can have 10 free books at a time….there’s no time limit, but you can only have 10 free ones at once).  And….buying e-books is so much cheaper than buying real books.  I subscribe to 3 websites (Goodreads, Book Bub, Book Riot) that send out an email every day that list the best e-book deals that day (they change daily).  Most of the books they post are newer and/or best-sellers and they are usually $2.99 or less.  Most are $1.99. 

You can also buy brand new e-books on the date of their release.  A brand new hardcover new-release book at a bookstore will be $27.00.  That same book in e-book format will be HALF that cost.  Or less! 

But I haven’t been taking advantage of these deals until recently, because I do not like reading from my iPad.  But I got a Kindle Paperwhite!  What is the difference between a Kindle and a tablet?

1.  The screen.  The iPad uses a touch screen LCD display (the same as laptops and other PCs).  However, the Kindle uses e-ink technology that looks like paper.  While the iPad is all color, the Kindle is different shades of grey.  And most importantly:  because of the e-ink, you have ZERO eye-strain from reading on a Kindle.  There is also no glare.

2.  You can only do like 3 things on the Kindle:  read books, download books, and look at Goodreads.  That’s it.  No apps, no web surfing, etc.  It is great because you can’t get distracted!

3.  The battery.  The Kindle only needs to be charged like every 2 weeks.  Amazing!  I’ve had mine for 13 days and it still has ½ of the battery life left.

4.  The size.  The Kindle is much smaller (about the size of a Mass-Market Paperback).  It is super lightweight, even if you have a case on it (which I would highly recommend getting a case for it).

5.  You can highlight any passage from any book and it will save them for you in the ‘My Clippings’ section in your library (that's an ad at the bottom).  

Here are a few of my highlighted passages:

The Light of the Fireflies:

“There’s no creature more amazing than one that can make it’s own light”

The Bell Jar:

“I thought I would swim out until I was too tired to swim back.  As I paddled on, my heartbeat boomed like a dull motor in my ears.  I am I am I am.” Note:  I Am I Am I Am is also the title of Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir (taken from this passage in The Bell Jar)

“Wherever I sat, on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok, I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.” (talking about depression)

“If I was going to fall, I would hang on to my small comforts, at least, as long as I possibly could.”

“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart.  I am, I am, I am.”

The Bookshop on the Corner:

“Because every day with a book is slightly better than one without, and I wish you nothing but the happiest of days.”

“Some people buried their fears in food, some in booze, some in planning elaborate engagements and weddings and other life events that took up every spare moment of their time in case unpleasant thoughts intruded.  But for Nina, whenever reality, or the grimmer side of reality threatened to invade, she always turned to a book.  Books had been her solace when she was sad, her friends when she was lonely.  They had mended her heart when it was broken, and encouraged her to hope when she was down.”

You can also make your own notes on what you highlight.

There are so many other great things about it….you can travel with literally hundreds (thousands) of books.  I wish I would have had mine in Iceland.  I loaded up my iPad with books and then didn’t read any of them because it is just so hard to read on an iPad.  Such a strain on the eyes.

I’ve been reading on my Kindle every night.  I’ve pretty much completely stopped watching TV.  The only time I watch is if I’m folding laundry.  Or meal prepping (I’ll have my iPad on the counter with something on).  But at night?  I’m either reading in the man cave or outside, and when I go to bed I’m reading.  You can read in the dark on the Kindle too.  The screen adjusts to the light in the room.  It is wonderful!  I’m a fan. 

July Reads (9)

One star = did not like it at all

Two stars = eh, it was okay

Three stars =  liked it

Four stars = really, really liked it

Five stars = absolutely loved it

2-Star (3)

**Letters from Peking (Fiction, Pearl Buck)

This book about an American woman (living in Vermont) married to a Chinese man (living in China) started off strong but fizzled a lot towards the end.  And it was a tiny little book so it felt more like a short story to me.

**Queen of Hearts (Fiction, Kimmery Martin)

I had high hopes for this book.  I heard good things like "it's Grey's Anatomy meets Friends"....except.....it wasn't.  It was just very long and took forever to just get to the point.  It started off somewhat strong, but then went downhill from there.  Beautiful book cover though.

**Silver Sparrow (Fiction, Tayari Jones)

This book had such promise (two mothers, two daughters, one father....one mother/daughter knows about the other mother/daughter but the other mother/daughter doesn't know there's a 2nd family, etc.).  But it just fell flat.

3-Star (2)

***The Secret Life of Violet Grant (Beatriz Williams)

I enjoyed this book.  It is part of a trilogy about sisters during World War II.  I'm not sure if I will continue with the series.  The book dragged a bit sometimes, but the writing was good and it was actually quite funny in some parts. 

***A Speck in the Sea (Non-Fiction, John Aldridge)

I had never heard about this event which took place in 2013....the rescue of a fisherman off the coast of Montauk.  It got a bit wordy when talking about the mechanics and logistics of fishing boats and fishing, but I still enjoyed it.  I learned a few new things too.  Like...when a person who has been in the water for hours and hours, and then find out they are going to be rescued (as in...they see the helicopter coming their way), the relief can cause their blood pressure can drop dangerously low to the point of fainting, so the Coast Guard rescuers are trained to act extremely quickly.  In this case, the Coast Guard rescuer broke protocol and just jumped in with his face mask and water shoes and left the wet suit behind.  I also learned that fisherman boots when turned upside down can be used as buoys with trapped air inside.  John's boots saved his life.

4-Star (2)

****One (Fiction, Sarah Crossan)

This is the first Sarah Crossan novel I've read, although she's a pretty popular YA novelist.  I loved it.  It's about Tippi and Grace, who are 16-year-old conjoined twins (named after Tippi Hedren and Grace Kelly, two beauties in famous Hitchcock films).  It took me only a few hours to read this book because it's written kind of in poetry style.  Sometimes a single page will have four lines on it and that's all.  I'm not sure if this is how Crossan writes all of her books, but it was refreshing!

****Why We Get Fat (Non-Fiction, Gary Taubes)

VERY informative.  A little too scientific for me, but I learned SO much and I definitely want to re-read this one.

5-Star (2)

*****Us Against You (Fiction, Fredrik Backman)

I have a special place in my heart for Fredrik Backman because of THIS piece that he wrote on his personal blog about his struggle with anxiety and depression:

http://www.fredrikbackman.com/2018/07/02/something-about-the-anxiety/

Before his latest book, Us Against You, I read 2 other of Backman's books:  A Man Called Ove (which was good....but not 5-stars) and Beartown.  Beartown was REALLY good book about a small town somewhere in Sweden called Beartown.  And Beartown lives, breathes and dies by ice hockey.  And when something tragic happens, it rips the town (and the team) apart.  The book wrapped itself up pretty well, but then Backman dropped a sequel, called Us Against You.  This book was the same characters (still playing hockey in the aftermath of what happened in the previous book), and he introduced some new characters as well.  Backman writes beautifully.  I had my highlighter out the entire time I read Us Against You and I don't think I've ever highlighted a book so much.  It was excellent.  And yes....you definitely need to read Beartown first.

And, I follow him on Instagram and yesterday he announced that he is writing a third book.  He did say though that he didn't know when (due to his mental health) and to please be patient with him.

If you're unfamiliar with Backman, start with A Man Called Ove.  It's an easy, heartwarming read.  And then read Beartown.  Beartown is much more gritty though, just as a heads up (it is not heartwarming).  But it's worth the read.  And if you love (or even like) Beartown, DEFINITELY read Us Against You.  This book made me cry (and usually books don't do that to me).  It's just SO. GOOD.

*****A Lite Too Bright (Fiction, Samuel Miller)

Okay, here is the blurb straight from Goodreads:

Arthur Louis Pullman the Third is on the verge of a breakdown. He’s been stripped of his college scholarship, is losing his grip on reality, and has been sent away to live with his aunt and uncle.

It’s there that Arthur discovers a journal written by his grandfather, the first Arthur Louis Pullman, an iconic Salinger-esque author who went missing the last week of his life and died hundreds of miles away from their family home. What happened in that week—and how much his actions were influenced by his Alzheimer’s—remains a mystery.

But now Arthur has his grandfather’s journal—and a final sentence containing a train route and a destination.

So Arthur embarks on a cross-country train ride to relive his grandfather’s last week, guided only by the clues left behind in the dementia-fueled journal. As Arthur gets closer to uncovering a sad and terrible truth, his journey is complicated by a shaky alliance with a girl who has secrets of her own and by escalating run-ins with a dangerous Pullman fan base.

Arthur’s not the only one chasing a legacy—and some feel there is no cost too high for the truth.

And here are my thoughts:

1.  This book is classified as YA, although I cannot for the life of me understand why.  Maybe because the main character is 18 or 19 years old?  Other than that....to me, this book is FAR from YA.

2.  I listened to this book for free on audio, but when I finished it, I went and bought a copy.  There were so many parts that I wanted to highlight but you obviously can't do that on audio.  Beautiful words like this:

"I feel my body outside itself, looking in.  Some days I'm the passenger; some days I'm the captain; and some days, I let chemicals steer the ship."

"The curse of feeling everything, is that you're painfully aware when you feel nothing."

3.  The author of this book is 27 years old, and the lead singer of an alternative band called Paradise Fears.  And this is his debut novel.  UNBELIEVABLE.

4.  This book tackles so many issues....mental health (big time), mystery, family relationships, travel.  The list goes on and on. 

5.  A pretty important and pivotal portion of this book happens in Nebraska.

6.  Just when I thought I had it figured out and had even started thinking I knew what was real and what wasn't real....there was another twist.  And then another one.  And then another one.  While there are some slow parts, this book is just....I have no words!

Total Books Read: 9 (2 non-fiction, 7 fiction)

Formats

Kindle: 

Audio: 5

Real Books: 4

DNF (Did Not Finish) 3:

Gods in Alabama (Fiction, J. Jackson) - content

Holding Up the Universe (Fiction, J. Niven) - lost interest

Spectator Bird (Fiction, W. Stegner) - lost interest

Tent Rocks

A couple of weeks ago, my nephew from Nebraska came to visit.  We mostly just ran around town and hung out at home and we had a great time!

We only did one ‘touristy’ thing and that was Tent Rocks.  Tent Rocks is about an hour northwest of Albuquerque.  It is a cluster of rock formations that are the result of volcanic eruptions that happened 6-7 million years ago.  They vary in height, from a few feet to 90 feet high.

There are a couple of different trails you can take to the top.  We chose the difficult one, which is 1.5 miles each way.  Trekking up a narrow canyon with a 630 feet climb. 

Once you get to the top, you get a great view of the mountains and the Rio Grande Valley.

I’m not going to lie, it was a very difficult hike for me.  But I did it!  I would like to do it again sometime, but maybe on a cooler day (it was about 100 degrees when we went).

Anyways, we had a great time and it was nice to do something that was new for all of us.

Ductless

When I first moved to New Mexico, there were a few terms that were new to me.  Like ‘swamp cooler’ and ‘evaporative cooling’.  And ‘refrigerated air’.  What the heck?  And ‘air conditioning’ or ‘central AC’ are not terms used here AT ALL.  Weird, right? 

Refrigerated air is the same as central air.  A swamp cooler (or ‘evaporative cooler’) however, is an outside unit that is hooked up to water and it uses that moisture to cool your house.  That’s what most people have here.  There are pros and cons.  The pros are that it is inexpensive.  And….that’s pretty much the only pro.  The con list is much longer.  It doesn’t completely cool.  You can’t control the temperature at all.  There are literally just switches (they look like light switches) to flip it on and off.  That’s it.  Well, I take that back.  There’s a ‘high’ and a ‘low’.  Those are your options.  It will cool the house down somewhat, but when it’s 100 degrees outside, your house is going to be about 80 degrees inside with the swamp on.  I’m not kidding.  And upstairs?  Hahahaha…..much warmer.  The other con is that every year, you have to ‘prep’ the cooler.  So when it’s fall and you don’t need the swamp cooler anymore, you (or one of the many companies around town that will do it) have to drain it, unhook it, cover it up, etc (honestly I have no clue what is involved).  And then when summer starts, it needs hooked back up, etc.  Kind of a pain, especially if they’re on the roof (which most of them are).  You have to leave the windows cracked for it to work.  So if there’s heavy pollen in the air, or ANY kind of smoke (in the land of wildfires), that will come into your house.  As well as dust, dirt, the occasional lizard, etc (I’m not kidding).  So it’s not ideal.

When we bought our house, we knew it had a swamp cooler instead of refrigerated air (Central AC).  Most houses here have swamp coolers.  ‘Refrigerated air’ or central AC is a luxury.  For dry climates, most places have swamp coolers (because they don’t work when it rains).  And it makes sense that they used a swamp when they built the house….our house is ginormous and to cool it via Central AC would be an astronomical cost each month.  At first we looked into converting the swamp to refrigerated air, but that still didn’t make sense.  Because with refrigerated air, you don’t have much control.  You can close certain vents in rooms, but that air is still going to try to force it’s way in.  And there’s a few rooms in our house that we just don’t use on a daily basis.  So why pay to cool those rooms every day? 

Because hubby researches everything (bless him), he decided on ductless heating and cooling units.  With ductless units, you can control the temperature of every room in the house.  So we can completely shut off the heating/cooling in Amy’s room, the gym, the library, the dining room, the front room, etc (the rooms we don’t use much).  We can just turn units on as we need them.  Or….you can leave them on always, but set the temperature higher if it’s a room that you rarely use.  There’s little remote controls for each unit.  There’s a unit in each room (except for bathrooms/hallways) and then we have 3 larger ceiling units:  one for our kitchen, one for our master bedroom, and one for my mother-in-law’s kitchen.   

Ductless systems are the primary systems used in Europe and Asia and have been for the past 30 years or so.  Once again, we are way behind the times here in America.

The initial equipment and set up is insanely expensive (we budgeted it in with the addition build-on).  But after that….it’s incredibly efficient.  Our electric bill should lower as well as our gas bill in the winter.  We won’t be paying to heat and cool our 4,000 square foot house when we only use like half of it.  The maintenance is minimal.  Each unit has a filter, however they are re-usable.  Once every couple of months you just remove the filter, wash it, and pop it back in.

The installation was quite the process though.  First, they had to pull out all of the existing duct work.  Then they had to wire everything for the new units.  There were random holes in the walls and the ceilings with various tubes and wires coming out of them.  Then they had to install the large units outside.  We have 3 of them.  One is on the side of the house, and two are on the flat part of our roof (you can’t see them and I forgot to take a picture of the one on the side of the house…it’s not large though).  Then the tubing for each unit had to be connected to one of the larger units.  I think.  I’m not exactly sure how it works, can you tell?  Ha ha.  But what I DO know is that each unit is controlled individually.  Which is amazing.  And they are whisper quiet. 

It was an interesting experience though.  I never knew what I was going to be coming home to.  Every day there would be various holes in the walls with various things coming out of them.  I wish I was exaggerating.  It was interesting and unsettling and kind of comical.  It took about a week and a half.

See?

Right now we are in the process of getting the holes where the existing vents and ducts were all sealed up, patched over and painted (to match the existing paint colors).

But the house is COOOOOOOOL!  It’s soooooo nice.  My library upstairs is no longer an oven!  And bye bye window air conditioner units!

I’m officially a fan of the ductless cooling.

Addition Update #6 (final interior)

This will be the final update for the INTERIOR of the addition.

I present to you, my mother-in-law’s kitchen:

This is her front door, and to the left is her sliding glass patio doors (that currently lead out to a patch of dirt...the patio is not done:

This door is the laundry closet.  She has a full-size washer and dryer in there (stacked).  We hung up her antique rug-beater on the door.  It belonged to her grandmother!

Her little kitchen cart, which acts as her baking station (she's highly allergic to gluten, so she is armed with a bread-maker and all kinds of alternate flours - coconut, rice, almond, etc.).  This also holds the dog food and dog treats.  We hung her needlepoint that she did in 1995 over the cart.

View from the hallway:

This door holds her tank-less water heater, as well as her trash can and large container of dry dog food.  She might add some additional shelving in the future, because there's room for it.  The hallway you see leads into her great room (which is a combined living room/office).

There are a few more things that need tweaked...like her washing machine needs balanced.  We paid to have the appliances installed, so they need to come and balance them.  Also, Lowe's ordered the wrong refrigerator.  If you look closely, it's a 'black' stainless steel.  It doesn't quite match the dishwasher and stove in color.  The other one will not be delivered for another month or so, so they told her to use the wrong one until then.  Not a big deal. 

So, although it took wayyyy longer than we were hoping, we are very pleased with the final result.  I love it!  I'm jealous!  But more importantly, SHE loves it.  In fact, she texted me this morning and it just said "Guess what!  I'm eating breakfast at my KITCHEN table in the KITCHEN!!!".  She was so excited!  :)  

And of course, there is still outdoor work to be done.  But as of now, she has a fully functioning kitchen and laundry room!