A journal written about life, retirement and our journey throughout the United States in a 5th wheel, along with our two Shih Tzus, Tanner and Syndey. Written not for notoriety but for our sons, family and friends, so they know where we are at any given time. And particularly for ourselves. Finally, we get to slow down and smell the roses and we don't want to forget any of it. You are welcome to join us as we go 'Down the Road a Piece'.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
I see ceramic tile in my sleep
Our master bath remodel project is proceeding well. We installed the whirlpool tub and it is now working so we can get into the tub to soak our sore bones after working putting up and grouting the tile. The people who are installing the granite vanity top, window sill, and bench top came today and did a template of the vanity. I would say we have the bathroom about 80% complete. We started with 22 cases of tile and only have a few left so I know we are getting close. The floor is done which was a major deal since we had to tear up ceramic in the toilet area of the bathroom before we could install new ceramic tile in that room. We also painted the walls in the toilet room rather than tiling those walls. In the rest of the bathroom there was carpet, (I know most people hate carpet in bathrooms but I actually liked it.) We removed the old carpet and pad and installed concrete board on the floor before laying the ceramic tile. Huli wanted me to lay the tile on the floor on the diagonal which really thrilled me. After thinking about it for a while and making a template it really became easy to do even though I was doing the main bath area and a small room where the toilet sits. All of the walls around the whirlpool are tiled and grouted so we were able to take off a cover I built to protect the tub from falling tile or tools. The oak cabinet frame on front of the whirlpool is done and I was able to use three of the doors from the old whirlpool. We did however have to go to the guy who made our cabinets 15 years ago and buy some stain so the frame I made would match the doors. It turned out good and all of the whirlpool working parts like the pump and blower are easily accessible through these doors. We had a glass company come and take away the eight foot by three and a half foot mirror that was over our vanity. We were going to take it out ourselves and I even had some suction cups to lift it out but the charge to have them do it (with my help) was not much more than our trash people would have charged us for a special pick up of the mirror. When the bathroom is done I will post some pictures. I wish now I would have taken some before and after pictures but didn't.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Motorhome update and summer travel plans
We picked the motorhome up this week and it looks like brand new. Precision Paint in Bremen, Indiana did an excellent job making the repairs. When we had the motorhome up to Newmar in May they were surprised we weren't having them do the work. I said they were 100% over Precision's quote and they didn't include replacing the front wheel and hub cap while Precision's did. After seeing the motorhome the Newmar person said their quote must have included a lot of extra dollars for hidden damage not shown in the photos. I really don't think the Newmar person doing the quote knew what he was doing since it took three quotes just for them to get mistakes corrected. The first quote they sent me had zero charges for labor which was the largest component of getting the repairs made. I pointed this out and they resent the quote. I found a couple of other problems with the quote and they corrected and resent again this time for $6,100. Precision quoted just over $3000 and the actual charges matched their quote. We actually made money on this wreck. Go figure. Several people told me to take it to Precision regardless of the money because they felt they would do a better job than Newmar.
We are currently planning on heading out to somewhere in mid July and plan on traveling for about a month. At least that is the plan as of now. By then I am hoping our bathroom remodel project will be completed. Yesterday we finished installing and the whirlpool tub. Now we need to complete tiling the walls and whirlpool deck and getting a new vanity top installed. So far it looks nice.
We are currently planning on heading out to somewhere in mid July and plan on traveling for about a month. At least that is the plan as of now. By then I am hoping our bathroom remodel project will be completed. Yesterday we finished installing and the whirlpool tub. Now we need to complete tiling the walls and whirlpool deck and getting a new vanity top installed. So far it looks nice.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Mid Summer Season Update
Hello everyone,
Just thought I would give you an update on what has been going on since we got home the first of April. Well this is the year of updating some things around the house. First we got new tile in our foyer, kitchen, pantry and utility room. We then replaced the carpet in the upstairs and the stairs leading to the basement. We are really pleased with the change since we have had the other tile and carpet since we built the house 15 years ago. Another project we are doing on our own is updating our master bathroom. We got rid of a corner whirlpool tub that we didn't use much and are in the process of replacing it with a deep one person whirlpool tub. The new tub has many new features the old one didn't have and it should be installed by the end of the week. In addition, we have installed new ceramic tile on the floor and we are in the process of installing tile on the walls. Huli and I are doing the work so it may take some time since we aren't in any hurry. We originally tried to get a contractor to do the work but it seems they are so busy it was hard just getting them to give us a quote on the job. Oh well since I am feeling really good I enjoy doing the work myself anyway.
My health update. As I mentioned I have been feeling really good lately but that hasn't always been the case since we have been home. After getting home after a week or so in April I felt a stomach pain that wouldn't go away. After researching several doctors I finally got into a Gastro interologist who scheduled me for another cat scan since he suspected I still had diverticulitis. Sure enough I still had diverticulitis. He put me on two oral antibiotics for two weeks and that cleared it up. He told me they probably never fully got rid of it when I was in the hospital in Fort Myers, Florida. Anyway I feel great now and work or golf every day. My foot from the surgery in January has not fully recovered but feels better every day. It takes one year to fully recover from Haglund's deformity surgery so I feel pretty good about my progress.
The motorhome was taken to Precision Painting in Bremen, Indiana a couple of weeks ago to have the damage fixed from where we were hit going around Atlanta last November,. We go and pick it up tomorrow. Hope it looks like new. We also had the motorhome up to Newmar to have some issues repaired and they treated us very well. They took care of all of our issues as if they we under warranty even though a couple of the problems were out of warranty. We are hoping the new "break in" issues we have been experiencing are behind us but we will see. I replaced the microwave/convection oven myself after we got home in April. Our microwave in the basement kitchen stopped working so I took the Frigidaire microwave/convection oven out of the motorhome and put it in the basement and then got a new GE convection/microwave for the motorhome. There is no comparison between the two. The convection part of the Frigidaire is a piece of junk while the GE is fantastic. We had a GE convection oven in our 5th wheel and it worked great. I have also added a couple of square 5 inch by 5 inch plastic tubes to the underside of the motorhome to carry our sewer hose and our fold up step ladder. These should be great additions to make things more convenient and sanitary for storing these items.
We are looking forward to our youngest son getting married in August and some of the activities may mean our trip this summer may be shorter than last year but that's ok. We have never seen the upper part of Michigan so we may be heading north any day now for a week or two.
Not much else to report.
Have a great summer.
Jack
Just thought I would give you an update on what has been going on since we got home the first of April. Well this is the year of updating some things around the house. First we got new tile in our foyer, kitchen, pantry and utility room. We then replaced the carpet in the upstairs and the stairs leading to the basement. We are really pleased with the change since we have had the other tile and carpet since we built the house 15 years ago. Another project we are doing on our own is updating our master bathroom. We got rid of a corner whirlpool tub that we didn't use much and are in the process of replacing it with a deep one person whirlpool tub. The new tub has many new features the old one didn't have and it should be installed by the end of the week. In addition, we have installed new ceramic tile on the floor and we are in the process of installing tile on the walls. Huli and I are doing the work so it may take some time since we aren't in any hurry. We originally tried to get a contractor to do the work but it seems they are so busy it was hard just getting them to give us a quote on the job. Oh well since I am feeling really good I enjoy doing the work myself anyway.
My health update. As I mentioned I have been feeling really good lately but that hasn't always been the case since we have been home. After getting home after a week or so in April I felt a stomach pain that wouldn't go away. After researching several doctors I finally got into a Gastro interologist who scheduled me for another cat scan since he suspected I still had diverticulitis. Sure enough I still had diverticulitis. He put me on two oral antibiotics for two weeks and that cleared it up. He told me they probably never fully got rid of it when I was in the hospital in Fort Myers, Florida. Anyway I feel great now and work or golf every day. My foot from the surgery in January has not fully recovered but feels better every day. It takes one year to fully recover from Haglund's deformity surgery so I feel pretty good about my progress.
The motorhome was taken to Precision Painting in Bremen, Indiana a couple of weeks ago to have the damage fixed from where we were hit going around Atlanta last November,. We go and pick it up tomorrow. Hope it looks like new. We also had the motorhome up to Newmar to have some issues repaired and they treated us very well. They took care of all of our issues as if they we under warranty even though a couple of the problems were out of warranty. We are hoping the new "break in" issues we have been experiencing are behind us but we will see. I replaced the microwave/convection oven myself after we got home in April. Our microwave in the basement kitchen stopped working so I took the Frigidaire microwave/convection oven out of the motorhome and put it in the basement and then got a new GE convection/microwave for the motorhome. There is no comparison between the two. The convection part of the Frigidaire is a piece of junk while the GE is fantastic. We had a GE convection oven in our 5th wheel and it worked great. I have also added a couple of square 5 inch by 5 inch plastic tubes to the underside of the motorhome to carry our sewer hose and our fold up step ladder. These should be great additions to make things more convenient and sanitary for storing these items.
We are looking forward to our youngest son getting married in August and some of the activities may mean our trip this summer may be shorter than last year but that's ok. We have never seen the upper part of Michigan so we may be heading north any day now for a week or two.
Not much else to report.
Have a great summer.
Jack