Moved in and "cold" is a blessing

As I've told you before, there was no working heater wall unit in our new house.  We had some "fixers" come to the house, but they started on the toilet and showers first.



I'm nothing but grateful.

We can wear several layers of clothing to get warm, but it's harder to find ways to get clean.

I drove my teenage girls across town one night so they could get showers at a friend's house, but I think Doug, Keira, Caleb and I went a week without a shower.

We also had butane gas heaters, but you had to be right in front of them to feel them.  The intense cold in the house swallowed up the heat in ways I've never seen before.

However, I didn't hear any complaining.  We were all aware that there were refugees living in tents during this same weather, and we at least had a solid shelter over our heads.

SO...let's look at a blessing of a cold house.

When we moved, we plugged in our refrigerator too soon, so it stopped working.  We had forgotten to let it sit upright for awhile before plugging it in.

Our icebox of a house was the perfect answer!

We left the doors open at first,

And eventually moved it all to the ice cold tile floor.

Our refrigerator was at the repair shop for over a week, and since we didn't get heat for two weeks, our food on the cold tile floor was well taken care of.

The lovely chandelier that came with the house only has two bulbs that work in it, and I think it will always stay that way.  I see no need for Doug to go to the trouble of replacing light bulbs way up there.

But best of all, another reason not to complain, when we look out our kitchen window, we see GREEN.

We are so thankful for this house, warm clothes, blankets, gas heaters, electric heaters, refrigerators, food, electricity, FRIENDS and FAMILY!

In Search of a New Home

We spent 8 months last year looking for a new house to rent.  The "pickins" were slim, so we just had to wait for different ones to come available to see. 

One we looked at had formally been used as a school, and Keira was sure if we rented it, we could keep the paintings.

 

Also, all the houses in the city are not on one computer system.  A renter has to drive to a neighborhood they are interested in, find a realtor in that area, and then tell him what you are looking for.  He calls when he has something available (if he remembers).

We actually went to one realtor in an apartment building one day, and he drove us to some houses he knew of, but they were pretty far away from where we were originally looking.

Some were very modern looking, but their location made them a “no” for us.

I am sad to say that I did not photograph the “absolute NO’s,” because either I was so horrified or I never saw it in person.  Doug was so amazing to go and vet so many of them before I ever went. 

One had three dead birds on the front porch.  One had two dead birds on the inside.  Three of them had been vacant so long and birds had continually pooped on the porches, that when Doug walked inside, the dried excrement crunched under his shoes.  One house that all of us visited had an inch-thick blanket of excrement leading to the front door...and Kylie walked it in crutches. 

When you do find a house, the realtors give you about 24 hours to make a decision, mainly because the market is so slim, and someone else might want it.  It can be pretty high pressure.

There is no chance to do an inspection and figure out what works and what doesn’t, so you never know what you’re going to get.

We actually were given a week to think and to visit with our potentially new landlord, but of course, he was on the fence about whether his family would want to sell the house or rent it again.  It hadn’t been lived in for two years.

We finally came to an understanding at the end of November last year, he gave us the first month’s rent for free (December), and then the real work started.

 


These are two of the bathrooms in the house we chose.  Can you see that the shower head is not even over the bathtub, but over the floor?

Well, it least it has one Western toilet

Definitely a feature we would not have chosen :)

Many times the owner leaves things
that you just have to deal with

Well, we know the kitchen carpet will have to go, plus the small pink wall Kylie is leaning on,
but we have to make do with everything else.

You can't tell, but the sink stand is broken, so we will need to replace the counter and storage underneath,
and then figure out where to put his stove and some other cabinets he left behind.

We just thought FINDING a house was hard.  Now we had to make it LIVABLE.

Shopping...not for the faint of heart

Shopping has been interesting to say the least.  It is overwhelming for me to make so many decisions in such a short amount of time.  

But, thankfully, some decisions are easy.  

For example, some areas of furniture stores I don't even have to walk through.  Thankfully, I have one example to show you because Keira borrowed my phone to take pictures in a store one time, and she caught a furniture set on a photo.  This is a small example, but you get the idea.

When we finally get around to buying some propane for our stove, grocery store shopping looks like it's going to be fun.  I snapped some pictures today when I felt like no one was looking.

This is one of the bigger grocery stores, which I won't always visit, but it's nice to know it's here ;)

And look at how clever the store owners are...on our way up to the second floor of the grocery store, they put all kinds of chocolate between the two escalators.

This grocery store is actually in a mall.  

Last week, we ate in the food court.  Keira can't read, but guess where she picked to eat?

Even though she was born in Africa, I guess Texas is in her blood somewhere.

Also, in this mall, was the store where we bought our duvet covers and toilets.  

If you get our newsletter, I'm guessing you already saw this picture of Doug trying out the toilet and measuring it for size. 

 

One of our squatty potties has a really large hole, and we had to look high and low to find a toilet with a large enough base to cover it.

These are such glorious photos, I know, but maybe you can tell how much larger the "blue" one is

Now that you've lost your lunch, you can watch us enjoy ours. 

Doug bought these sandwiches off the street today, and we had a nice lunch in the midst of cleaning.

Tomorrow, we're moving all our bags into our new home, and then on Saturday, our beds will be delivered.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get you some more pictures soon.