the search is on

The husband and I have been looking for a new place to live. Yes, our stint in the duplex is about over. He wants to live near the beach but everything is expensive right now so we are biding our time waiting for the perfect one. We are watching the listings on the internet. We can't do the driving around thing so we opt to do it online. We want a two or three bedroom unit may it be a house or an apartment. We are leaning on an apartment this time though so we don't have to do any yard work. But it has to have room for two adults and a growing, inquisitive toddler. We are not particular on how the inside looks like. We do not demand the floor to be made of ceramic tile or expensive carpet. We just want the new place to be fairly new and energy efficient. We are paying over two hundred dollars on electric where we are at now and the place is not even that big. And one of the reasons we are leaving this place is that it had been over a year and the AC is still not replaced when the landlord promised us it will be. We can only wait too long. I emailed her yesterday that the AC quit working and we are uncomfortable but she did not call to even acknowledge she got the email. But never fear, we will win, lol. If we can't find the perfect place on the beach we can always go back to the Midwest and start over like we previously planned.

hibiscus?

I took a picture of this flower which looks like Gumamela (Hibiscus) I was used to seeing in my hometown. Sadly, nature did not cooperate. The wind was blowing like crazy which made it hard for me to take a picture without the petals curling like that. When I searched online for Gumamela it said there are different varieties so I might be right when I told the husband with certainty that this indeed is a hibiscus :)

on coffee makers

The husband threw the last coffee maker we had a few weeks ago. It was old but we still kept it until he broke the carafe by accident. So he threw it away. We have not bought a replacement since he switched back to instant coffee. I know how he loves his brewed coffee that is why I am thinking of getting him a new coffee maker. Sort of late-birthday-early-Christmas present. I have been looking for coffee makers and hope to find the same brand he was using before. That was the only coffee maker he used because it was bigger and a lot easier to operate. He threw an unused one away because he said it only makes a cup and did not like it. We could have sold it or maybe gave it to somebody but he said nobody would like it. Anyway, I hope I can find an affordable one for him.

new phone

A few weeks ago I decided to get a new phone. There was nothing wrong with my old phone, I just wanted a new one. Something totally different from what I had. I got what I wanted for free and all I had to do was agree to an extended service plan which I talked to the husband first who said yes. Now I have a new with all kinds of applications and such but I am not using it much. Nobody calls me but family and my unlimited text message feature is hardly ever used since why would I send a text message when I can just call anybody within the country and it is free? I hardly even get online with it anymore because I have my laptop. The features and specs I read on the website only sounds good then because I did not have the phone yet. Now that I realized I don't really need any of these extras I thought I should just have kept my old phone. Am I crazy or what?

giving back

Since a friend set up my own hosting account for me (I am that dumb, lol) I decided to offer another friend in the Philippines to host her blog should she decide to make one. It has to be on her own domain though and the friend said she is interested with the idea. We will talk some more in a few days and hopefully by then she already has a domain name picked out. I will host the blog for free. What is one more to the few I have? I also host another friend's blog for free. I am doing this because when I started out somebody helped me and hosted my blogs for free so I am giving back in return. I am aiming to renew my account and I have to save some more to be able to afford it since the rates has increased. I still have a few months left though. I have plenty of time.

a good deal?

The neighbor across the road finally sold his house, for a hefty amount at that. It took him and his wife weeks to move their belongings to what he claimed as a newer and bigger house. The other day they brought a moving truck to get everything out and that includes the steel buildings he had in his yard. It probably were the storage buildings which I thought was part of the deal with the house but I am apparently wrong. They left a small storage shed in the yard though. The new owner has not moved in yet. I am wondering who paid a lot of money for a modest home. The previous owner actually told us the original price of the house was half of the amount he sold it in. Somebody got a good deal huh? Although to the previous owner's credit he did have the roof fixed.

problems

Because of his injury, the husband is not able to fix our car. What is ironic is the car's transmission needs to be fixed. What do you know, the husband can't do it anymore. It sucks! There is an excellent resident mechanic at home yet with the help of a friend he has to bring his car to a friend's shop so the friend can fix it. I know the husband is frustrated. He is not used to relying for help from people especially when it concerns cars. In fact, friends used to call him to ask what needs to be done if a car is acting up. He still gives out advice but he can no longer do anything but. It must be hard for him. I know his mind is willing but his body is not. Hopefully the car will get fixed so he will quit worrying about it.

moving help

Before long, we will be moving out of this duplex we are living in. We might even move out of state although we can't make up our mind where to go just yet. It is a daunting task just even thinking about moving with the husband not able to help. How am I supposed to lift and carry anything in the truck? The stepson is working full time and going to school. We can ask the son-in-law but his decision will have to depend whether his wife will agree to it or not. If nothing else works, we might have to call a moving company and hope it is not expensive so we can afford it. I have to look not for moving companies Los Angeles but for ones in the South. We have rented trucks on our previous moves but a moving company with real people to carry (I will definitely pack) the boxes and furniture to the truck and deliver it to our destination is something I am not familiar with. It may be less stressful though. We still have another option left and that is to call relatives from another state and ask them to help but that also requires money not to mention their time. We better decide what to do before doing anything else.

sunset

I have already posted this picture on one of my blogs perhaps a year ago but I want to post it again to remind me of our days spent on the beach. We have not watched the sunset since I took this picture because of things that happened that is beyond our control but I am happy I have this picture to remind me of those times. We might not be able to do this again in a long time should we decide to move back to the Midwest but I know one day we will when we come down to visit.

staying home

We are staying home for the day. Unlike the previous years, we are not going to watch fireworks displays. The husband and I already had fireworks earlier when we argued over something silly and ended up laughing like goofs. It is crazy when two adults with a toddler get coped up in a house for days because of things we don't have control over. The husband got a call from his daughter saying if we want to we can go up to their place and we can bring the kids to the park to play. He declined and said we would rather stay home. I don't blame him. I want to stay home too even if we have enough of staying home, lol. It is just that by staying home we get to save money. I am not ready to run after the little man which is what he is guaranteed to do when we go to the park. How do I know? Because we have been to the park months before and I ended up chasing him everywhere. Anyway, it is a pretty day and hopefully a lot of people are enjoying the holiday weekend. Happy fourth!