April 2016 – Page 2 – Own Less. Do More.

Y’all know we started looking at buying a new RV earlier this year (click to revisit our adventures at the Austin RV Expo, and at the Houston RV Show Day 1 & Day 2), which involved a lot of shopping and gazillions of questions, but then we got an offer on our Texas house, and pulled back a bit to deal with that.

After we closed on the sale early in March, we picked up the RV research again, narrowed our criteria, and got as far as visiting a local lot to take one more look at the top contender before pulling the trigger.

And then the tenants in our Virginia house let us know that they’ll be moving out this summer.

Oh.

Well that means…

… the time is right to sell that house too.

So now that Tim’s cleared his final surgical follow-up (that story’s here), and I’ve completed my semiannual obstacle course of mammogram-doctor-doctor-doctor to make quadruple-y sure that breast cancer is still staying away (which it is, and I’m good to go for another 6 months) we’re rolling out of here in the morning.

Sorry, Maps. Guess you haven't heard that Houston's under water, so we're not taking your preferred route. — Sorry, Maps. Guess you haven’t heard that Houston’s under water this week, so we’re not taking the southern route.

We expect to arrive in the Hampton Roads area on Sunday, with the intention of spending about a month on various fix-ups to prepare that house for Real Estate Show Time.

And that means we’re putting off the RV shopping. Again.

One house at a time, y’all.

One. House. At a time.

1138 Manchester Avenue is a Craftsman style bungalow built in 1912. Four bedrooms, 3 full baths, detached garage, about 2400sf, great bones and lots of charm. — 1138 Manchester Avenue in Norfolk is a Craftsman-style bungalow built in 1912.
It’s got 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, about 2400sf, a detached 1-car garage, great bones and lots of charm in highly desirable Larchmont, where neighbors become family from Day 1.

(If you or someone you know is into buying real estate before it hits the market, this would be a great time to open that discussion. Take a look at the house on Zillow or Trulia, and let’s talk.)

Other posts on this topic:

Job 1:

It all started when Tim said, “Honey, I’m ordering a new antenna, and it will be the solution to all our internet connectivity problems, and by golly, you will never suffer service interruptions again!”

OK, that’s not what he said. It’s just what I heard, because I didn’t understand a single word of all the techno-jargon he used after “antenna.” Also, he never uses the phrase “by golly.”

New antenna means wires. Wires need a place to go. And there's a void on top of this cabinet, which makes it a perfect place to drill through the roof. I can now say that Tim has drilled through walls in every home we've owned, for the sole purpose of boosting our connectivity. — New antenna means wires.
Wires need a place to go.
And there’s a void on top of this cabinet, which makes it a perfect place to drill through the roof.
I can now say that Tim has drilled through walls in every home we’ve owned, for the sole purpose of boosting our connectivity.

Taping the wires to the roof... — The new antenna is in the foreground. We used aluminum tape to affix the wires to the roof, and you can see the entry point behind him. It’s now all sealed up with two different kinds of caulky stuff to keep moisture out.

And now our router sits right there on the shelf above my cookbooks. Don't worry. He'll find a way to make those wires less obtrusive. Or else. — And now our router sits right there on the shelf above my cookbooks.
Don’t worry. He’ll find a way to make those wires less obtrusive.
Or else.

Job 2:

Mother Nature slammed San Antonio with an intense hail storm late Tuesday night. We’re talking national news-worthy baseball-sized stones, and those babies were loud from inside this here tin can. More than 16,000 damage claims were filed with our insurance company alone.

By the light of Wednesday morning, Tim and I went outside to inspect the BFT & the Toad, and were relieved to find only a small cluster of dimples on the roof of the truck, and a couple of cracks in the skylight above our bathroom. Nothing had shattered in the night but our nerves!

Knowing it’s far better to prevent a leak than to wait for one to surprise us at a more inconvenient time, Tim ordered a new skylight, and we got to work today, since rain is predicted for tomorrow, and we’re hitting the road on Tuesday (more on that next week).

I don’t appear in any of these photos because I was taking them, but I assure you that in between all the clicks, I really was helping (and sweating, and swearing, and wishing one of our kids were here so that it could be Rohrer & Son RV Repair instead of Rohrer & Wife RV Repair).