Solar-powered lighting at IKEA

We've been thinking of getting some outdoor lighting for the RV. IKEA is beginning to offer solar-powered lighting. Hm... I think we'll hit IKEA this Saturday...

So, what's up with us?

I do not blog as much as I used to; some would say that blogging is dead, replaced by Twitter and Facebook, while others say blogging is alive and thriving. Hey, if you are interested in my daily (and I do mean daily) updates, follow me on Twitter or join Facebook. I don't intend to drop the blog, I just don't have as many large things to say.

All the same, I don't blog as much now that I spend my time on Facebook... but there are some things that just feel like it should be a blog post rather than note on a social network.

At long last, here's a real update on us.

As of the last update, we're living in the RV now down by the beach. Cathy's mom continues to live on her own (yeah!) and Cathy and I are adjusting to living on a single income.

I cannot sugarcoat it; Cathy remains unemployed and money is very tight. We're barely squeaking by financially, but we're thankful for everything we have, like a roof over our heads and my job, which is good.

The Census Bureau is hiring in the next few months - I am applying for a job as I am bilingual. We'll see how that works out... It's barely 2009, so I doubt it'll mean extra money any time soon.

I continue to send any extra money to my mother - I remain her sole source of income, and I am not able to send her enough to live decently. I am thankful that I am able to help my mom out; it is my opportunity to honor my parents, but it isn't enough for her to pay all her bills. *sigh* I keep hoping and praying that the VA will finally give aide to my mom.

I am not a big TV watcher, but we used to watch some shows on Hulu. We have a crappy Internet connection at the RV park, with a pathetic download speed and practially non-existent upload speed. Given that we are by the beach, there's no open wifi portals nearby, either, except for the Starbucks that is too far for us to reach from home. So, I deal with crappy Internet now. If I had a Blackberry Bold or Blackberry Storm I would tether off the 3G - as it is, the EDGE network almost outperforms the wifi. But hey, it's free.

We've dropped our mail-order DVD service to save money and use Redbox instead. I spend $4 a month and can get at least 8 movies ($1 per movie plus a free movie on Monday). That helps us control our cost but still gives us some entertainment. Some of you may remember that entertainment center we first put up in our old house in the Inland Empire. There's no room in the RV for a 96" projector screen, and I have yet to try to hook up the surround sound system. So, we're watching movies on my 15" Dell laptop. It's pathetic by comparison, but it works for us.

Cathy stays busy keeping house and reading. You wouldn't think a RV would take a lot of work, but the smaller kitchen makes dinner preparation more difficult. We also have a tiny refridgerator, so she needs to go grocery shopping more often. We do a lot of the chores, anything we can, together. I grill a lot on the patio to keep the kitchen clean, and we do the weekend shopping together to spend time together. It's a good life; simple and nice.

The furkids are healthy and have adjusted to living in the RV. The closer proximity has forced Zechariah to get along with the other cats, and I find her grooming Fanny and Bubba on occasion, while Cathy and seen three or more cats share the bed where only two would share it before. Oliver gets a lot of walks, so he's the happiest of all!

I thought that I would be done with plumbing problems now that we live in a studio apartment on wheels - I had to deal with a couple of clogs, and that was unpleasant but not overly difficult. The recent storms, today being the latest, showed me that the RV's slideout is not sealed against weather very well. The last storm caused water to pool on our slideout roof and it found a way onto our carpet at the front driver-side corner of the slideout. I think I found the problem and attempted to address it, and Cathy reports a minor leak today. I have a couple more adjustments to make.

That's it for now...! :-)

Ready for Christmas

Well, we're ready for Christmas. Cathy decorated the inside of the RV last night, and I finished hanging lights on the outside. Ta-dah!

We've moved!

So, back in September I thought we would be moving in October, but as it turns out we didn't move until 12/10. Quite thankfully, God saw us through this last year and we're finally living in our R.V., which Cathy lovingly decorated to be our home-on-wheels.

The furkids are settling in real fast. Cathy and I guessed 2 days and 5 days (respectively) for how long it would be before the cats and dog acclimate, and it looks like we're both wrong as they are behaving like the own the place already.

Fanny on the RV dashboard

 
Here's a photo of Fanny on the dashboard of the RV. She sure is comfy...

We're moving due to foreclosure

So, after trying to sell our place for 10 months and having two buyers waiting in the wings for three months, it looks like we're not going to make it into escrow before foreclosure.

We got our foreclosure notice back in June. We have been trying to do a short sale since March (?) and in June we got two buyers! Unfortunately, entering escrow requires the mortgage holder to approve the buyer, so they have sent out three appraisers, but so far we're still waiting on the paperwork.

As most normal escrows take 30 days, short sale escrows tend to take 45 days or more. As the foreclosure auction will occur before the sale completes, we are not going to get done.

Oh, we're still waiting on the third appraiser's final report, and that was almost a month ago. *sigh* It is almost like the bank wants to foreclose instead of selling the property.

Cathy talked to several financial counseling places. The first one, a non-Christian one, suggested that we go into bankruptcy. I called a Christian one that told me to stop paying all my bills and call back in four weeks. Cathy called a couple more Christian ones and they both suggested that they couldn't help us and that we seriously consider bankruptcy. *sigh*

I spoke with a real estate attorney and he says our second mortgage holder gets very little from a short sale, so they would likely block the sale. I didn't know they could do that, but CitiMortgage did call me up and, when I told them about the short sale, said they would block it as a matter of course. The attorney said that the second mortgage holder would get a judgment against us for the full amount and we'd be in debt for a long time to come. He also suggested bankruptcy.

So, despite our efforts, we're going into foreclosure. There's still a change our primary mortgage holder will put it off and try to work with us but, since we're still not in escrow, I doubt it.

It is a rather unfortunate set of circumstances. I'm not sure where Rhonda (my M.I.L.) will live, but we'll be moving into the R.V., and it looks like that will be October.

First weekend in the RV

So we had our first weekend out in the RV. We got here really late on Friday night. The neighbors were all very understanding; a couple of them helped us back in to our spot and our next door neighbors John and Shannon Williams (full-timers) helped me do part of the hookups. John and Shannon's son is four and is also named Lee. He starts montessori school on Monday; he's a bright and very social. The neighbors and RV'ers we did meet all seemed friendly and social. I could get used to this.

The sewer hose that came with the RV was too short, so I've yet do do my first dump; that will come in a hour or so.

Oh, we slept fine. The RV wasn't quite level, so we slept with our heads sightly higher than our feet on Friday. I fixed that with a couple of tiles Saturday morning. I'll have to pick up some leveling blocks.

Our biggest worry had been the cats and dog. This weekend was a scorcher and we kept the air conditioners off to see what it would be like. We did have the windows open and the vent fan on. There were no problems; though it was very hot outside, it didn't get too hot for either one of us, and the cats and dog seemed rather content, even though it got to 93°F outside.

I like being connected with the outside; all the windows and openness of the RV makes me feel less disconnected from the environment and our neighbors. At night, I can see stars. It feels good and right to sense the rising and setting of the sun, to be part of the circadian rhythm.

The cats' favorite space is under the hideaway sofa; the enclosed space may make them feel more secure, and it is probably 5° cooler under there.

Today we ran the RV's air conditioning, and it is very comfortable. We haven't had air conditioning at home since October 2004, so even adjusted to 80°F it feels great in here.

Well, I need to batten down the hatches and get ready to move. We wants to be home about 16:00 and I still need to dump the RV...

First night in the RV

I'm writing this from our RV, on my laptop. I've got the accouterments (or accoutrements) of geekhood; laptop, PDA, cell phone, Internet access... the lot rental covers the utilities and we're not looking into someone else's RV.

OK, the RV isn't quite level; we'll get blocks in the morning to finish the last bit of leveling. Things are working, which is good. We can do this; we can go RVing.

Anyway, one of the first things I noticed; people are very helpful.
Second thing, very little light pollution; I can see stars!
The third thing, it's quiet! I like it very much.

I hope we sleep well tonight; it was my first time leveling the RV, so we'll have to see.