Sunday, April 24, 2022

The chairs are done (pictures on FB)! No more decorating projects here until next season. Of course we are only here 16 more days.

Nothing is on the agenda today except going out to breakfast and leftovers for dinner. Maybe a bit of beach time in between as we won't really be going for the next week or so. We are going to Fort Lauderdale for a night tomorrow to see 2 of Mike's children. Tuesday our guests arrive for 4 days. Saturday we are going to my place for 3 nights until the closing. A busy time leading up to our last week here!

Have a safe and healthy Sunday!

Good morning! The shower yesterday was great fun, and my cousin got a lot of amazing things, including many books for the baby. I got home at 5, we had some leftover hot dish, and then went to Planet Fitness. I was able to increase some of the weights on the resistance machines. Feels like I'm making progress.

Today will consist of another workout, reading the paper and some chores, since none were done yesterday. DH has today off and he just asked me what did I want to do today. I listed the chores and he said, nothing fun? Well, some of this stuff just has to be done, and I'm usually too tired to do it after work.

It was in the 70s yesterday, but rained off and on all day. Today is 50s, chilly, windy, overcast. Highs in the 40s for the next few days. One advantage, students don't really have spring fever yet...

Still snotty but getting better. I joked with my friend that the sneezing, coughing and nose blowing were my germs attempting to jump ship in search of a fresh host. She still hasn't caught it, knock on wood!

Today we had brunch with another friend. Very nice and very warm outside. After, I completed/submitted the paint scheme change forms for painting my house. I decided to just paint everything as the paint job on the pergolas from last year is already chipping (must have been a crappy prep job).

Here are the colors. I think it's the most modern one of the 12 pre-approved schemes that wasn't a terrible clash with my weird colored roof, which is tan concrete tiles with what I see as a somewhat pinkish cast.

The Black Pearl looks dark navy on the chip.

Roof:

Most of the other choices either went brighter white or cool gray or were a good stucco color, but had trim/garage door colors I really disliked. Oh well, won't be my house for much longer!

My friend went to an afternoon tea with her pilates friends so I have a blissful afternoon of alone time...

Hope everyone is good!

I like the colors, very sophisticated! Does your HOA mandate the color scheme choices? It's changing some in Minneapolis area, but generally if you have a single family home, you're only governed by city ordinances. HOA is for townhouses, condos. Usually involves amenities like a pool and party room/club house, lawn care, snow removal, garbage service etc. The rest of us non HOA people have to figure that stuff out on our own. :) I do have one friend who lives on a golf course and her development has an HOA governing it, so its not unheard of, but not super common here yet.

Yep, there are 12 choices each for each of 8 neighborhoods within my big neighborhood (1 square mile). The required pictures of my house and my neighbors on either side. And deviations from the scheme chosen would require repainting and a fine. I don't mind some HOA rules. It's nice that people can't leave junk in plain sight and that you can't leave your trash cans out for days on end. And the community landscaping is award-winningly beautiful. But they take it way too far. The rules list I had to give to my realtor about real estate for sale signs was 4 pages long with another 3 pages showing the fonts, colors, sizes allowed. He had to get signs made for the neighborhood scheme. If he used his ReMax signs, I'd get fined for every day they were out there!

So basic "keep your house/yard tidy and don't paint your house an obnoxious color" rules I'm okay with. We have 7 pools, tons of playgrounds, community rooms you can reserve, basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and tennis ball courts, parks, etc. and I only pay $140 a month, so I think it's a good deal. It's the overly in your business rules I dislike! Like hundred of non-refundable dollars in fees to get your yard plans reviewed and a review period that took me 10 months to get through including what plants you're allowed to use, how many per sq foot, how many trees and what size etc.

I'd pay just for the pool!

We have a LOT of rules here too and no For Sale signs is one of them (as was true in my place too). Both are gated though so in theory people won't be out scouting for houses on the market.

I think these are good choices - very nice! A lot of people in this neighborhood are painting bright white too (it must be a trend). We have stucco walls with Spanish tile roofs. I don't like the white at all as it seems very stark and none of the trim shows up (since it is all white).

Greeting all

More sun today. I would like to take Poppy out on a leash and maybe will do so. But it seems like every other giant dog in the neighborhood is out for a walk. She is not very well trained and goes wild at the sight of anything! I could easily be taken out by a 14 pound pup.

I also got Chip brushed some more and he really needs it. Shaggy old guy who will visit the pet groomers next week.

Quick stop at the grocery for the stuff I forgot yesterday. I am in this place so much I think I should have reserved parking. Today they had a whole bunch of vendors of specialty products set up all over the store at little tables. Fortunately it was not stuff that tempted me (ie sauerkraut and stinky herbs) unlike the free stuff at costco.

CC love those colors. Classy indeed. Thats kind of the scheme in our new bathroom. Yeah we used to live in a neiborhood that had those kind of rules - shake roofs only and no chain fences and brick mail box posts and on and on. Guess its worth it but who spends their time making up that stuff? I sometimes wish we had some rules here and people leave campers parked on the street for months and otherwise do trashy stuff. Oh well. Glad you are getting this done. Looks like a lovely neighborhood. Hope the cold is easing more. The grocery has gotten rid of its little cleaning wipes and I miss that. I swear that is why I have not had a cold since pre covid.

DD glad the baby shower was fun and books prevailed. One can never have too many.

We started a new series last night - "Outer Range". It features a Wyoming ranch family but their is some weird stuff going on. I am not sure I like it as its kind of Twin Peaks in cowboy boots only uninteresting characters. We shall see.

Not much else. Kiln opens tomorrow.

Diane S.

Our city has ordinances about where you can park RVs, trailers, campers etc. They can't be on the street overnight. They also have a pretty strict barking dog rule, and will come and write tickets to repeat offenders. I would never need to report anyone, there is one of those type people a few houses down who calls about everything. I guess that's kind of handy, and I just politely stay clear of her, and make sure I follow the rules :)